(NOTE: THIS SITE WAS CONSTRUCTED IN 2005 AND 2006.*)

Voters' Responsibilities Videos

If you are interested in downloading all eight videos on the site at once as Windows Media, or listening to the audio as an mp3 podcast, click here for podcast and one-long-video options.

video still imgThe Voter's Pledge
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BK for SOS News

Elect Me, Then Abolish Me

We don't need a Secretary of State

My Testimony to House Committee

Municipalities should have the right to choose ranked voting

Partisan Crossfire Over ID at the Polling Place

Ways to alleviate fear of fraud without suppressing the vote

 

San Francisco Saves $1 Million Using Ranked Choice Voting

A success for the second year. Read more

MCCL Not Fair To Minnesotans

Pro Lifers, Please Read This!

Burlington, Vermont--a Successful Instant Runoff Mayoral Election

More Details

A WAY TO IMPROVE MINNESOTA

The most powerful thing you can do to improve politics in Minnesota is to support ranked voting. Find out how ranked voting can reduce polarization, increase participation, encourage more choices, and turn the focus from divisive issues to real solutions. Voters’ Rights.


GOODBYE MONEY!

HAVA--The Feds giveth and the Feds taketh away. (Voting equipment, today and tomorrow)


Ireland has the Best Electoral System in the World

Why don't we?


HELP ME!

Helping my campaign is easy, fun, surprising, and rewarding. See how by clicking here.


TAKE THE VOTER'S PLEDGE

Reduce the power of money in politics with an oath of good citizenship.


GOAL: Hit the Mute Button when political commercials come on.

As a voter, you should have a reason to vote for a candidate. Even if that reason is a feeling, it should be based on something real.

When you form your impressions and opinions from TV ads, you are hurting our democracy in two ways. First, you are allowing yourself to be misled. It is almost impossible to give you any real information in 30 seconds. Second, you are rewarding that candidate for spending a lot of money on an ad. TV ads are unbelievably expensive to produce and broadcast. They are probably the most significant expenditure in major campaigns.

You need to vote smarter. Don't be a chump. I don’t believe that if you only knew the truth, you would vote a certain way. But when the parties' research shows that an ad campaign works, then that encourages them to spend more money that way. And it makes the parties and candidates more vulnerable to the big contributors. If they don't run ads, they will get defeated. So they need more money to compete.

Hit the mute button when a political ad comes on. Then do your own research on the candidates. Talk to well informed people that you trust. Avoid pitches that are paid for by the candidates. Take the pledge below.

If everyone followed that pledge, we would take the power of money out of politics.

ASPIRATION: Everyone will take the Voter's Pledge.

Voter’s Pledge:

• I will vote responsibly.
• One month before the election, be it primary or general, I will obtain a copy of the ballot1 for my precinct to confirm who the candidates are.
• I will learn about each candidate by reading publications or researching the internet.
• For every race, I will find out when there are candidate forums or debates, and I will attend those forums or watch them on cable access or the web.
• I will seek independent sources for information and talk to people that I trust.
• If I am an intuitive rather than analytical thinker, I will base my judgments on direct observations rather than the image that is fed to me by the advertising agencies working for the candidate.
• I will avoid commercials and other content paid for by the candidates or interest groups.

Do you have any suggestions about how to improve the Voter's Pledge? E-mail me here: bruce@bk4sos.org.

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1Available at sites listed at VoterHomework.com

If you haven't yet done so, see Why Voters Get the Shaft which explains the value of the Voter's Pledge. And don't forget the Political Ad Spoofs which give fun examples of how bad these ads can be.