Please don’t tune out when you get to the non-partisan section of your ballot this November. First off, where state Supreme Court justices are elected, Republicans are trying their darndest to elect candidates who will destroy reproductive freedom, gut voting rights, and do everything in their power to give “contested” elections to Republicans. Contrast Wisconsin electing a justice in 2023 who helped rule two partisan gerrymanders unconstitutional, versus North Carolina electing a conservative majority in 2022, who upheld a racist voter ID law and a partisan gerrymander that liberal justices had previously struck down both of.
Second, local judicial offices will make infinitely more of an impact on your community than a divided state or federal legislature will. District and circuit courts, especially, are where criminalization of homelessness and poverty play out, and where electing a progressive judge with a commitment to criminal justice reform can make an immediate difference in people’s lives.
It’s a premier example of buying people time, and doing profound-short-term good, while we work to eventually change the system. You might not think there will be any such progressive justices running in your district, but you won’t know unless you do your research. (More on “research” in a moment.)
The candidates you elect to your non-partisan city council will determine whether those laws criminalizing homelessness get passed, how many blank checks the police get to surveil and oppress, and whether lifesaving harm reduction programs, like needle exchanges and even fentanyl test strips, are legal in your municipality. Your non-partisan school board might need your vote to fend off Moms for Liberty candidates and their ilk, who want to ban every book with a queer person or acknowledgement of racism in it.
Of course, this begs the question — if these candidates are non-partisan, and often hyper-local, then how do I research them? There’s so much less information and press about them, so how do I make an informed decision?
I’m not an expert, myself. But I do think/hope I have enough tips to consist of a useful conclusion to this post:
- Plan ahead. If you vote in person, figure out what’s on your ballot before you show up and get jumpscared by names you don’t know. Find out what’s on your ballot beforehand, and bring notes with you when you vote. Your city website should have a sample ballot, and if they drop the ball, go to Ballotpedia.
- Ballotpedia in general, speaking of which. Candidates often answer Ballotpedia’s interviews, and if you’re lucky, you’ll also get all the dirt on who’s donating to their campaign.
- Check endorsements. Usually candidates are very vocal about these on their websites. If local/state progressive leaders and a couple unions (not counting police unions lol) are endorsing a candidate, then that’s not the end of my personal research process per se, but it usually speeds things up.
- Check the back of the ballot. That’s where non-partisan races usually bleed over to. This is the other reason why notes are helpful, because they can confirm you’re not missing anything.
Also check in with the League of Women Voters, who send all the candidates questions that are theoretically non partisan (but which tend to reveal partisan affiliations in the response). They run Vote411, where they aggregate all the information they get into a nice little voting guide with all the candidates’ answers arranged neatly there for you so you can peruse and make up your mind.
Seriously, if you aren’t using Vote411 as part of your decision-making process for local elections, you should start! The candidates do sometimes also ignore them, but they’re really good at bothering everyone for information and getting results. And the LWV are very, very thorough.
Get informed and vote!
amhrancas 