I need a voter guide

[Hometown]

I've got President, State Officers and Congressional Officers figured out.  I'll do straight party voting Democrat.

But I sure could use some help with the State Propositions 1 and 2.

And

Judicial Retention:

Justices of OK Supreme Court

John F. Reif
Tom Colbert
Joseph M. Watt

Judges of the OK Court of Criminal Appeals

Charles A. Johnson
Gary Lumpkin

Judges of the OK Court of Civil Appeals

Jerry L. Goodman
Jane P. Wiseman
Keith Rapp
John F. Fischer

And

State Questions:

SQ No. 735
SQ No. 741
SQ No. 742
SQ No. 743

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[unknown]

http://www.oklahomavotersguide.org/index.php?id=294

[TURobY]

quote:Originally posted by unknown

http://www.oklahomavotersguide.org/index.php?id=294

I love that the Oklahoma Family Policy Council, the organization that put this together, "is an independent, nonprofit, nonpartisan" organization which promotes restoring "Judeo-Christian values in our culture" and "operates the states's largest abstience-until-marriage program". Nearly all of the Republican candidates responded to the questionnaire, but nearly none of the Democratic candidates responded.

Do you know if there is a less biased, more neutral examination or polling of the candidates? Something just seemed off about the questions and responses.

[Ed W]

Try the League of Women Voters.  

http://www.lwvtulsa.org/

You can download their guide.

[Hometown]

Thank you Unknown and Ed W.  I will review the guides you posted.

I'm not sure guide was the correct word to use. I was hopeful that a Partisan Democrat would just check off each item on the list and say "yes," or "no," or "retain" or "don't retain."  Or at least check off a few of the items they have already decided.  

A Partisan Republican would use the thread to do the same for their group.

Voter Recommendation Guides usually show in my mail a little late on the day of the election.

[Conan71]

quote:Originally posted by Hometown

I've got President, State Officers and Congressional Officers figured out.  I'll do straight party voting Democrat.

You are always so full of.... surprises....

[RecycleMichael]

I always vote against retaining judges.

I have two children and have learned the importance of the word "share".

Let some other lawyers wear robes and get a regular paycheck.

[DavidDunn]

I am the editor of the Oklahoma Voters' Guide, published by the Oklahoma Family Policy Council.

We ARE a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization.

Yes, we do take a position on issues such as Judeo-Christian values and abstinence-until-marriage education, just like the League of Women Voters or the Oklahoma State Chamber of Commerce has organizational positions on issues.

Nonpartisan speaks to the fact that we do not intervene in political campaigns nor do we have a partisan preference of Democrat, Republican, or Independent. We are strictly an educational organization, as required by the IRS and the FEC.

Our Voters' Guide and the questions we asked in 2008 were vetted by attorneys so as to be unbiased and in compliance with federal law. We asked candidates about a range of diverse issues, not a single issue.

The fact that many more Oklahoma Republicans than Democrats answered our 2008 questionnaire simply speaks to the unwillingness of many state Democrats to answer the questionnaire, for whatever reason they may have.

Our process in collecting information was unbiased and all candidates and political parties were treated equally and fairly.

We mailed the questionnaire to all candidates in early August. Then, in early September, we mailed it again by Certified mail.

We followed up the mailings with e-mails and phone calls, which are documented.

When we saw that so few Democrats were answering, we contacted Dr. Ivan Holmes, chair of the Oklahoma Democratic Party, by e-mail and phone several times to seek his help in getting responses from the various Democratic candidates.

We offered to work with Dr. Holmes, Emily, and others on his staff to give them the unresponsive individual candidate names and district numbers. They simply were not interested, although early on Dr. Holmes did say he would e-mail the candidates once urging their attention to the matter. He said he couldn't promise they would reply.

I contend our Voters' Guide is useful for everyone, regardless of whether they are liberal, moderate, or conservative. The problem we have (especially at the state level) is a lack of detailed information about candidates' positions on issues. Brochures are all generic and cookie-cutter.

Say, for example, I support a woman's right to choose, favor same-sex marriage, oppose the Bush tax cuts, and favor continued restrictions on nuclear power and off-shore drilling. If I were to look at our Oklahoma Voters' Guide and see that a particular candidate says they favor the right to abortion throughout all nine months of pregnancy, support the Federal Marriage Amendment, support making the Bush tax cuts permanent, and favor increased oil and gas drilling and nuclear power, THEN I would know that candidate is NOT my candidate.

Information is what is needed by voters—not more partisan rhetoric and spin.

Our candidate questionnaire allows candidates to respond by checking agree, disagree, or undecided to a wide range of issues. We then further allow candidates to provide their comments about both our questions and their responses. We publish their comments, without any edits or characterizations from OFPC about which candidates are "good" or "bad." Voters are left to make up their own minds.

The fact that so few Democrats answered (I think 9 did answer, to their credit) is more a reflection on the unwillingness of most Oklahoma Democratic candidates to let voters know their positions than it is a reflection on some supposed bias or partisanship from OFPC.

David Dunn
(Native Tulsan)
Editor
2008 Oklahoma Voters' Guide

[Hometown]

Mr. Dunn, the first thing I saw when I opened your website was something about "Family Council" which sounds an awful lot like a well known Far Right organization and something about "Abstinence" which also has a Far Right ring to it.

I can't answer for why so few Oklahoma Democrats responded to your questionnaire but I imagine they reacted to your organization like I did and pegged you as a Far Right group that would not provide them with an unbiased venue for their positions.

Personally, I'm not looking for an unbiased guide.  I want a guide with a Liberal point of view and I didn't think I was going to find that on your website.

[Conan71]

Sounds easy enough, HT.  If the candidate responded to Dunn's voter's guide, they likely aren't your type of candidate.  If they ignored it, they likely are.

Mr. Dunn-

While the questionaire is "non-partisan" in scope, posting any sort of position statement of the group publishing the guide will likely affect which candidates will and won't respond to it, so "non-partisan" appears to be parsing words to me.

If there are stated conservative views or values, chances are liberal response will be light.  I would imagine that GOP response to a group which espouses pro-choice and gay marriage would be light.

In a way, conservative or liberal-leaning organizations publishing questionaires and voting guides can't be non-partisan by nature.  Chances are someone of opposing viewpoint to that group will likely not respond (as proven by your publication) and it makes non-responders appear disinterested in the political process.  I'd also be willing distribution is far heavier amongst conservative voters than liberal.

[PonderInc]

Why can't I find a sample ballot that includes a list of judges?

[MichaelBates]

quote:Originally posted by PonderInc

Why can't I find a sample ballot that includes a list of judges?

Here's the sample for the back side of the ballot, which includes the state questions and the judicial retention ballot and will be uniform statewide. We don't have any District Court races, just the chance to vote on retaining civil and  criminal appeals judges and Supreme Court justices.

The State Questions are all legislative referenda to amend the constitution. All of them passed the legislature by unanimous or near unanimous votes.

[sgrizzle]

quote:Originally posted by PonderInc

Why can't I find a sample ballot that includes a list of judges?

Here you go:


Mike Judge



Judge Reinhold



Judge Harry Stone



Judge Wapner



Judge Dredd



"The Judge"

[carltonplace]

Our choices for judges are dim this year sgrizzle. I guess I'll have to vote for orange.

[Nik]

So as to not start another thread, a quick question. Can somebody explain to me the straight party voting thing? My first reaction is to leave all these blank (there is one for every category) and select the individuals. But, I've read that certain states have weird rules in regards to straight party voting (like this: http://www.snopes.com/politics/ballot/straightticket.asp). I searched both the Tulsa County Election board website and the Oklahoma State Election Board website and found no definition on the straight party voting.

So is it safe to say the best thing to do would be to leave all the straight party arrows empty and just vote for the individuals?