Just Thinking...

[Dennis1209]

I'm relatively new to Tennessee and Tennessee political incumbents and their stance on issues and voting records. Unfortunately, like many people I don't have the time to research the incumbents / candidates records and platforms on issues.

Since I moved here, and in my opinion, the local Nashville television news stations seem to have a political agenda as well as most media outlets.

Not knowing most of the incumbents / candidates stances on major issues of concern to me, the 2nd Amendment being one of them, I vote straight Republican. Knowing there maybe independent or other party candidates on the ballot that more closely aligns with my views, it would get my goat to not vote for them.

It's probably easy enough to go to the NRA website or their monthly magazine to find who they support but, this last primary I didn't see anything for my county. And the 2nd Amendment isn't my sole reason for selecting a candidate to support anyway.

Being relatively new to TN. and TGO, and running a site search here, I didn't find a single source / poll of who and why this membership supports, but many independent TGO members stating their choice of candidates and who needs to go and why.

In case I've missed it, would someone direct me to a TGO membership voting poll taken prior to elections. If there isn't one, it would simplify the selection process on 2nd Amendment issues for me anyway if there were, as we all have the same horse in the race.

I get the gist on all the incumbents / candidates on the national level, but lack sufficient information to make the best choice for state and county elections.

And like I briefly mentioned, TGO members will sway my vote more than the NRA anyway, because we are residents of this great state and have to bear the election results.

[peejman]

I've searched long and hard for any relatively simple and straightforward way to compare candidates. So far, I haven't found it. You can look up an incumbent's voting record, but beyond that it's hard to tell. The senator's and some representatives have newsletters you can subscribe to. As you mentioned, the NRA has some information. Politics being politics, you must consider the source of anything you find and decide how much of it (if any) to believe.

It gets really tough at the local level. Heck, I'd be thrilled if I could get a sample ballot a week before the election so I'd at least know who I was voting for.

[monkeylizard]

Nashville's Election Commission has the ballot on their website weeks (if not months) ahead of the election. Even if your county doesn't post it on their website, contacting the election commission could probbaly get a copy emailed to you.

After that, I have to break out the Google-fu and check each candidate for the races I get to vote in. It's time consuming, but I feel that I have made the best decisions that way. This time around, I actually contacted a few candidates on the state income tax and the safe-commute bill. They all responded quickly.