Moving at the Speed of Creativity by Wesley Fryer

How I’m Voting and Prepared to Vote in Oklahoma City November 6, 2018

I’m thankful to share that this year as a voter and citizen in Oklahoma City, USA, I’ll be headed to the polls more prepared than ever to cast my ballot. For this important mid-term election, I used the Online Voter Tool from the Oklahoma State Election Board (@OKelections) to generate a PDF sample ballot.

Then, I used DocHub to fill out the PDF, which I’ve linked and embedded as images below. I used many of the articles from NonDoc.com (@nondocmedia), Oklahoma Watch (@OklahomaWatch), The Oklahoma Policy Institute (@okpolicy) as well as candidate websites and other news sites to vet candidates, particularly ones with whom I was not previously familiar. This included all the judge races. I sheepishly admit that every other time I’ve voted as an adult in a U.S. election, there has been at least one ballot question or position for which I was unprepared to vote. If political parties were specified, that could be a fallback to help me make a decision, but in the case of judges a political affiliation is not specified in our state. So I’m VERY happy to feel more prepared than ever before to cast an informed ballot tomorrow. This preparation is also important since we have several important ballot initiatives to vote on.

If you are reading this post before you head to the polls in Oklahoma on November 6, 2018, I encourage you to download and view this PDF of my completed sample ballot, in case this can help you make some decisions prior to voting. As you’ll see if you look at my choices, I’m NOT a straight party voter. In many cases I’m voting for the person, their record and their professed agenda rather than just the political party they represent.

Wes’ Ballot Part 1 (Nov 2018) by Wesley Fryer, on Flickr
Wes’ Ballot Part 1 (Nov 2018)” (CC BY 2.0) by Wesley Fryer
Wes’ Ballot Part 2 (Nov 2018) by Wesley Fryer, on Flickr
Wes’ Ballot Part 2 (Nov 2018)” (CC BY 2.0) by Wesley Fryer

I was also thankful to have the opportunity to participate in this past Sunday evening #OklaEd Twitter chat, which focused on our upcoming elections and was led by Oklahoma school superintendent Rick Cobb (@grendelrick). The discussion and shared ideas from this Twitter chat especially helped me become more informed about our proposed state questions, and decide how am choosing to vote on them tomorrow. Woo hoo for democracy and voting! Our system is not perfect but it’s better than what folks have in many parts of the world… and it only works when citizens take civic responsibility seriously and participate in the process! Whatever your political persuasion, get out tomorrow / Tuesday and VOTE!


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