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The Voter’s Speakeasy featuring unbiased reporting and insight into life at Vote Smart from our staff, interns, and volunteers.

Political Ignorance as a Preference

2016 October 07

Voting smart can require enormous effort or minimal effort, but to vote smart takes effort.
 


Enormous effort is applied by less than 1% of the public. Usually they are political scientists, lobbyists, some reputable journalists or even political hacks working as opposition researchers, all paid for such effort.  They start by finding reputable sources that provide factual information untainted by interpretation.  This is almost always found at government sites or within the public records and reports often required by law, along with a few news or academic sites that capture facts not otherwise documented, such as public statements, endorsements, biographical details or the salacious peculiars that expand their audience.  These sources require hundreds of hours, which few citizens have.


Modest effort is applied by 10% of the public, using trusted sources that capture factual records and present that data in easy to digest concise reports related to each voter’s unique concerns.


Ignorance is the preference of almost 90% (221 million) of our potential voters. It takes no time other than that to be entertained by the enormous variety of popular political preachers telling citizens who’s at fault and who’s to blame for the trouble they see.


Richard Kimball

VoteSmart.org
 

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2014 National PCT Results Released

2014 October 29

Preferring to protect themselves from opposition research, only 20% of the 1282 candidates for Congress were willing to provide voters or media with direct answers to the issue questions on Vote Smart’s National Political Courage Test.

October Common Ground E-Newsletter

2014 October 22

 Sign up for our monthly E-Newsletter here. 

September Common Ground E-Newsletter

2014 September 26

 Sign up for our monthly E-Newsletter here. 

Revolutionizing Transparency in Government through Technology

2014 September 15

Today, Vote Smart announces the unveiling of its powerful new tools that provide every citizen interactive, instant access to the facts on any politician, on any issue, at any time.

Three Prominent Elections Experts Join Vote Smart Board

2014 September 09

Three prominent political research experts, Brooks Jackson, Ted McConnell, and Sheila Krumholz, have joined the board of Vote Smart (VoteSmart.org), the leading non-partisan national research organization focused on politicians and elections.

Vote Smart Magic is Almost Here!

2014 August 08

We are only a few weeks away from announcing the biggest event in Vote Smart history.  It will transform the way you use our data and the way you view candidates and elections in the future. 

Kimball - Vote Smart Members' Report

2012 December 12


November Common Ground E-Newsletter

2012 November 21

Read our November Common Ground E-Newsletter here...

Common Ground E-Newsletter, February

2012 February 07

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