RATIONAL VOTING

November 29, 2020

Abigail Crawford

Vol. 1

VOTING IN AMERICA
To better understand our role in voting and
politics, we need to have a basic understanding
of how our voting system works. The United
States elections use the first-past-the-post system.
This means that the candidate with the most
votes wins the election. Candidates don’t need
a majority of the vote, only a pluratlity of votes.
Federal Elections
These elections can be divided into two groups,
presidental and midterm. In the midterm
election, people vote on the two chambers of
Congress: the House of Representatives and the
U.S. Senate. This election determines who has
controll of Congress.
State Elections
Due to the decentralized nature of the
American government, voting practices differ
from state to state. This allows each state to
adjust to their unique circumstances. However,
each state has a Chief Election Officer, a
board or commision, or a mixture of both. Their
role is to manage and oversee the elections in
their state. These elections are typically held on
the county level, but some Midwestern states
have them held within cities.

The presidental election is always the first

Tuesday in November. Presidental elections are
state elections, not national! This means that
there are fifty-one separate elections for the
president. One in each state and one for the
Distric of Columbia. There is some confusion
Steps to Vote
surrounding this election, mostly due to the
electoral college and popular vote. The popular
There are a few requirements to vote. You must:
vote is casted by citizens and it determines the
popular vote in each state. While the electoral - be 18 years of age
vote is casted by a group of electors and it - be a citizen of the United States
determines who will - be registered to vote in a state
be the next president.
Most states have deadlines to register. They are
typically 20-30 days prior to the election. You
can go to your local DMV to register.

You can either vote by mail or in person. If you

“If you don’t vote, you lose the right to are choosing to vote by mail, you must fill out a
complain.” mail in voter registration form.

George Carlin
WHAT DOES RATIONAL
VOTING MEAN?

A rational voter assumes that candidates will

make decisions that will benefit them and
their campaign, so the voter carefully weighs
all their choices. Rational voters use the
information that they gather to figure out
which candidate bests represents their
personal interests and will run the country or
state the best. It is important to become a
more rational voter because it allows you to
be more aware of what and who you are
voting for. This gives you, the voter, more “THE IGNORANCE OF ONE VOTER IN A
freedom during elections because you are DEMOCRACY IMPAIRS THE SECURITY OF
not blindly voting with others or basing your ALL.”
decisions off rumors from work or school.

There are different types of voters. It is

JOHN F. KENNEDY
important to recognize how you vote so you
can adjust to be more rational in your
decisions. Here are a few examples of
“Personality Voters”
different types of voters:
These are voters who vote solely
Naysayers
on the personality, or likeability, of
Naysayers are those a candidate. This can cause problems
who refuse to vote, because if you do not research the
even though they candidates beyond what their character is,
could. They are often you will have no idea what the candidate
skeptical or cynical about voting. stands for or plans to do.

“Pocket Book Voters”

Party-Line Voting
Pocket book voters vote based on whether
Will always support the party that they are
the recent times have been good or bad. For
affiliated with. This closed mindedness makes
example, if the economy has substantially
voters less willing to look at other candidate
grown and is benefitting the average person,
who appeals to them more than those
this voter will vote for whoever is currently in
in the party that they are loyal to.
office in the next election. This can be
asdddd problematic since the party currently
in office in office may have nothing to do
with the with the economic growth!
HOW TO STAY INFORMED

It can be hard to find credible, unbiased information

when dealing with politics. Some sources may be
pushing their own agendas or be trying to spread
rumors and misinformation. Understanding the bias
helps us to have a balanced diet of news and to
avoid manipulation from the news. It is important to
have an open mind when researching. Remember,
it is ok to change your mind! There is nothing wrong
with going back to the drawing board if you find a Tips and Tricks to Finding Good
candidate who represents your ideals and has ideas Sources
like yours for the future.

Good Sources 1. Check the Domain Name

What qualifies as a good source? A good source is
typically unbiased, and they back up their claims
with facts and logic. The chart in the lower right
corner helps us to visually see what some good
sources are, as well as some that we should stay
away from. The most neutral are located at the top
of the chart in the green box. These sources include
. Those
sources that are in the yellow box are mostly
trustworthy, but there may be a few facts mixed up.
Some of these sources include
Bad Sources
Sources that are in the orange or red box are
uncredible and/or heavily biased. The sources that
are closer to the bottom have the more
propaganda and inaccurate information within their
articles. Also, the further away from the middle a
source is, the more political bias it has. This means
that the sources furthest to the left have a liberal
bias, like . While the sources
furthest to the right have a conservative bias, like
. We should be caution
around these sources because they only show part
of the story, or they fabricated the story.
Look at the last three letters in a sites name. It
may be “edu”, “gov”, “org”, or “com”. Sites
with “edu” or “gov” tend to be credible but
watch out for sites that use these suffixes to
mislead.
2. Have a Closer Look at the Source
See if there are any authors listed. Do they
cite authoritative links or are they writing their
own opinions without have facts to back
them up? Do they have any credentials
listed? If your source does not back up
anything that they are saying, then it is almost
certainly highly biased.
3. Look for additional information
As you find information, look for other sources
to verify what you are finding. If a source
contradicts your original source, you will need
to research the topic further

Getting informed from a variety

of sources is the best way to
go! This will help your diet of
news to stay balanced and
unbiased.
UNDERSTANDING POLITICAL
CAMPAIGNS

During any election season, candidates use a

variety of strategies to get votes. Candidates
often create television and social media ads
full of these strategies to influence the viewers
opinion. These short ads use specialized tactics
and techniques, which has become a
language of its own. This language includes the
use of verbal techniques, appeals to the
viewers emotions, and a powerful political
message sprinkled in between. The goal of
these ads is to sway the viewers to vote for a
particular candidate. Recognizing what these
strategies are will help us as voters to recognize
what is right, what is wrong, and what the
motives behind the ads are. Some of these
Positive and Negative Words
techniques include:
Many words have strong connotations
Repetition attached to them. This is also known as using
“loaded” language. Negative words, like
Repetition is used to help drive home a
betray, collapsing, radical, and incompetent
message and keep a message in the viewers’ can help candidates to cast doubt towards
mind. This is often seen in jingles or slogans. For their opponents and make them look less
example, in President Trumps inaugural trustworthy. While using positive words, like
address, he repeats how he would rededicate commitment, prosperity, vision, hard work,
Washington to “the people”. This created a and freedom can help candidates to make
themselves look more favorable. This can be
sense of inclusiveness and shared responsibility
seen when Dwight D. Eisenhower described
with the audience. the nation as one that was “sinking deeper
into a bottomless sea of debt”. He described
Labeling
himself as a “sturdy lifeboat” that the
Labeling is when a candidate calls the Republicans would build while the Democrats
weren’t able to “keep their confused heads
opponent something negative, hoping that it
above water”.
will stick. This was seen when Obama often
commented on “Bush-McCain” polices. “Political language… is designed to make lies
Obama did this to have people associate sound truthful and murder respectable, and to
McCain with Bush, who was unpopular at the give an appearance of solidity to pure wind”
time. Some other examples of labels include - George Orwell
“Flip-flopper” or “Liberal “.