Nov. 7 is just a few weeks away. We will finally be rid of the political ads that have been overwhelming us on television and radio, for a short while at least.
We just have to do our research to decide which candidates best represent our views and ideals.
Fortunately for the voting public, many people are more than willing to help you decide how to fill out your ballot.
There are hundreds of different organizations in the United States that have an interest in politics. There are groups that lobby the Congress for support of a specific cause such as the tobacco or oil companies. These companies try to get legislation passed that will help them and their customer base.
There are also groups whose interest in politics is not for sales but for legislation and regulation. These groups have specific motives and they always seem to come out strongly before the elections.
One of these organizations is the National Rifle Association. I have been a member of the NRA since August and I just received my election issue of its magazine, "1st Freedom." It lays out for members exactly what is at stake in this election. There are articles about Sen. Ted Kennedy's agenda, the danger of Nancy Pelosi being Speaker of the House and so on. It also gives a grade of "A" through "F" to everyone running for the elections in Indiana. On its Web site - www.nra.org - there is a lot of information on any local elections where citizens' Second Amendment rights are possibly in jeopardy. This is helpful to me when I am trying to see whom I should support. I'm a supporter of the NRA and as such I take stock in its opinions on the candidates.
The American Civil Liberties Union has the same type of layout as well. On its Web site - www.aclu.org - the ACLU has a Congressional scorecard. It is very helpful because while it gives a percentage of how often each member of Congress votes in agreement with the ACLU, it also tells you the bills Congress was voting on. It gives everyone a chance to see how well his or her representatives are standing for their values in Congress. Even though I disagree with many of the ACLU'S ideas, I can still use its evaluations of congressional leaders to help me decide how I am going to vote.
In addition to these groups, any reputable news source will have election coverage for everyone to look at. These will give you lots of important information as well but without the spin of the private organizations.
Voting a straight ticket is foolish.
We as voters need to dig deeper and do our best to be as informed as possible about the issues. This is why these groups can be so helpful to us. They compile information on issues that we care about and make it easy for us to decide.
There is no good reason to be a uniform voter in this day and age. There is so much information available via the Internet that you can learn just about anything about the candidates. Learn all that you can and choose wisely.
The decisions we make on Election Day will affect us all for years to come.
Alex Carroll is a junior history major and writes 'Speak Softly' for the Daily News. His views do not necessarily agree with those of the newspaper.
Write to Alex at apcarroll@bsu.edu.
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