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GiN’s Election 2012 “Cheat Sheet” – Voting Recommendations

For members of the list who haven’t visited our website in a while, or don’t subscribe to the emails sent out with every new article, we’re sending our four page PDF.

In it, we focus on Nebraska issues:

Four proposed Constitutional Amendments
Links to viewable / printable sample ballots for Lancaster and Douglas Counties
Nebraska Unicameral
Suggested resources in finding out about some of those more “obscure” ballot items

The document was designed to be helpful overall, but may be particularly so, if you intend to do some online research; all of the links included in it are “clickable”.

Two ways to access:

1) Click on the image embedded here to view / download directly on your computer

2) Visit the online version on our Scribd account (if you have an account you can also download it from there)

Even if you have already voted, we wanted to update you regarding the information we have been working to provide and also provide some encouragement. More voters in Nebraska attempt to inform themselves before they vote than anyone of us may have realized. While our website has increased in popularity since we began focusing our efforts on research and writing about it, and we have even experienced record highs during public debates over important issues like CIR / Collective Bargaining “reform”, the TransCanada Pipeline, and the LB599 Medicaid expansion to cover illegal immigrants and other non-compliants, Elections bring in the most traffic.

In 2010, we saw a new record in numbers of unique visitors which was not broken until Primary Election Day, May 15, 2012.

This General Election season has blown all prior records out of the water several times in the past two weeks, and Monday brought many thousands of unique visitors in just one day. But it is more than the numbers that should encourage us all: it is the information which is being sought which is most encouraging. Our statistical tools show that Nebraskans are looking for sample ballots, information about the proposed amendments, and basics on the Electoral College, just to provide a few examples. Our “Cheat Sheet” is clearly being examined, our statistics tell also tell us.

Certainly, we are excited by all of this and gratified that our hard work pays off. But more than that, considering the level of political discourse and overall mood of the nation, we can take some heart in seeing evidence of diligence from our fellow voters.

Breaking & Exclusive: NE Teachers’ Union Paid for Sen. Carlson’s Radio Ads Advocating for Extension of State Senators Term Limits

This issue is not covered in the “Cheat Sheet”.

On Friday, November 3, we reported that the radio ads blanketing Nebraska’s airwaves advocating for people to vote in favor of Proposed Amendment No. 3 on Nebraska’s ballots in Tuesday’s General Election, were paid for by the Nebraska teachers’ union, Nebraska State Education Association (NSEA).

Amendment No. 3 would extend Nebraska’s current term limits provisions from two consecutive four year terms to a possible three consecutive four year terms. That means currently, State Senators may serve 8 years, then have to sit out for 4 years before they can run again. Amendment No. 3 would allow for a total of 12 years before having to sit out for four.

Based the Board Meeting Minutes of the NSEA for Oct. 13, 2012, and campaign filings with the Nebraska Accountability and Disclosure Commission, the legislative sponsor of Amendment No. 3, State Senator Tom Carlson, Republican (District 38), took $5,000 from NSEA and started a PAC with the misleading name “Nebraskans to Preserve Term Limits”.

We provided the documentary evidence in that Friday article (here), and have also produced a video for the purposes of exposing not only the contribution and the way it was handled by the NSEA and Senator Carlson, but also to alert more Nebraskans about the bigger problems – the extent of NSEA’s influence and power and just how extreme their political agenda.

Please watch and share a video we produced for the purpose, even if you are reading this after Election Day. The issues involved include Nebraska’s budget, implementation of the health care law, and the utter failure of our Nebraska officials to curb the power of public employee unions in this state through the choreographed and completely ineffective “CIR reform” legisation in 2011.

Note that the image is not an embed (not possible), but you can click on it to visit and view the video on YouTube:

Additional Information About Amendment No. 2: Results of A Conversation With Senator Pete Pirsch

Interested voters will note the mention of our contact with Senator Pete Pirsch, the legislative sponsor of Amendment No. 2, in the “Cheat Sheet”, which was too far in process to be updated after the conversation.

We have published an article reporting on the conversation Shelli had with him on Sunday, November 4, regarding concerns about the language of the amendment, click HERE to read that article.

We encourage members of this list to visit our site on Tuesday, particularly if you are interested in any insights about the aftermath of the election.

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Other stuff you might want to know more about…

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