CleverBomb
On Space Out
That's the time remaining until Election Day -- Tuesday, November 4th.
Get out there and VOTE!!
If you're registered, you've probably already gotten your voter's guide pamphlet from the state. Look it over, do some online research on the candidates you don't know (and particularly so in "non-partisan" offices like judges and school boards) and the ballot propositions. Be aware that some sources that claim to be neutral, aren't -- figure out what their slant is and account for it.
If you can't find any information on a candidate or issue from your side of the aisle (whichever that happens to be), as a last resort look up the other side's ballot slate and vote exactly the opposite!
Some things to keep in mind:
- Negative ads are often a sign of desperation by a trailing candidate.
- Attack ads often stretch the truth more than a little. Go to their targets' campaign website to at least see how they respond. You may or may not agree with their response, but at least make the effort.
- Those ads are also meant to "turn off" voters so they don't bother going to the polls. Yep, that means if you get so sick of the ads you want nothing to do with politics for the next couple of weeks -- THEY WIN.
- If you see a lot of ads in favor of one candidate or against their opponent, it's a good sign they've got a lot of money to spend. Think about where the money came from, and why.
- If voting couldn't make a difference, they'd make it easy for everyone to do, and they wouldn't bother advertising.
- The lesser of two evils is still LESS EVIL. (However you define that.)
- You only get to say, "don't blame me, I voted for the other guy" if you actually did that. Not voting at all means you didn't even try and no matter who gets elected it's your fault. So there!
- You only have to put up with this for one more week.
In any case -- get informed, and VOTE.
This has been a mostly nonpartisan public service announcement.
I welcome additional suggestions for voter resources or advice that might be useful in interpreting campaign ads.
Get out there and VOTE!!
If you're registered, you've probably already gotten your voter's guide pamphlet from the state. Look it over, do some online research on the candidates you don't know (and particularly so in "non-partisan" offices like judges and school boards) and the ballot propositions. Be aware that some sources that claim to be neutral, aren't -- figure out what their slant is and account for it.
If you can't find any information on a candidate or issue from your side of the aisle (whichever that happens to be), as a last resort look up the other side's ballot slate and vote exactly the opposite!
Some things to keep in mind:
- Negative ads are often a sign of desperation by a trailing candidate.
- Attack ads often stretch the truth more than a little. Go to their targets' campaign website to at least see how they respond. You may or may not agree with their response, but at least make the effort.
- Those ads are also meant to "turn off" voters so they don't bother going to the polls. Yep, that means if you get so sick of the ads you want nothing to do with politics for the next couple of weeks -- THEY WIN.
- If you see a lot of ads in favor of one candidate or against their opponent, it's a good sign they've got a lot of money to spend. Think about where the money came from, and why.
- If voting couldn't make a difference, they'd make it easy for everyone to do, and they wouldn't bother advertising.
- The lesser of two evils is still LESS EVIL. (However you define that.)
- You only get to say, "don't blame me, I voted for the other guy" if you actually did that. Not voting at all means you didn't even try and no matter who gets elected it's your fault. So there!
- You only have to put up with this for one more week.
In any case -- get informed, and VOTE.
This has been a mostly nonpartisan public service announcement.
I welcome additional suggestions for voter resources or advice that might be useful in interpreting campaign ads.
