Voters still have time to research unfamiliar ‘down-ballot’ candidates
Most Americans are too lazy or intentionally undereducated to conduct their own research on political candidates in the name of democracy. Even if it’s asked of them only twice during election years. And even for local races that will certainly affect their daily lives.
Nevertheless, we seem to find time in our “busy” schedules to debate strangers on social media throughout the day about abstract issues that likely will never affect our lives. Or we somehow find the time to watch endless videos of kittens water skiing. Or complain about our boredom.
The precise moment we typically come to this shameful conclusion is while standing in a ballot booth at a polling place on Election Day. This is when we realize we didn’t properly research all of the candidates on our ballot. Or even bother to learn their names beforehand. But what about those voters who do bother to do so?
“Jerry, so here I am again doing my civic duty and trying my best to muddle through my election ballot,” a voter wrote to me last week. “President? No problem. Senator? No problem. Representative? No problem. But then I get to the local stuff — school board and judges.”
We’ve all been here. School board? Judges? Referendum questions? What? Who?
The voter who contacted me, Bill C. of Hobart, chose the ballot’s mail-in option for this year’s primary election in June and also for the general election next month.
“I found during the primary that it allowed me to attempt to do research on the candidates instead of standing in front of a machine and thinking, ‘Huh?’ ” he wrote. “And for the primary it did. But I found that trying to find info on judges and school board members, in most cases, Google knew as much about these people as I did.”
“So, my question to you is, how does anyone choose unless they know the person, or they are actively involved in the area, or they just guess?” he asked. “I’m just frustrated, as usual, about our system.”
I too get frustrated with our system. I get more frustrated with voters. Too many are unlike Bill C., who is at least making an attempt to better educate himself about the candidates on his ballot. This is
more than I can say about my own decision-making process while filling out a ballot. A blindfolded monkey could make more educated selections than me in some previous elections.
Not this historic, unprecedented year, though.
On Tuesday, the first day to cast an in-person, early voting ballot in Indiana for the general election, I went to indiana voters.in.gov to find more information on the specific ballot I’ll be shown on Election Day.
(I prefer to vote on Election Day so I can visit my polling place, chat with voters and campaigners, and then write about my experience.)
On that site, under the tab “Who’s on my ballot,” I typed my name, birth date and county. (It also accepts your county and precinct.) The ballot I’ll be viewing at my polling place popped up with the full list of races and candidates. The site reminds voters, “The party sort order is determined by which party won the Secretary of State’s race in your county in the last election.”
The ballot lists races for president/vice president, governor, attorney general, U.S. representative, state senator and representative, followed by judges and county official races, where the candidate names get less familiar. At this point, voters’ choices often come down to who we know, who we’ve met, who’s mailed us campaign fliers, or which candidates’ signs we’ve driven past.
Lower on my ballot are the most difficult questions for many voters — “public questions supplied and maintained by the Indiana Election Division and counties.”
Under the category, “Supreme Court Justice
Retention,” the question asked: “Shall Justice Christopher M. Goff be retained in office?” This is when we look around the polling place to see if there is a line of voters behind us and frantically ask ourselves, “Who in the hell again is Christopher M. Goff?”
If you pulled up your ballot online to get a sneak peek, like I just did, or if you did your homework while studying your mailin ballot, you’d learn that Goff was appointed to the Indiana Supreme Court by Gov. Eric Holcomb. He took the oath of office as Indiana’s 110th justice in 2017, among other biographical details.
This is when you could delve deeper into his career and his Supreme Court decisions to determine if his values, ideals and judgments align with yours. Most voters never get this far. I know, I know. But it’s a possibility. The same research can be conducted for races for local judges, though it takes effort and you may not find as much information.
Just as there is no excuse needed to now vote prior to Election Day (unlike absentee mail-in ballots), there is no excuse to not at least attempt to find more information about those unfamiliar candidates.
Other informational websites are available, depending upon your county.
The Chicago Tribune, which owns the PostTribune, published its judicial endorsements ahead of its usual schedule. “We heard you, readers, in emails and phone calls …” its editorial board wrote. “With early and mail-in voting underway, you want some advice on downballot races, especially for judges. So we moved our endorsements up on our calendar.”
A similar request from readers across the country is taking place as Election Day nears, I’ve noticed. Voters are looking for every scrap of information about those “down-ballot” candidates. It’s up to us to make the effort, find the time, and educate ourselves.
Learn from my past laziness and intentional ignorance. Don’t cast any of your votes like a blindfolded monkey.