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Prepare Your Ballot With These Helpful Resources | by Ingrid Liggayu | Voter

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October 29, 2020

I remember the first time I received a sample ballot in the mail. Tearing up the envelope, pages and brochures were spilled full of terms, candidates and proposals that I did not know much about. There was no way I could vote confidently without immersing myself in what could be hours of research. Luckily for you, we’ve put together a list of helpful resources to use when preparing your ballot.

Get started with the Voterly Smart Ballot

If you’re voting for the first time or haven’t been able to do the research, ballot fatigue can be a big hit. You lose your patience or begin to feel insecure about your options as you progress through the ballot. Avoid unnecessary stress with Smart Voter Ballot. With this voting tool you can:

Get a preview of which contests and measures will be on your local ballot
Research political profiles for candidates running in federal, state, and local elections.
Compare both sides of the ballot measurements
Share your ballot with your friends or print a copy to take to the polls.
Encourage your community to get out there and vote!

Smart Ballot Preview for San Diego, CA Address

Review your state’s official voter guide

Usually a brochure will be sent to you or you can find a digital version on your Secretary of state website. If you want to read more about a proposal, you will find a summary, what your yes / no vote means and the arguments of each side. The state voter guides are nonpartisan, so you may want to check out the endorsements from different parties below.

Taken from the Official California Voter Information Guide – 2020 General Election

Cousin: Compare what you read in the guide with the information in Ballotpedia Y VoteSmart– two great additional resources for nonpartisan election information.

Check the endorsements of parties and politicians

Regardless of your political affiliation, checking which candidates and proposals your parties support can be a useful starting point in determining how you want to vote. State and local party groups publish their voting guides (also known as “endorsements”) before an election. For example, here are some 2020 voting guides from the Republican, Democrat, Y Green parties.

Miami-Dade County Republican Voter Guide (2020 General Election)

You can also take advantage of the way the politicians you align with are voting. A personal endorsement from an elected official you trust can go a long way when you’re caught between candidates.

Endorsements from Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter

Consult experts about problems

If there are a couple of issues that are particularly important to you, chances are there are national, state, and local organizations on your side. Many of them will post candidate scorecards and endorsements before the election that will help you determine how politicians rank on one or more issues. For example, on the issue of abortion, a pro-life voter might want to consider Susan B. Anthony List National Pro-Life Scorecard while a pro-choice voter would review 2020 Planned Parenthood Dashboard.

Susan B. Anthony List

Coming soonKeep an eye out for broadcast ratings on Voterly! 👀

Clarify your facts

It is no secret that the political landscape in the United States is highly polarized and rife with misinformation. Now that you have investigated the candidates’ backgrounds and who has endorsed them, the next step would be to confirm whether what say about their positions and background are really true. Some nonpartisan organizations that pride themselves on being fact-based include FactCheck.org Y PolitiFact.

Photo from The New York Times

The summary of taking time off to vote | by Ingrid Liggayu | Voter

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October 27, 2020

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For the 2020 elections, 28 states require employers to allow time off for their employees to vote. Here’s a quick rundown to make sure your workplace isn’t stopping you from going to the polls this year.

Can I take time off to vote?

Depending on your state, you may be allowed up to 3 hours outside of work to vote. Check with your human resources department to confirm whether the time off is paid or not. Most, but not all, states have policies to protect employees from being fired or disciplined for taking time off during work hours to vote. However, employers may be allowed to reduce your pay if it is found that you did not use your time off to fulfill your civic duty, so be sure to save your receipt or proof of vote to avoid problems.

If you only have a couple of hours to spare, you don’t want to waste time in the voting booth thinking about your selections. Make sure that research all candidates and props ahead of time so you can take your complete voting guide to the polls.

States where employees are granted time off to vote

If you plan to volunteer as a poll worker, you will probably have to use a vacation or sick day. However, companies that include Old Navy, Warby Parker and Target announced that they will pay employees a full day’s worth if they volunteer as poll workers for the 2020 election cycle. This unprecedented move was in response to a poll worker shortage due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Should I notify my employer?

Definitely! Especially if you work in a small business, you’ll want to make sure your shift is covered while you’re not voting. Sharing your voting plan You can also encourage your co-workers to exercise their civic duty.

What if my employer violates the time off to vote law?

If you are feeling reluctance to take time off to vote, direct your human resources manager or supervisor at your state office. free time to vote laws and remind them that violations can result in sanctions from the state. Companies can be negatively affected in other ways as well if they do not support the voting rights of their employees. According to an article by Equity in the workplace“If word gets out that a particular company is preventing its employees from voting, the company faces a potential public relations problem, which may be more concerning than any fine that a government agency might impose.” If you don’t want to rock the boat at work, your other alternative is to investigate absentee vote or early vote options in your state.

How to combat voter repression. As Election Day Approaches, Cases Of… | by Ingrid Liggayu | Voter

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October 12, 2020

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As Election Day approaches, voter suppression cases are emerging across the country and most significantly in Texas: a key state on the battlefield. Mail-in ballots became a popular voting option due to the coronavirus pandemic. Fears of postal delays following the elimination of funds from the United States Postal Service led counties to establish secure receiving mailboxes for voters to deposit absentee ballots and by mail. Just a month after Election Day, Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed an order limiting each county to one dropbox location. This forced Harris County, the largest county in Texas with more than 4.5 million residents, to close another 11 mailboxes. To put it in perspective, Harris County is the size of the state of Rhode Island.

If voting didn’t make a difference, there would be no such effort to restrict our right to. In a previous post, we covered how disenfranchisement happens in the US Below we compiled a step-by-step guide on how to combat voter suppression.

Choose to vote by mail OR early in person

Polling places on Election Day can be busy so you can avoid crowds and longer wait times by voting on an earlier date or by mail. Both options also reduce your chances of experiencing voter intimidation. The private militias that were deployed in protests earlier this year are is likely to show up at polling places under the pretext of promoting public safety. Contemporary militias and voter intimidation are illegal and can be reported at 866-OUR-VOTE.

two. Protect your ballot by mail

It sounds simple enough but it will surprise you. with what ease your absent or mailed ballot may be disqualified. Make sure to use the correct ink color and fill the bubble as indicated. Triple check your ballot and envelopes for signing requirements. And before signing, please confirm that you are using the signature on your current driver’s license. Some states require additional documentation such as a photocopy of your ID and 2 witness signatures or notarization. And most importantly, turn in your ballot prior to Limit date. Ballots received after the cut-off will not be counted.

3. Monitor your voter registration

Between major elections, voter registration lists (or “voter lists”) are maintained by eliminating voters with duplicate names, who have passed away or moved, or who are recently ineligible to vote. This form of maintenance becomes unconstitutional when voters are removed from the lists of not participate in past elections or rely on inaccurate data.

Sign up to monitor your registration in Voterly. You will be notified if changes are made to your official registration status.

Four. Check your state’s photo ID requirements

More than 33 states require some form of identification in order to vote. Unfortunately, these laws have resulted in suppress the vote of minority communities they are less likely to have access to photo IDs. Anticipate and research what required for your state. While you’re at it, stay up-to-date on your state’s election laws changes can be made at any time.

5. Go to the polls

In the 2016 presidential election, an estimated 15 million eligible voters did not make it to the polls because they did not have a reliable form of transportation. Shared ride companies, Lyft Y Uber, launched initiatives to expand voter access by offering free or discounted rides to polling places or mailboxes on Election Day.

Also check your local government website for information on free or discounted fares via public transportation in your city. It must be done!

How Votes are Counted in the US – The Popular Vote and the Electoral College | by Sarah Horton | Voter

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November 5, 2019

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Photo by VoterOver and over we are told, “Your vote matters” and “Every vote counts!”  but it does Really?
America’s vote counting process is difficult to understand, so we’re here to break it down and help you decide whether or not your vote really matters (hint: DOES IT!).
Elections are held in the United States for government officials at the federal, state, and local levels.  To understand how votes are counted, we must first differentiate between direct Y indirect elections.  Most of the choices are direct, which means that you vote for a candidate of your choice and the candidate with the most votes (“popular vote”) wins.  The midterm, state and local elections are all direct.
Presidential elections, however, are unique because they are indirect.  The general public cast their votes on Election Day (November), then the Electoral College cast their votes in January.  These Electoral College votes are the ones counted by Congress and actually decide who wins the presidency.
So why do we vote on Election Day if Electoral College votes are the only ones that count?
Answer: The party that wins the popular vote of the state generally wins all of the electoral votes of the state.
Here is a more detailed explanation:
Each state gets a certain number of “electors” based on its population and the number of districts, in the same way that we calculate the number of members of Congress for each state.  Before each presidential election, party leaders from each state elect a group of electors, typically prominent party figures: governors, leaders of the state legislature, and any loyal party members who can be counted on to vote along with the vote. popular state.  The party that wins the popular vote statewide can send its constituency to vote in January, when Congress meets and the state electoral votes are counted.
There are some exceptions:
Maine Y Nebraska they employ a “district system” to distribute their votes in the electoral college: they have four and five, respectively.  Both states assign two electors to vote for the state’s popular candidate and one elector to vote for the popular candidate from each congressional district.
Things are changing:
In recent years, a trend It has emerged where Americans have shown the greatest support for a more democratic presidential election process.  Up to this point, sixteen states they have promulgated the Interstate pact of the national popular vote, agreeing to grant all of their electoral votes to any presidential candidate who wins the general popular vote in all fifty states and DC.  The pact will enter into force only when enacted by states that hold a majority of electoral votes, which means enough to elect a president (270 out of 538).
As of October 2019, sixteen states that possessed 196 electoral votes had enacted the National Interstate Popular Voting Pact: DC, Delaware, HELLO, Rhode Island, Vermont, CO, Connecticut, Maryland, MOMMY, New Jersey, New Mexico, OR, Washington, California, ILLINOIS, Y New York.