Tim’s Voting Tips

How to Be a Responsible Voter

We’re just a few short weeks from Election Day. Voting is one of our most important civic duties as United States citizens, and that goes for local elections every two years as well as presidential elections every four years. But with this responsibility to vote also comes the responsibility to make sure we understand who and what we’re voting for. We owe it to ourselves, the candidates, and our fellow citizens.

When people step into the voting booth and look at the ballot, they may only recognize about half the names they are reading, and this isn’t uncommon for most people. It’s also not uncommon for most people to assume they have to fill in a vote for every single candidate in order for their ballot to count. But that simply isn’t true. You could vote for just one candidate on the whole ballot and your vote will still count.

If you want to cast a vote for everything on your ballot, then it’s your responsibility to make sure you’re educated on the people you’re voting for. There’s no shame in leaving the vote for your county’s new sheriff up to those people who better understand the position and its duties, but if you’d want to participate in that decision, then do the necessary research on the candidates before you step into that booth.

Start by obtaining a copy of the ballot early, then spend time conducting your own research on each candidate, making note of how you feel about their political stances and aspirations. Try your best to ignore personal issues dredged up from decades past. I know they can be hard to overlook sometimes, but remember, politics is a game where winners and losers are more often determined by who is personally liked the most rather than whose politics can make the most positive change. Don’t become another pawn in that game.

If there are candidates I’m unsure about, my next step is to seek out friends, family, or colleagues who I believe have a better understanding of the person and their situation than I do. Try to avoid only conversing with people who are like-minded — it pays to be armed with information from all sides so you can gain a truly useful perspective. There’s nothing wrong with gathering opposing information — it’s what you decide to ultimately do with it that makes the difference.

I’ve also always been a proponent of voting in person on Election Day. Mail-in voting has become increasingly popular, and those numbers are especially high this year, but I prefer to wait until the very last day and cast my votes in person because I’ve been burned before. I used to vote by mail weeks prior to Election Day, only to have some new piece of information arise from a candidate that I didn’t vote for who is now swaying my opinion. Of course, by then, it’s too late to change my mind.

Finally, remember to think about candidates practically. We’ve all heard people sarcastically ask, “These are the best candidates we can come up with?” Many of us have likely said it ourselves. But try to remember, the life of a politician is no joke. Everything they do and have done in the past is put under a microscope. Facts are twisted, events are blown out of proportion, and reputations are ruined because that’s how the game works. That’s why you should always pay attention to their politics above all else.

If you aren’t willing to take time to educate yourself on something the ballot is asking you to vote on, then you shouldn’t vote on it. If you feel like stepping into that booth and casting your presidential vote and nothing else, there’s no shame in that. Voting is a powerful tool that requires a lot of responsibility. Let’s wield it with steady hands.