Vote Niche

Archive for February, 2008

Every grade school student has heard them. Every high school student has used them. Every journalist has them burned into their brains.

5 little words.

Who?
What?
Where?
When?
Why?

When election day comes, will you have the answers? Do you even understand the questions?

Who?

Who are you voting for? This is a tricky question. Almost everyone will rattle off the name of a candidate or two that they’re going to cast a vote for. But do you know who that person really is? Have you looked past the political ads and the campaign hype? Have you tried to see how this person acts when <i>not</i> in the spotlight?

The other version of the question is “who are you going to vote for… and who are you going to ignore?”  The average ballot has dozens of races listed on it.  Which ones will you actually cast a vote in?  Will you vote for a President, but not mayor?  Will you vote for the school board, but not the senate?

What?

What will you be voting for?  What issues are important to you?  What values do you demand from an elected official?  What is it you stand for and how will your vote reflect that? When you run into a conflict–you’re for a candidate on some issues, but against him on others–which ones take precedence?  What are you willing to sacrifice and what are you not?

What will you be voting for?  The person, the party, or the issues they represent?  If your party nominated a person with whom you don’t agree, would they still get your vote?  If the person you support was a member of a party you oppose, would they still get your vote?

Where?

This may seem like a silly question, but where are you going to vote? (Citizens of Oregon aren’t included in this, since they get to vote from the comfort of their homes).  In the last 2 national elections, there were many stories of people being unable to vote because the polling stations had moved–or the polls had stayed put but the district boundaries had moved.   If you’re going out to vote, make sure you’re going to the right place.

When?

Are you an early bird?  Do you like to get out and vote right away in the morning?  Do you run over during lunch? Or do you wait until after work?  Do the news reports of who’s ahead and who’s behind affect how you vote?

Why?

That’s the big question, isn’t it?  Why are you going to vote?  Or… why <i>aren’t</i> you going to vote?  Why are you going to vote the way you do?  Why do you support the candidates or issues you do?

The answers to this last question aren’t as important as whether or not you <i>have</i> answers.    You have 9 months until the general election.  Take some time and ask yourself some questions.

One of the failings of our current political landscape isn’t the system, it’s the voters–and as a reflection–the candidates.

When discussing political candidates–especially on a national level–the pundits will comment that “Mr. Mendoza, of course, has locked up the Hispanic vote” or “Representative Jones has, of course, locked up the African American vote” or “Ms. O’Hara has, of course, locked up the women’s vote”.

Why “of course”? Why this assumption that a candidate has locked up and entire block of votes? Why this assumption that any group which is identified solely by ethnicity or gender will all vote the same way? Choose any group based solely on a physical or environmental characteristic, and you will find a spectrum of ideologies ranging from liberal to conservative, extreme to moderate. No group speaks with a single voice.

So why do the candidates speak to the groups rather than to the people? Because too many of us are ignoring our ideals and our ideologies and voting for the mirror. People mistake faces for favoritism. “The candidate <i>looks</i> like me, therefore the candidate must want the same things I do.” It’s a foolish and dangerous assumption.

It’s somewhat ironic that back in the days when all the candidates looked alike (wealthy white men), the voters took more time to investigate where the candidates stood and what they planned to do. Now, when the pool of candidates is finally starting to reflect the look and background of the electorate, those same voters are more concerned with the color of a candidate’s skin than what she has to say.

The next 9 months will be filled with campaigns and elections; caucuses and primaries; April elections and November elections; local, state, and national ballots to be cast. You’ll be deciding who gets to choose the textbooks for your 1st grade classes, and who gets to choose the justices for the Supreme Court. Choose them because you believe in them. Choose them because they will help you. Choose them because you see in them the promise of a better country for you, your neighbors, and your children.

Don’t choose them because they look like you. You may find out that the mirror is twisted.