Helping you figure out who to vote for...

Cannot figure out who to vote for this coming primary, let alone this coming fall? Have a tendency to vote for the candidate that a “smart” friend supports—rather than doing a small bit of research to see who you REALLY support? I know some find that it can be intimidating because the subject of politics seems to be very taboo in our culture and not everyone loves a good argument. Since I cannot change that culture, and I can only hope to stimulate healthy dialogue one conversation at a time, I thought I would throw some suggestions out there to help people get informed without having to jump into a debate.

It is important to vote for and support who aligns most with your views. Not just who is “the most popular” or the one you hear will make a good candidate. How embarrassing if you decide to support a candidate that contradicts most of your own core values, based on a quick and surface evaluation. Remember, we are talking about people that make legislation that affect our economy, lifestyles, how we interact with other countries… It should be something to take a look at more than just casually.

So where to go? I say take some quick candidate tests and then head over to Vote Smart to be sure what you are hearing on the news about your few favorite candidates are correct.

I find that these kinds of “tests” help you get an idea of where you fall so that you have a direction to go in research. I think one of the hardest things to do is get started…these kind of tests help you do just that. I would take more than one because each uses different criteria to match you to a candidate. They are also fun and easy to complete… There are WAY more out there, but here are a few to help you get started.

http://www.speakout.com/VoteMatch/senate2006.asp?quiz=2008

http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/election2008/candidate-match-game.htm

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/Vote2008/page?id=3623346

http://www.dehp.net/candidate/

http://www.wqad.com/Global/link.asp?L=259460

http://glassbooth.org/


For the research, you do not have to get a political science degree. I use Project Vote Smart as a reference. They cover all levels of government and how our elected officials vote. They do all the research so you do not have to and they are very good at keeping with the non-partisan claim. They also have a phone line to call if you have relatives or friends that do not access the internet

http://www.vote-smart.org/

Here is a video of their organization explaining what they do.