I’ve never heard of these candidates, they have no party affiliation, and there’s almost no information about them online that I can find.
Are those positions just for people who work closely with those departments to vote on?
I know it’s still online, but I’m not sure if you’ve done this already. I personally join community groups on Facebook and see how they interact with people. It’s been quite telling.
Campaign materials and newspaper articles. In the US, it’s pretty rare even for small communities, not to find at least some of this information online.
What I can find all say seem to say more or less the same things about every candidate.
Do they have the exact same amount of experience as well?
Like, even if their platforms are the same, they probably have different backgrounds and accomplishments.
Everyone else gave good advice. Also, if you have a group you support, like the ACLU or the EFF, they often have recommendations.
This. The League of Women Voters is really good at doing summaries about candidate positions. And while they obviously have an agenda, they tend to be pretty level-headed about their analyses, and avoid rhetoric.
Of course they have agenda. Thay aren’t called “The League of Nonbinary Voters”.
This works particularly well if you’re mostly a single issue voter. If you’re about the environment above all else, for instance, the Sierra Club’s recommendations are pretty solid. If it’s guns, guns and only guns, the NRA is your group.
For small local races you might have to do some homework yourself though, Sierra Club doesn’t always discuss who is running for your local school board.
They’ll usually have a website and other online presences that’ll let you get a sense for what they stand for. If its a really, really small community, maybe just send them an email or phone call and ask them.
I have a policy of not voting for anyone who hasn’t talked to me in person
I research the name of the candidates and do research on them. Sometimes I’m left only between an R and and D so I guess I just pick D since I have no other choice. When I get multiple D then I check the campaign page, ballotpedia, wiki to see what they stand for.
Judges also the same way, although they’re a little trickier since they try not to side with any one party but some stuff may give them away you kinda just have to check their entire background.
OP:
there’s almost no information about them online that I can find.
Response:
I research the name of the candidates and do research on them
I guess at that point, they must’ve done a shit job at campaigning. Vote for one with a D I guess
My strategy is to vote for the party I disagree least with.
OP said the people running are unaffiliated.
In my neck of the literal woods this has become an incredibly simplistic exercise. It used to be that I’d take the time to research their positions on specific issues… sometime even calling them up and asking questions. What party they belonged to was not always a reliable indicator of this so it was worth taking the time. But these days, where I live, we’re lucky to get even one candidate who is not a mouth breathing MAGA cult member.
So I just look up their voter registration and political contributions.
Same issues in my neck of the woods. Since they all feel the same why I tend to pick the ones that at least talk to (some) residents.
Have you considered talking to them? Yeah it might take time but depending on how local, they’d probably love to meet for coffee or something.
It’s really hard to tell, without living in your area, and knowing where they will debate. I’d say thats the first stop, is any debate they have. If they have no party, and have no debates, and have no info online, then it almost seems like it’s intentionally confusing.
If I were running for government, I’d be on the mountain tops yelling my positions. I’d be at every debate.
I’d be on your streets, figuring out what to do. Talking with the people. Seeing what public opinion is. Finding out where the local problems are.
If none of that is happening, I would write to both your candidates by hand delivered usps mail, asking why their motivation is to encourage voter apathy.
If I don’t know, and can’t figure out who you are, or what you stand for, or what your beliefs are, why the hell am I voting for you??? It’s the same reason I shoot down the idea that Dwayne THE ROCK Johnson should be president. I have no idea what his beliefs or stance on anything is. Part of that is the fact that he’s not a politician, nor has he ever hinted at it to my knowledge. He has no reason to state his political standings, and that’s fine. He’s NOT on any ballot. If people write him in, it was never his responsibility to live up to their expectations. Yet, I still people online saying him, and snoop dogg.
THEY don’t have any responsibility to tell you their beliefs, as despite being celebrities they are still just average citizens…but actively running local politicians do. If they can’t tell you what their vision for their terms in office are, then what the hell are you even voting for? May as well just post pictures of your pets and get votes for cute dogs, but /c/aww exists for that.
I look up the candidates/parties on their respective web sites and check out their positions.
Amazing, I know.
Did you read the post? They said there is no affiliation and minimum info online
Have you tried contacting them with questions about issues that concern you?
The League of Women Voters in your area will usually have in-depth info on candidates and issue on your ballot.
Different countries have different sources of information about candidates.
I don’t live in the US but absorb quite a lot of political media from there. Number 1 rule is not to back Republicans, especially if you can’t find much information on them. There are Republicans up and down the ballot who are trying to implement a Christian Nationalist agenda, many of them on the down-low, and if you have no evidence either way it’s better to assume they are.
Next step is to google/bing/ddg the ones you’re considering and see what you can dig up on them and their opinions. Do they have a history of unsavoury social media posts? Do they go to church? Who is their pastor? What do they stand for? Are they incumbent, or have they previously held office? What did they say / vote for before?
Thank you for taking an interest in local and down-ballot races. Your participation is vital to keep fascists and lunatics out of school boards and sherrif’s offices.
This last election, I googled the candidates and voted for the ones that hadn’t tried to ban books at the local library.
I applaud OP for making an effort to get involved locally but can sympathize with their struggles. Local government elections typically have a more new candidates that don’t have a track record of experience to go back on. Additionally, there are a handful of boilerplate campaign promises that you’ll see over and over again (smart spending, lower taxes, etc). I’ve personally found some success with the following approaches:
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Even if you don’t get a ton of info from the candidate themselves, it’s still worth it looking at their website and seeing what they choose to make the centerpiece of their campaign.
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Look up your local Democratic and Republican Party websites and see who they endorse. Often, even if a candidate is unaffiliated, the local political parties will have some insight as to who THEY would prefer. That tells you something too.
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Try to attend local government events. You’ll learn a TON by attending a city council or school board meeting. In my local area, I’ve seen representatives half asleep or reading newspapers during discussions. At the very least, look at who takes the position seriously. Additionally, try to see who is asking smart questions, and conveys that they understand the subject matters well.
I think we should be encouraging more people for get involved locally. That’s how grassroots efforts turn into more options nationally.
I really like #3. Yes, it’s going to take more work than just searching them online but, they’re right, you will learn a lot just by seeing how involved/passionate the candidate is to actually make change for the good of others even if you disagree with some of their policies. At least you can sleep at night knowing they actually give a crap.
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