AUSTIN (Nexstar) — There’s something for everyone. Some voters want objective information, others want guidance that aligns with their values.
The team behind Waking Giants wants to ease dialogue on complicated issues like healthcare, immigration and gun culture.
“There are explanations about what is a waiting period to help people understand about who can get a gun and why,” co-founder Sera Bonds said.
The materials are sold and delivered through a subscription and are designed to help customers navigate conversations about politically polarizing topics.
“I am both a political animal and an entrepreneur,” co-founder Martha Pincoffs said. “We’re starting with a series of tools to help people engage more deeply on the issues that trouble hearts and minds today.”
Other organizations offer free information focusing on the candidates who match your beliefs.
Texas Values, a non-profit dedicated to family, faith and personal freedom publishes a voter guide based on the group’s ideologies.
“We bring in information on the way conservative organizations might rate the voting record and liberal organizations might,” Texas Values Action Vice President David Walls said.
“We look at their voting records and then we also send out a issue questionnaire that the candidate can respond and tell us where they stand on important issues that matter to the voters in Texas,” Walls said. “And then, on top of that, there’s a panel of grassroots supporters from across the state that take a look at all that information, and then help evaluate candidates on a conservative to liberal scale.”
The Texas Free Press has a guide available focusing on Libertarian candidates.
“The right LP nominee in a tight race has a strong chance to play spoiler,” Texas Free Press editor Neal Dikeman said.
The League of Women Voters of Texas has long-published a voter guide, soliciting responses from candidates to a series of questions on the big issues.
Some elected officials offer their two cents to voters. The Texas Freedom Caucus, a group of conservative lawmakers, published explanations of measures its members support.
“This is the voters’ opportunity to make their voice heard and how conservative or not Representative they want in their state legislature and whether or not they want things done like protecting our Second Amendment, building the border wall election integrity, protecting our monuments, stopping taxpayer funded lobbying, putting prayer in public schools,” caucus chair Rep. Mayes Middleton, R- Wallisville, said on Friday.
Ultimately, many of these groups are striving for a similar goal: voter engagement.
“I think about my sister, I think about my aunt and Midland I think about my family members that want to know more and want to engage and how to give them something that makes it approachable,” Pincoffs said.
Early voting ends Feb. 28. The primary election is March 3.
