8-18 media

League of Women Voters empowers with information

Editor's note: This is a bonus 8-18 Media story that, like today's other story, relates to the national election to be held Tuesday.

Wondering how you can make an educated decision about how you vote? The League of Women Voters is a great place to start.

The League Of Women Voters hosts candidate forums every election season. This year for Marquette County, the LWV hosted a forum on Sept. 24 at the Marquette Township Hall for the Marquette city commission race.

I have personally attended a few forums in the past and was able to attend this one as well. This year there are seven candidates running for three positions on the commission.

Even as someone who is not old enough to vote, I learned so much from attending the forum. As the questions presented by the LWV are about the most pressing topics within the city and Marquette County, I gained some valuable knowledge about what those topics are and what solutions are being put forward to try to fix them.

The question that stood out to me the most was about how the city commission can balance attracting tourism, while encouraging recreational activities and a thriving downtown.

This topic comes up often in local discussions about the city, but hearing people share their background and expertise about the topic made me question more deeply about what solutions we have, especially with our unique landscape. I felt excited about how some of these ideas like more winter festivals, increasing support for our local businesses or adjusting the zoning plan for more neighborhood events, could really make our city vibrant.

Every candidate has vastly different backgrounds and knowledge or experience, and I found this to be very clear in their ideas for Marquette. I felt empowered knowing that there are individuals in our community that are so invested in keeping Marquette a wonderful city to live in.

Our opinions do not have much voice unless they are represented at the governmental level, and choosing a candidate that you feel will execute your visions is the only way real change will come.

Every election year, we are flooded with so many messages from ads both positive and negative that are designed to influence our vote. Positive ads, negative ads, billboards, emails, texts, phone calls, these are just some of the ways information about elections sneak into our day-to-day lives. It becomes easy to think we have all of the information we need about every candidate without realizing that all of the information we have received has been edited to convey a certain message.

It is important to gain the information about the candidates directly from nonpartisan sources, or even better, directly from the candidates themselves, so we can assess personally if the candidate's values align with our own. It is important that the decision you make is your choice and is one that you are confident about.

If you weren't one of the 70 people in attendance, you can still see the recording of the city commission forum on the LWV YouTube page, @LWVMarquetteCounty. You can also go to the website vote411.org for detailed information about Michigan elections, and a nonpartisan online voter guide. If you would like a paper copy, you can pick one up at a library and other community spaces.

If there is a candidate that you have more questions for, you can find the contact information for candidates on the LWV Voter guide, and get in touch with them directly as well.

Happy voting!

Eleanor Dohrenwend is a 17-year-old partially home-schooled student who lives in Marquette. She has two cats and her favorite holiday is Christmas.