Arizona

I received my ballot and last night I went through all the California propositions and the one San Diego County proposition. I read the Legislative Analyst's statement on the state propositions, the argument for/against, and checked the wording of the entire proposition at back of the Secretary of State's voter guide.

On the partisan races, it was easy; straight Democratic ticket. There were no knucklehead Democratic candidates, unlike the republicans, on the ballot.

For the non-partisan races like mayor, city council, and school board I had either gone to the forums or watched them on YouTube. Our Democratic Club hosts candidate forums and posts them on their YouTube channel. Mayor was easy because he's been a past mayor and city council for the last 16 years and he's actually a good and he's only 48 years old. City council has the outgoing mayor handpicking his replacement and two council candidates. Listening to them in the forums I eliminated because I didn't agree with their vision for the city. Two candidates stood out favorably and I voted for them. On the school board, we have an incumbent who is really good and has the support of many Democrats (club endorsement) and republicans. The remaining candidates included one guy who is the laid back, easy-to-get-along-with but had some good ideas; a candidate whose claim to fame was implementing what books the school library can let kids check-out with permission from their parents. My sister is a die-hard republican and labeled him a "book burner." The final candidate is a professor and had good ideas so she got my votes.

I marked my ballot last night and dropped it off at the secured early voting box in the public library this morning. I'll wear my "I VOTED" sticker on November 5th.