Sample ballot (#240, Topic P)

With democracy in USA being equated to voting every 2 or 4 years, opportunities for an ordinary person to gain an understanding of the process are limited. One of the best ways, in my view, is to become an election judge; a few years back, I was fortunate enough to be selected to serve as one -- I learned a lot, and, on top of that, I was well paid. Today, I received an Official Specimen Ballot in the mail, a 36-page (8-1/2 x 11) package, half in English and half in Spanish. Of the 18 pages in English, 7 pages are for the sample ballot proper. A voter is to cast votes for (1) governor and lieutenant governor in a combined ticket, (2) comptroller, (3) attorney general, (4) U.S. senator, (5) congressional representative for our district, (6) state senator for our district, (7) three delegates for the state house, (8) county executive, (9) four at-large county council members, (10) county council member for our district, (11) four judges of the circuit court, (12 - 14) whether to allow three judges (each to be voted separately) to continue in office, (15) state's attorney, (16) clerk of the circuit court, (17) register of wills, (18) sheriff, (19) at-large member of the board of education, (20 - 22) three district-wide members of the board of education, each to be voted separately, (23 - 26) four questions on amendments to state constitution, and (27 - 28) two questions on county's charter amendment. That is a lot of readings to do and a lot of decisions to make. My wife received a similar sample ballot also (each registered vote receives one) and said to me: How do I know the position of each candidate? Good question, but I have no answer. Millions have been spent on this mid-term election (according to a survey, the total spending on campaigns for this mid-term election reached $2.3 billion for the country as a whole -- that is, administrative expenses such as printing and distributing the sample ballots, manning the voting booths, and counting the ballots are not included), but most of the messages focus on the opponent's negative personal traits, and not on what the candidate plans to do once elected or re-elected. I thought I am well read; I don't even know what candidates for the so-called top-of-the-ticket (at least 1, 4, 8 above) plan to do. Even if one has the time (and, being retired, I do have time), reading through even the 16 pages of material in the package is not easy. (In a follow-up entry [#241], I plan to use one of the constitutional amendments (no. 24) as an illustration.) All I can say is that democracy is an expensive proposition, a luxury only rich countries such as USA can indulge in it.