Still unsure who deserves your vote? Here’s how to decide
Early voting in Florida is now underway.
Here’s my question: Are you ignorant?
I don’t mean that as an insult. I mean it in the literal sense: Do you lack all the knowledge you need to make informed decisions?
I did until I conducted a boatload of research and participated in dozens of candidate interviews.
Today I’m going to share some resources that might help you cast informed votes.
But before I do that, I want to ask you something else:
Do you remember all the politicians who did things that ticked you off over the past couple of years? And are you going to make them pay at the polls? You should.
See, the politicians with the lousiest track records often try to cover up their sins by distracting you with divisive campaign issues, whether it’s guns, abortion or border walls.
They try to inflame your emotions, appeal to your partisanship — maybe even hope that, by giving you a stimulus check, you’ll forget all the piles of manure they created.
Don’t let them play you for a fool. Remember how they behaved before they needed your vote.
Say, for instance, you were one of the millions of Floridians who got hosed by this state’s devilishly defective unemployment system.
Do you know who was respon
sible for that mess? That dumpster fire was set ablaze by Tallahassee politicians who made chintzy benefits nearly impossible to access via a defective computer system. But many of those struggling to get those benefits fumed about local mayors and members of Congress.
It’s easy to exploit people who don’t pay attention.
I mentioned as much on the radio one afternoon. The next day, a listener sent me a note:
“You are correct, sir. I had NO idea who I was supposed to contact regarding my unemployment issue. Like zero. It’s rather embarrassing to be an almost 50-year-old voting citizen who has no idea what branch of government governs what. Thank you for shedding light on my ignorance. I’m now educating myself on who does what.”
Amen.
And let’s be clear: When it comes to Florida’s unemployment debacle, Republican legislators and the past two governors were to blame.
Rick Scott created and then Ron DeSantis oversaw a system that was designed to fail. The state’s own auditors described the system as broken just last year. Yet Florida’s majority party refused to fix it. (One legislator only demanded change after his own mother had trouble getting benefits.)
Still, not every issue falls along simple partisan lines.
If you care about stopping runaway growth and honoring voters’ wishes for protecting rural lands in Seminole County, two Republican county commissioners who are up for re-election — Bob Dallari and Lee Constantine — were on the front lines of doing the right thing.
On the flip side, Orange County’s relentless crusade to use tax dollars to subsidize theme parks and tourism has been led by a mostly Democratic board.
Things aren’t always black and white … or red and blue.
So how do you separate the dynamos from the dingleberries?
Well, this year, the Sentinel is providing more help than ever before with a comprehensive Voter Guide. It’s full of stories, endorsements and video-recorded interviews with candidates at every level — from judges and county commissioners to the Legislature and Congress.
You obviously don’t have to agree with all the endorsements. Heck, I don’t agree with all our endorsements. (I participate in the interviews and deliberations, but don’t make the final calls.)
You can watch the interviews and decide for yourself.
Now, it wasn’t easy sitting through 49 interview sessions with as many as five politicians at a time, some long on wind but short on direct answers. (Imagine listening to nails on a chalkboard … during a tax-prep seminar. Now imagine that 48 more times.)
But many sessions were enlightening. Plus, the good news is that you don’t have to watch them all. Just the handful of races on your ballot. Or just read the stories and endorsements. You can find everything at www.orlandosentinel.com/voterguide.
There are other resources, including the League of Women Voters’ www.vote411.org site, which lets candidates introduce themselves and explain their positions.
What shouldn’t you rely on? Campaign ads and anonymous text messages. Not unless you vet every claim and accusation for yourself.
Be especially wary of claims made by groups you don’t know. Just because a group’s name includes words like “equality” and “justice” doesn’t mean it cares about either one. The “committee” could be a single company or individual with an agenda. (There’s usually a reason the people behind these groups aren’t willing to attach their own names to their attacks.)
But again, trust your instincts and remember what you already know
If a politician performed miserably in office, why would you believe campaign claims that he or she is suddenly on your side?
If legislators refused to fix an unemployment system back when everyone knew it was broken, why would you believe they care about the issue now?
As Maya Angelou once said: “When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.”
It has been said before that people get the government they deserve. The problem is: The rest of us get it, too. So let’s do our best to get informed. Democracy takes work. But it’s worth the effort.