LIHU‘E — What does Rocky Anderson, Virgil Goode, Gary Johnson and Jill Stein have in common with President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney? They are all running in the November elections to become the next United States president. Project Vote
LIHU‘E — What does Rocky Anderson, Virgil Goode, Gary Johnson and Jill Stein have in common with President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney? They are all running in the November elections to become the next United States president.
Project Vote Smart has set up a web tool, Vote Easy, identifying all presidential candidates, their respective parties, public records and views on top issues. Voters can go online, answer a questionnaire and compare it to the candidates’ answers to see how compatible they are with the candidates’ views.
The questionnaire has 13 questions on topics such as abortion, Afghanistan, budget, economy, education, energy, environment, guns, health care, immigration, marriage, national security and social security.
Each candidate’s profile is tagged to his or her running mate, who has the same set of questions. The downside is that only Obama’s and Romney’s running mates have answers posted.
Besides the questionnaire, Vote Easy offers a quick view of the public records of each candidate, including a biography with education history, professional and political experience. This tool also provides information on interest group ratings and endorsements, campaign finances and voting records.
By clicking on a link at the botoom of each candidate’s public records, voters are taken to a web page rich on detailed aspects of each candidate.
Besides the obvious party affiliations — Obama running for the Democratic Party and Romney running for the Republican Party — Anderson is running as an Independent, Goode is running for the American Constitution Party, Johnson is running as a Libertarian, and Stein is running for the Green Party.
Vote Smart is a research center in the Montana Rockies, far from the partisan influences of Washington, according to its official website. Project Vote Smart is a non-partisan, nonprofit educational organization funded exclusively through individual contributions and philanthropic foundations.
Visit www.votesmart.org/voteeasy to access the Vote Easy tool.
