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Culture > News

How to choose your vote for the 2018 election

Christina Kamkutis
Maura Flynn
This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at WVU chapter.

Democrat or Republican, if the upcoming mid-year election on November 6th is your first time voting, it will probably get confusing as you stand at the polls–how do you know you are choosing the right candidate?

If you are still not sure where you fall on the spectrum of political party, there are hundreds of thousands of online tests and surveys you can fill out to help place yourself in a category of political interests and help you make the right decision in where to start when choosing a candidate.

If you have a favorite politician, there is a good chance they have made their views surrounding the upcoming candidates pretty clear. It would be beneficial to check their websites, social media, and official platforms to look at their interests in the upcoming candidate options. President Donald Trump and former President Barack Obama have both released their list of endorsements for the mid-year election as well, so if you favor either of these two, it would be highly recommended to check out their lists as well. (Attached below!)

You should start out by looking at the candidates within your own state. Start small and work your way up: local issues, county issues and finally state issues. Educate yourself on everything happening around the area in which you live first, as these decisions that you make on local issues and politicians can help to build a platform of what you want out of  a politician at the next level as well.

Understandably, these lists of candidates can be intimidating–they are long and there are a lot of people on these lists, and although going through each one individually seems tedious and a waste of time, it is so necessary. However, there is a way to break it down a little bit and make it a more practical process.

By this point in time, there are already favorite candidates on both sides of the spectrums, so it would be more beneficial to you and your schedule to check out the top three or four options from your side of the spectrum, as well as three or four of the more moderate candidates (yes, do this even if you are strongly pulled to one wing over the other–you never know who could surprise you).

Along with this, check out the opposing side’s top candidates to see what you are up against. This could help change your vote if one of their viewpoints is extreme enough or if you stand for something very strongly that the opposite candidate is threatening.

For example, if you are a big advocate for environmental protection and climate change, and the opposing top candidate is very turned off to advancing anything regarding this subject or even faces hurting your cause, you might pick the candidate on your side who vouches very strongly towards that viewpoint rather than the one you originally thought you’d choose who still has the environment on their agenda but not as a top priority.

Overall, when choosing a candidate from either side for the upcoming mid-year election, make sure it is someone who has all (or almost all) of your common political interests in mind, as well as the best interest of democracy and the American people on their agenda. 

Happy voting! Here are some resources to get you thinking…

Political Party Spectrum Test

President Trump’s Mid-Year Election 2018 Endorsements

Former President Barack Obama’s Mid-Year Election 2018 Endorsements

 

Christina is a junior at West Virginia University studying journalism and fashion business. Christina is a media intern at WVUToday, where she reports and edits stories daily. She has held editing and directing roles in HC at WVU, and is currently a co-president of the organization. She has been published three times in Mirage Magazine, a branch off of Ed on Campus. Christina is also in charge of the activism teams newly implemented in HC at WVU: VOICES— a student-run podcast exploring current social issues. Woman-Up—bringing awareness to the underrepresentation of women in the media field. The Pad Project—an international non-profit partnership to raise awareness surrounding the lack of education and stigmas around menstruation in developing countries. Upon graduation, Christina would like to work in the PR/Marketing fields of the fashion industry.
Maura is a senior at West Virginia University, studying honors journalism and leadership. She was the president of Her Campus at WVU from 2018-2019, interns with ESPN College GameDay and works as a marketing/communication assistant for the Reed College of Media. On campus, she has written opinion for WVU's Daily Athenaeum, served as the PR chair for WVU Society of Professional Journalists and was a reporter for WVUToday. She teaches leadership classes for the Honors College and is an active member of both the Honors Student Association and Helvetia Honorary. Maura is an avid fan of The New Yorker, (most) cities and the first half of late-night talk shows.