How I Vote – Process Workflow Documentation
Political engagement was not always my thing. Feeling the ground shake beneath me on 9/11 and witnessing the resulting re-shaping of our country and world took that option away from me. Witnessing the creation of the Department of Homeland Security, the lies that led us into the War in Iraq, and the public apathy we showed while we tortured people drove me into political activism.
I turned 18 in 2001. All of this happened before I had a chance to vote in any national election.
My Vote History in National Elections
Note: The state abbreviations in parenthesis are where I was living and registered to vote for each election.
2004 Democratic Primary: Dennis Kucinich (AZ)
At a time when I felt the country’s leadership was going astray, Kucinich was the only candidate that was truly anti-war. To this day, I still consider him one of the most admirable politicians to serve in my lifetime.
I voted in the primary for the candidate I thought would be the best leader. This will prove to be a theme for me.
2004 General Election: John Kerry (AZ)
I hated John Kerry. He was boring. He supported the illegal War in Iraq like nearly everyone else on that stage. His policies were bland and toothless. But he was the only choice, and I thought that anyone could beat George W. Bush because of how awful he was. Democratic voter apathy kicked our asses in that election like it has so many times before and since.
I voted for the lesser evil in the general election in an effort to unseat the greatest evil. This will prove to be a theme for me.
2008 Primaries: Ron Paul (AZ)
I supported Ron Paul and Mike Gravel (the angry socialist old white man before Bernie) pretty heavily during this campaign cycle, but I was registered as an Independent. Kucinich ran again but didn’t seem like his heart was in it as much this time.
In Arizona, you can only vote in one party’s primary, and I was registered as an Independent. I chose to vote in the Republican primary for a few reasons:
- Ron Paul was picking up a lot of steam and seemed like he might have a real chance against his relatively unpopular (at the time) opponents.
- I thought nominating Paul might help move the GOP away from their interventionist, military industrial complex supporting ways.
- Mike Gravel was being mostly laughed at or ignored on the Democratic side of things and it didn’t seem like he had a shot.
- The other Republican candidates were awful; mostly doubling down on Neo-Conservative fear-mongering. The Democratic field had at least a few other decent options.
Aside: I believe all primaries should be open. It would allow everyone to find more moderate nominees, which might make our national policies less left-leaning than I might personally want them to be, but we wouldn’t have far-right extremists running either. It might allow bad actors to vote in an effort to sabotage the opposing party, but that’s what will happen in the general election too. This would make our selection process more resilient and effective in the real-world scenario we’re preparing for.
I voted strategically, and for a candidate who I felt would move the country away from a dangerous fascist authoritarian path. This will prove to be a theme for me.
My Libertarian Phase
This is the period of my political history that brings me the most shame. I was naive to selectively hear what I wanted to hear from Libertarian candidates like Ron Paul, but what I learned within his campaign (I canvassed, went to rallies, etc.) and what I’ve learned since has informed my politics today, so that embarrassment is a useful one.
2008 General Election: Barrack Obama (NV)
It amazed me that Obama won the nomination. I was critical of his stances on quite a few things (especially his decision not to prosecute the previous administration for their war crimes), but my opinion of him steadily improved over his time as president.
2012 General Election: Barrack Obama (CA)
This was the only easy voting decision I’ve ever had in a presidential election.
2016 Democratic Primary: Bernie Sanders (CA)
I voted for the candidate I felt would be the best president. This was not a symbolic vote, because those are stupid. I thought at the time that Bernie would be better at the job than any other viable candidate.
2016 General Election: Hillary Clinton (CA)
I voted for the lesser of the two evils because that’s how you get less evil. To not vote for the lesser evil is to defacto vote for the greater evil. Don’t @ me.
I’ve already said my peace about the entire 2016 tragedy in another post, so let’s move on.
How I Decide Who Gets My Vote
This is how I’ve done things since 2008.
Research
I do my research early. As soon as someone announces their candidacy in a serious way, I dig into their policies and history as much as I can. This has been especially difficult in 2019 because of how many we have, but it has proven a useful and worthwhile pursuit that my friends and family have seemed to appreciate.
Candidates from representative government backgrounds are the easiest to research because we can find the history of every vote they registered. We can see how closely their record relates to their campaigning. I tend to prefer these candidates over others from the private sector because of the ease with which the latter can obfuscate their goals and views.
After I’ve built a decent dossier of each candidate, I map out what I believe are the most important issues of the next 4 years. I rank them and apply a points value to each one. Here’s how the points worked out in 2019:
- Economic Justice: 5
- Healthcare: 5
- Corruption: 4
- Social Issues: 4
- Environment: 3
- Education: 3
- Foreign Policy: 3
- Criminal Justice: 3
- Guns: 2
These are personal values, and they were still just starting points at this phase. I recommend anyone following my process alters these to match their values.
Then, I map these issues and point values into a spreadsheet with each candidate and my score for how good they are in each decision factor. I add other factors in as well, like experience (somewhat scientific) and perceived electability (subjective and fuzzy).
The dark grey blank boxes are areas where I have inadequate reliable information. Candidates receive 0 points for stances they may have answers for but have failed to make clear to me, especially considering how thoroughly I research them. I consider excessive vagueness on policy plans to be disqualifying, which may give some inkling of who I selected in this cycle.
Heavy Vetting
Once I enter all the information I have and write the formulas to calculate scoring, I get a clear ranking for who I am most and least aligned with. This ranking helps me focus on the candidates I find most viable in my discussions with friends, family, and trusted strangers.
Influencers: I have specific people in my life whose opinions carry a lot of weight with me, and their input plays heavily into where I go with my rankings over time.
At this stage, I have a ranking list that is usually completely different from my spreadsheet. From this point forward, the spreadsheet stops getting updated and I use it less and less as the campaigns progress.
Choosing a Favorite
After a few weeks of late nights in discussions and continued research, I choose a favorite. My primary vote is not yet definite at this stage, but I find that the personal accountability of hitching myself to a specific candidate early on forces me to justify my decision on a daily basis. This helps me ensure that I’m on the right bandwagon.
In 2019, I chose Elizabeth Warren at this stage.
I am considering writing up a full post detailing why she is my choice in the primary, but it depends on how much time I have, and I’d like to write that closer to when primary voting begins in February 2020. Perhaps before Thanksgiving to aid in family discussions.
Valuable Voices & Donations
Besides my favorite candidate, I will also donate to candidates who I feel will add value to the conversations we have on the debate stages and in the media. In this primary, I chose Warren, Sanders, Yang, and Harris. I donate most of what I can afford to my favorite and throw $20-50 at each of the others.
Discussions continue. Friends are made and lost in the more intense debates about things like human rights and social issues. I join volunteer organizations, show up to gatherings, wear/display my favorite’s logo in public, and start using Twitter more. The opinions of strangers will change my mind very little, but I do listen.
Rankings change, but usually not much up until…
The Primary Debates
After the first debate(s) are over, I re-factor my rankings and re-evaluate where my donations go. I will stop donating to a candidate when and if I feel their issue has been granted enough light. If I feel my upper rankings were disappointing on stage next to others, they drop because the end goal is to vote for someone who can actually compete in the general election.
Discussions continue. Candidates drop out. I continue to donate what I can afford to my favorite and my second favorite at roughly a 4:1 ratio. Wash, rinse, repeat.
This is the stage where I do all my idealism. Debating the issues I care about and advocating for the candidates I think would be the best President of the United States continues until roughly a week before the primary vote.
How I Vote in Primaries
This is where I hunker down and make a final decision. I must weigh my ethics and values against the ever-present beast of “electability”. At this stage, I must finally weigh the opinions of strangers into my decision. I look at the polls, read the projections of sources I trust and do some calculations before I land on my final answer.
Strategic Voting
Strategic voting is controversial in some circles, but I subscribe to it. I campaign with my heart and vote with my cunning mathematical brain. I’m not sure how I’ll feel next year when this time comes, but right now I plan to vote for Warren unless one of my bottom choices is realistically competing for the nomination.
Example #1: If I have to choose between my girl Liz running in 3rd place or a tight race between Bernie and Biden in the top spots… I’ll have to go with Bernie.
Example #2: If the nominee is already mathematically decided before I get to vote (like in 2016), I will vote with my heart in an effort to drive the Democratic Party in the direction I want them to go. Hopefully, California’s earlier position in the primaries will avoid this happening again.
I hope that neither of these scenarios comes into play, of course. I want my first choice to be the clear front-runner the entire time.
How I Vote in General Elections
I will vote for the lesser of two evils.
My favorite candidates have never won a primary, so this has always been my stance.
I will not vote third-party.
Unless they’re polling better than Ross Perot did — which would be unprecedented — they are a distraction that I will ignore.
I will never sit out.
Doing this is exactly what the evilest candidates want. If our votes didn’t count — as lazy edgelord social media slacktivists like to think — the ACLU wouldn’t have to constantly fight court cases battling voter suppression. Campaigns, media companies, and oligarchs wouldn’t spend so much time and money on swaying public opinion. If we don’t show up, we are complicit in and responsible for the results.
If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice.
Rush
I will work to whip the vote any way I can.
Whether it’s driving people to the polls, hosting an election day party where everyone must wear their “I Voted” stickers, or simply spamming everyone with reminders to go do the thing, I will use every ounce of surplus emotional labor I have in me to mobilize people to vote.
Low voter turnout is the only thing that holds us back from having people in office that represent us, rather than the candidates pushed by monied interests. Apathy and fatigue are our biggest enemies in general elections, so drive the vote in ways that make it easy and fun for people to place their vote.
What To Do With This Information
Readers might be wondering why I’m sharing this or why they should care about my vote decision-making process. I hope this post has provided:
- Data that helps others decide how much weight they should place on my opinions when making their own decisions
- A vulnerability that will enable others to inform me of ways to improve my process
- Understanding that, at the very least, I do not take these decisions lightly
How about you? What’s your decision process like?