Should an uninformed voter be allowed to vote?
Back in March, I responded to a reader who asked what a conscientious person should do when he or she or they couldn’t invest a lot of time researching candidates. The reader was concerned that many media sources weren’t neutral and he had no desire to rely on an “equally uninformed friend.”
Then in July, I wrote about an old friend who regularly chides me for encouraging all eligible people to vote. My friend claimed not to have voted since the 2012 election cycle. He was insistent that his one vote didn’t matter and was likely not to make a difference in any election, be it for candidates running for national or local election.
There is no litmus test for how informed eligible voters must be before they vote. But, I urged back in March, if someone wants to be a conscientious voter, there are plenty of resources available to find out where local and national candidates stand on the issues. While talking heads on cable news programs may claim that this candidate or that hasn’t taken a stance on an issue, voters would be wise not to take that claim at face value and instead take the time to look at the many resources that collect information on which candidates stand where and on what.
There are many nonpartisan websites that are available to provide prospective voters with a guide on where candidates stand on what issues. When it comes to presidential candidates, some of these websites provide a simple “pro” or “con” on where a particular candidate stands on an issue. On one of these sites, ProCon.Org, which is owned by Encyclopedia Britannica, a user can view the pro-con page and then click on any issue to get more details on what a particular candidate has said about that issue.
Another useful site on which any voter can parse the issues is VoteSmart, whose founding board several decades ago included Republican and Democratic leaders including former presidents Jimmy Carter and Gerald Ford as well as former presidential candidates Barry Goldwater and George McGovern, among others. What’s particularly useful about the VoteSmart site is that you can click on a candidate and an issue and see what they said about it as well as where and when they said it.
While the deadline to register to vote in many states has already passed, some might still be open. To see what your state’s voter registration deadline is, you can consult a site like Ballotpedia. If you are unsure whether you are registered to vote, there’s a website where you can check that too. The National Associations of Secretaries of State website lets you choose your state and then provide your name to see if you’re registered. My state even lets me call up the November ballot that contains not only the people running for local, state and national positions, but also any referendum questions that happen to be on the November ballot as well.
My old friend who maintains his vote doesn’t matter might talk to Chris Poulos, a member of the Connecticut House of Representatives. In 2022, he defeated his opponent by 1 vote.
If you want to be an engaged citizen, the right thing is to register to vote, determine which candidates and issues mirror your own stances, and then vote.
Jeffrey L. Seglin, author of "The Simple Art of Business Etiquette: How to Rise to the Top by Playing Nice," is a senior lecturer in public policy, emeritus, at Harvard's Kennedy School. He is also the administrator of www.jeffreyseglin.com, a blog focused on ethical issues.
Do you have ethical questions that you need to have answered? Send them to jeffreyseglin@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @jseglin
(c) 2024 JEFFREY L. SEGLIN. Distributed by TRIBUNE CONTENT AGENCY, LLC.
