The Voters’ Guide published by the League of Women Voters of Oregon (LWVOR) is a valuable resource for all voters in the state for both the primary and the November election. This NON-PARTISAN guide lists qualified candidates who have answered questions provided by the League. All candidates for a particular office are asked the same three questions, which gives the voters the ability to compare the answers. The questions & answers will also be available on Vote411.org. Consider: 1) Submit questions for the individual races (i.e., US Senator, District Representatives, Judges) and 2) Follow up with those candidates who are slow in responding.
Questions. It is very important to present the candidates with questions that are appropriate for the positions to which they aspire. For instance, a question for a US Senator would probably be different than one for a Judge of the County Circuit Court. Equally important would be to include, where possible, current issues that concern us as voters.
Follow Up. When candidates do not submit their responses by the deadline, it is so noted on their listings in the Guide. This reflects badly on the candidates AND the League. This year we will be making a concerted effort to follow up and thereby have fewer empty listings of “Candidate did not reply by deadline.”
What can you do? Give some thought to what kind of questions you want the candidates to answer; i.e., money in politics, climate change, healthcare, or local issues. When you do come up with a question, write it down & bring it to the Feb. 20th meeting. The deadline for submitting the questions is March 1. The second way you can help is to volunteer to be part of the team that follows up with those candidates that are slow to answer. This will probably involve phone calls, and/or emails. If we get enough volunteers, we may even be able to include local races in our Voters’ Guide, which would really help our neighbors become informed voters! Let’s help make the 2020 LWVOR Voters’ Guide the most informative guide yet!
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