MomVoters--Check Out These Links Before You Head to the Polls

I got up a little early so I could look up the ballot before I "early vote" today. I've seen the lines a the Coral Gables Library, and I've heard that some of the causes of the long waits to vote were that the ballot is extra long this year, and that people are waiting until they are in the voting booth to read and try to understand the constitutional amendments that are up for vote. I can't imagine trying to decipher the ballot while simultaneously entertaining my two-year-old! So I went the list here to view a PDF of the November 4 General Election ballot (the only one that applied to me.) Maybe it was the early rise time, or maybe it's because I read way too many board books, but I needed some help. Those state constitutional amendments? They are provided in English/Spanish/Creole on the ballot but are truly written in "government-ese" regardless of what language you speak.

So, I went here to read a story that the Miami Herald had written on the amendments. It was really helpful--the article is actually a list of their recommendations for how you should vote for these amendments, and they talk about what each amendment really means. Not that you have to vote the way that they recommend--I recommend that you also read the "comments" after the article for additional views from readers, and do as much additional research as you feel necessary, but as a quick primer, it helped me a lot. To the right of the article, there is a list of other recommendation articles on the website.

I also did a search for a more unbiased source of information, and found the recommendation for the League of Women Voters website for Florida offices and ballot measures. Along the right side of the page, you can choose to research candidates for different offices, or ballot measures.

Happy Voting!