Election season is upon us!
Decision time – Voting time!
The first question that comes to my mind each and every voting season is, “On what source of information do voters rely the most?” Do they rely on factual information? Are their voting decisions based upon suggestions and recommendations of others? And how many voters actually pursue the opportunity to act upon their freedom of choice and value their own educated judgement? Finally and unfortunately, what really prevents and interferes with more representative voter turnout?
Turning to Wikepedia for an official definition of the word “judgement” directs the reader to the following options. Judgement, Judgement (or judgment) is the evaluation of evidence to make a decision. The term has four distinct uses:
- Informal – opinions expressed as facts.
- Informal and psychological – used in reference to the quality of cognitive faculties and adjudicational capabilities of particular individuals, typically called wisdom or discernment.
- Legal – used in the context of legal trial, to refer to a final finding, statement, or ruling, based on a considered weighing of evidence, called “adjudication”.
- Religious – used in the concept of salvation to refer to the adjudication of God in determining Heaven or Hell for each and all human beings.
The definition reads like an academic homework assignment to me. Voting with meaning and understanding is work! The use of judgement surely calls for a degree of brain work involving active pursuit of information.
We, in the League, work hard to register voters. We work to uphold our fair and unbiased process providing the opportunity for candidate debate. And now we work on the newer technological format of our Voters Guide – SmartVoter.org . But, with that understood, we still have work to do. There surely are more opportunities for us to help the voters! We need to look beyond our “usual” methods and develop improved methods to reach out and connect with those unregistered, eligible voters who have lost faith in the system. One vote can make the difference.
They are out there and there are many!
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