Be an Educated Voter

Be an educated voter this June when selecting the candidates to be their party’s nominee on the November General Election ballot, says Clemson University Political Science Professor Dr. Joseph Stewart.  “Find out who the candidates are and what positions they take, so that you can cast an informed vote.  It is not just going out to vote but you want to vote in such a way, so that you are not surprised.  I mean often the candidates are telling you what they will do if they get elected and then voters express surprise when they get elected.  Well they often are very straight forward, for all the complaints we hear about candidates lying to us, no they are often telling us what they will do, it is just we don’t paying enough attention and we don’t like what they do when they get in when in fact they told us that is what they are going to do.”  Turn-out is anticipated to be down from two years ago when their was a Presidential election, something Dr. Stewart finds interesting because local and state races affect voters more on a daily basis.  “What I try to get across to people is how those people in those offices affect their lives and that they do affect them more directly.  It is the local officials who determine things like street lights and garbage pickup, things of that nature that affect our day to day lives, so we should be more interested in those races.” Do some homework before heading to the polls on June 10 to vote in the South Carolina Party Primaries.