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Questions & Issues

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In preparation for voting, these are the common types of questions community members may ask candidates about. These issue areas were selected based on the issue priorities and focus areas of organizations that developed this voter guide.
 
Please note that our voter guide does not endorse or oppose any of the candidates for public office, and candidates’ fitness for office should be judged on a variety of qualifications.
 
To start off, here is a great guide to what to do before and after voting!  
 


Start off with General Research on Candidates
 

  • What is their campaign platform or issue focus?

  • What is their voting record? 

  • Who are their community, government, and corporate partners?

  • Who are their donors? 

  • How are they rooted in your community? 

  • Who do they hold relationships with within your community?

  • How accountable are they to your community? 

  • How accessible are candidates to the community? 

     

Create a Voting Plan for yourself and decide whether you will be engaged in early voting or how you will go out and vote. 
 

Create a Post-Voting Plan for after your voting as it can be a difficult process and due to the intense political environment, it can be difficult to navigate what is coming up for you.   

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If you can, find a community space (virtual or in-person), where you can safely process your thoughts. Connect and join a community organizing group or network to remain engaged and follow along with ways elected officials are carrying out the promises they committed
 

 

Issue Areas and Questions You Can Ask Candidates: 

 

  • Community Wellness

    • What are your plans to invest in our communities?

    • What are your policies to address community wellbeing? 

    • What is your vision for our communities - including for our youth, elders, immigrants and refugees, and people who are incarcerated or re-entering our communities, etc.? 

    • What is your plan for community engagement? 

    • Who are your community partners? 
       

  • Economic, Housing Justice & Pandemic Recovery

    • What is your plan to create and fund affordable housing programs?

    • What is your plan for addressing evictions and displacement? 

    • What is your plan for providing rental relief for individuals impacted by Covid19?

    • What are your views on supporting workers’ rights to unionize? 

    • What are your views on workers’ rights to have a better and safer workplace?

    • What are your views on supporting a universal living wage for workers? 

    • What is your plan for pandemic recovery? 
       

  • Gender Justice and Bodily Autonomy 

    • How do you define bodily autonomy?

    • What is your policy on bodily autonomy? 

    • What are your next steps around reproductive and gender-affirming healthcare access?

    • Do you believe that LGBTQI+ youth deserve health care and support resources? What needs to happen to ensure that access and availability?

    • What is at stake with limiting the school curriculum around LGBTQI+ discussion? Who is left behind and how might that create increased vulnerabilities to violence for some of our communities? 

    • Does your restroom at home have a gender or sex designation? 
       

  • Hate Violence 

    • How do you define hate violence?

    • What communities do you think are most affected by hate violence? Can you list them and your plans for working with affected communities?  

    • What are the root causes of hate violence? 

    • What policies and initiatives will you develop for addressing hate violence and supporting survivors?

    • What are your views on working with the police to reduce hate violence?

    • What community-led initiatives will you create and support to address community safety?

    • What do you believe is an effective response from the government to address hate violence? 
       

  • Immigration 

    • What role do you believe local law enforcement should play in enforcing immigration laws? 

    • What are your views on reducing funding for ICE? 

    • What are your views on cutting ties and data sharing between local law enforcement agencies and ICE? 

    • What is your position on the repeal of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996?
       

  • Reproductive Justice 

    • What is your view on the overturning of Roe v. Wade? 

    • What is your policy on individual and autonomous sexual and reproductive decision-making, including access to abortion? 

    • What are your next steps around ensuring culturally sensitive, gender-affirming, affordable and comprehensive sexual and reproductive and healthcare access?

    • What is your position on sexual health education in public schools? What should that look like and how will you ensure sexual health education is inclusive of the lived experiences of BIPOC and LGBTQ young peoole? 

    • (Do you know if your state has expanded Medicaid?) What is the candidate’s position on expanding Medicaid? 
       

  • Racial Justice and Community Safety 

  • What is your understanding of anti-Black racism?

  • What is your plan to address anti-Black racism? 

  • What is your position on the current budget for police agencies? 

  • What are your policies to address police brutality and redress for victims?

  • What are your top 3 priorities for addressing racial justice?

  • What are your views on reparations? 

  • What is your plan to address the rise of White supremacy and White nationalism? 

  • What is your position on the repeal of the 1994 Crime Bill? 
     

  • Structural Islamophobia and Surveillance? 

    • How do you define Islamophobia? 

    • How will you address Islamophobia? 

    • How do you define government surveillance?

    • How do you think government surveillance has impacted South Asian, Muslim, and Arab-American communities?

    • What policies do you believe have increased government surveillance of our communities in the last 5 years?

    • What will you do to prevent, reduce, and eliminate government surveillance of our communities?

    • What do you believe are effective policy recommendations to reduce and eliminate government surveillance of our communities?

    • What is your position on ending the Global War on Terror? 

    • What are your views on reducing the Pentagon’s budget and investing funds into communities? 

    • What is your position on repealing the Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF) 

    • What is your position on closing Guantanamo? 

    • What is your position on the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement (BDS)? 
       

  • Environmental Justice 

    • How will you work to achieve environmental justice and protect the vulnerable communities currently bearing the brunt of climate change? 

    • How will you improve the water, air, and health in communities that are located near polluting sites such as oil refineries or chemical plants? 

    • How will you improve access to public transportation? 

    • What is your position on climate reparations? 
       

  • Civic Engagement

    • What is your plan to address in-language access for voters?

    • How will you address voter suppression efforts? 

    • What is your plan to restore the right to vote?

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