Do Your Down-Ballot Homework

Photo by Heather Katsoulis from Western Mass, CC BY-SA 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

It’s election season and the focus is on the presidential race, but that is far from the only election that will be on the ballot. Many people will go to the poll with the idea of voting for (or against) Donald Trump or Joe Biden and not have much of an idea of who the other candidates are. I’ve been there. In the past, I’ve voted party line or for or against incumbents. At other times, I might have even voted based on name recognition from who had the most yard signs.

There is a better way.

In the internet age, it has never been easier to find information on candidates. You can put as much or as little time into research as you want, but I recommend at least familiarizing yourself with the candidates and ballot questions that you will be answering before you step into the voting booth.

Laws vary by state, but in Georgia, you can view your sample ballot by going to the My Voter Page on the Secretary of State website. There is a wealth of information here including polling locations, absentee ballot applications, and a list of your districts and precincts.

If your state doesn’t have a similar internet portal, many local news organizations have sample ballots (although these may not be exactly the same as the one you will receive). Sample ballots are often posted at polling locations as well.

Another alternative is to request an absentee ballot. If you qualify to vote absentee, you can get your ballot in advance and take your time researching the candidates before you vote.

Once you have received your sample ballot, you can go down the list of races and see all the candidates who qualify. You can then take these names to Google and do a little research.

Researching candidates is important because your vote matters a lot more in local and state races than in the presidential contest. It’s a simple matter of math. Each congressional district has approximately 761,169 people. Many of those won’t vote. Local races may only have a few hundred voters or less. It is not uncommon for local races to be decided by a single vote.

In contrast, 155 million people voted in the 2020 presidential election. Most Americans live in states where the partisan lean is so one-sided that the outcome is almost predetermined. Even if you live in a battleground state, the chances that the election will hinge on your state are low, and the odds that your vote will decide your state are nil.

So spend some time getting familiar with your local candidates. I recently voted early in the Georgia primary and went through this process, paying a little more attention than usual, because my congressman is retiring. In my red county, whoever wins the Republican primary will probably win the office, and whoever wins the office will probably be entrenched for a long time.

When I looked at my sample ballot, only three races were contested. There were five candidates vying for the congressional nomination and two judicial races with multiple candidates. In my case, it was not a long process.

I could tell you that my research started with the sample ballot. The truth is that it started earlier with campaign signs. In particular, one candidate posted signs with the phrase “Trump endorsed.” For me, that was a disqualifier. One down.

I googled the remaining candidates and found that one had already withdrawn from the race. It’s a good thing I didn’t blindly vote for him. Two down.

I looked at campaign websites for the remaining three candidates along with their accounts on the platform formerly known as Twitter and other news stories. None were especially impressive but two definitely seemed to be more MAGA-leaning and extreme than the other.

Beyond these sources, it is also possible to look at voting records and voter guides. VoteSmart.org and Ballotpedia are two excellent sources of information on candidates, especially if they have previously served in government. OpenSecrets shows who donates to campaigns. There are also a variety of interest groups that rate politicians based on their voter records. Many of these are compiled in one place on VoteSmart.

In a Georgia Republican primary in 2024, some degree of MAGA is to be expected, but some seem less enthusiastic about it than others. I had my candidate.

Local candidates are often very receptive to inquiries from voters. A couple of years ago when my old county commissioner retired, I contacted the two candidates directly with questions about several issues that concerned me. One emailed me back, but the other gave me his phone number and we had a lengthy conversation. That went a long way with me and I think he appreciated my interest as well. It also laid the groundwork for a good relationship when I need something now that he is in office.

Next, I looked at the two judicial races. In Georgia, judicial races are nonpartisan so you don’t even have the (R) or (D) behind the name as a hint to what the candidate stands for. You can google names to find campaign websites and news articles about the candidates. At least, you can find out about the candidate’s legal background. I also recommend googling a candidate’s name combined with the phrase “judicial philosophy” to get an idea of how they would decide cases.

In my case, I got an idea of which party each candidate was aligned with. In the Supreme Court race, this wasn’t hard since one candidate was appointed by the current Republican governor while the other is a former Democratic congressman. Partisan leanings may make a difference in this unusually hot judicial race due to the looming abortion question.

In the second judicial race, this one for the Court of Appeals, partisan lean was inferred by voter records that detailed which partisan primary each candidate had obtained a ballot for in past elections. (This is public information but how a person voted in the primary is still a secret). Partisan lean makes a lot less difference to me now than it used to, but it at least gives some idea of where candidates stand on the issues.

In the Court of Appeals race, one bit of relevant information that I uncovered was that one of the candidates apparently does not live in Georgia. The candidate said he maintained a legal residence in Georgia despite spending what the Atlanta Journal called “a significant amount of time” at a home in another state. Information like this may not decide your vote, but it’s at least nice to know.

Finally, there are ballot questions. Merrie Soltis recently described the nonbinding partisan ballot questions that the Republican Party placed on this year’s primary ballot. (POP QUIZ: Where can you find the Democratic questions? Answer: On the Democratic primary sample ballot on your My Voter Page.) Georgia also often has a slew of proposed constitutional amendments. My default position on these is “no,” but it’s nice to have some idea of what the question is about before you vote on it. Interest groups will sometimes post articles that explain proposed amendments and how they recommend that you vote. Again, the internet is your friend.

Your vote matters in down-ballot races more than in the presidential election. Don’t treat them as an afterthought. Take a few minutes to educate yourself about the candidates and what they stand for. Americans have a right to vote. We also have a duty to vote in an informed way.

And when in doubt, vote against anyone who is “Trump endorsed.”