IT’S DIFFICULT TO imagine anyone hiring someone who refused to fill out an application, and then picked and chose which questions to answer in a job interview, sometimes twisting the questions to mean something entirely different from what had been asked.

Yet, increasingly, that’s what candidates for public office are doing. Ask them how they plan to pay for a new program they’re proposing, and they’ll ignore the question and launch into a speech on the evils of tax increases. Ask how they plan to help teachers deal with discipline problems, and they’ll talk instead about the need to increase teachers’ salaries. And if you have the audacity to ask that they fill out a survey designed to show their approach to a range of issues they’re likely to confront in office — get ready for the silent treatment.

That silence, unfortunately, is growing increasingly deafening to folks at Project Vote Smart, a calculatedly bipartisan voter empowerment group started 12 years ago with the modest goal of serving as a clearinghouse to help voters evaluate candidates’ positions on a broad range of political topics, from hot-button items such as abortion, guns and affirmative action to such government staples as taxes, crime and education.

More than a month ago, Project Vote Smart sent its National Political Awareness Test to all legislative and congressional candidates whose names will appear on the November ballot in South Carolina. (The group sends the test to candidates in all states after primaries are concluded, with legislative questions tailored to each state.) With the deadline for completing the three-page multiple-choice survey coming up Tuesday, our politicians have shown an insulting refusal to respond.

So far, not a single one of our candidates for the U.S. Senate or the U.S. House has completed the survey. Just 28 of the 225 candidates for the General Assembly have responded; Sen. Kay Patterson and Reps. Ted Pitts, John Scott, Bill Cotty and Kenny Bingham are the only Midlands candidates who have responded — for which they deserve a round of applause from us all.

Politicians who refuse to participate usually say surveys are slanted to elicit particular answers, and there are so many that they have a blanket rule against returning any. Some politicians are sincere, but many conveniently forgive the slanted questions or forget their rule when faced with a survey from a special interest group whose cause they support — particularly if the group has money to spend on them.

One reason the Vote Smart survey is unpopular among politicians (political strategists almost uniformly advise politicians not to touch it with a 10-foot pen) is because it doesn’t come with money attached, and because it’s not slanted. The goal at Project Vote Smart is to give voters from opposite ends of the political spectrum, and everywhere in between, useful information that will help them decide whom to support. That’s why candidates “pass” the test simply by returning it to Vote Smart, which posts the answers on its website (http://www.vote-smart.org/) and reads them to anyone who calls the group (1-800-VOTE-SMART).

Candidates should complete the test simply because they value an informed electorate. But clearly not enough do. So if you care about good government, contact your state and federal legislators and candidates (contact information is available at Project Vote Smart) and tell them you expect them to complete this simple test. Tell them if they won’t do this, you won’t vote for them. It’s not asking too much that the people applying for such important jobs fill out a job application.