On May 19, I’ll go cast my primary ballot. There are big splashy races on this ballot: a Senate seat that’s wide open for the first time since 1985, a primary of Rep. Thomas Massie that’s attracted national attention.
But the race I’m most invested in on this ballot is our county judge-executive. In Kentucky, judge-executives touch almost every aspect of managing the places we live: snow removal, road construction, property taxes, business development, housing, water and sewer. You name it; the judge-executive has responsibility for it.
The last time our judge-executive was on the ballot, just over 10,000 people (in my county of around 140,000 people) voted in that race.
And I get it. Our brains fill up with our daily to-dos, insurance renewals, pet illness, the water heater leaking. Then we pour in national news, and we start to overflow. It takes energy and capacity to care about local races, and many of us simply don’t have it. I understand.
But I have that capacity, so I want to see how I can use it.
Enter Ballot Club.
Several years ago, my neighbor Bethanie and I invited friends to my house right before election day. We made a simple slideshow listing the races that would be on our ballots. We described what the offices do (Kentucky elects constables! It’s bewildering!) and listed the candidates. We had some snacks, and we talked through the slides with the room. Does anyone know this person running for school board? How about this city council candidate? Have you ever tried to call our rep? What happened?
It was a lively, educational, fruitful, zero pressure conversation among lots of people from different corners of my life and their friends. We had one objective: everyone leaves a little more prepared to vote.
I’m planning to do it again for our upcoming primaries. Here’s my slideshow, which I’ll post on all the socials. I’ll invite my people and their people to come to my house if they want. I’ll assure them that I’m not fundraising or stumping for anyone. And we’ll see what happens.
Here’s a link to the slideshow with working links, in case some of these elections affect you!
This feels very low-stakes to me. If no one shows up, some people will still look at the slides and click some links. Purpose served!
If I have a house full, I’ve only promised something that I’ve already done (and some snacks).
A quick note before the how-to:
Local engagement runs on context — and context is what we build on our premium shows. More to Say is where I take 15–20 minutes most evenings to unpack the structure behind a single story so the rest of the news makes more sense. Paid subscribers also get our weekday News Brief with Sarah, Spicy Live on Thursdays, and the subscriber threads where folks already swap ballot guides, county clerk recommendations, and “wait, what does a constable actually do” research from their own districts.
If this post made you think “I should be doing this in my town” — the people doing exactly that are on the other side of the paywall.
It takes an investment of time to put the information together, and if you, too, have that capacity, here are some ways to get started:
Your state’s Secretary of State runs elections. Look at the Secretary of State website for important deadlines, a link to check on your voter registration status, and any other election headquarters-type information.
Often, your Secretary of State’s office can point you to the right county official for more detailed information. In Kentucky, our county clerks run elections, and my county’s clerk does a fantastic job sharing election information. In other states, you might be looking for a county election supervisor or a similar title. If you’re not finding anything, trying Google-ing “who is the top election official in __ County, [state]?”
Here’s the tricky part: information for each candidate. If you know of a local or regional news outlet, start there. See if they have an election guide or candidate round-up. Sometimes a local television station will have good links and resources. I resorted for one candidate to a Reddit thread because it was the best I can do. That’s ok! This isn’t a test (for you…you can divine what you will about the candidates from what they’ve shared about themselves).
In the general everything-overwhelm, we say to plug in locally so often that it sounds trite. Maybe it is. But I like seeing what I can do and doing it. - Beth
You can get a lot of candidate information from the League of Women Voters’ website vote411.org! Most local leagues manage their area’s part of this site themselves by sending all local candidates a list of questions which the candidates answer in their own words on the site. I was in charge of the Charleston, SC league’s Vote411 site for a few years and would be happy to answer any questions!
I did this for local and state races in the 2024 election with a bipartisan group in a part of that gets together to talk about politics and it was so much fun. I was as non partisan I could be with all the races except one where the candidate was just a complete joke (he replied to the local newspapers interview questions, but the answer is made absolutely no sense). I'm excited to do it again this year!