Debbie Wuthnow, president of iVoterGuide, recently joined American Family Radio's "Today's Issues" program to discuss why voter education is vital, especially for the faith community.
She explained that iVoterGuide functions nationwide to provide personalized, nonpartisan research for every address in America and emphasized that a candidate's past actions are the best predictor of their future leadership.
"People will see a voter guide that's just questionnaires. So, it's what the candidate says they want to do," she noted. "We look at what they've done as the best predictor of what they'll do, because candidates have been known to sometimes say one thing and then not follow through. So, we look at their votes, if they've ever been a legislator. We have scorecards from liberal and conservative groups. It's nonpartisan research."
Wuthnow also pointed out a common challenge during election season: voters skipping down-ballot races, especially nonpartisan local elections such as school board races, simply due to a lack of information.
Research shows a significant drop-off when voters reach the end of their ballots.
"Likely voters, 85% said they'll vote at the top of the ticket, but only 55% say they'll fill in the whole ballot," Wuthnow relayed. "That's a 30-point drop of people skipping races. It's not an apathy; they're turning out to vote. It's a lack of information."
To bridge that information gap, iVoterGuide offers detailed breakdowns on candidates, voting histories and local issues to help Christians navigate their civic responsibilities.
iVoterGuide was launched in 2008 after Christian researcher Richard Ford partnered with programmer Jim Sneeringer to put Ford's voter research online. AFA Action became its first national partner before acquiring the guide in 2021 and making it a division in 2022.
Editor's Note: AFA Action is an affiliate of the American Family Association, the parent organization of the American Family News Network, which operates AFN.net.
