I recently obtained a sample ballot from the Franklin County Board of Elections (just click Search by Name to get yours). It’s a nice way to get started on researching the candidates. Considering the only Libertarian candidate on MY ballot right now is Gov. Gary Johnson – and he already has my vote – I figured I’d get a feel for where some of the other candidates stand on Libertarian issues.
Luckily the Board of Elections makes a list of certified candidates available – along with contact information such as email and phone numbers. For candidates not listed, I looked for the info on their county party websites (the GOP did a good job at providing this info – the Dems not so much). Everyone else I contacted via their campaign websites.
So, to help weed out the candidate list, here is the list of questions I posed to each of them:
Personal Issues
- Government should not censor speech, press, media, or internet.
- Military service should be voluntary. There should be no draft.
- There should be no laws regarding sex for consenting adults.
- Repeal laws prohibiting adult possession and use of drugs.
- There should be no National ID card.
Economic Issues
- End “corporate welfare.” No government handouts to business.
- End government barriers to international free trade.
- Let people control their own retirement; privatize Social Security.
- Replace government welfare with private charity.
- Cut taxes and government spending by 50% or more.
You may recognize the questions from the World’s Smallest Political Quiz, which I recommend taking yourself so you can see how similar your views are to those of the candidates.
So, over the next few weeks, as the responses trickle in, I’m going to try to share their results with you – to help you inform your own decisions with regard to these candidates. It will also serve as a bit of an archive since candidates views change. If I ask them again in a later election it will be interesting to see how their views changed on these key issues.
If a candidate doesn’t specifically say whether they agree or disagree with one of the questions, I’ll be treating those as “Maybe” responses. Also, candidates are listed in the order they appeared on my sample ballot.
Here’s a list of the races covered so far:
Sherrod Brown (D) vs. Josh Mandel (R) vs. Scott Rupert – US Senate
Pat Tiberi (R) vs. Jim Reese (D) – Representative to Congress (12th District)
Zach Scott (D) vs. Mike Herrell (R) –Franklin County Sheriff
Maureen Reedy (D) vs. Stephanie Kunze (R) vs. Thomas Alban – 24th Ohio House District
Daphne Hawk (R) vs. Terry Brown (D) – Franklin County Recorder
John Stacy vs. Michael Collins vs. Kristen McKinley – State Board of Education (6th District)
