Community Brainstorm: How To Vote on Amendments and Lesser Offices

As a caveat, this is my first diary, so I appreciate any constructive criticism.

I was having a discussion with a colleague and fellow Dem today, regarding how we were planning on voting for the items on our ballots which have no overt party affiliation on the ballot.  We found that we had both compiled information willy nilly from a variety of sources, and that each had found a dearth of sources which were particularly helpful in compiling information on how we should vote on amendments and justices and such matters.  After all, it (usually) does bolster the Democratic agenda if we keep Democratically appointed justices in power and vote on ammendments which forward Democratic principles.

In the spirit of that conversation, I thought it might be helpful to create a diary in which Kossacks could share such information with each other: a community brainstorm, if you will.  So, tell us: where are you getting information on local and/or non-party-affiliated issues on your ballot?  Are there any websites we should be aware of at the national or even your local level?  Are there any issues on your ballot which are not specifically party-affiliated, but which other Dems and progressives should recognize as in the spirit of Democratic philosophies?

I have one helpful website for Floridians (as I'm located in central Florida), which gives some helpful information about the proposed amendments (who is sponsoring them; who is favoring them; and, who's opposing them):  http://www.votesmartflorida.org/...

Other than that, most of my information has been from compiling biographies of Justices on Wikipedia (hardly a trustworthy methodology) to determine which side the judge seems to vote with and who appointed him or her.  

That's all I've got; and I know there's must be a better way of gathering this type of information.  I look forward to reading responses, and I hope this was a worthwhile first diary.

•  This is ...

  ... a very worthwhile diary.  Sadly too many folks here are insane due to election fever.

  I do have one suggestion. I've noticed that when people come up with good ideas, the best way to go forth is to start the process yourself.  You did a little of that with your Florida link, but I think you'll get a lot more responses if you make this your project and go forward with it.

  There are two projects I know of where this happened.  One is sidinny's Election Diary Rescue -- he just did the diary, saw a need and plunged right in.  Only afterward did he get volunteers.

  And FleetAdmiralJ's project to live blog the election started with a diary that got only a few comments but now you can see scrolling down the page a whole bunch of "test sample" diaries that are placeholders for election night.

  So there's my two cents.  Good diary!

  by Nightprowlkitty on Wed Nov 01, 2006 at 05:08:39 PM PDT

  •  Thanks for the feedback

    I'll try to do some more research tomorrow and see if I can't get more people involved by getting this project off the ground myself.

    Cheers.

    by rcald on Wed Nov 01, 2006 at 05:23:43 PM PDT