Non-political voting question

Clover29 · ‎03-09-2010

If you don't have kids, do you vote for school board members?

We don't have kids. I have no idea who any of these people are on our ballot. Their bios say how much they want to improve local education, but without any clues as to how they plan to do that. There's no party affiliation, or endorsements to give me an idea of their ideology.

I feel like I'd be voting blind, randomly. I want to leave it to people who know what they're doing.

Last time I voted, there were only two candidates and they were obviously "left" and "right". This time, I have a slew of names and have to choose about half of them.

Should I just leave well alone?

(I suppose it is political, technically, but I'm not discussing actual party politics, just whether to vote for someone in what is a non-partisan contest, not whether to vote for one side or the other.)

Goldengate8361 · ‎01-27-2014

You could always read about the candidates prior to voting so that you could make an informed decision. The fact that you don't have children is 100% irrelevant. Everyone should assume their civic responsibility and vote.

Clover29 · ‎03-09-2010

On 10/5/2014 Goldengate8361 said: You could always read about the candidates prior to voting so that you could make an informed decision. The fact that you don't have children is 100% irrelevant. Everyone should assume their civic responsibility and vote.

I have read everything there is about the candidates. Which is pretty much nothing. "I have three kids, I'm a dental hygienist, I'm on the local HOA". That sort of thing. There's nothing about what they'd actually do if elected. If they said they would spend more money on sports and less on special needs, or vice versa, I'd have something to work with. But I got nothin'. These people are not informing my decision in the slightest.

I intend to vote on the political candidates and propositions and judges etc. They all give me something, or the local media have an opinion (which I can go with, or disagree with). This is just about school board members whose bios are all useless.

adelle38 · ‎03-09-2010

On 10/5/2014 Goldengate8361 said: You could always read about the candidates prior to voting so that you could make an informed decision. The fact that you don't have children is 100% irrelevant. Everyone should assume their civic responsibility and vote.

I agree. It's easy to get information about candidates these days. What our schools are doing affects everyone in the community.

It's always a victory for me when I remember why I entered a room.

151949 · ‎03-09-2010

You are not required to vote for every office so you can leave the school board votes blank if you want to. I generally don't vote for things like the dogcatcher or the register of wills unless I have some reason to do so. I agree with the OP that the bios they publish about these people are generally useless.

For the past several years I have been voting my party's straight ticket for numerous reasons so when you do that you vote for whomever is running for anything on your party's ticket.

mewsmomtoo · ‎03-05-2014

You could see if either of them has a web page or just google their names and see what comes up. We used to have to vote for harbormaster and that was in the days before google. I just tried to choose the person who sounded like they had their act together, other times, thank goodness, there was only one candidate. Since there were never any harbormaster controversies (that I heard of), I guess it all worked out. ${#emotions_dlg.laugh}$

If I wanted to vote and didn't have a clue about the people, then I guess I would vote for the person who is closest to my personal politics and hope it works out. Do you have a little free local paper? They often have interviews with candidates for positions like school board. We get a weekly free paper for our area and they cover our area very well.

cody2 · ‎03-19-2010

Clover, I can understand your problem. If you feel that you don't have enough information on the folks on the ballot regarding education...I would agree that you could leave those categories blank if you fear making a mistake. I have found that a simple google search can find out lots of information, even on small local candidates and issues. Talking to others in your community would be helpful also. They might have information that could help you decide. You should do what makes you comfortable. I agree with others here though...just vote. We are so fortunate to have that privilege.

occasionalrain · ‎03-10-2010

If I've been disatisfied with the discisions made by the board in the past, I vote against incumbents; if I've approved of their decisions, I vote for them. If I only have new people running, I go by their bio, do they have children? Are there teachers in their family, that sort of informaton.

Clover29 · ‎03-09-2010

I looked up my (school board) candidates on ballotpedia. The names are highlighted, like you can click on them, so I clicked on them, hoping for better bios than were on the local school board website.

Blank pages ${#emotions_dlg.crying}$

I already googled the names. I found their linkedin pages, or where they work if they're someone "important", but I'm getting absolutely zilch about how useful they're going to be on a school board. I don't think they actually have any positions, they just want to be on the school board.

I think I'm just being unlucky with this particular batch. I haven't had this problem before, but I'm new to this area.

mewsmomtoo · ‎03-05-2014

Do you have any way of contacting them? You could just ask them outright "Why do you want to be on the school board?, What decisions has the board made in the past that you disagree with? that you agree with?" Couldn't hurt to try since you have done all you can on the computer.