EDITORIAL: Don’t Rely on Endorsements
THIS NEWSPAPER DOESN’T endorse candidates or issues. In January 2012, the Chicago Sun-Times stopped endorsing in political races. The editor of that paper explained the decision: “We have come to doubt the value of candidate endorsements by this newspaper or any newspaper, especially in a day when a multitude of information sources allow even a casual voter to be better informed than ever before. Research on the matter suggests that editorial endorsements don’t change many votes, especially in higher-profile races.”
In October 2012, The Dayton Daily News ran a letter from the publisher in which readers were told: “The Dayton Daily News is among a growing number of newspapers that have made the decision not to endorse candidates or issues. There are two major reasons why we are not endorsing: Most readers don’t want us to tell them how to vote. They’ve asked us to dig into the issues and races and provide all the information they need to make their own decision. Some readers don’t trust our news reporting because they see endorsements as an indication of institutional bias. We want to prove to you that our news coverage is as fair and balanced as possible.”
In large part, Ann Arbor elections revolve around endorsements. Candidates for local, county, state and nonpartisan office have lists of endorsers. In the mayor’s race, Christopher Taylor and Sabra Briere claimed several of the same endorsers. In a League of Women Voters candidate forum, a candidate urged voters to support her, based in part, on the endorsement “of over 100 attorneys.”
It’s a sad state of affairs when voters in one of most educated communities in the country rely on others to cut up their political food and feed it to them, as it were. We urge voters to go to the polls and to do so as fully informed participants. Don’t rely on the advice of friends, or vote based on a chat over the fence with a neighbor. Visit candidates’ websites. Contact candidates directly with your questions. Study this newspaper’s July 30 Voter Guide which will contain voting records, campaign finance information and interviews. In August 2010, 18.7 percent (17,625) of the city’s 94,066 registered voters went to the polls. We’re hoping to see not only a modest increase in turnout, but to help voters who go to the polls to do so as fully informed participants in the Democratic process that is a primary election.