BRACK: How to find details about candidates in coming election

By Elliott Brack
Editor and Publisher, GwinnettForum

MARCH 13, 2020  | Boy! What a job awaits Gwinnett voters in the upcoming primary election! There are 135 candidates from Gwinnett seeking your support. Making sense of who to support out of this onslaught of candidates may be the toughest job ever in an election for Gwinnett.

In what is the most essential election of a democracy, the voting itself, it is becoming harder and harder to find enough information to determine which candidate to support. One reason is that there is less and less media presence allowing candidates to present their information and stances.

You can bet that GwinnettForum will do its best to help you in deciding which candidate to vote for. For you new readers, this is our standard approach for GwinnettForum since 2008. We will:

1. Ask all opposed candidates to come to our office and spend  30 minutes with us, so that we can get to know them.
2. From these conversations, GwinnettForum will determine who it thinks is the best candidate in each of the races. We will endorse candidates in both the Democratic and Republican primary. Later, we will endorse the person we think is the best candidate in each of the General Election races.

There’s more, with GwinnettForum providing our readers with additional information on the many candidates. 

1.  On March 31, we will send six questions for all candidates who sit down with us for 30 minutes to answer. We will post their answers without cost to candidates on our web site to the six questions provided, in the candidates’ own words without editing. That way, our readers can compare what each of the candidates say, then use this as one basis to determine those they will support with their vote. Deadline to return is April 14. 
2. Understand that we ask each candidate to answer each of six questions in no more than 100 words. And from time to time, some candidates forget, and go on and on in far more than 100 words. When that happens, GwinnettForum will cut off that answer after the first 100 words…and discard and not print the remaining words. (Think seriously: if the candidate “can’t count,” or follow instructions, do you want that person as your elected official?)
3. On April 28, we will print our endorsements in each race.

Another way Gwinnett voters can inform themselves about the many candidates is by going to the candidates’ web sites and reading what they have to say there. Some candidates may invite comment, but the chances that the voters will hear from the candidate is small. 

Each political season, many organizations in Gwinnett put on political forums to educate the voters and promote the election. Unfortunately, attendance is often small at these gatherings. These well-intentioned forums have several drawbacks.  First, with so many candidates running this year, it’ll be difficult for the candidates and those in attendance, to have significant interaction. And secondly, the candidates tell us that, in essence, not much can get accomplished at these forums.  Some even question if they are worthwhile. But many show up so that their opponent won’t have a free ride.

Today in smaller communities of our nation, people often know the candidates well in advance of elections. But in a vast and growing diverse community like Gwinnett, most of the time the voters do not know the candidates at all, making determining who to vote for difficult. 

So, do what homework you can, go vote, and hope others are also diligently getting  enough information to elect worthy candidates. And keep your fingers crossed.

• Have a comment?  Send to: elliott@brack.net