Whenever I step into the voting booth, I quickly tick off the boxes for the categories where candidates have been spending lots of money on “informing” me how to vote. Stuff like: governor, president, senator, congress-human, etc.
But then I get to the lesser-known positions, and I’m kinda stumped on how to vote responsibly.
Fire Commissioner? Alderman? Alderwoman? Arch-Reeve? Since when did we vote on Executive County Undertaker?
I only have a half-informed idea of what these people do, and not a clue on how the candidates (of whom I’ve never heard) differ. The same goes for obscure referenda with only a sentence or two describing each law.
If I’m going to take the time to wander over to the voting booth, I’d like to make my vote count for something in every way I wield it. Information can help me do that properly.
How about an in-booth packet that describes the responsibilities of each position and the platforms of the various candidates? I’d be happy with even a single page for each candidate or law-option. Naturally, such a packet would have to be well-screened for weasel words and other uncool forms of message manipulation.
I’m not naive enough to think that most people would read the packet. But maybe it would help some. At very least I’d be able to find the name of “that white guy with the mole on his eyebrow, ’cause I think I liked what he said about free city parking.”
