If you've ever seen the voter's guides or voter cards that various organizations put together for election day and wondered how they came up with their endorsement lists, well I'm about to tell ya. I'm on the board of a local GLBT org, and I've had a pretty hectic low sleep weekend. Over the last four days I've been helping get the interviews done so that C-FAIR can get its endorsements out in time for the upcoming 2008 election.
C-FAIR only deals with local and state races when we put together these recommendations. Louisville's power grid being down cost us a week in getting this done according to our original timeline.
But get it done we did. I ended up participating in four candidate interviews over two of my days off, with the first one happening just four hours after I got off from a 12 hour shift early Thursday morning. I was on call in case I was needed Saturday and attended a two hour meeting to mull over the endorsements yesterday.
While waiting for the interviews I'd agreed to participate in, I pored over the candidate questionnaires we received, their own campaign literature, their websites and whatever other information I could find out for these meetings so I could come up with cogent questions to ask. Some of the meetings are also opportunities to gather political intel that help us make future informed strategic policy decisions.If you're from Da Ville, you'll have to check out the C-FAIR website and see who we endorse for the local races since due to confidentiality agreements I'm bound to can't tell you what we discussed.
What I can tell you is that the process was followed to the letter and on some of the races we had to debate and thoughtfully think about which candidate to endorse.
I and my fellow board members also wanted to make the point to candidates seeking our endorsement that even though we are a GLBT org, we aren't just focused on GLBT rights issues. We are also a cross section of concerned citizens of this community who have interests encompassing a broad range of issues that go beyond GLBT concerns.
Was it worth it? If it helps one voter feel more comfortable, at ease, and empowered enough to head into the voting booth feeling they've cast an informed ballot, then giving up some of my time to help put these endorsements together is worth it.
