This year's election season has received a lot of attention. We have a former President who didn't win a second term trying again and the current Vice President who nobody voted for in the primaries. While your Presidential vote is very important, there are also a lot of other races that can use your input. I have been eagerly awaiting casting my choices this year and so when my mail-in ballot arrived today, I immediately opened it and scanned through all of my choices.
I carefully read the choices for the President/Vice-President race and had to chuckle at one entry. Here in Utah, there is a candidate named "Lucifer 'Justin Case' Everylove". When you read the name aloud, the whole Just-in-Case should elicit a giggle or two. I don't plan to vote for him but I did take the chance to look him up to see if he is for real. He is and is from New Hampshire. I think he only made it onto Utah's ballot but you have to give him props for being there. That being said, please don't waste your vote on a novelty candidate. I selected my candidate of choice and then moved onto everything else.
Naturally there are a number of races where I already knew who I would vote for and filled those in quickly. Then I came to a number of the lesser-known options. Who should I vote for when it comes to county assessor? If you want to take the easy way out, you can vote along party lines. Unfortunately you might not be making the best choice. I actually took the time to look up all the candidates and make sure I voted for people who share my same values. It added a few minutes to the voting process but know I know my picks are really who I want to see elected.
The next section of my ballot listed out Judges. While Utah judges are not elected, we have the right to vote if they should remain judges or be removed. The ballot even provided a website to visit with basic information about each judge. I reviewed the information and decided that 3 of the 11 or so judges should be removed. Each judge met the minimum quality requirements set forth by the State of Utah but 3 of them could use some improvement. I hope others in Utah spent as much time researching. People may disagree with my choices but at least their choices are also informed.
The second-to-last section dealt with taxes and I have some very strong opinions on those. I made my choices accordingly and then looked at the final section which talks about amendments to our State Constitution. Interestingly enough, 2 of the 4 amendments have been eliminated so that no matter how I vote, it won't matter. I looked up the other 2 and discovered the reasoning behind them. More importantly I discovered that not one single group is opposed to them. To me, that seems pretty intuitive as to how I should vote. It also helps that I agree with them as well. Understanding why they are being proposed helped as I made my choice too.
I have to admit that I have done more research for this election than any in the past. Normally I just ask my wife as she is the Political Science major. I encourage you to take extra time as you vote this year to make sure you are choosing representatives that align with your values. You may not think your vote counts but it definitely does for some of the smaller races in this election cycle. Should you live in a swing state like Pennsylvania, it definitely counts for the Presidential election too.
