LocalElections.org

Another election has come and gone in Chicago, and big shocker: I didn’t vote. Yes, it was just a primary, but that’s not why. I’m painfully uninformed when it comes to local elections, and I won't vote blindly. I'm not alone. Reports have the turnout below 25%.

I don't know what I'm voting for. I can’t explain what a comptroller does, let alone the qualities the job requires.

Like most Americans, the only exposure I've had to the candidates has been combating smear campaigns on television. One will raise taxes to 100%. The other will mandate prayer in schools. This lofty debate hasn’t shed light on effective comptrolling.

The only options are to vote smear, vote party or not vote. I and over 75% of Illinois residents chose the last.

For democracy to work, we need to be voting, but most of us won’t if we can’t feel informed. That’s where this week’s free idea comes in: LocalElections.org.

At LocalElections.org, Americans in all 50 states can find out who is running for what where they live. One resource for everyone. For true beginners, LocalElections.org will detail the responsibilities of every electable office and register voters. More importantly, it will house videos from the candidates themselves expounding on their views and platform.

But this isn’t for stump speeches. At LocalElections.org, the voters set the itinerary, submitting issues for the candidates to address. Those issues solicit a video response from each candidate, unless, of course, they prefer only their opponents’ voices be heard. These responses are organized by election and by issue for easy browsing.

Party-wide talking points will be traded for issues that are actually relevant to the office being sought. No more will a candidate’s stance on abortion rights determine whether they’re qualified to be Treasurer. In this local forum, candidates that evade with empty rhetoric will lose votes to straight talk.

This website’s launch will be a pivotal moment for third parties, giving their candidates and messages equal weight and billing as those of the Democrats and Republicans. Further, if there’s one place a voter can go to learn each candidate’s stance on every issue, the correlation between ad spending and election victory can be broken. Lowering the price of victory will be a boon to third parties everywhere.

With LocalElections.org, we can stop complaining and start participating. Isn’t it time you found a reason to vote?

Until next week,
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Jonathan Rozen