Election day is here! Every cycle I am surprised how many people don’t know they can legally vote twice on election day.

3 Steps to Become a Voting Ninja

Step #1 – Vote in the Primary Election

Democrat or Republican. You can vote early or on Election Day. But you must vote in the primary to be eligible to attend your precinct convention. This is your opportunity to support pro-life candidates!

Step #2 – Attend your Precinct Convention

Your precinct convention is usually at your neighborhood polling place. You can pass pro-life resolutions and get yourself elected as a delegate to your party’s county/district convention.

Step #3 – Vote on resolutions and delegates.

It’s fun!

Wait… What?

What is a Precinct Convention?

It’s a small meeting of voters from your neighborhood. If you voted in either party’s Primary, you can attend.

Voters at the convention will do two things:

1. Choose delegates to go to your party’s county/district convention on Saturday, March 20. This is extremely important; that’s where county platforms are passed and delegates are elected to the state conventions in June.
2. Pass “resolutions” stating what your party (Democrat or Republican) should stand for.

When & Where is it held?

The Precinct Convention will be held on March 2 at 8:00 p.m. (usually) at your neighborhood polling location. For the precise place and time, look for a sign when you vote or ask the election judge.

Who comes to precinct conventions?

Regular people just like you who want to make a difference. You don’t have to be experienced to attend.

Why attend a precinct convention?

It is the only way we keep the Republican Party pro-life.

Every two years the parties re-decide where they stand on the issues. If you ever want to see change it starts in your life and in your neighborhood.

Precinct Convention resources:

• Texas Alliance for Life Precinct Convention Guide (resourced for this post)
• Texas Home School Coalition Precinct Convention Guide
• Overview of the process from the Dallas Morning News
• Video of a sample precinct convention.

Recommended Resolutions

These are good resolutions to present if you are just getting started. You can also modify them for an issue you are passionate about. Make sure to bring 5 copies.

• Parental Rights Act (Pro-Homeschooling)
• Daytime Curfew (Pro-Homeschooling)
• Cut tax funding from Planned Parenthood (Pro-Life)
• Texas Sovereignty (Pro-Liberty)
• Ending Taxpayer-Funded Lobbying (Pro-Liberty)

If you don’t know who to vote for feel free to check out my voter’s guide.

Related posts:

1. Why vote for Debra Medina? For those of you who follow this blog you know...
2. March 2010 Voter’s Guide For those of you who live outside Texas please forgive...
3. 5 Ways GOP Conventions and Star Trek Conventions are Alike #1 Regular People Wear Costumes At SciFi conventions people dress...

For those of you who live outside Texas please forgive this post. We are having an important election and I feel it is important we vote in the right folks.

Five Voting Tips

Here are some general principles use:

1. Don’t vote because you recognize the name. If you recognize their name, they were probably a hooligan caught in some scandal. Or they are the richest candidate. Or the press likes them the most. All bad reasons.
   • If you don’t know anything about either candidate don’t vote for either one.
   • Don’t water down the votes of the informed voters.
2. Print out a sample ballot before you go to the polls. You don’t want to be surprised by a race you don’t recognize. To find your sample ballot just google “YourCountyName County Sample Ballot.” Here are two you may find helpful:
   • Travis County Sample Ballot
   • Williamson County Sample Ballot
3. Vote early. Chances are something will happen on election day and you won’t get around to voting. Make sure you vote by voting early.
4. The challenger is generally safer than the incumbent. Elected officials tend to compromise the longer they stay in office. The challenger who has yet to compromise and is often the safer bet.
5. Bring someone with you to the polls. Most Christians only vote once every two years for president. They don’t realize that was the least important election of the year. Your friends probably don’t know about the election. Bring a friend and double your vote.

My Voting Philosophy

I vote pro-life first, if the race effects life and most do.

Then, I tend to pick:

• Candidates with integrity (when I can tell which is hard).
• Candidates who want to promote liberty and personal responsibility.
• Challengers over incumbents.
• Tea Party folks over Old Guard Republicans.
• Candidates who see the Church as the answer instead of the government.

Statewide Races

Here are my picks:

• Governor: Rick Perry & Debra Medina (I will be personally voting for Debra Medina)
• Supreme Court Place 3: Rick Green
• Supreme Court Place 9: Eva Guzman
• Railroad Commissioner: Victor Carrillo
• Full Voters Guide

Full Voter’s Guide

I put together a one page voters guide you can take with you into the voting booth. It has local races as well as state wide races. If it doesn’t have all your candidates see the resources below.

• Download the Thomas Umstattd Voters Guide (PDF)
• You are welcome to share this guide with your friends.
• It is legal to take this Voters Guide into the voting booth with you.

Helpful Voting Resources

These are some of the resources I used to put together my voting guide.

• Texas Early Voting Locations (March 2010)
• Texas Alliance for Life Voter’s Guide (March 2010)
• Free Market Foundation Voter’s Guide (March 2010)
• Texas Right to Life Voter’s Guide (March 2010)
• Texas Homeschool Coalition Endorsements (March 2010)
• Christian Voter’s Guide

What Do You Think?

• Do you agree with my picks?
• Why?
• Have you voted yet?

Related posts:

1. How to Vote Twice on Tuesday Election day is here! Every cycle I am surprised how...
2. Technology Talks (March 2010) As you may know, I teach on technology a lot....
3. Why March? Someone recently asked me what the point was to all...