If you’re voting in this year’s Presidential Election, and you should be, you’re not just voting for the next President of the United States. Depending on your state, there will be a number of other choices for state and local office, as well as laws to be passed in your state. It’s important that you vote for these as well, if you find voting for the next president important. Just as voting for President assures that you are actively participating in this country’s democracy and therefore keeping the rest of the country free and self-governing, you should do the same for your state and county as well.
You may be wondering: So, what is all that other stuff on the ballot anyway? To help you with this, I will use my state and county as an example. A good way to find out is using vote411.com, or to use the Google widget that comes up when you search for this year’s ballot. For this example I will be using Google because it is more streamlined and easier to use.
- Type your address into the box. NOTE: If you are away in college or for some other reason and are going to vote by absentee ballot, make sure to put in your home (permanent) address to get the correct information
- View candidates for National, State, and Local elections.
3. Find websites of candidates you like and see their stance on issues that matter to you.
In my home state, Florida, there are a few people running for Senator, Representative, and County Judge. Right now, the only candidate for Senate I’m aware of is Marco Rubio, since he was a presidential candidate earlier in the race. Let’s say I want to know more about Congressman Patrick Murphy, who is the Democratic candidate running for Senate. I found that the easiest way was to find his official website and click on the tab that says “vision.”A lot of candidate’s websites will have a tab like this that might say something along the lines of “policies” or “plans” or “issues.” Things like this will make it clear to voters exactly where the candidate stands. For example, under Congressman Patrick Murphy’s “vision” tab, there’s links for pages that explain his stance on issues such as immigration reform and abortion.
Once you find a candidate that aligns with your personal views, write them down so you can remember what to vote for when your ballot comes in the mail or when you go to the polls.
4. Look through referenda to be voted on and decide if you support them or not.
A number of state referenda are on the ballot for Florida this year, including Amendment 2 which has to do with the use of medical marijuana. Google’s ballot widget and other websites such as vote411 give short summaries on what each referendum does, but it’s always important to do a little research of your own. A lot of people who are first-time voters at the age of 18 or older do not do any research on state or local elections, and campaigns take advantage of this. They put out campaign ads that or signs that just say “Vote YES on Amendment 3,” because they know that a lot of people will not read the ballot and just pick anything. These people influence voters who aren’t sure, and can get people to vote against what they actually believe. Know what you believe before you vote by using websites like ballotpedia.org. Don’t use websites such as “voteno2.org” that will only give you one side of the referendum. You might catch yourself in the polling place thinking, “what was Amendment 2 again?” and suddenly hear the slogan “no on 2” before remembering that you may have wanted to vote yes.
5. Be prepared to vote!
Try your best to remember who you support and who you don’t. State and local elections are important and will definitely affect you and your family, so don’t just skip those check boxes! Use your ballot to its full potential and keep this country as free as we claim it is.
Candidates and referenda mentioned were used only as examples and are not an endorsement. The writer does not publicly endorse any candidates for office at national, state, or local level, nor any referenda.
