Hi everyone! The midterms are a week away – yikes. As promised, here is Part Two of the “Vote Now” series, where we’re breaking down why the midterms matter, how to figure out what or who to vote for, and where to go for more information.
Last week we talked about why midterms are more important than most people realize and using privilege for good. Today I’ll be sharing 7 questions I ask myself before voting. I’ll also provide some resources where you can get more information on money in politics and the human impact of the vote.
Ready?
The Big 7:
- Where is the money coming from? Who is backing this candidate or bill? Is there transparency in the fundraising, or is it obscured? Look past the names of super pacs to see what they’re up to, and that will tell you a lot about a candidate or bill.
- With this information, who stands to benefit should the candidate be elected or the bill be passed?
- Is there privilege involved, where a person or group’s access to rights and/or resources changes? If so, whose privilege is expanding, or whose is diminishing? Can my vote help establish a healthy equilibrium?
- Long term vs. Short term – pretty obvious, although difficult to weigh. So, to a reasonable degree of certainty, will this candidate or bill build a foundation for long term improvements in people’s lives?
- Sustainability – can the bill I want to vote for succeed in our current infrastructure? Is the project sustainable from an economic and environmental standpoint? Does this candidate support long term well-being of the people and environment?
- What kind of systems of power am I supporting with my vote? Am I supporting equality, representation, an abusive government, concentrated wealth, or what? I try to look past a single candidate or bill and to the entire SYSTEM that allowed that person or bill to appear on the ballot. Politics and government function as an organism, producing candidates and bills that arose from an internal pathology that can be difficult to understand from the outside. This is where question #1 comes in very handy. Follow the money and you can see with (slightly) clearer lens what structures (corporations, NGOs, grassroots organizations, unions, etc) are at play. Very, very important.
- This is the question that can change everything: Can I imagine the faces of the people who will be impacted by my vote? Can I empathize with people I cannot see? I remind myself that our brains are programed to exclude that which we cannot see. I’m not convinced that humans have fully developed object permanence (sort of joking, but not really). So I force that question – if the people impacted by this candidate or bill were my family and I were sitting with them at dinner, how would I feel about my vote?
Resources
General – nonpartisan ballot info, following the money:
Ballotready.org – very user friendly. Just type in your address and it will show you a list of every office and measure you can vote on, who’s funding them, reasons to vote for or against, and where to find your polling place. The voter guides I’ve provided below are all left-leaning, but I look at this page FIRST so I can contextualize the lefty voting guides. Most of the time I’ll agree with the voting guides, but not always – so it’s important to educate yourself on the issues first. This is a great place to start.
Ballotpedia– a great resource to understand the story behind each candidate or measure, resources, and logistics. Not as user friendly as Ballotready, but a great site nonetheless.
The New York Times interactive voter’s information page. Not only is it a work of digital art, this page entitled “Everything You Need to Know about the 2018Midterm Elections” is just that. Packed with info.
Voter Guides
Yup, I totally realize these are all left-wing organizations. I won’t endorse something I don’t believe in, so there you have it. If you’d like more balanced voter guides, see the resources above!
ACLU Voter Resources: Scroll down the page to find your polling place, important dates, and where your congress-people stand on human rights issues.
League of Women Voters Ballot Recommendations
Planned Parenthood California Action Fund: A list of candidates supported by Planned Parenthood. They have both a statewide list and a regional list.
Human Rights Campaign Voting Center
Sierra Club Endorsements: The link will take you to the California page, but if you live in a different state you can search for your local chapter’s voting guide.
What would you add?
Love,
Stig.
