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Today I learned a valuable lesson. Really, it all started last year when I went to vote. I arrived at the voting booth and, as is typically the case, there were all kinds of offices up for vote that I was ignorant to. I asked the lady running the booth if she had any information on the candidates. She did not. I was stuck wondering the basis on which I should vote. The candidate's name? Their party affiliation? The sign I saw on the road to work? Instead of voting the party line, I decided I would withhold my vote for the races on which I was uniformed. I figured it would be a disservice to those running to cast my vote blindly.

Today, I was better prepared. Before heading to the booths, I looked at the sample ballot and researched my preferences in each case. On a side note, as crazy as it seems, many of the candidates for some of the low profile races don't even have a webpage, so this online researching effort is only successful to a point. At any rate, this morning, I watched a good portion of a debate between the candidates for Utah County Commissioner - Gary Anderson and Joel Wright. It didn't take long for Joel Wright to win my support. It seemed that Anderson was campaigning to keep his cush job while Wright was campaigning to make a difference. Anderson seemed to represent what is wrong with the government and Wright seemed intent to change that.

I watched the polls closely tonight and was disappointed to see Wright lose. My guess is that if more people would have been exposed to the candidates, Wright would have won. People, such as my former self, seem to vote for the incumbant or the candidate that the party leaders are endorsing.

At any rate, the lesson that I learned is that a good citizen should research their vote prior to election day so that they can actually give support (beyond their own vote) to their preferred candidate's campaign. I have done this on the high-profile elections, but have neglected the lower-profile votes (which probably make a more immediate impact on my life). I wish I would have known about Joel Wright two weeks ago, so that I could have thrown my support to him when it would have made more than a one-vote difference...