What resources do you use to evaluate candidates in local elections?

[Ginevra]

This is not a political discussion. 
 

There was recently a small scandal involving the police department and a couple of local govt people. I knew about this only because attorneys I work for and with discussed the fallout. I am not registered for the party they were discussing so it didn’t matter (in the sense that none of those people appear on my ballot in my closed-primary state). But I would bet anything most people in this county registered for that party do not know about this thing that happened which smacks of cronyism and corruption. 
 

I now believe it is important to know who you’re voting for, even if you’re voting for something you may have thought trivial in past. (Board of Education springs to mind immediately, as the political philosophy of those officials could never have been more evident than during COVID, and now, there is book banning that needs to be considered.) 

So. With all that said, are there good go-to sources you use to find out what a politician really believes and stands for? I have used Ballotopedia; I do like that voting record (say, for a House member) are listed. It seems pretty decent and non-partisan. But are there others? 
 

Please Do Not Discuss Political Parties or Named Candidates here. Thanks. 

[CTVKath]

Ballotpedia is the only one I know of. I just do a Google search of each person's name and what they are running for or their running mates. It's tedious but helps.

[El...]

This is tough.

I Google and use the "news" tab, which sometimes shows local news articles about the candidate. Local papers cover the "smaller" scandals more often. I read their Facebook pages, both official and personal if it's not locked down, which of course is mostly positive but can help me understand their positions and personality. I look over their website, if they made one. Oh! Wikipedia actually helped me this time, too (scandal verified elsewhere, of course).

Some people self-eliminate easily.

[MEmama]

Ummm…mostly my neighbors' yard signs 🤣 

In the rare race my preferred choice isn’t clear, bollotpedia is my go to. But it’s usually obvious in my area. 

[Katy]

Local newspapers have the best information IME. 

[elegantlion]

 I use ballotpedia and commentary from friends who are more active in politics. I also google and check facebook pages. I also scrutinize any mailings we get to see if they really say anything at all in the text. I also try to see what groups are supporting this candidate. Our city also just restarted their League of Women Voters branch (non-partisan), so hopefully that will help information become more accessible. 

[ktgrok]

1 hour ago, CTVKath said:

Ballotpedia is the only one I know of. I just do a Google search of each person's name and what they are running for or their running mates. It's tedious but helps.

Yup. I google, find articles in the local small newspapers, and ask friends. For judges, which are elected here, I ask my attorney friends. For school board I google, but also ask my sister, who is a principal in a school if she has any thoughts on any of the candidates. 

[kirstenhill]

If there's a race I'm especially interested in, I try and watch a video of local candidate forums.  Here there are local organizations that often have a public q and a forum or sometimes a debate for local races like mayor, city council, school board. 

I'll also try to read newspaper articles profiling candidates or talking about the main issues in the race. 

The one thing that is harder to find info about is judges.  I usually vote for the incumbent unless there seems to be a lot of buzz about a certain race, in which case I might Google it or ask around.  

[klmama]

The League of Women Voters website usually has info on the candidates.  There's a free monthly newspaper for our part of the city that often includes info on local candidates, as well.  Neither source tends to talk about concerns with the candidates, though.  For that, I find the best sources of info are a local talk radio program and some local blogs.  

ETA:  I've also found good info by watching candidate forums on public TV.  It's sometimes quite shocking to see the difference between candidates in the same party who hold the same general views on issues, but the well-connected one with all the endorsements can't speak coherently or answer simple questions, while the other is brilliant and personable with clear vision for how to improve the city's problems.  You don't see that on the regular news, which always endorses the well-connected candidates and barely mentions the others.  Hopefully, your city will have better news coverage than ours does.

Edited July 15, 2022 by klmama

[4kidlets4me]

Our county sends out a voter pamphlet for every election. Do other places not do this? It lists every candidate, all their info including websites if they have one, elected experience, education, community service and a statement from the candidate. We also have a local paper that does an in depth analysis of each candidate with recommendations. In addition to that I read the mailers they send out for info including what groups are endorsing that person. If I still have questions after all that I consult their websites, ballotpedia, google etc. 

[shawthorne44]

For the local, local elections living in a small town is a huge benefit.   I can talk to the friends I run into around town for first-level info, and the mayor, that I like, for the second-level info.  For less local, that is tough.  When I was first voting, I liked the LWV materials, but not anymore.  

[KrissiK]

1) I talk to people I know.

2) I have gone to a candidate meet-and-greet before, I also went to a debate between candidates for District Attorney.

3) our local talk radio station often invites candidates of any political party to come on the air and introduce themselves and talk about issues. It’s not a debate, just letting candidates get out there and talk about themselves. The host just asks a set of questions and lets the candidate answer.

4) I go to their website

5) I check out their endorsements

It’s not easy. I had a real tough time in the primaries this year.

Edited July 15, 2022 by KrissiK

[Ting Tang]

This is a great question.  I honestly do not know where to look for information about potential school board members.  All I know is that they seem to all know each other and have been running the school into the hole for years.  On the other hand, I don't think many people want that responsibility.  The school no longer has a Facebook page.  It did have a "scandal" this past school year.  A few of their terms end in 2023, others in 2025.

[Guest]

1 hour ago, Ting Tang said:

This is a great question.  I honestly do not know where to look for information about potential school board members.  All I know is that they seem to all know each other and have been running the school into the hole for years.  On the other hand, I don't think many people want that responsibility.  The school no longer has a Facebook page.  It did have a "scandal" this past school year.  A few of their terms end in 2023, others in 2025.

For school board, I actually found out who *NOT* to vote for based on FB information on what their positions were about masks/vaccines/pride flag. Then I was able to confirm that view by the page of a teacher whom I know has compatible views with mine. 

[Guest]

2 hours ago, 4kidlets4me said:

Our county sends out a voter pamphlet for every election. Do other places not do this? It lists every candidate, all their info including websites if they have one, elected experience, education, community service and a statement from the candidate. We also have a local paper that does an in depth analysis of each candidate with recommendations. In addition to that I read the mailers they send out for info including what groups are endorsing that person. If I still have questions after all that I consult their websites, ballotpedia, google etc. 

No, unfortunately. It does seem to me there was something like that in 2020, for the General Election, because an unusually large number of people were voting absentee. But for local races I rely more on promo mailings that come to my house, giving their policy positions. But of course that is not neutral and this doesn’t help me know if there is a problem with that candidate. 
 

I was able to see a rather short debate on my local news app with the gubernatorial candidates. That did help me to fine-tune who I was leaning towards 

[Ting Tang]

17 minutes ago, Quill said:

For school board, I actually found out who *NOT* to vote for based on FB information on what their positions were about masks/vaccines/pride flag. Then I was able to confirm that view by the page of a teacher whom I know has compatible views with mine. 

Some of the people don't even have Facebook, but I do read the minutes when they bother to post them and know I disagree with all of them, lol.  Many teachers want them all gone.  But around here, it would be difficult to find anyone better or different.  They are not well-educated, so maybe that is why they do not care the school ranks near the bottom of all Illinois schools.  If someone did run who was better, I'd be willing to support them.  My husband said for now, just don't vote for any of them.   I honestly do not know why schools are allowed to keep failing for years and years...  School boards should be held accountable.  

[rebcoola]

Honestly I mostly listen to conversations among friends and people in town and vote for whoever is pissing  off qanon people.

[Corraleno]

Oregon has universal mail-in voting, and we also get a printed booklet that includes position statements, experience, comments and endorsements, etc. for each candidate, plus a thorough description of each ballot measure with multiple pro/con statements from different people and organizations. So for each election I sit down with the booklet and mark my ballot as I read through it, then just pop it in the drop box outside the library at my convenience (we have ~3 weeks after ballots are mailed to return them.) 

[Lady Florida.]

The League of Women Voters, Ballotopedia, like minded friends and family.

[Elizabeth86]

I’m no help, but small town life is key. Everybody knows every damn thing about everybody. 🤣

[Dmmetler]

the local library maintains a page with webpage, social media, etc for each candidate. 

[Guest]

43 minutes ago, Corraleno said:

Oregon has universal mail-in voting, and we also get a printed booklet that includes position statements, experience, comments and endorsements, etc. for each candidate, plus a thorough description of each ballot measure with multiple pro/con statements from different people and organizations. So for each election I sit down with the booklet and mark my ballot as I read through it, then just pop it in the drop box outside the library at my convenience (we have ~3 weeks after ballots are mailed to return them.) 

I wish I had that. We do have very convenient early voting and drop boxes since true pandemic, if not a bit earlier than that. I was able to swing by a drop box yesterday just five minutes from my office. But so far no helpful educated voter guides. 

[kbutton]

Our super local elections are lucky to get even small mentions anywhere, so, I basically don't. I can't even always find a candidate website. Our politics has gone all loyal one direction (never had much diversity), and alternate candidates are usually more extreme and harder to find information about. One major party often has no one running locally. It's a total pain, and I leave a lot of things blank that I would like to be able to vote on more confidently. 

[kbutton]

48 minutes ago, Corraleno said:

Oregon has universal mail-in voting, and we also get a printed booklet that includes position statements, experience, comments and endorsements, etc. for each candidate, plus a thorough description of each ballot measure with multiple pro/con statements from different people and organizations. So for each election I sit down with the booklet and mark my ballot as I read through it, then just pop it in the drop box outside the library at my convenience (we have ~3 weeks after ballots are mailed to return them.) 

That's awesome!

[Loowit]

We get a Voter's Pamphlet to look through, but that only helps if the candidate bothers to fill out information.  A lot of times for races that are hotly contested, there is a lot of talk (helpful and not so helpful) on the local facebook "news" source.  Also, talking to family/friends.  Candidates will often hold meet and greets, which we are skipping because of covid right now.

Recently some candidates were going door to door campaigning.  I happened to be out front weeding when some came by and talked to them for a while.  One of the candidates I have known for many years, and it was actually helpful to talk to him.  He is an incumbent with two challengers, and it was interesting to get his take on it.

Also, local party precincts will hold debates if there are several people running who identify under a particular party.  So people are free to go to those and listen, or I believe they also broadcast them on the local television station.

Many candidates have websites and other social media that can be found by doing a google search.

[rebcoola]

1 hour ago, Corraleno said:

Oregon has universal mail-in voting, and we also get a printed booklet that includes position statements, experience, comments and endorsements, etc. for each candidate, plus a thorough description of each ballot measure with multiple pro/con statements from different people and organizations. So for each election I sit down with the booklet and mark my ballot as I read through it, then just pop it in the drop box outside the library at my convenience (we have ~3 weeks after ballots are mailed to return them.) 

Oh yes Washington has that to and I do read through it. 

[Clarita]

Ballotpedia and then I look up their sources sometimes. Otherwise, I've gone to candidate meet and greets. I also look at candidates websites, it's all political speak but you can still see some things you agree or disagree with (especially the local stuff). 

Statewide or Federal things I vote but I don't try as hard because, where I live it's usually pretty determined. (Only speaking to voting for people not propositions.)

[ktgrok]

2 hours ago, Corraleno said:

Oregon has universal mail-in voting, and we also get a printed booklet that includes position statements, experience, comments and endorsements, etc. for each candidate, plus a thorough description of each ballot measure with multiple pro/con statements from different people and organizations. So for each election I sit down with the booklet and mark my ballot as I read through it, then just pop it in the drop box outside the library at my convenience (we have ~3 weeks after ballots are mailed to return them.) 

That's so cool! I've often wished that the ONLY information on candidates was this kind of thing, plus a basic website they get to fill out on a government run site. That's it. 

All the money that goes into TV ads and billboards and crap would no longer be needed or allowed - just a simple booklet that they get to put their answers to a set of questions in, and listing their platform, with a link to their website. DONE. 

The amount of money spent trying to buy elections with for profit propaganda sickens me. People with no where to live, kids with no food, and we spend millions or billions of dollars on mailers that are the paper equivalent of bathroom wall graffiti insults and TV ads that are even worse. 

[Resilient]

I find someone I trust who knows what the heck is going on, whose views I share, and I do what they tell me.

[Carrie12345]

Where I am right now, most candidates have been involved for years, whether in the same or various positions, so there’s history to look at.  Putting their name into Facebook and reading what others say outside of pages the candidate controls helps, too.

[AngieW in Texas]

Judges and justices are hard to find information for unless they make a name for themselves like Aaron Persky (judge who gave super lenient sentence to Brock Turner because he was an athlete) or Jean Boyd (judge who gave Ethan Boyd a super light sentence because of "affluenza"). I do my best to get what information I can.

I teach forensics, so I do make sure that my students know how important the district attorney and all judge and justice positions are. In my state, the justice of the peace is also in charge of death investigations if there isn't a medical examiner (my county has a JP acting as coroner). The only requirements for this position are that you are at least 18yo, a Texas resident for at least 6 months, a registered voter, and win the election. You don't even have to have a high school diploma or GED.