Gov. Mark Sanford was among 13 state and local candidates favorable to the idea of establishing a daytime curfew for juveniles.

The proposed curfew would require a juvenile under the age of 16 to remain in their homes or yards unless accompanied by their parents. The daytime curfew is one of several ideas that has been floated on the state level in recent years as a possible solution to issues like school truancy, vandalism, and burglaries.

"This would put more teeth into school truancy law because it would allow police officers to pick up a student off the streets who is not in school during the hours of 8 a.m.-3 p.m. Currently, there is little a police officer can do to truant students," Cherokee Christian Coalition Vice President Pat Hyatt said. "A daytime curfew has been discussed as a way to deal with school truancy, but it has not been proposed as a state law. We just thought this would be an interesting question to ask candidates on our survey."

The Cherokee Christian Coalition sent the survey out to candidates for governor, state superintendent of education, state House and local candidates for county offices such as county council, sheriff, coroner, auditor and school board races.

"Both gubernatorial candidates were sent the survey. Governor Sanford is the only one that returned the survey and he followed up with a phone call," Hyatt said. "He had also sent his regrets for not attending our candidate breakfast on Sept. 23."

Thirteen state and local candidates returned the survey, which the coalition plans to distribute to county residents.

The 18-question survey deals with a wide range of issues including school choice, government consolidation, voluntary prayer in schools, electing all judges (including magistrates) and whether intelligent design should be taught when evolution theory is discussed in science classes.

The full results will be published in The Ledger's election special section on Nov. 1. All statements from candidates are due to the newspaper by Oct. 25.

Nine of the 13 state and local candidates who returned the coalition's survey supported school choice including District 1 school board candidates Rick Dizbon and David Bridges. School board candidates Amanda Knowles (District 5) and Lindley Auton (District 7) opposed school choice.

All of the candidates unanimously supported voluntary prayer in school. There was a widespread support among the candidates for stricter election laws and for electing all judges, including magistrates.

While some of these issues might have little to do with a particular office, Hyatt said the coalition believes a candidate's responses to the issues are important.

"We think it's important for the public to be well-informed about the candidates running for office. This survey helps show a candidate's character and belief system. A person's character has a lot to do with how they are doing their job."