I’m a big proponent of parents’ choice in education, so I was initially discouraged a few weeks ago when I saw a that a telephone survey showed a majority of Utahns opposed to Referendum 1.
Since then, however, I’ve become convinced that it can pass, partially because many of the people opposed to the legislation simply won’t vote. (Think about it –have you seen more signs FOR or AGAINST referendum 1? Those are voters.)
I was also encouraged to learned that normally standard questions like “Do you plan on voting this year?” and “Did you vote in municipal elections last year?” were not asked in the survey, possibly leading to a numbers bias as far as votes are concerned.
Lastly, I’ve also seen a TON of anti-voucher ads appearing in my mailbox. That’s a condition that would not occur if the opposition felt the cat was in the bag. Rather, they’ve done their research and know it’s dangerously close; and thus the deluge of expensive ads.
The question, therefor, is can we get out the vote? I think we can and will; but if we want to get the voters to the polls, you and I need to go a little outside of our comfort zone and talk to our friends, family, and neighbors. If we want to win (and win we must) we need to beat the ads by getting the word out on a very personal level.
So - I’m putting my mouth were my mouth is: from now until election day (just over a week from now) I will vary (as is my right) from my normal biz and tech format to blog exclusively about why I think Referendum 1 must pass –and what we can do to ensure that it does. I’ll outline its merits, debunk some common misconceptions, and hopefully I’ll win some of you over at the polls.
As a side note, I know that this is a hotly debated issue. It’s in my nature to avoid those, but to me (personally) this is just too important to ignore. I’ll try to keep a level head about it, and I hope you will too.
Please feel free to post your thoughts and comments –just know that I probably won’t be able to respond to them all. If you do comment, try not to be belligerent since I will be moderating every post, but do free to challenge my opinion as long as you’re nice about it. I welcome niceness regardless of its source! :)
And now, without further ado: let the posts begin!