Educating Yourself on the Issues and Candidates
In the sermon this weekend, we ended by encouraging a few very practical steps for engaging the upcoming election. Those steps were to educate yourself, for the purpose of prayer, trusting that God wants to lead His people as we walk in dependence on Him. The following resources are helpful in becoming informed about the issues and candidates we have the chance to vote for or against.
Resources for investigating the candidates…
This web site allows you to answer a large array of policy questions in great detail, not only giving your stance, but articulating the level of importance of that particular issue to you. It then compares your answers to those of the presidential candidates and shows which candidates you most closely align with. This is a great first step for then looking deeper into candidates you might not already be familiar with. There are many other web sites like this one, so consider searching for a few others to look at as well.
http://www.isidewith.com
Resources from Larimer Country…
This is the sample (draft) ballot for the upcoming election. It is helpful to read it in its entirety as a way to start familiarizing yourself with every issue you have the opportunity to vote on.
http://www.larimer.org/elections/2016_General_Election_Sample_Ballot.pdf
This page has basic information about the upcoming elections –
http://www.larimer.org/elections/current_elections.htm
Resources from the State of Colorado…
The “Blue Book” is a resource put together by the state that contains the text and some analysis on all ballot initiatives. You should have received this in the mail, but this link takes you to the digital version –
https://www.colorado.gov/pacific/cga-legislativecouncil/ballotblue-book
Here is a page showing contact information for agencies / groups that are both in favor or against the ballot initiatives. This can help you investigate where certain ballot initiatives might have their origin, and see a more diverse an impassioned stance (either in favor or against) then you might find in the Blue Book.
https://www.sos.state.co.us/pubs/elections/Initiatives/ballotContactList.html