BY KERISA BROWN
The 2020 Presidential Election is just around the corner. The presidential election occurs in less than two months. It will decide the leader of our country for the next four years. For many college students, myself included, this will be our very first time voting in a presidential election. This begs the question: Are you, as a college student, prepared for the election? Being prepared could mean a variety of different things, like registering to vote, researching the candidate’s policies, finding your local polling locations, etc.
This article will provide resources for you to use as you research on your own about the election and gather information before you cast your vote. The day of the election is November 3, 2020, meaning that there is very little time left to do research on your own before the bulk of the election events really kick-off. For college students who have voted before, there are a few resources in this article that could still be of use since things have changed this year due to the ongoing pandemic.
First things first: registering to vote. There are multiple places online that you can register to vote, and it only takes a few minutes. One of the more important things to note is that October 13, 2020 is the LAST day to register to vote in Kansas, whether you vote online, by mail, or in person. A few of these websites you can register on include:
https://www.vote.org/register-to-vote/
https://www.kdor.ks.gov/Apps/VoterReg/Default.aspx
https://www.voteamerica.com/register-to-vote-kansas/
With the ongoing pandemic affecting FHSU and the City of Hays, there are concerns regarding how this might affect voting. Of course, mail-in voting will likely be more popular this year as a result of the pandemic concerns. If you plan on voting by mail to avoid long lines and crowds of people, the last day to request a mail-in ballot for the election is Tuesday, October 27. The ballot must also be postmarked on Tuesday, November 3 (the day of the election).
If you plan on voting in person, you need to know where your polling place is located. To find out where yours is, you can go to https://myvoteinfo.voteks.org/VoterView to see where your polling location is and what time the polls will be open (though most polling places in Kansas are open from 7:00 AM to 7:00 PM on Election Day).
After you have registered to vote, found your polling location/requested a mail-in ballot, etc., you then need to begin doing research on the candidates and their policies, to ensure that you are as informed as you can be before the election. There’s a variety of ways that you can go about researching the candidates. TMN’s Jace Armstrong just published his own story regarding this topic as well.
In addition to this, there are many other resources you can use to find out which candidate you agree with the most. One such resource would be https://www.isidewith.com/. This website provides a survey with a variety of questions and topics such as social issues, economics, education, immigration, etc. It then takes your answers from that survey and compares it to each candidate’s stance on the questions you answered to help find the best candidate fit for you.
Another resource you can use to help you research the candidates is https://justfacts.votesmart.org/. This website allows you to search the candidates by their names and view their positions, ratings, speeches, and more.
As the election quickly approaches, it’s extremely important to be as prepared as possible. This should serve as a guide to get started on preparing for the election, but by no means should you stop there. Moving forward you should continue to do research on your own and educate yourself on each candidate and their beliefs and policies. Your vote matters!
Additional Resources:
https://www.adfontesmedia.com/interactive-media-bias-chart-2/
Link to Story Record:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Hn5zqszn4nmxWRRbJCEhovfnNLLpoQMvTNhxz2_Dhw8/edit?usp=sharing
Great start, Kerissa! I do not know if you’ve heard from Nick or Russell via email yet. In case you haven’t here are things to consider to improve this article and to write better news articles in the future.
Active voice always provides the reader with the most information. It tells that person “Who” did “What,” and its usually simpler and more direct. For example, instead of ” In less than two months, the presidential election will be held, and the leader of our country will be decided for the next four years,” try “The presidential election occurs in less than two months. It will decide the leader of our country for the next four years.”
Second, I think we’ve already discussed using 3rd person. This should be a traditional news article, not an opinion piece. You have the information here, but this isn’t a report to a teacher. It’s for a reader who doesn’t know you and who wants an objective, factual report. The reader has no interest in your opinion or personality no matter how fabulous they both are.
Some specific ways to do that include removing the references to yourself and changing, “This article will provide resources for you to use as you research on your own about the election and gather information before you cast your vote” to “There are a variety of resources you can use to gather information before you vote.”
When it comes to the area that says, “First things first: registering to vote. Of course, you cannot vote unless you are registered!” I wonder if Nick and Russel feel it is appropriate. I am more accustomed to broadcast scripts than written articles. The sentences are inline with the conversational tone reporters and anchors should use, but it could come of a little too casual or demanding. However, it does communicate a peppy and exciting tone, and I really like that. Bottom line, I am not sure it goes over the line and sounds too expressive, but it might. Again, ask Nick and Russell before discouraging yourself from similar sentences in the future.
All in all, there is great content here!! Just a few changes in structure or tone and it’s good to air as an article. Even without that, it may be already be good for publication as a column, which often has a more personal tone.