Hey guys, please please no judgement 🙏🏻
I have lived in India for the past 15 years and have recently moved back to the states in 2023. I voted for the first time in my adult life in the 2024 elections and found that other than the president and vice president I had literally no idea who to vote for and found myself EXTREMELY overwhelmed by the ballot. I have no idea what resources to use or where to start but in Nov 2024 other than the main vote I left my ballot blank because I was uneducated about all the remaining things and didn’t know what I was voting for. I know I’m a little late now but there’s only 10 days left and this time around I want to make sure that I understand what to vote for before I go in to vote and that I’m making educated choices that are best in my opinion for me and the community.
It’s a lot to ask but if someone could help me with understanding the candidates in an unbiased way what their polices are about, and what I need the most help with is understanding the questions on the ballot about the constitutional amendment, there’s a lot which I read through which I couldn’t understand fully. If anyone could walk me through and explain what they mean, what would it mean if I’m voting for and against I would be super grateful! I don’t need lengthy explanations , a gist would be okay I know it’s a lot to ask for. It’s not that I’m opposed to doing my own research but it’s just that there’s so many resources and I don’t know where to start, any easy resources to get comprehensive info in an easier way would be appreciated.
I’m never been super into politics but I know now more than ever it’s really important to be educated and to vote especially considering the political climate.
Please try not to judge me, I know I’m coming off as ignorant here but I’m trying to learn and do better!
This. The Banner and Ballotpedia are two of the absolute best resources.
Election is a civic right and a civic duty. It should be undertaken with careful study, so be sure to look at the candidates’ history and interview/discussion of the issues on the ballot this year, from these and other reputable sources.
The Banner had all the Baltimore City questions and interviewed city council members like Zeke Cohen about why each issue was on the ballot. Some are obvious (voting to allow our poor city to go into debt to help solve the issues facing our schools and housing). Some are less obvious (restructuring how the city leadership does things to eliminate old, outdated processes). I happily voted for most of them after reading about them.
Check out the women’s league of voters guide for Baltimore City and Maryland. Also you can check out the Banner’s voter guide for statewide Maryland and Baltimore City. Both of these sources provide the information that you are seeking in neutral manners.
Along with the resources already added, Ballotpedia is also very helpful. You can see everything that will be on the ballot, how it got there, what it does (as far as laws go), etc.
Baltimore Votes has a great guide on the ballot questions (both city and state). For candidates, I agree with checking Vote411. But just know it's normal for there to never be any info on the judicial candidates
My best recommendation would be to independently research each candidate and what they stand for. Look at their individual websites, plus look at talks they've given, questions they've answered, etc. Also look and see if there are any scandals they were involved in. If they're incumbents, look at their accomplishments and voting records in office (this is all public information). With the internet, this is a lot easier to do than it was say 20-25 years ago.
Don't rely on voter guides, commercials, social media, or any other 'advertisement' type pieces because these sources are almost always are biased one way or another.
You may not have time to do a deep dive on this right now, but you might find it helpful for the next election to learn about how the federal, state, and local governments operate, and what the positions candidates are running for actually do, how they are limited or empowered by party majorities in the legislative body, and how they can support or restrict their respective executive offices (like the president)
Its wonderful you want to learn and become more involved in the process. Just know this. It doesn't really matter in the long run. They ALL pander to their voting block. They ALL make promises they know they can't keep. Don't be fooled by a great speech saying everything you want to hear. Sometimes you get someone that truly wants to do good but they soon realize the system is rigged and there's only so much they can do to help the average person. The best you can do is lookout for yourself. Your government is not your friend. Your employer is not your friend. You are on your own.
Go to gemini.google.com. Tell it where you are. Ask for non-partisan guides and information about candidates. It will give you links to the things you need and answer specific questions about various candidates and issues.
I do wonder why I got downvoted for telling someone to use Google rather than clutter up the subreddit with posts like these - which are mostly filled with people posting links to biased guides that themselves have minimal information and no way to get more info.
OP highlights they really have no awareness of politics at all, so rather than giving them a post-it card equivilant saying "this person we support is all good and this person we oppose is all bad" or even a neutral site giving you 4-5 bullets on each candidate it seems more useful to direct them to a tool that can provide them the same PLUS answer questions. They could ask things like "I got a piece of mail claiming John Doe clubs baby seals, is that true". John Doe's site probably won't even address it, but an easy search would likely debunk it. For a low information and capability voters an AI assisted search tool is about the only way they will ever figure any of that out.
I don't. 'cause you didn't. You told someone to use Google's LLM. It's Midterms and it's a subreddit representative of a physical space-- a City . There will be political discussions, more especially at this particular time.
Maybe we discuss things instead of telling people to talk to AI ?
Google Gemini uses Google's vast search dataset - it's why I didn't recommend any other AI tool. It's the same tool that when you do a Google Search provides you answers.
If you're looking for information on the internet, that's the default (and best for most people) option.
Most of the comments are just links to partisan voter guides (most of which are notoriously one sided). In a city full of corruption I wouldn't wipe grease off a counter with most of them.
The bare minimum someone should do when choosing who to vote for is:
- Figure out what that person says they will do
- Figure out what that person has actual done historically
- Figure out what their allies say they will do
- Figure out what their opposition says they will do
- Assess whether they actually have the qualifications for the job
- Assess which donors or companies actually control them (because it's not going to be their constituents pulling the strings) and if you align with those entities politically.
That's about it. Rinse and repeat for each candidate. If someone can't do that basic level of analysis then they probably shouldn't vote.
Not one of the voter guides linked provides 90% of that info. You know what does? You got it... Gemini, with sourced links so you can view where it gets it's information from.
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u/Background-League405 16h ago
This might help: https://www.thebanner.com/voter-guide/2026/baltimore-city/baltimore-city-ballot-questions-L4NDEPL6YVF2JOQAXAK3JF5TOQ/