#ballotpedia

[mbrainspaz]

voting in texas really be like

current guy------

Experience: President of Company Inc.

Occupation: Deeply religious individual

democrat challenger-----

Experience: 48 years of law enforcement experience as a patrol officer and Agent with the Alcoholic Beverage Commission

Occupation: Retired police sergeant

[blackwomanvibes]

🌻 How To Live Your Best Ace Life! 🌻♠|Properly Complete Primary Voting Ballot| @BlackWomanVibes Ep26

It’s election season and Massachusetts had our primary elections on September 3rd. Let’s go over the proper way to vote for politicians without stanning them or a political party. As an Anarchist, I don’t have vested interest in the political system. I don’t believe liberation will ever be on the ballot but that doesn’t mean that Socialist shouldn’t run for office locally. As an Ace (Asexual) life outside of cishet patriarchal normativity often is lonely. Even as part of the LGBTQIA+ community, we are often relegated as a mystery due to the lack of media/social representation of Asexuals and being replaced as a + sign after the Q in LGBTQ(+). Amatonormativity may rule the day, but we still exist as the alternative and that’s beautiful. 💜🖤🩶🤍 Like the content? Support the content creator cashapp: $BlackWomanVibes 🔮 🧿

[wendykw]

I use Ballotpedia.org. Based on your home address, it has all the candidates for each office, party affiliation, and results for those that answered questionnaires.

Please don't tune out when you get to the non-partisan section of your ballot this November. First off, where state Supreme Court justices are elected, Republicans are trying their darndest to elect candidates who will destroy reproductive freedom, gut voting rights, and do everything in their power to give "contested" elections to Republicans. Contrast Wisconsin electing a justice in 2023 who helped rule two partisan gerrymanders unconstitutional, versus North Carolina electing a conservative majority in 2022, who upheld a racist voter ID law and a partisan gerrymander that liberal justices had previously struck down both of.

Second, local judicial offices will make infinitely more of an impact on your community than a divided state or federal legislature will. District and circuit courts, especially, are where criminalization of homelessness and poverty play out, and where electing a progressive judge with a commitment to criminal justice reform can make an immediate difference in people's lives.

It's a premier example of buying people time, and doing profound-short-term good, while we work to eventually change the system. You might not think there will be any such progressive justices running in your district, but you won't know unless you do your research. (More on "research" in a moment.)

The candidates you elect to your non-partisan city council will determine whether those laws criminalizing homelessness get passed, how many blank checks the police get to surveil and oppress, and whether lifesaving harm reduction programs, like needle exchanges and even fentanyl test strips, are legal in your municipality. Your non-partisan school board might need your vote to fend off Moms for Liberty candidates and their ilk, who want to ban every book with a queer person or acknowledgement of racism in it.

Of course, this begs the question — if these candidates are non-partisan, and often hyper-local, then how do I research them? There's so much less information and press about them, so how do I make an informed decision?

I'm not an expert, myself. But I do think/hope I have enough tips to consist of a useful conclusion to this post:

Plan ahead. If you vote in person, figure out what's on your ballot before you show up and get jumpscared by names you don't know. Find out what's on your ballot beforehand, and bring notes with you when you vote. Your city website should have a sample ballot, and if they drop the ball, go to Ballotpedia.

Ballotpedia in general, speaking of which. Candidates often answer Ballotpedia's interviews, and if you're lucky, you'll also get all the dirt on who's donating to their campaign.

Check endorsements. Usually candidates are very vocal about these on their websites. If local/state progressive leaders and a couple unions (not counting police unions lol) are endorsing a candidate, then that's not the end of my personal research process per se, but it usually speeds things up.

Check the back of the ballot. That's where non-partisan races usually bleed over to. This is the other reason why notes are helpful, because they can confirm you're not missing anything.

[originalleftist]

If your ballot is anything like mine, judicial elections are a big part of it.

And since the judges aren't neatly identified by party, and their rulings can often be complex, it can require quite a bit of research and thought to figure out who to vote for (you should still check candidates' backgrounds regardless, as Republicans have been trying to run candidates as Democrats, but its especially crucial for judges).

So, here are some resources that may be useful:

Ballotpedia:

Blue Voter Guide (for Democrats, obviously):

Blue Voter Guide was how I found out which of the state Supreme Court judges up for reelection in CO voted for, or dissented on, the ruling to disqualify Trump.

State government sites may have more information- here's the 2024 Judicial Performance Evaluations for my state (Colorado):

I have also been informed that state Bar Associations will often have rankings of judges.

And of course, you can check local news outlets.

But, be aware of potential bias in all sources.

PLEASE REBLOG AND SHARE THIS WIDELY.

[n0thingiscool]

I question the usefulness or validity of Ballotpedia anymore since they voluntarily stoped doing Judgepedia.

[fuggnuckets]

He’s going to win in November I know it

[solarpunkani]

My mom spontaneously hit me last night—in the middle of me streaming no less—with the “Hey let’s go early vote TOMORROW” bomb so now I’m trying to do research and

Why aren’t local officials answering the ballotpedia surveys?! Half of them don’t even have WEBSITES or SOCIAL MEDIAS linked

How the FUCK am I supposed to know who the fuck you are and what the fuck you stand for

[galwednesday]

USA Ballot Measures Nov. 2024

41 states (and Washington DC) have ballot measures this year! Even if your state's electoral college result isn't in question, you may have ballot measures to vote on alongside the presidential election and state-wide elections.

Below the read more link is an alphabetical list of each state with ballot measures. Each state name links to the Ballotpedia.org page for that state's ballot measures, which will be updated with new developments as election day nears (some ballot measures are still tied up in court as of when I'm making this post in late September, so the approved ballot measures may change before you vote). Ballotpedia has information on each ballot measure, including what a yes/no would mean, arguments for and against, who supports/opposes each measure, and the full text of the measure.

Alabama

Alaska

Arizona

Arkansas

California

Colorado

Connecticut

Florida

Georgia

Hawaii

Idaho

Illinois

Indiana

Iowa

Kentucky

Louisiana

Maine

Maryland

Massachusetts

Minnesota

Missouri

Montana

Nebraska

Nevada

New Hampshire

New Mexico

New York

North Carolina

North Dakota

Ohio

Oklahoma

Oregon

Rhode Island

South Carolina

South Dakota

Utah

Virginia

Washington

West Virginia

Wisconsin

Wyoming

But wait, there's more!

We also have 2024 ballot measures for:

Washington, D.C.

Local ballot measures

Check the full Ballotpedia.org list of local ballot measure elections in 2024 to see if there are any in your area!

[maeamian]

Hey friends, countrymen, lovers, etc. this post is just for the Americans out there, but if any of you all need help figuring out what steps you need to take to vote or where to find a voter guide for your region (Ballotopedia is a solid starting point if you want to see what's on your ballot) I'd be happy to help out, just shoot me a message, I can promise I'll find an answer for you in the first case and I'll do my best in the later.

[rebloggingrexan]

oh this is fantastic! thank you! adding some stuff i've posted before about voting (these sites and links are only for the US, unfortunately)

__

note to future self about how i fairly efficiently handled researching candidates. this probably isn’t the ideal way to do it, but live and learn. (what i’m thinking when i say that is “hopefully/maybe i’ll actually, y’know, pay attention to the news to SOME level.”) 

it’ll be good to see this in the future if i eventually handle it differently, even tho the main reason i’m making note is so i’m not, again, making my process from scratch in a few years.

one thing i’d especially like to do differently is start reading and marking in the voter guide right when it gets delivered, instead of only in the last day or two. it’s easy enough: just read while eating breakfast and dinner, and maybe set aside an extra 15-20 minutes every couple nights too. it’s really not too long a process

anywho:

(.01) read their blurbs in the voter guide and mark as “checkmark” (for okay), “X” (for no), “?” (for “idk what this bit means” / look up more on the candidate), “O” (for okay; this is my choice and fill in on practice ballot)

(.02) look them up using duckduckgo if that feels needed, NOT Google or a search engine that has search results biased toward what i’ve searched in the past. or look up questions using duckduckgo. like one judge of the superior court candidate said he’d never lost a case and i was like “uh, idk if that’s possible / responsible / misleading.” i also sometimes looked up “(name) scandals” because some of the wording or described experience sounded sketchy

• find your polling place

the order of resources i look at when learning about candidates:

(1) look at politicians' positions on votesmart.org

(2) (California only) see if they answered questions on ballotpedia.org

(3) (California only) see if there’s additional information on votersedge.org, which i haven’t fully figured out how to navigate, so i get to the relevant page by using duckduckgo to look up  “(name) votersedge.org”. and often candidates running for the same position will be listed in a list on the right too (as of summer 2022)

Ways to Live in Direct Opposition to Capitalism

I am by no means an expert in any of these things I’m gonna talk about, so keep that in mind! I am just making a compilation of things I know of that we can do to lessen the stranglehold the capitalist lifestyle has on us while enriching our lives, our surroundings, and the lives of others. Please add anything I miss or correct anything I may be getting wrong! Anyway here goes!

Use what you have, fix what’s you can, make what you can, accept from others, thrift what you can, and finally purchase as a last resort.

This is advice I have seen float around here a couple of times that can apply to a lot of things including clothing, furniture, food, and more besides. It’s meant to be done roughly in that order as it applies to what you’re wanting/needing/doing. It’s about preventing waste, promoting self-capability, having a heightened reliance on your community, and consciously rejecting the ingrained habit many of us have to just purchase things or services.

Here’s where you can read about growing an indoor garden!

Here’s where you can read about sewing things yourself!

Here’s an online site for giving and receiving items for free!

Here is where you can find a local Mutual Aid to get things from, learn skills from, give do, volunteer for, etc. (in the U.S.)

Be politically active! (from a U.S. perspective)

Vote for every election. Know your representatives and those who will be competing in the next election. Vote without ignorance and without falling for unfounded claims. While operating within the system that actively oppresses us will not bring about the future we want, it can serve as damage control (preventing worse candidates from taking office) and it can potentially create a national atmosphere more open to change.

Here’s a good article about getting more involved in the U.S. political process.

Here’s a site that will show you how to register to vote, when and where elections are held, and more!

Here’s good advice on finding protests in your city!

Here’s some readings on unionizing! It’s your legal right to unionize!

Here’s a more user friendly site for learning about unions!

Be active within your community!

Developing strong, motivated, capable, knowledgeable, and inclusive communities is the ultimate way to combat the relentless and bleak present and future. When you’ve worked on the things above and have gotten good at it (or even if you haven’t gotten good at it yet), start spreading what you know and what you can do with others!

Give your neighbors, coworkers, and friends some of the vegetables you’ve grown.

Invite your community members to volunteer events.

Talk to folks about how to vote, when you’re doing it, etc.

Take part in Mutual Aids to teach what you’ve learned or whatever you may be an expert in! Invite neighbors, friends, and coworkers when you take part in the Mutual Aid!

Accept your community. Take them for who and what they are. Discrimination is the enemy of cooperation. You have much more in common with everyone in your community than a single billionaire or corporation. We’re all passengers on this spaceship earth.

Do it one step at a time!

Obviously we can’t do all of these things at once. Do what you can when you can, and you’ll start to notice real change in your life!

Our online communities where we talk about our visions and hopes are fantastic, but they have little impact if we don’t actually get up and do the real work that change requires.

Want to be better, and keep hope for the future!

Harbor and nourish that desire to be a better person and to be the change you want to see in the world. You need to be hungry for a better future if you plan to make it through the rough times when everything feels pointless and without hope. Reach out to others when you’re down, and be someone others can lean on when their lives get hard.

That’s it! Please interact with this, spread it to others, and add your own thoughts and ideas! It’s important that we do the real work to get the change we crave!

[croc-odette]

i'm going over my ballot (kind of late) to turn in tomorrow but reminder to check out knock LA if you're looking for some advice on progressive voting in LA county or on california state/national elections. it's usually a pretty clear and curt recommendation that also serves as a little bit of gossip. this year they're highlighting which politicians have spoken up about gaza and a ceasefire. currently they are recommending barbara lee to replace feinstein's seat on the senate, which would be a big improvement.

[rhapsodomancer]

my usps daily digest has told me that my ballot for the primaries has come!!

[windrunner]

easiest election of my entire life. sadly i did not get a sticker but i’m going to console myself by looking at all of this year’s sticker contest entries and printing myself a sheet of the ones i like :^)

[cynicalclassicist]

All elections are important. You might not change your state, but you could make life a little better for some people in your area.

And of course, don't forget to vote on the big issues too!

My two cents on voting is to not forget about local stuff. You may live in a very conservative state that doesn’t amount to much on the national scale (i do) but even if you might not effect the presidential election, you still have a sway on ballot issues and local representatives.

For example, I live in Arkansas. Right now there’s an issue everyone is making a fuss over. It would require a county vote on whether or not a casino can be put there. The state has sold 4 of the 5 casino rights to out of state groups to open casinos here. You could argue it’s good for the economy but casinos suck. Poison in my opinion. I think the least they could do is require citizen approval. Not like I would want a casino in my town.

Stuff like that is important too. Always keep an eye on local issues. At least check ballotpedia.org on the issues before you vote.

[37q]

wheres ur fav place to get tea on foundations nonprofits 501c's etc

[weirdbabs]

also ballotpedia gives you way more informatation that the packets sent by the state. prop 34 is supposed to make it so that if youre receiving money from the state from MediCal then 98% of your funds has to go to direct patient care. sounds good right?

but then you look at the supporters of the prop and its the republican party and the howard jarvis taxpayers association whos against props 2 (bond for school repairs), 4 (bond for the environment to help w natural disasters), and 33 (rent control). why are these 2 for this prop? especially when it makes the MediCal rx that newsom put forward permanent. they hate newsom

well then you look at whos opposing it and its the AIDS Healthcare Foundation who say that it was made to stop them from trying to help the most vulnerable in our country get rent control, bc if it passes theyll no longer be able to make donations like they have been for props like 33 (a prop that has been on every election and has to keep fighting bc the opposition has so much money theyre putting forth)

and then you see this argument against the prop, only to scroll down and see that the top donor for prop 34 is the california apartment association to the tune of nearly 40 MILLION, which is more than double the 15.7 mill that the opposition has in total