VoteACC.org

originally published October 25, 2006

Why are ballot referenda unintelligible to everyone except the lawyers who write them? Why are hundreds of thousands of dollars spent on name awareness campaigns when most voters don’t even know the duties of the position they are voting for? In the past two elections, I have tried to become an educated voter, but the little information I found was scattered and difficult to piece together, especially for local candidates and referenda.

But the situation is starting to improve… at least on the Internet. The ACC Board of Elections offers a complete sample ballot online, as well as providing live updates of local election results at www.athensclarkecounty.com/elections. Local newspapers publish their election articles online. And WUGA radio has an audio stream of mayor and commissioner candidate forums available at www.wuga.org. But even so, it is still difficult for someone who doesn’t listen or read every day to pull the myriad of information together, understand the local candidates’ ideals, and get an idea of the implications of the referenda.

With that in mind, I decided to try to help myself and other Athenians out by putting together www.VoteACC.org. It is an unbiased, informative website that provides a table of all the candidates and links to their campaign websites, so you can make your own decision. It also provides the full text of the ballot amendments and referenda as well as the text of the local special elections, so you don’t have to struggle to read between the lines of legalese in the voting booths. In addition, there are categorized links to articles from local papers, which allows voters to see the candidates and issues from the viewpoints of several professional writers. And to top it off, for those who want to understand the responsibilities of our officials, there are descriptions of the local elected positions as provided by the officials themselves.

Putting in the effort to make informed decisions is time-consuming, but the long-term rewards are worth it. As JFK put it, “The ignorance of one voter in a democracy impairs the security of all.”

Richard Conway

Athens