First-class voters

Usually when things are made too easy for us we begin to take
them for granted or award less value to them. It’s just part of the
human condition, we guess.
It happens with lots of things, from best friends who are always
there to help, to small appliances that always turn on when needed.
It even happens to our freedoms, responsibilities and civic
pledges.
Take voting for example. Some of us are old enough to remember
having to register and re-register to vote almost every other year.
Older times called for a special trip and a few hours off from work
to travel to the local polling place. After signing in, we were led
to a curtained booth where we pulled selected levers and locked in
our vote.
Back then, we could feel the “weight” of our votes as they were
clicked and counted by the machine. Today, we can casually cast our
votes from home, dropping the pre-addressed mail-only ballots in
the mail box. Once registered, voters today are all but
set-for-life to get mailed ballots sent to them in every election
year.
We’d say that voting has become too easy, except that many of us
still lack appreciation and a sense of civic duty to put more
thought and conviction in our little pencil marks on each year’s
ballot.
Newspaper readers, we believe, make the best voters so this
editorial may not be pointed at the audience most in need of civic
encouragement. Keeping up with the local issues, candidate’s
debates and front page profiles is important, but there’s much more
first-class voters can do to cast intelligent and decisive
votes.
All the thousands of mail-only and absentee ballots were mailed
by the county’s Registrar of Voters almost two weeks ago. More than
two-in-three Sonoma County voters now vote by mail. But to vote too
soon can lead to less-informed decisions. Voting before ongoing
candidates’ forums, public debates, final campaign statements and
possible last-minute surprises, can leave early voters short on
vital information.
On the other hand, early voters can ignore all the “half
truths,” negative hit pieces and other deceptions that mark nearly
all campaigns these days. Some of the worst of these offer voters
counterfeit or misleading “guides” and expert polling research. One
of these suggests voters only vote for a single candidate in a
multiple-seat race, to ensure higher odds for a top choice. This
advice actually takes the right to choose and the full authority of
all cast ballots away from some voters.
First-class voters think for themselves. Besides reading
newspapers, they actually read the sample ballots and Voter Guide
prepared by the Secretary of State and Sonoma County Registrar of
Voters offices. These publications include a self-written
candidate’s statement by every state and local candidate in all
races, from governor to local fire district seats.
Also included is the full text of state propositions and local
bond, parcel tax and proposed fee measures. Objective fiscal
summaries are included on each proposition, prepared by the county
counsel or tax collector or by the state’s Legislative Analyst
Office.
Yes, it’s a lot of reading and it requires thinking. It’s a good
idea to share views among other voters and to always listen with a
sense of healthy skepticism. The League of Women Voters’ “Smart
Voter” materials and web site is an excellent source of informed
and mostly objective information and recommendations.
(www.smartvoter.org.)
There are many other printed and electronic voter’s guides and
information. But a smart voter’s best resource and research might
be found talking among friends and with the people actually seeking
your vote.
Or would that take too much effort?
— Rollie Atkinson