Noah Stott
How do I Vote
Go Out and Vote!
Are You a Rational Voter?
What Does “Rational Voting” Mean?
Rational voting is essential to keeping our democracy
working efficiently, and healthily. Voting rationally
means that you, as a United States citizen, make your
voting decisions off of rational and logical conclusions
in which you believe the country would be benefited
from. Knowing what policies the candidates in question
support and how they are going to implement them is
one of the most important steps in making rational
voting choices.
The right to vote is not only a right but should be
treated as a responsibility that carries some weight
with it. You as a voter have the responsibilities of
electing candidates that serve the public and its
interests. Sometimes as a voter you have to put aside
your preconceived biases whether it is about political
parties, political views, or even where someone is
from. Putting your biases aside will help you make as
rational of a decision as possible with as much
information as possible to ultimately make your best
voting decision.
Rationally?
Here are some steps to voting
rationally:
1. Look up information about
whatever election you are voting
in. Who are the candidates? What
Parties do they belong to? What is
the significance of the overall
election?
2. Do general research on each
candidate to figure out what they
are all about. Visiting their
campaign website, while biased,
will give you a overall view of
them.
3. Find the one you feel holds
The Effects of Rational Voting
your political opinions most, and
do deeper research into them to
make sure there isn't anything you Rational votings main effect on the country is voters voting across party
are missing. Do research on their lines at a higher rate. Why is this a good thing? Well despite what some
past to look at what they are like people think both main political parties have good people with great ideas,
as a person. and just because you are apart of another party doesn't mean you shouldn't
4. Vote for your prefered consider that candidate. Throughout history we have had incredible
candidate on voting day! presidents from each party that have transformed the country. You might
even vote third party and give that party a slightly larger voice!
 Where Do We as “Rational Voters” Find Good Sources of Information?

What Sources Do Americans LIke? Good Sources of News

Here are some examples of reliable news
The lower chart shows how Americans
sources that you can watch to be informed
answered to how they feel about the listed
with little to no bias.
sources of news with the further left being
1. Mainstream news stations with good track
untrustworthy and the further right being
records that rank highly on the chart such as
trusted. As you can see many of the
NBC or CBS News.
mainstream media news sources will fall
somewhere in the middle with internet and
2.Other publications such as TIME magazine
social media publications being lower on the list
or the Wall Street Journal.
and professionals being at the very high end of
the chart.
The above chart is a chart titled the Media Bias
Chart and was created by Ad Fontes Media.
They placed most the major news publications Bias or Bad News Sources
on a scale of where they fit politically and how
trustworthy the information they put out is. Most While most news publications have some
the upper middle sources in the chart are your bias there are definitely ones that are still
best and most trustworthy sources of raw news reliable and trustworthy, here are some
that doesn't have much political bias in it. A lot examples of these.
of the opinion news stations will fall into the
somewhat reliable or somewhat unreliable 1. Social media websites such as Twitter,
categories because they often don’t tell the full Facebook, Instagram ect.
story when it comes to things that damage their
political views.
It is important that you consume a good mix of
media and especially important that you watch 2. Opinion news stations, these would
a fairly reliable source of news for your main generally be the ones that fall to the lower
source or sources of consumption. If you enjoy sides of the top chart such as Fox News or
some of the other programs you can certainly Daily Kos.
watch them, just try not to watch blindly and to
balance yourself out with other sources of news
as well.
How Do You Choose A Political Party To
Identify With?
Both of the mainstream political parties
have different things to offer when it
comes to choosing what party you are
apart of. Now just because you identify
as a Republican or a Democrat does
not mean that you have to vote for that
candidate, but it shows what way you
generally lean on most policy issues.
There are many ways to identify which
party fits your values best, there are
online quizzes that can sort you into a
party, you can look at what the
foundational principles of the party are,
or you can listen to speeches by
members of the party and see what
party speaks to you most. The Pew
Research Center has a great quiz to
help you sort out your policies.
The way you view the world and what
roles you believe the government
should play in our lives is going to most
likely be the main factor in what party
you chose whether you support the
nominee from that party or not.
Understanding political Campaigns
What is Campaigning?
When politicians run campaign for
president they spend very large
amounts of money on things such
as ads, pamplits, signs, rallies, and
much more to try and get their
name and policies out to the
people. Often there is some sort of
slogan that the candidate
campaigns around or a specific
policy or set of them that they are
known for that separates them from Political Attack Campaigns
their political adversaries.
Often candidates not only campaign for
themselves but they also create attack ads
against their political rivals. When seeing
these attacks you should understand that they
often are out of context attacks on the
candidate that are full of half truths or
misleading quotes. Make sure to do your
research on these topics when you come
across them because you will often find they
are only half truths. This is an example of a
biased source of news and you should be
wary of them.
 Why Should I Even Vote?

Voting is one of our most foundational and rudimentary rights as Americans.

Our founders built a system in which we vote for representatives that hold our
values and will fight for our needs as citizens of this country. While voting for
your prefered candidate exercises this right and fulfills your expectation as an
American citizen. But can your vote really make a difference? Especially if you
aren’t in a swing state what's even the point?

There actually are very major impacts that your vote can make no matter
where you live. Even though our government has checks and balances in
place so that hopefully no matter who takes office they will not do anything too
radical, they certainly have an impact on the country in many ways. Not only
through the policy they push for, but how they lead the country, how they
handle foreign affairs, and how their rhetoric effects the common man. You
should vote for the candidate that you think will be able to fit the categories
that are most important for you.
When you are voting you are not only voting for the president but your ballot
will have many other positions such as representatives, local politicians, end
even policy for your state. Even if your candidate loses for the presidency you
will be voting in all of these other categories in which your voice might be
heard. Even if your not in a swing state and you already know which way your
state will go you will add to the support of your candidate of choice and that
will show in the popular vote whether or not your state swings that way.
You should always try your hardest to show support for the candidates and
policies you support, and our right to vote as Americans is the way we can do
this, show up to general and local elections whenever possible!
Is A Third Party Vote Wasted?
Third parties in the united states often don’t receive a
very large proportion of votes in general elections.
According to statistca.com these candidates generally
receive under 10% of the total vote, but why is this? Are
their policies really that unpopular?
For the majority of American history we have had the
same 2 party system of voting and I think that most
people view anything besides those as a wasted vote
because they aren't going to win anyway. This might be
a self fulfilling prophecy that keeps the system to 2
parties. If you find a 3rd party candidate you really like,
your vote for them could build their platform and lead to
normalizing the 2 party system to accommodate more
political views.