Voting

[Asonokirk V 2.0]

My city, Torrance, is having a particularly spirited mayoral election in June, and I have finally decided to discard my genuine apathy for politics, and actually study the candidates and issues in this upcoming election. Instead of voting, like I usually do, for people and/or initiatives I know almost nothing about, I'm actually going to know for who and why I'm voting.

I suspect if more voters actually knew going in how and why to vote their choices, we'd have a better government. Just a hunch.

[kah]

OMG. That is the best thing I've ever heard. Seriously. There is nothing that bothers me more than apathetic voters. Thank you.

[Cncrman]

It was interesting here in the suburbs of Portland, OR. They recently had a few ballot measures to vote on and one of them was for the school district my kids are in. Anyway, it got over 50% of the vote in favor, but still failed due to the fact that the total number of votes needed was not met. Basically it was over 50% of the people that DID vote, approved - but not enough people voted in total to pass it.

The reason the analysts on the news came up with wasn't voter apathy. It was that many voters have become cynical toward the voting process. They feel that nothing happens even if they do vote.

Case in point here. There is a medical college/hospital in the area that wants to put a large gondola/tram through some older historic neighborhoods to connect to a new campus they are building down the hill from their current campus. Well almost everyone and their grandmother voted it down. And guess what. It's still getting built.

So why bother? I tend to see their point.

[neglet]

When I want to get informed about local elections, I check out my local League of Women Voters (http://www.lwv.org//AM/Template.cfm?Section=Home) website. They're nonpartisan, and they submit questionnaires to candidates and publish responses so you can easily compare candidates' positions. They do this even for small local elections--it can be hard to find information on school board candidates otherwise.

I also check out the endorsement editorials on my local newspaper's website; even if I don't agree with their politics, they generally do a good job summarizing the candidates' positions and experience. You can also search for candidate websites. Really, with the internet today there's no excuse for not getting informed before you vote.

[Asonokirk V 2.0]

There are so many little and small offices on these ballots, with people you've never heard of, and never will hear of when they take their offices. The point is, unless we start taking all of our political processes seriously, we'll continue to have ineffective government, filled with elected officials who really aren't qualified for their jobs, and that ineptitude flows out in all directions.