Jeff Gill
Election Day endorsements
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We have an election coming up on Tuesday (naturally), November 4th.
Your polling places will be open from 6:30 am to 7:30 pm that day, with some of you using early voting in downtown Newark, or absentee voting which has to be turned in by mail that day or to the drop box off Courthouse Square by 7:30 as well.
Do I have endorsements for this primary election cycle, a year before the already discussed to the point of weariness midterm elections in 2026? Sure I do.
We have a number of county and local issues on the ballot, school boards and village councils and township trustees. There are complex matters on the slate, and some pretty straightforward questions.
My endorsements: I endorse talking to someone.
"You mean a candidate for office?" one asks. Well, sure, that's a great idea. Many eligible voters don't do that; I worry about how many haven't talked to anyone. I don't mean trading barbs on a comment thread or scrolling on your phone, I mean talk to someone. A person you respect, whose opinion is worth noting. Ask them what they think. It could be a spouse, it might even be your child, and who knows, someone might talk to their neighbor, but that's my endorsement. Talk to somebody about the election.
Another electoral endorsement: read something. It could be a candidate survey in the Sentinel, Advocate, or Dispatch, on paper or online. You may find a candidate webpage or public profile, and while it's easy to say they're crafted to win the election, these platforms or pitches are information. Read them skeptically? Sure, I assume most of you read my columns skeptically, and that's how it should be. But take in some information from a coherent, solid source; read an account where you can, versus a hot take in a social media blip.
What I would also endorse: think about it. Yes, you may know who you are voting for already. Turn those choices over in your mind a bit. Take a walk, mull it over for a minute or two. Sometimes people vote against certain candidates as much as they vote for another. That's part of how the process works.
In my neck of the woods, I have the interesting advantage of knowing most of the people I have to consider on my ballot. Truthfully, I could give you at least one reason to vote for, and one to not vote, for each of them. Hey, they're people. As Madison said in Federalist Paper Number 51, "if men were angels, no government would be necessary." We ain't choosing between angels, or saints. Women and men are listed for us to pick from.
So to review my endorsements: talk to someone about the election (or more than one somebody, of course), read about the election's issues and candidate positions, and think about your vote. That pretty well sums it up. You could read the Federalist Papers, too; they're easy to find online, 85 of them, but you don't have to absorb the whole thing right now.
But you might want to give them all a look-see before next November…
Jeff Gill is a writer, storyteller, and preacher in central Ohio; he has many endorsements of people and priorities, not all of which you get to read here. Tell him your endorsements at knapsack77@gmail.com or follow @Knapsack77 on Threads or Bluesky.
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