Knowing candidates beyond campaigns
With the election just days away, many citizens have made their crucial voting decisions. Perhaps you’ve watched all of the debates, checked up on candidates’ websites and engaged in some friendly political debates. But do you really know your beloved candidate beyond his or her face, slogans and campaign?
Unfortunately, staying completely informed through the media alone is nearly impossible. There is much more to learn about candidates, their stances on policy and their records, than what the media can tell you. There is not enough space in newspapers or enough time on broadcasts to inform voters about everything. So, it is a voter’s duty to do some research to fill in these gaps and make an informed decision on election day.
A good place to start is at indianavoters.in.gov, which provides voting information from who is running to polling locations. From there, voters can find candidates and start the research process. Simply browsing a candidate’s website will not suffice, because each candidate’s page is clearly biased. For more crucial issues, such as how a particular candidate has voted on important policies, voters should try a non-partisan website such as votesmart.org or govtrack.us. Project Vote Smart is a non-partisan group that unites liberals and conservatives to find the truth about candidates’ voting records, backgrounds and much more. Similarly, govtrack.us allows users to easily locate voting records, track legislation and uncover other important details.
Non-partisan websites are valuable for finding unbiased candidate information. Going to websites or blogs that have an agenda is not something an informed voter should do. Those sites may not have accurate information and will only serve to entrench views and pollute the political process. The best thing an informed voter can do is remain open-minded. If voters approach the research process with an agenda or perform biased searches, they will not be properly informed, which defeats the purpose of researching at all.
Researching candidates is not a hard or time-consuming thing to do; with the internet, it is easier than ever. Perhaps we voters should take some of the time wasted on social media and dedicate it to becoming informed citizens who are ready to cast well-researched and well-considered votes. Even social media time can help voters stay partially informed, because most candidates are on Facebook, Twitter and Youtube. Following campaigns on social media is the least painful way to stay informed, but voters must be aware of campaign bias and still complete extra research.
That same campaign bias is present in political commercials and campaign mailings, which means an informed voter should never take these campaign materials at face value. Many of the facts presented in commercials or mailers may not be facts at all. Much of the information presented as factual may be distortions, lies or exaggerations. To verify the information, visit factcheck.org, a non-partisan group that monitors the accuracy of political speech.
Research is only the first step in the process of making an informed decision. After research, the newly informed voter should then examine his or her own belief system and vote for the candidate who holds similar beliefs, rather than just choosing a candidate based on party identification alone. Party identification is merely a superficial title; what really matters is the candidate’s ideology and how he or she will act in a new position of leadership. A candidate’s ideology and his or her willingness to compromise is what ultimately will define future policy decisions. Voting is ultimately about the direction in which voters believe the country should be headed. Therefore, the voter’s job is to make sure that incumbents are held accountable for their votes and policy viewpoints.
Willingness to compromise can be a very important asset, particularly in the current political climate. Arguably, one reason why Congress has passed fewer bills recently is because of lawmakers who are unwilling to compromise. The uncompromising 112th Congress has passed a meager 195 bills, the lowest number since 1947. Though the number of bills passed has been trending downward, our current Congress is nearly a “do-nothing” Congress.
Fortunately, our elections give us the power to bring about change. If voters are unhappy with a do-nothing Congress that cannot master the art of compromise, they have the power to replace congressmen with new leaders who hopefully will perform better. The same applies to any level of government—voters can change the status quo. Certainly, before envisioning such change, voters must conduct diligent research to learn about each candidate’s vision for America. After all, Americans should vote with America’s best interests in mind. If all voters did this, then the country would be much closer to the model democracy envisioned by its forefathers.
