Introduction
I won’t lie. On Tuesday, November 8 2022, I will be casting an election ballot for the first time in my life. The circumstances that have led to this point are long and numerous. In short, I am very pessimistic about the state of our country: the generally incompetent leadership that continually gets elected, the low standard of accountability of both elected and especially unelected government employees, an ignorant electorate who fail to understand basic statistical concepts, a lack of understanding of the importance of liberty, and a frightening apathy among many people, but especially those around my age. With this blog post, I hope to inform readers who are residents of Florida how they ought to consider voting in the upcoming general election. While a majority of the points made in this post relate directly to the Florida general election, I believe this blog post also has value for those non-Florida resident readers as the concepts explored herein can be applied more broadly.
Have a Fundamental Voting Philosophy
Having a fundamental voting philosophy is important because it allows one to rely on grounded principles to guide his conscience in the face of terrible ballot choices and in scenarios where there is little information or too many unknowns. My fundamental political philosophy most nearly aligns with the Libertarian Party of Florida platform. At the most basic level, this philosophy holds individual liberty, localism, constitutional principles, low taxation, and limited government in the highest regard. Therefore, individual candidates must also share these values to receive my vote. Candidates who put the “greater good” ahead of the individual, those who propose large, sweeping government programs, and those who promote government to achieve goals not laid out in the Constitution (such as “creating jobs”) do not get my vote. However, it’s often very hard to find candidates who support one, let alone several of my political philosophies. Therefore, I find I am encountering many scenarios where voting confidently becomes difficult. Which brings me to my first “how to.”
How to Vote When All Candidates Are Lousy
You may often hear people describe their voting choice as picking the “lesser of two evils”. Often, these votes may be cast begrudgingly along party lines. Sometimes, a voter may cast an entire ballot along party lines. I would strongly suggest this is a terrible way to vote. Instead, do your homework and look up each candidate on the ballot and what he/she stands for. Most states have online candidate listings making it easy to find who is running based on your County. From here, a little online search for each candidate’s website should bring you within a few clicks of finding said candidate’s platform, beliefs, philosophies, and action pledges once elected. So, what should you do if after all this you find all candidates to be lousy? Well, in Florida all state-level offices are single-winner elections chosen by plurality vote, meaning the one with the most votes wins. So, in this scenario, it does no good to not cast a vote. If you have a fundamental voting philosophy as mentioned above, you should be able to select the candidate that most aligns with your values. Consider a write-in vote if this is allowed.
How to Vote for Supreme Court and Court of Appeals Justices
This is one scenario where I am admittedly ignorant. I expect that most people share my opinion in that there just isn’t enough time to vet all Supreme Court or Court of Appeals Justices thoroughly. Indeed, I am not a lawyer. So, even reading rulings made by Justices would be hard to understand. My suggestion here is to do some Google searches to find notable rulings made by the judge. Also, ballotpedia.org can be a good resource for information on judges.
How to Vote on Constitutional Amendments
This is where having a fundamental voting philosophy makes things a little easier. Again, ballotpedia.org is a handy resource for parsing through the legalese that might appear on your ballot, as the website gives a simple subject and description for each amendment. Let’s explore each Amendment below:
Florida Amendment 1, Disregard Flood Resistance Improvements in Property Value Assessments Measure
A “yes” vote on this amendment would disregard flood mitigation improvements in appraisals of property value for taxation purposes. Existing constitutional provisions require property appraisers to ignore wind mitigation and renewable energy devices. So, it is logical to add flood mitigation improvements to this list as well. At best, it will serve as a slight tax reduction for Florida homeowners taking responsible steps to mitigate flood damage.
Recommendation: Vote YES
Florida Amendment 2, Abolish the Constitution Revision Commission Measure
A “yes” vote on this amendment would abolish the Florida Constitution Revision Commission (CRC), a 37-member commission provided for in the state Constitution that convenes every 20 years to review and propose changes to the Florida Constitution. Unlike other means for getting single subject measures on the ballot, the CRC is allowed to compound, that is, place several unrelated propositions in one amendment. In fact, seven of the eight CRC referred amendments to the November 2018 ballot are being challenged by lawsuits that claim the amendments were composed of multiple subjects bundled into one or that the ballot language was inaccurate or misleading. Furthermore, the 37 members of the commission are appointed by the Florida governor and legislature, essentially making it beholden to that same power structure. In summary, the CRC adds needless complexity, confusion, and cost and the members are ultimately unaccountable as they are not elected.
Recommendation: Vote YES
Florida Amendment 3, Additional Homestead Property Tax Exemption for Certain Public Service Workers Measure
A “yes” vote on this amendment would add a $50K homestead exemption for public service workers such as EMS, police officers, firefighters, and so forth. While some Libertarians will advocate for all tax reductions regardless of conditions, I am not one of them. Fundamentally what is being challenged by this proposed tax reduction is my strong belief in the spirit of equal rights under the law as laid out in the Constitution: “tax breaks for me but not for thee!” A $50K break across the board would be one thing, but I fundamentally reject the notion that government employees are worthy of special tax privileges.
Recommendation: Vote NO
Conclusion
The litany of problems I see with our current two party system of government has finally led me to get up and go vote for the first time in my life. I used to believe that my vote didn’t matter. While on a mathematical level, it would be near impossible for my single vote to shift the outcome of an election, I will nevertheless be voting in person on November 8. Hopefully this blog post has given you some food for thought.
Liberty Matters 