You can see it in the eyes of the people you pass on the street, frantically darting to and fro searching headlines for substance and meaning. You can hear it in the screaming of various pundits and sense it in the glares Bob is giving Ted over the cubicle walls. Voting season is upon us.
Actually, it's right on top of us, since we vote tomorrow. But what is a voter who put off getting informed to the last minute to do? Tax policy? Social Security? ObamaRomaCare!? It's all too much!
Never fear, my friends, JAC has the answer. I present to you three websites guaranteed to transform you from a non-informed lout to an in-the-know Super Citizen in 20 minutes or less, or your money back! All three are non-profit, non-partisan resources.
First, to find out what's actually on the ballot we go to Vote411.org. This handy website lets you put in your address and will pop out with your polling place and a sample ballot, complete with your candidates for President, Senate, & House, as well as any other issues that have been brought up for you to decide (For example, Virginia has two Constitutional Amendments on the table, one on eminent domain, the other on GA session timing). On the larger races it may even be able to give you stances on each candidate.
Now that you have a quick & dirty look at what you're deciding, and having spent 3 minutes of your 20, it's time you look at the candidates themselves. For this, I recommend either OnTheIssues or Project VoteSmart (I prefer OnTheIssues). This will give you a blow by blow, issue by issue look at almost any candidate you care to investigate. You can go for the full monty and compare every candidate in every race on every issue. Of course, you can always wimp out and grab four or five issues that are important to you (Budget, Economy, Abortion, etc), and compare those. Spend 5 minutes on each race and you've still got 2 minutes to spare in case you get distracted by the LOLcat video your friend sent you while you were doing your civic duty.
Presto! You are now an informed, productive member of our voting system. Congratulations!
Actually, it's right on top of us, since we vote tomorrow. But what is a voter who put off getting informed to the last minute to do? Tax policy? Social Security? ObamaRomaCare!? It's all too much!
Never fear, my friends, JAC has the answer. I present to you three websites guaranteed to transform you from a non-informed lout to an in-the-know Super Citizen in 20 minutes or less, or your money back! All three are non-profit, non-partisan resources.
First, to find out what's actually on the ballot we go to Vote411.org. This handy website lets you put in your address and will pop out with your polling place and a sample ballot, complete with your candidates for President, Senate, & House, as well as any other issues that have been brought up for you to decide (For example, Virginia has two Constitutional Amendments on the table, one on eminent domain, the other on GA session timing). On the larger races it may even be able to give you stances on each candidate.
Now that you have a quick & dirty look at what you're deciding, and having spent 3 minutes of your 20, it's time you look at the candidates themselves. For this, I recommend either OnTheIssues or Project VoteSmart (I prefer OnTheIssues). This will give you a blow by blow, issue by issue look at almost any candidate you care to investigate. You can go for the full monty and compare every candidate in every race on every issue. Of course, you can always wimp out and grab four or five issues that are important to you (Budget, Economy, Abortion, etc), and compare those. Spend 5 minutes on each race and you've still got 2 minutes to spare in case you get distracted by the LOLcat video your friend sent you while you were doing your civic duty.
Presto! You are now an informed, productive member of our voting system. Congratulations!
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