October 29, 2004

Curious George - (US) politics (non-presidential) I apologize for starting a politics thread, but I'm kinda desperate. I'm trying to fully prepare for the election day, but all the info I can find regarding my ballot only concerns the presidential race.

One example: I'd like to find some poll numbers on the senate race, to find out if it's safe to give my vote to a third party candidate without putting the race in jeopardy. There's so much political clutter on the internets right now that its hard to sort through the junk, and I haven't been able to google much useful, besides a poorly done homepage for the libertarian senate candidate (a Hawaiian Sovereigntist, which I'd like to support). I'm hoping that one or two monkeys frequent some political website that has some links to what I'm looking for. Ideally, I'd like to find a couple comprehensive websites, that include poll numbers, but also include brief rundowns on all candidates (at all levels), and what the proponents and opponents say about each ammendment issue. A site that has a state-for-state rundown would be the most ideal, so I could send links back home. I guess what I'm asking is for monkeys to dogpile their greatest political links into this thread.

posted by Mr. Knickerbocker 20 years ago
  • One suggestion is to search the webpage of your state newspaper(s). Obvious, I know, but I figured it was worth mentioning in case you'd overlooked it. Another is having a "proposition party" (which is much less suggestive than it sounds.) When we lived in California, my wife and I invited a bunch of friends over and asked each one to research one specific ballot initiative and give a 5-minute presentation on the pros and cons of it. People really got into it--one of my friends, who is a talented amateur cartoonist, even gave an illustrated talk! We all left the evening feeling much better informed. I realize you don't have a lot of time before the election, but if you could get (say) 10 friends to agree to meet on Monday night, I bet they'd each be willing to spend an hour or two over the weekend, each researching one specific question--by searching the web; or by going to the local library and getting a librarian to help find the info in a local paper; or by calling up advocacy groups on both sides of the issue and asking to talk to a volunteer. If 10 of you did this, each of you would effectively get the fruits of 10-20 hours of research for only 1-2 hours of effort. I know that doesn't exactly answer your question, but I thought it might be a helpful suggestion if you can't find the general political info you'd like.
  • Mr. Knickerbocker, I had a similar problem. I found the information I was looking for on my state's public broadcasting website. Here's the PBS Hawaii site, but at a glance, it doesn't look that helpful. I guess your best bet is to check out all the newspapers on Monday. My local paper used to give a rundown of the candidates and show a sample ballot the day before the election. I hope this helps.
  • Personally, I wouldn't trust the poll numbers. I don't think they're going to do a good job of accurately predicting what people will vote. However, I can provide you with Voter Punch, which lists all the congressmen and how they voted on a various issues and types of issues. This one has a "progressive" slant, but you can ignore all that if you want. Also, Electoral Vote has a bunch of other things besides current polls in map format. For example, they have Senate Races, in states where the senate races are going to be close, as they claim. My advice is, find out who you want to vote for based on their voting record, if it's the incumbent, or whatever other information you can find, then vote for that person. If you hate someone, and want to make sure they lose, then vote for the next likely winner that you think will be acceptable. The nice thing about the House races is that they're every two years, so if you decide you've made a mistake, you can vote with your best candidate in 2006. Senate races, well, that's a bit of a longer term, so you'll want to do some hard thinking and go with your conscience on that one.
  • Thanks for the suggestions, jacobw. I'm pretty comfortable with the ammendments, actually. The main thing I need to find out is how close a race it is for the house and senate seats. I'm one of the only hawai'i monkeys, if not the only one. I know nobody is going to have hawai'i specific information for me, but I figured a couple people would have some links to some political heavy sites, and that I could surf from there until I found the info I'm looking for. Plus that way, other people get something out of the thread, too. I did discover that the third party candidate for the house, Elyssa Young, is actually Erin O'Bryn, a local courtesan and porn star. Some of her stances haven't been filled in yet, but the ones listed follow my views, and I'm sure the ones not filed in do too. (ex: I don't think she'd list something like the Patriot Act as an issue unless she was against it.) Plus I love the idea of putting a prostitute in the House. I'll call the listed phone number tomorrow to find out some more of her stances.
  • Thanks, TSH, I'm not waiting til monday, though. I plan on doing a walk-in absentee in about twelve hours. When I was there, wednesday, they said I had til today to walk-in and absentee vote. The place was packed, and I'm sure tuesday will be hectic, plus with schoool and all. That third link was very helpful Sandspider. I was pretty sure Inouye had a massive lead, but I couldn't find any comformation. Now I'll feel comfortable voting for the Hawaiian Sovereignist, without having to worry that the Rep might get the seat. Now if I can find the same for the House ticket, I'll be pretty set.
  • Even if you're not woman, I find the League of Women Voters website informative and unbiased - although I don't think it has polling data.