How do I find out where candidates for county-level positions stand on the issues?

Question

Today is Election Day in the United States, and since it is an odd-numbered year, there are no national or state positions up for vote. However, my area includes elections for county-level positions, such as school board members, county treasurers, and county judges.

However, I realized that I know absolutely nothing about any of these candidates and do not feel that I can vote for the ones that will best match my views on things that will affect my community (e.g. park funding, school administration, etc.). I have not received anything in the mail, and I am not aware of any websites that list the candidates and their viewpoints.

So how do I find out where candidates for county-level positions stand on the issues?

Answer 1

Google them. Any candidate who is serious about their run should have a personal website or at least a social media presence where they publish their views and priorities. You can look at these to get an idea how similar the candidates opinions are to your own. This is of course not as comfortable as an aggregated website would be.

You might worry that their self-published sources are not an objective representation of their views. But an aggregated website wouldn't be much better in this regard. Such a website would either have to quote the official statements of the candidates or interpret the positions of the candidates in their own way which wouldn't be objective either.

When everything else fails, the least you can look at is if the candidates are endorsed by any political parties or other organizations you agree or disagree with and make your decision based on affiliation alone.