Just three weeks remain until Indiana’s May 7 primary in the municipal elections. Early voting, in fact, is already underway.
The League of Women Voters of the South Bend Area, in partnership with the American Democracy Project of Indiana University South Bend, operates www.vote411.org, a website full of information about the candidates and their positions on key issues. The site also includes other tools to help navigate the voting process for the Nov. 6 midterm elections.
One of the most prominent features of the site is the ability to see candidates answer questions about issues in each race. You can show their answers side-by-side for quick assessment of which one lines up with your own positions.
Readers can check out the site now. On Sunday, The Tribune will continue its participation in the partnership by publishing answers from the nine Democratic candidates for mayor of South Bend. Sean Haas will be included in the fall, as he has no opponent in the Republican primary.
The Tribune will publish responses from candidates in contested races for South Bend Common Council over the course of the rest of next week.
As in the past few elections, The Tribune will publish the candidates’ responses verbatim from the vote411 website. The League and American Democracy Project policy is not to edit or alter the candidates’ responses in any way. The Tribune has agreed to run the answers similarly unedited, as was made clear to candidates in their invitation to participate.
Because of space limitations, The Tribune will publish only a selection of the questions, and none from uncontested races. Those additional questions and answers, as well as answers from uncontested candidates, are available at Vote411.org.
Additionally, if we do not include a photograph of a candidate, that means the candidate did not provide one.