Introduction and Listener Support Appeal for ivoterguide and American Family Radio
Debbie Wuthnow Hello, I'm Debbie Wuthnow, co host of the Compass, the official radio program of ivoterguide. Did you know that this content is listener supported? Without people like you, this podcast would not exist. That's why we need you. A generous monthly gift of any amount will help sustain American family Radio. And specifically this podcast. A generous gift to ivoterguide will help make sure that we're, there for you in the future. Please consider becoming a monthly financial partner today of AFR by visiting afr.net give that's afr.net give hello, I'm Debbie Wuthnow, co host of the Compass, the official radio program of I Voter Guide. Did you know that this content is listener supported? Without people like you, this podcast would not exist.
Continued Appeal for Listener Support and Introduction to the Podcast
That's why we need you. A generous monthly gift of any amount will help sustain American Family Radio. And specifically this podcast. A generous gift to I Voter Guide will help make sure that we're there for you in the future. Please consider becoming a monthly financial partner today of AFR by visiting afr.net give that's afr.net give
Welcome to The Compass: Navigating the Public Square with Faith and Truth
Rick Beggs welcome to the Compass. Navigating the public square together with faith, truth and conviction. Well, we are so glad you are with us again this week on the Compass. The Compass is the official radio show of I Voter Guide and as always my host with me co host is Debbie Wuthnow. She is the president of I Voter Guide. You know Debbie, I never say my name who are as your host. So maybe m you ought to introduce me.
Debbie Wuthnow Blessed to do this show with Rick Beggs. So everybody, Rick, say hi to everybody.
Rick Beggs Hey. I love playing the role of Debbie, although I'm much taller. I know we are so close to the election, Debbie. I mean we're 110 days out probably.
Debbie Wuthnow It's both exciting and exhausting.
Rick Beggs It is. Well, especially the work that we're doing at iVoterGuide. My goodness.
Approaching the Election: Focus on Down-Ballot Races Beyond Senate and House
Debbie Wuthnow Oh yeah.
Rick Beggs this is, we're, we're, we've turned the corner. We're headed for home now. So a lot of stuff has got to get done and, and a lot of people relying on us to have good information. So once again, thank you to I Voter Guide and afa. I mean afa. Yeah, AFA have been wonderful to be our, our parent in some respect. So today, Debbie, I thought maybe we should talk about, maybe the unobvious. I think it's obvious when we go in and vote and most of these races carry Senate and House races. Some of the states like mine, we have a Governor's race. Not all states are doing that, but those, those are really the big ones. But there's a lot of stuff underneath, including judges and legislators and school boards and statewide ballot measures.
The Importance of Voting the Entire Ballot, Including Less Visible Down-Ballot Races
I mean, my goodness, if you just think about going down ballot, which we have talked about for the last, several weeks with George Barna. That's right. That we, we cannot emphasize enough how important it is to be a good student that you would vote your entire ballot.
Debbie Wuthnow Well, you know, we're all. We all know the election is coming up and the, the news is covered with. All they can talk about is the Senate and the House.
Rick Beggs Yeah.
Debbie Wuthnow But as you said, there is a lot more on the ballot, that we need to be just as prepared to vote on those. In fact, maybe even more so. It's, you know, you start to get below those federal races. It's. You're not. I'm not getting text messages from the Ag Commissioner. I'm getting from the guest that the senate candidates. I don't see the yard signs for those down ballot. I see the yard signs for the senate candidates. I live in Texas, so. Yeah.
Rick Beggs Well, that's interesting because I did get one recently for the water commissioner.
Debbie Wuthnow Did you really?
Rick Beggs I thought. Yeah, I thought, gosh, that is odd.
Debbie Wuthnow Well, I got one from somebody in Missouri running for something and I'm like, whoa, somebody's got my old, old phone number.
Rick Beggs Well, that's, that's because they know where you used to live.
Debbie Wuthnow I'm a show me girl.
Understanding the Impact of Down-Ballot Races on Daily Life and Finances
That's right.
Rick Beggs well, I want to kind of open up, if you don't mind. Just that whole idea of you walk in to vote and you think you're going to vote for your senator, and then you turn the page and you see all these other names that are down ballot. And these are really important because these are the people who run your state.
Debbie Wuthnow I would almost say they're more important than impact your family, your church, you know, the. All those down ballot races that, what, you know, the state income tax levels come from, your statewide and your state legislature, your property taxes come from. I mean, they hit your pocketbook, these down ballot races. And we need to be just as educated on them as we are at the top. But that's where it gets hard, harder. I voter guide is there to help. So I kind of wanted this. We wanted to talk through some of those races that we are covering. and then maybe even talk about some of the issues that are on the ballot. Yeah.
Rick Beggs And talk about things that are confusing.
Biblical Perspective on Civic Duty: Seeking the Welfare of Your City
If you go look at you know, those things that they want to add to your constitution. You go, if I vote yes on this, does it mean no? Because I can't really figure these out. But before we get there, I thought maybe we'd talk a little bit, about just being a good citizen. And, and I, I'm reminded of a, portion of scripture in Jeremiah and in Jeremiah 29. 7. this is after God has, moved all his people to Babylon, they're going to be in captivity for a while time, right? Yes, they are. And, and there's a portion of scripture, in Jeremiah 29, starts at verse 4. It says, Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile. That means he did it.
Rick Beggs From Jerusalem to Babylon. This is what he's asking. Build houses and live in them. Plant gardens and eat their produce. Take wives and become the fathers of sons and daughters, and take wives for your sons, and give your daughters to husbands that they may bear sons and daughters, and multiply their. And do not decrease. That's something our country needs, to listen to a little more today. But then he says, seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile and pray to the Lord on its behalf for its welfare. The city's welfare is your welfare.
Rick Beggs And, and my goodness, he's telling us right there in Jeremiah, I've sent you here, now go do well.
Debbie Wuthnow Well and plug in. Live your life. Don't, don't hide your head in the sand. Be part of like the welfare of the city, the welfare of the community. And that, that's, that's participating. I mean, I'm kind of reading between the lines here, but that's, that's voting. That's right.
Rick Beggs That's down ballot. That's down ballot. That's everything that's localized.
Debbie Wuthnow So, we're doing the king. Yay.
Engaging in Your Community by Participating and Voting in All Elections
Rick Beggs Yeah. Yay. Yeah. I guess you could prove anything if you want to take things out of context. But I know that in this scripture with Jeremiah that God's saying, you're in exile. I put you there. Do well with where I sent you. And I think that is true of us today. where you are. Yeah, I put you where you are. Go do well. And so we're covering the down ballot because that's where doing well is locally.
Debbie Wuthnow Yes. Well, and even if you're, you don't feel like you're in exile, you're where God's put you and he wants you to, to serve that community. To do well in that community, wherever you are, Whether that was your plan or God's plan. hopefully both. But, yeah, we need to be engaged at all levels and participating in voting.
Rick Beggs Now, I know that we are, covering a lot of candidates. What. What is the number this year, Debbie?
The Vast Number of Candidates and the Crucial Role of ivoterguide Research
Debbie Wuthnow I actually did know this. just you.
Rick Beggs Each one.
Debbie Wuthnow I did one by one. No, we had. I used a spreadsheet. You know, I'm kind of person.
Rick Beggs But that's right.
Debbie Wuthnow We have, so just in the November election, the general election, at. If I include all the federal, statewide, state, legislative and school board candidates. I don't know if it includes the judges, but it's almost. It's over 8,500 candidates just in this election. That doesn't include ballot measures, probably doesn't include judges. just in this November election. As you know, there have been elections earlier this year. So that's why we. We will frequently say, you know, we've researched 15,000 about in this election cycle, and it. It includes both the primary and the general and the specials and the runoffs and all of that kind of thing. But, that's a lot of candidates.
Rick Beggs Well, especially when you count up, you know, the congress, the house and the senate. If you just went beyond there, that. That is just a little bit of water in that bucket of the 8500. And that's why it's so important to drive this down ballot.
Debbie Wuthnow The statewide, the state legislative, the school boards. That's where we're even covering a few county races. But, that's where it just. I mean, picture the pyramid, right? Presidents at the top, and then you've got congress, and then you go into the states and then you go to the local and it just explodes as to how many candidates there are. So 8500 is. Is fabulous. Would love to be doing more as you support the work of iVoterGuide and AFA action. afr. You're going to help us to continue to do that and to grow. And I just want to say take this opportunity to say thank you for that.
Rick Beggs Yeah.
The Ongoing Need for Research and Engagement, Especially in School Board Races
And. And we. We do want to do more, especially school board races. And if you want to hear how I can be up on my preaching box about school board races, go back a couple episodes because I'll do it. I think it seems like that seems like it's every episode.
Debbie Wuthnow Get the church engaged and do school boards. Yes, it's important because it is important.
Rick Beggs So if you would take a moment to kind of explain the method. I don't know if you can do it in one breath or one sentence. But go quickly again about the methodology, about what I voter guide does so that before we start moving into who we've actually covered out, of those 8,500 candidates.
iVoterGuide Methodology: Evaluating Candidates Based on Actions, Not Just Words
Debbie Wuthnow Well, the I voter Guide philosophy is to look at what a candidate has done, not just what they say they're going to do. And we do that with research. Honestly, we start by scorecards, if candidates ever held office before. And interestingly, you know, we have some people running for governor who've been state legislatures, you know, all of any, if you've held an elected office, at least at the state legislative level, we have scorecards on you. So, you know, we can go back and see how you voted on legislation.
Rick Beggs We can find you.
Debbie Wuthnow That's right. So you know, you may say you, this is what you believe, but what did you vote on when you had that authority? So starting with scorecards, we look at money. Who's behind the campaign, who's supporting the candidate, as well as who has the candidate supported with their money. we also add in endorsements from both the left and the right. Every candidate gets to answer our questionnaire. Our panelists and our staff are looking for any, I call them pixels or data points they can find on all of these candidates. We have a little bucket called other information and we will throw that in there. And all of this, including links to the websites and social media for each candidate, are presented to our staff and to our volunteers who dig through that and not just gather the data points, but we kind of summarize it in a way with the evaluation that looks like the gas gauge.
Using the ivoterguide Gas Gauge to Identify Conservative and Pro-Life Candidates
That for the average voter. That's really the, that's what grabs you
Rick Beggs when you go, when you go right
Debbie Wuthnow to the website summary in a way. I had, I was speaking to a bunch of pastors and they said, how can I find the pro life, pro religious liberty candidates? I'm like, well, the ones that get rated conservative and conservative, verified conservative if, because those are conservative positions, they're our most important issues. So if a candidate is, is pro abortion, they are not going to earn those ratings if they are in infringing upon our religious liberties or our gun rights. They are not going to, they, they are not eligible for those, those ratings. They might get insufficient information if we couldn't find enough data. But the pro life, pro, pro religious liberty candidates are going to be conservative and verified. So that's, that's what I voter guide does. And we do, we do that at the top of the ticket and as far down as we go, even when we go down ballot, we start with that. And then we have to dig even deeper on those school board candidates.
Rick Beggs So if I tuned into this show for the very first time and I'm going, I voter guide. What.
Accessing Your Personalized Voter Guide on ivoterguide.com for All Races
Where do I go? What do I do? I want this information. Where do you send them?
Debbie Wuthnow Excellent question. So you go to, I think individualized the letter. I voterguide.com I voterguide.com you enter your voting address that allows us to create and show you your personalized voter guide just for your races. So the races and candidates, ballot measures, anything that's on your ballot that we have had the bandwidth to research, you will see. We have created, personalized voter guides for every address in America. So all 50 states, my address, your address, even Willie B's address, we've got a personalized voter guide, and you can get that for free,
Rick Beggs @ivoterguide.com now, we can't cover all the races. You've sort of explained that, just because of financial reasons. But we, we, we cover the federal races.
Debbie Wuthnow Mm, all of them.
Rick Beggs But every federal.
Comprehensive Coverage of Federal, Statewide, and Judicial Races by ivoterguide
But yes, but statewide, how are we doing there in covering those races? Are we in all the states? What?
Debbie Wuthnow Well, we're not in every state. There's 42 states that have, statewide races on the ballot this year that we are covering. There are four more states that have them in odd years that we cover them in the odd years. So. But you add that together, we're up to what, 46 of the states where we cover the statewide races when they are on the ballot. And when I say statewide, we cover statewide. That means every state race, that is on your ballot, down to treasurer, comptroller, commissioner of insurance, mine, commissioner, whatever that is, including, the judicial races that are statewide. The state supreme court, the state court of criminal Appeals. That's a really important race too. And so I voter guide does, does research, not just their, what I described earlier. Right. And, and try to rate them, but we actually have a lawyer on staff and a paralegal who are reading the rulings of those judges. They are really digging deep to, to look at their positions on controversial issues, how they might rule. And it's not really, political positions as it is. How will they interpret law? Are they going to follow the Constitution? Are they originalist or a textualist? And they, they will say there's a difference. To me, they're pretty much in the same bucket. Or are they going to Legislate from the bench. We all hear about activist judges. So our goal is to be able to shine a light on those activist judges, and help voters find the ones that are good.
State Legislature Coverage and the Growing Importance of Down-Ballot Races
And we want to keep.
Rick Beggs So state legislatures, it sounds like statewide offices were doing 40 plus in 2026, but state legislatures were not doing quite as many.
Debbie Wuthnow No, there are 32 states, this year. There are four more again in the odd year that we cover. So total of 36. So 30, 32 this year. And that's where, you know, the candidate count starts to grow. When they've got, you know, 50 or 100 senators and 150 to 500 state legislators and they're, you know, contested. It really grows the candidate count, as we were talking about that. But again, they set state law, really important offices.
Evaluating Judicial Candidates and the Dangers of Voting Without Proper Research
Rick Beggs Okay, how about state, statewide, judicial positions?
Debbie Wuthnow the state Supreme Court. Again, in those 32 to 36 states, we cover the Supreme Court, Court of Criminal Appeals. I know in Texas, I think there were 16 judges that we evaluated. Depends on the state. Every state does things differently. Texas, they run as Democrats or Republicans. Many states, they're up for confirmation or not. Confirmation, retention, election. And, nobody talks about those. They're not even running a campaign. Their name's just on the ballot. And you say yes or no. Well, what if they're an activist judge? So I, voter guy digs into those judges as well so that you can know and identify. Is this somebody I should keep and say yes, or is this somebody I want to kick off the court and let the governor appoint somebody new again, depending upon your state? Also very important, they're, they're ruling far more cases than the US Supreme Court does. So it is very important who gets on your state supreme court.
Rick Beggs Well, and when you get to those judicial races and you get down to school board races, there are no Rs and Ds. And, and if you're, if you're an RD voter, either one, you're going to come to a place and go, I don't know these. And so you don't vote.
Debbie Wuthnow Yeah.
Rick Beggs Or you go, I'll, I'll take the incumbent. Because they must be good. They're already in the office when they could be absolutely horrible.
Debbie Wuthnow Or you say, I wrestle their yard sign, I'm gonna vote for them.
Rick Beggs But, no, because we know they vote.
Debbie Wuthnow No, they don't. And yeah, so don't, don't vote on, on just. Oh, I have an aunt named Ethler. I'm going to vote for that name. You need to do your research and know who you're going for and what they're going to do with power. Right?
Rick Beggs Yeah. Well, boy, he's handsome.
The Critical Role of School Board Races and Utilizing ivoterguide for Research
Debbie Wuthnow He's so nice. I met him. He's so nice. No, that is not.
Rick Beggs You're picking on us in the South. I just heard that in your voice.
Debbie Wuthnow I. My dad came from North Carolina, so I can do that. But, no, we. We need to do our research and be informed when we vote.
Rick Beggs Okay. School board races. Again, we're not everywhere, but we're in key ones.
Debbie Wuthnow We are in some key ones, and there are some states where it's. It's honestly easier. They just have fewer school boards in the state we're covering. In fact, we have researched every school board candidate in the state of Virginia. We didn't evaluate all of them, but even if we didn't evaluate it, you will see, you know, either some green check marks for research. We found. You won't see the rating, but there's research there. So please click on the candidate profile to see what research is there. At a minimum, you could. It's websites and social media for the candidate. But I was looking at one school board candidate that had an endorsement of the Democratic Party running as a nonpartisan. That in itself, you know, helps me to determine which candidate, would share my values and, and represent what's important to me.
How to Get Involved with ivoterguide as a Panelist or Contributor
So do the research. Use I voter guide first and then do some on your own following that.
Rick Beggs Which would be a great commercial because if, if we need board, people looking at board races into the future and you don't see yourself. Yeah, please. If you'd like to be a panelist with us, if you'd like to go to some of these and, report back to us, I think we're very interested in you.
Contacting ivoterguide for Information and How to Become a Panelist
So if you're listening and that's something research you'd love to do, boy, come get a hold of us. Where would they get a hold of us, Debbie?
Debbie Wuthnow I would go to ivoterguide.com and if you want to apply as a panelist, click on the take action in the top menu and apply as a panelist. If you just want to send in a question, click on contact us or email infoivoterguide.com and let us know how can I plug in. ask any questions.
Getting in Touch with The Compass Hosts for Future Show Topics
We've got a team of real people that will point, you in the right direction, answer your questions well.
Rick Beggs And if you want to get a hold of us, you email Compass.
Debbie Wuthnow Yeah. @ivoterguide.com and say, hey, Rick, and ask us some questions and we'll address it in the future.
Rick Beggs and let me tell you once again, this is once, ah, again my soapbox.
The Significance of School Board Decisions on Curriculum and Parental Notification
The reason school boards are so important for. There's a number of them, but they're setting policy for parental notification. They're telling you what library books are going to be in the, in the library. They're, they're setting curriculum. these are in. These are valuable positions. And if you think that nobody's paying attention because you didn't pay attention. Oh, somebody's paying attention. It's just not our side.
Debbie Wuthnow Yeah.
Encouraging Future Candidates and Covering Local and County Seats
Yeah.
Rick Beggs And anyway, I, I just cannot. If you want to run for a board seat into the future, let's say it's not going to happen this November, let us help you find how you get trained, what you should do. For sure, write to us in [email protected] Anyway, local and county seats, sheriffs, commissioners, those.
Debbie Wuthnow We, we only rarely cover those.
Understanding and Researching Ballot Measures, Including Constitutional Changes
But again, they have important roles. You need to research who those people are before we run out of time. I want to make sure we talk about ballot measures because you talked about it earlier. These are those confusing things that are at the end of your ballot that seems like a lawyer wrote it because they probably did. And it's. You don't even know what a yes will do or a no will do. But, but you need to know if those are on your ballot. Those are really big deals. They frequently are going to change your constitution, your state constitution, which impacts future generations in your state. I know the left has used it very, very effectively to enthrine. Enshrine. Enshrine. abortion. I'm like, that's not the right word, to enshrine abortion. And so we know a lot of election integrity ballot measures are, are up this cycle.
Ballot Measures as Motivators for Voting: Election Integrity and Citizen Voting
It can be the thing that, you know, you don't m. You may not carry. Care about what the state legislature does, but your state's going to allow, require voter ID or going to require citizenship for voting. Those are important measures that are certainly worth getting you into the polling place and voting. And then please fill in your whole ballot when you get there. But, you know, maybe use that ballot measure as your motivator of. I really want to make sure that this passes because, all of it is super important. So I wanted to talk about some of those types of things that are going to be on.
Rick Beggs Okay, so start on one. Which. What would you like to toss?
Key Ballot Measures: Abortion, Gender Issues, and Citizen-Only Voting Explained
Well, I want to start abortion, gender, citizen only voting. There's so many of them there are.
Debbie Wuthnow And so three states have pro abortion measures. Those are Idaho, Nevada and Virginia. Really critical for conservatives to get out and say no to this, to stop it. But what I love is in Missouri, you know, I'm a show me girl. I'm from Missouri. Missouri is one of those states the left was successful and they passed a pro abortion ballot measure two years ago. This is conservatives trying to push it back and move it back in the right direction to protect life. And it's called Amendment 3.
Missouri's Amendment 3: Protecting Unborn Babies and Banning Transgender Procedures on Minors
It not only protects, more unborn babies, but it also bans transgender procedures on minors. This is a twofer. If you live in Missouri, please go check out Amendment 3 and make sure you go vote because you know that the left of those pro abortion, they get so on fire and they have so much disinformation that's out there. That's the problem with a lot of these, the measures. They, they actually have what I would call disinformation or lies about what those measures will accomplish or what they're trying to stop. So abortion is key, especially in Missouri, to move the needle in the correct direction. [email protected] we'll let you know which is the conservative vote and which is the liberal vote in that state. In case you were confused, gender and children. Well I just mentioned the Missouri one, but there are multiple states. So for example, like Arizona and Colorado have Democratic governors.
Banning Gender Transition Procedures on Minors via Ballot Measures in Several States
So I know Arizona has a Republican legislature, but any legislation they pass gets vetoed by the governor. So the only way to get conservative laws in place is to do a ballot measure. And these are legislatively referred, meaning they came from the legislature and they're trying to ban these gender transition, procedures on minor children. Each state's slightly different. Again, check out ivoterguide.com but if you care about kids and stopping this, sterilization of our, of the next generation, permanent surgeries that really can't be undone, go out and vote. And this is Arizona, Colorado, Missouri, Nebraska and Washington all have those types of measures. Some of them are about girls, sports, some of them are about gender transition. But they all impact gender and children.
Rick Beggs I just saw, just recently, probably yesterday, where a whole cross country girls.
Debbie Wuthnow yes, I saw that and I
Rick Beggs think it was in the state of Washington.
Election Integrity Measures: Voter ID Requirements and Citizen-Only Voting Initiatives
Yeah, they walked away from the start
Debbie Wuthnow line and they blurred the faces. But you could tell who the boy is that literally a couple of weeks previously had competed as a boy and come in at like 76. Then now he's just so this super important stuff. But I, yeah, there's also election integrity that's on the, on the ballot this time.
Rick Beggs Yeah, we'll talk a little bit about voter ID and citizen only voting.
Debbie Wuthnow So, either putting or expanding voter ID requirements into their state constitution is Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, North Carolina and Ohio. So get out there and vote on those messages, Rich. Either, some of them require some a voter id, but this is making it a little stronger. Even mail ballots, you have to put some identifier there. like last four year social or driver's license number or something like that so they can verify that you really are a person. there are six states that are requiring citizens only to be able to vote. Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Kansas, South Dakota and West Virginia. Alaska, praise God. Well, they're going to try one more time.
Ranked Choice Voting and Efforts to Allow Felons to Vote Addressed
They have this thing called ranked choice voting, which we probably could talk about in detail, but it's a confusing way where you have to not just say a yes and no, but you say 1, 2, 3 and 4. Trying to get rid of that. Virginia's, trying to allow felons to vote. So lots of important stuff on your ballot. go to ivoterguy.com and check it out.
Early Voting Schedules Across Various States for the Upcoming Election
Rick Beggs Well, you know what that sound is, Debbie? We are in the season of voting and people are doing it early.
Debbie Wuthnow Well, and it's been, it's probably going on in most states right now. But this week in California, early voting begins today. and early voting begins on the 27th in Michigan, NewSong York, NewSong Jersey, M. And then Kansas U begins on the 27th. Did I say the 27th? Oklahoma begins on the 28th. Kentucky begins on the 29th. And there's four states who don't have in person, early voting. So get ready everybody, if you're not voting early and vote on November 3rd.
The Importance of Researching and Voting Wisely on All Ballot Measures
Rick Beggs Well, I, we, we didn't have nearly enough time to talk about every kind of, ballot measure that's out there. And I, you know, at some, at some place we have to stop and not, I mean we could spend a whole show on that stuff.
Debbie Wuthnow We could. There's a lot of them. So go check it out and make sure you're voting wisely.
Conclusion of The Compass: Grounded in God, Rooted in Research
Rick Beggs Well, you have been listening to the Compass with Debbie and myself yourself. we are so glad you've been with us. I can't tell you how thankful we are. If you want to talk to us, please write to [email protected] we are grounded in God and rooted in research. And I want you to know you can find us.
Finding The Compass Online and the True North of Jesus
not only live, if you go down to I voter guide at the bottom right hand corner, you can put on the compass, but also the AFR app and you can go to afr.net our producer is Brent Austin. Yay, Willie B. But true north on the compass is always Jesus. So thank you for being with us.
Introduction and Listener Support Appeal for ivoterguide and American Family Radio
Debbie Wuthnow Hello, I'm Debbie Wuthnow, co host of the Compass, the official radio program of ivoterguide. Did you know that this content is listener supported? Without people like you, this podcast would not exist. That's why we need you. A generous monthly gift of any amount will help sustain American family Radio. And specifically this podcast. A generous gift to ivoterguide will help make sure that we're, there for you in the future. Please consider becoming a monthly financial partner today of AFR by visiting afr.net give that's afr.net give hello, I'm Debbie Wuthnow, co host of the Compass, the official radio program of I Voter Guide. Did you know that this content is listener supported? Without people like you, this podcast would not exist.
Continued Appeal for Listener Support and Introduction to the Podcast
That's why we need you. A generous monthly gift of any amount will help sustain American Family Radio. And specifically this podcast. A generous gift to I Voter Guide will help make sure that we're there for you in the future. Please consider becoming a monthly financial partner today of AFR by visiting afr.net give that's afr.net give
Welcome to The Compass: Navigating the Public Square with Faith and Truth
Rick Beggs welcome to the Compass. Navigating the public square together with faith, truth and conviction. Well, we are so glad you are with us again this week on the Compass. The Compass is the official radio show of I Voter Guide and as always my host with me co host is Debbie Wuthnow. She is the president of I Voter Guide. You know Debbie, I never say my name who are as your host. So maybe m you ought to introduce me.
Debbie Wuthnow Blessed to do this show with Rick Beggs. So everybody, Rick, say hi to everybody.
Rick Beggs Hey. I love playing the role of Debbie, although I'm much taller. I know we are so close to the election, Debbie. I mean we're 110 days out probably.
Debbie Wuthnow It's both exciting and exhausting.
Rick Beggs It is. Well, especially the work that we're doing at iVoterGuide. My goodness.
Approaching the Election: Focus on Down-Ballot Races Beyond Senate and House
Debbie Wuthnow Oh yeah.
Rick Beggs this is, we're, we're, we've turned the corner. We're headed for home now. So a lot of stuff has got to get done and, and a lot of people relying on us to have good information. So once again, thank you to I Voter Guide and afa. I mean afa. Yeah, AFA have been wonderful to be our, our parent in some respect. So today, Debbie, I thought maybe we should talk about, maybe the unobvious. I think it's obvious when we go in and vote and most of these races carry Senate and House races. Some of the states like mine, we have a Governor's race. Not all states are doing that, but those, those are really the big ones. But there's a lot of stuff underneath, including judges and legislators and school boards and statewide ballot measures.
The Importance of Voting the Entire Ballot, Including Less Visible Down-Ballot Races
I mean, my goodness, if you just think about going down ballot, which we have talked about for the last, several weeks with George Barna. That's right. That we, we cannot emphasize enough how important it is to be a good student that you would vote your entire ballot.
Debbie Wuthnow Well, you know, we're all. We all know the election is coming up and the, the news is covered with. All they can talk about is the Senate and the House.
Rick Beggs Yeah.
Debbie Wuthnow But as you said, there is a lot more on the ballot, that we need to be just as prepared to vote on those. In fact, maybe even more so. It's, you know, you start to get below those federal races. It's. You're not. I'm not getting text messages from the Ag Commissioner. I'm getting from the guest that the senate candidates. I don't see the yard signs for those down ballot. I see the yard signs for the senate candidates. I live in Texas, so. Yeah.
Rick Beggs Well, that's interesting because I did get one recently for the water commissioner.
Debbie Wuthnow Did you really?
Rick Beggs I thought. Yeah, I thought, gosh, that is odd.
Debbie Wuthnow Well, I got one from somebody in Missouri running for something and I'm like, whoa, somebody's got my old, old phone number.
Rick Beggs Well, that's, that's because they know where you used to live.
Debbie Wuthnow I'm a show me girl.
Understanding the Impact of Down-Ballot Races on Daily Life and Finances
That's right.
Rick Beggs well, I want to kind of open up, if you don't mind. Just that whole idea of you walk in to vote and you think you're going to vote for your senator, and then you turn the page and you see all these other names that are down ballot. And these are really important because these are the people who run your state.
Debbie Wuthnow I would almost say they're more important than impact your family, your church, you know, the. All those down ballot races that, what, you know, the state income tax levels come from, your statewide and your state legislature, your property taxes come from. I mean, they hit your pocketbook, these down ballot races. And we need to be just as educated on them as we are at the top. But that's where it gets hard, harder. I voter guide is there to help. So I kind of wanted this. We wanted to talk through some of those races that we are covering. and then maybe even talk about some of the issues that are on the ballot. Yeah.
Rick Beggs And talk about things that are confusing.
Biblical Perspective on Civic Duty: Seeking the Welfare of Your City
If you go look at you know, those things that they want to add to your constitution. You go, if I vote yes on this, does it mean no? Because I can't really figure these out. But before we get there, I thought maybe we'd talk a little bit, about just being a good citizen. And, and I, I'm reminded of a, portion of scripture in Jeremiah and in Jeremiah 29. 7. this is after God has, moved all his people to Babylon, they're going to be in captivity for a while time, right? Yes, they are. And, and there's a portion of scripture, in Jeremiah 29, starts at verse 4. It says, Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile. That means he did it.
Rick Beggs From Jerusalem to Babylon. This is what he's asking. Build houses and live in them. Plant gardens and eat their produce. Take wives and become the fathers of sons and daughters, and take wives for your sons, and give your daughters to husbands that they may bear sons and daughters, and multiply their. And do not decrease. That's something our country needs, to listen to a little more today. But then he says, seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile and pray to the Lord on its behalf for its welfare. The city's welfare is your welfare.
Rick Beggs And, and my goodness, he's telling us right there in Jeremiah, I've sent you here, now go do well.
Debbie Wuthnow Well and plug in. Live your life. Don't, don't hide your head in the sand. Be part of like the welfare of the city, the welfare of the community. And that, that's, that's participating. I mean, I'm kind of reading between the lines here, but that's, that's voting. That's right.
Rick Beggs That's down ballot. That's down ballot. That's everything that's localized.
Debbie Wuthnow So, we're doing the king. Yay.
Engaging in Your Community by Participating and Voting in All Elections
Rick Beggs Yeah. Yay. Yeah. I guess you could prove anything if you want to take things out of context. But I know that in this scripture with Jeremiah that God's saying, you're in exile. I put you there. Do well with where I sent you. And I think that is true of us today. where you are. Yeah, I put you where you are. Go do well. And so we're covering the down ballot because that's where doing well is locally.
Debbie Wuthnow Yes. Well, and even if you're, you don't feel like you're in exile, you're where God's put you and he wants you to, to serve that community. To do well in that community, wherever you are, Whether that was your plan or God's plan. hopefully both. But, yeah, we need to be engaged at all levels and participating in voting.
Rick Beggs Now, I know that we are, covering a lot of candidates. What. What is the number this year, Debbie?
The Vast Number of Candidates and the Crucial Role of ivoterguide Research
Debbie Wuthnow I actually did know this. just you.
Rick Beggs Each one.
Debbie Wuthnow I did one by one. No, we had. I used a spreadsheet. You know, I'm kind of person.
Rick Beggs But that's right.
Debbie Wuthnow We have, so just in the November election, the general election, at. If I include all the federal, statewide, state, legislative and school board candidates. I don't know if it includes the judges, but it's almost. It's over 8,500 candidates just in this election. That doesn't include ballot measures, probably doesn't include judges. just in this November election. As you know, there have been elections earlier this year. So that's why we. We will frequently say, you know, we've researched 15,000 about in this election cycle, and it. It includes both the primary and the general and the specials and the runoffs and all of that kind of thing. But, that's a lot of candidates.
Rick Beggs Well, especially when you count up, you know, the congress, the house and the senate. If you just went beyond there, that. That is just a little bit of water in that bucket of the 8500. And that's why it's so important to drive this down ballot.
Debbie Wuthnow The statewide, the state legislative, the school boards. That's where we're even covering a few county races. But, that's where it just. I mean, picture the pyramid, right? Presidents at the top, and then you've got congress, and then you go into the states and then you go to the local and it just explodes as to how many candidates there are. So 8500 is. Is fabulous. Would love to be doing more as you support the work of iVoterGuide and AFA action. afr. You're going to help us to continue to do that and to grow. And I just want to say take this opportunity to say thank you for that.
Rick Beggs Yeah.
The Ongoing Need for Research and Engagement, Especially in School Board Races
And. And we. We do want to do more, especially school board races. And if you want to hear how I can be up on my preaching box about school board races, go back a couple episodes because I'll do it. I think it seems like that seems like it's every episode.
Debbie Wuthnow Get the church engaged and do school boards. Yes, it's important because it is important.
Rick Beggs So if you would take a moment to kind of explain the method. I don't know if you can do it in one breath or one sentence. But go quickly again about the methodology, about what I voter guide does so that before we start moving into who we've actually covered out, of those 8,500 candidates.
iVoterGuide Methodology: Evaluating Candidates Based on Actions, Not Just Words
Debbie Wuthnow Well, the I voter Guide philosophy is to look at what a candidate has done, not just what they say they're going to do. And we do that with research. Honestly, we start by scorecards, if candidates ever held office before. And interestingly, you know, we have some people running for governor who've been state legislatures, you know, all of any, if you've held an elected office, at least at the state legislative level, we have scorecards on you. So, you know, we can go back and see how you voted on legislation.
Rick Beggs We can find you.
Debbie Wuthnow That's right. So you know, you may say you, this is what you believe, but what did you vote on when you had that authority? So starting with scorecards, we look at money. Who's behind the campaign, who's supporting the candidate, as well as who has the candidate supported with their money. we also add in endorsements from both the left and the right. Every candidate gets to answer our questionnaire. Our panelists and our staff are looking for any, I call them pixels or data points they can find on all of these candidates. We have a little bucket called other information and we will throw that in there. And all of this, including links to the websites and social media for each candidate, are presented to our staff and to our volunteers who dig through that and not just gather the data points, but we kind of summarize it in a way with the evaluation that looks like the gas gauge.
Using the ivoterguide Gas Gauge to Identify Conservative and Pro-Life Candidates
That for the average voter. That's really the, that's what grabs you
Rick Beggs when you go, when you go right
Debbie Wuthnow to the website summary in a way. I had, I was speaking to a bunch of pastors and they said, how can I find the pro life, pro religious liberty candidates? I'm like, well, the ones that get rated conservative and conservative, verified conservative if, because those are conservative positions, they're our most important issues. So if a candidate is, is pro abortion, they are not going to earn those ratings if they are in infringing upon our religious liberties or our gun rights. They are not going to, they, they are not eligible for those, those ratings. They might get insufficient information if we couldn't find enough data. But the pro life, pro, pro religious liberty candidates are going to be conservative and verified. So that's, that's what I voter guide does. And we do, we do that at the top of the ticket and as far down as we go, even when we go down ballot, we start with that. And then we have to dig even deeper on those school board candidates.
Rick Beggs So if I tuned into this show for the very first time and I'm going, I voter guide. What.
Accessing Your Personalized Voter Guide on ivoterguide.com for All Races
Where do I go? What do I do? I want this information. Where do you send them?
Debbie Wuthnow Excellent question. So you go to, I think individualized the letter. I voterguide.com I voterguide.com you enter your voting address that allows us to create and show you your personalized voter guide just for your races. So the races and candidates, ballot measures, anything that's on your ballot that we have had the bandwidth to research, you will see. We have created, personalized voter guides for every address in America. So all 50 states, my address, your address, even Willie B's address, we've got a personalized voter guide, and you can get that for free,
Rick Beggs @ivoterguide.com now, we can't cover all the races. You've sort of explained that, just because of financial reasons. But we, we, we cover the federal races.
Debbie Wuthnow Mm, all of them.
Rick Beggs But every federal.
Comprehensive Coverage of Federal, Statewide, and Judicial Races by ivoterguide
But yes, but statewide, how are we doing there in covering those races? Are we in all the states? What?
Debbie Wuthnow Well, we're not in every state. There's 42 states that have, statewide races on the ballot this year that we are covering. There are four more states that have them in odd years that we cover them in the odd years. So. But you add that together, we're up to what, 46 of the states where we cover the statewide races when they are on the ballot. And when I say statewide, we cover statewide. That means every state race, that is on your ballot, down to treasurer, comptroller, commissioner of insurance, mine, commissioner, whatever that is, including, the judicial races that are statewide. The state supreme court, the state court of criminal Appeals. That's a really important race too. And so I voter guide does, does research, not just their, what I described earlier. Right. And, and try to rate them, but we actually have a lawyer on staff and a paralegal who are reading the rulings of those judges. They are really digging deep to, to look at their positions on controversial issues, how they might rule. And it's not really, political positions as it is. How will they interpret law? Are they going to follow the Constitution? Are they originalist or a textualist? And they, they will say there's a difference. To me, they're pretty much in the same bucket. Or are they going to Legislate from the bench. We all hear about activist judges. So our goal is to be able to shine a light on those activist judges, and help voters find the ones that are good.
State Legislature Coverage and the Growing Importance of Down-Ballot Races
And we want to keep.
Rick Beggs So state legislatures, it sounds like statewide offices were doing 40 plus in 2026, but state legislatures were not doing quite as many.
Debbie Wuthnow No, there are 32 states, this year. There are four more again in the odd year that we cover. So total of 36. So 30, 32 this year. And that's where, you know, the candidate count starts to grow. When they've got, you know, 50 or 100 senators and 150 to 500 state legislators and they're, you know, contested. It really grows the candidate count, as we were talking about that. But again, they set state law, really important offices.
Evaluating Judicial Candidates and the Dangers of Voting Without Proper Research
Rick Beggs Okay, how about state, statewide, judicial positions?
Debbie Wuthnow the state Supreme Court. Again, in those 32 to 36 states, we cover the Supreme Court, Court of Criminal Appeals. I know in Texas, I think there were 16 judges that we evaluated. Depends on the state. Every state does things differently. Texas, they run as Democrats or Republicans. Many states, they're up for confirmation or not. Confirmation, retention, election. And, nobody talks about those. They're not even running a campaign. Their name's just on the ballot. And you say yes or no. Well, what if they're an activist judge? So I, voter guy digs into those judges as well so that you can know and identify. Is this somebody I should keep and say yes, or is this somebody I want to kick off the court and let the governor appoint somebody new again, depending upon your state? Also very important, they're, they're ruling far more cases than the US Supreme Court does. So it is very important who gets on your state supreme court.
Rick Beggs Well, and when you get to those judicial races and you get down to school board races, there are no Rs and Ds. And, and if you're, if you're an RD voter, either one, you're going to come to a place and go, I don't know these. And so you don't vote.
Debbie Wuthnow Yeah.
Rick Beggs Or you go, I'll, I'll take the incumbent. Because they must be good. They're already in the office when they could be absolutely horrible.
Debbie Wuthnow Or you say, I wrestle their yard sign, I'm gonna vote for them.
Rick Beggs But, no, because we know they vote.
Debbie Wuthnow No, they don't. And yeah, so don't, don't vote on, on just. Oh, I have an aunt named Ethler. I'm going to vote for that name. You need to do your research and know who you're going for and what they're going to do with power. Right?
Rick Beggs Yeah. Well, boy, he's handsome.
The Critical Role of School Board Races and Utilizing ivoterguide for Research
Debbie Wuthnow He's so nice. I met him. He's so nice. No, that is not.
Rick Beggs You're picking on us in the South. I just heard that in your voice.
Debbie Wuthnow I. My dad came from North Carolina, so I can do that. But, no, we. We need to do our research and be informed when we vote.
Rick Beggs Okay. School board races. Again, we're not everywhere, but we're in key ones.
Debbie Wuthnow We are in some key ones, and there are some states where it's. It's honestly easier. They just have fewer school boards in the state we're covering. In fact, we have researched every school board candidate in the state of Virginia. We didn't evaluate all of them, but even if we didn't evaluate it, you will see, you know, either some green check marks for research. We found. You won't see the rating, but there's research there. So please click on the candidate profile to see what research is there. At a minimum, you could. It's websites and social media for the candidate. But I was looking at one school board candidate that had an endorsement of the Democratic Party running as a nonpartisan. That in itself, you know, helps me to determine which candidate, would share my values and, and represent what's important to me.
How to Get Involved with ivoterguide as a Panelist or Contributor
So do the research. Use I voter guide first and then do some on your own following that.
Rick Beggs Which would be a great commercial because if, if we need board, people looking at board races into the future and you don't see yourself. Yeah, please. If you'd like to be a panelist with us, if you'd like to go to some of these and, report back to us, I think we're very interested in you.
Contacting ivoterguide for Information and How to Become a Panelist
So if you're listening and that's something research you'd love to do, boy, come get a hold of us. Where would they get a hold of us, Debbie?
Debbie Wuthnow I would go to ivoterguide.com and if you want to apply as a panelist, click on the take action in the top menu and apply as a panelist. If you just want to send in a question, click on contact us or email infoivoterguide.com and let us know how can I plug in. ask any questions.
Getting in Touch with The Compass Hosts for Future Show Topics
We've got a team of real people that will point, you in the right direction, answer your questions well.
Rick Beggs And if you want to get a hold of us, you email Compass.
Debbie Wuthnow Yeah. @ivoterguide.com and say, hey, Rick, and ask us some questions and we'll address it in the future.
Rick Beggs and let me tell you once again, this is once, ah, again my soapbox.
The Significance of School Board Decisions on Curriculum and Parental Notification
The reason school boards are so important for. There's a number of them, but they're setting policy for parental notification. They're telling you what library books are going to be in the, in the library. They're, they're setting curriculum. these are in. These are valuable positions. And if you think that nobody's paying attention because you didn't pay attention. Oh, somebody's paying attention. It's just not our side.
Debbie Wuthnow Yeah.
Encouraging Future Candidates and Covering Local and County Seats
Yeah.
Rick Beggs And anyway, I, I just cannot. If you want to run for a board seat into the future, let's say it's not going to happen this November, let us help you find how you get trained, what you should do. For sure, write to us in [email protected] Anyway, local and county seats, sheriffs, commissioners, those.
Debbie Wuthnow We, we only rarely cover those.
Understanding and Researching Ballot Measures, Including Constitutional Changes
But again, they have important roles. You need to research who those people are before we run out of time. I want to make sure we talk about ballot measures because you talked about it earlier. These are those confusing things that are at the end of your ballot that seems like a lawyer wrote it because they probably did. And it's. You don't even know what a yes will do or a no will do. But, but you need to know if those are on your ballot. Those are really big deals. They frequently are going to change your constitution, your state constitution, which impacts future generations in your state. I know the left has used it very, very effectively to enthrine. Enshrine. Enshrine. abortion. I'm like, that's not the right word, to enshrine abortion. And so we know a lot of election integrity ballot measures are, are up this cycle.
Ballot Measures as Motivators for Voting: Election Integrity and Citizen Voting
It can be the thing that, you know, you don't m. You may not carry. Care about what the state legislature does, but your state's going to allow, require voter ID or going to require citizenship for voting. Those are important measures that are certainly worth getting you into the polling place and voting. And then please fill in your whole ballot when you get there. But, you know, maybe use that ballot measure as your motivator of. I really want to make sure that this passes because, all of it is super important. So I wanted to talk about some of those types of things that are going to be on.
Rick Beggs Okay, so start on one. Which. What would you like to toss?
Key Ballot Measures: Abortion, Gender Issues, and Citizen-Only Voting Explained
Well, I want to start abortion, gender, citizen only voting. There's so many of them there are.
Debbie Wuthnow And so three states have pro abortion measures. Those are Idaho, Nevada and Virginia. Really critical for conservatives to get out and say no to this, to stop it. But what I love is in Missouri, you know, I'm a show me girl. I'm from Missouri. Missouri is one of those states the left was successful and they passed a pro abortion ballot measure two years ago. This is conservatives trying to push it back and move it back in the right direction to protect life. And it's called Amendment 3.
Missouri's Amendment 3: Protecting Unborn Babies and Banning Transgender Procedures on Minors
It not only protects, more unborn babies, but it also bans transgender procedures on minors. This is a twofer. If you live in Missouri, please go check out Amendment 3 and make sure you go vote because you know that the left of those pro abortion, they get so on fire and they have so much disinformation that's out there. That's the problem with a lot of these, the measures. They, they actually have what I would call disinformation or lies about what those measures will accomplish or what they're trying to stop. So abortion is key, especially in Missouri, to move the needle in the correct direction. [email protected] we'll let you know which is the conservative vote and which is the liberal vote in that state. In case you were confused, gender and children. Well I just mentioned the Missouri one, but there are multiple states. So for example, like Arizona and Colorado have Democratic governors.
Banning Gender Transition Procedures on Minors via Ballot Measures in Several States
So I know Arizona has a Republican legislature, but any legislation they pass gets vetoed by the governor. So the only way to get conservative laws in place is to do a ballot measure. And these are legislatively referred, meaning they came from the legislature and they're trying to ban these gender transition, procedures on minor children. Each state's slightly different. Again, check out ivoterguide.com but if you care about kids and stopping this, sterilization of our, of the next generation, permanent surgeries that really can't be undone, go out and vote. And this is Arizona, Colorado, Missouri, Nebraska and Washington all have those types of measures. Some of them are about girls, sports, some of them are about gender transition. But they all impact gender and children.
Rick Beggs I just saw, just recently, probably yesterday, where a whole cross country girls.
Debbie Wuthnow yes, I saw that and I
Rick Beggs think it was in the state of Washington.
Election Integrity Measures: Voter ID Requirements and Citizen-Only Voting Initiatives
Yeah, they walked away from the start
Debbie Wuthnow line and they blurred the faces. But you could tell who the boy is that literally a couple of weeks previously had competed as a boy and come in at like 76. Then now he's just so this super important stuff. But I, yeah, there's also election integrity that's on the, on the ballot this time.
Rick Beggs Yeah, we'll talk a little bit about voter ID and citizen only voting.
Debbie Wuthnow So, either putting or expanding voter ID requirements into their state constitution is Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, North Carolina and Ohio. So get out there and vote on those messages, Rich. Either, some of them require some a voter id, but this is making it a little stronger. Even mail ballots, you have to put some identifier there. like last four year social or driver's license number or something like that so they can verify that you really are a person. there are six states that are requiring citizens only to be able to vote. Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Kansas, South Dakota and West Virginia. Alaska, praise God. Well, they're going to try one more time.
Ranked Choice Voting and Efforts to Allow Felons to Vote Addressed
They have this thing called ranked choice voting, which we probably could talk about in detail, but it's a confusing way where you have to not just say a yes and no, but you say 1, 2, 3 and 4. Trying to get rid of that. Virginia's, trying to allow felons to vote. So lots of important stuff on your ballot. go to ivoterguy.com and check it out.
Early Voting Schedules Across Various States for the Upcoming Election
Rick Beggs Well, you know what that sound is, Debbie? We are in the season of voting and people are doing it early.
Debbie Wuthnow Well, and it's been, it's probably going on in most states right now. But this week in California, early voting begins today. and early voting begins on the 27th in Michigan, NewSong York, NewSong Jersey, M. And then Kansas U begins on the 27th. Did I say the 27th? Oklahoma begins on the 28th. Kentucky begins on the 29th. And there's four states who don't have in person, early voting. So get ready everybody, if you're not voting early and vote on November 3rd.
The Importance of Researching and Voting Wisely on All Ballot Measures
Rick Beggs Well, I, we, we didn't have nearly enough time to talk about every kind of, ballot measure that's out there. And I, you know, at some, at some place we have to stop and not, I mean we could spend a whole show on that stuff.
Debbie Wuthnow We could. There's a lot of them. So go check it out and make sure you're voting wisely.
Conclusion of The Compass: Grounded in God, Rooted in Research
Rick Beggs Well, you have been listening to the Compass with Debbie and myself yourself. we are so glad you've been with us. I can't tell you how thankful we are. If you want to talk to us, please write to [email protected] we are grounded in God and rooted in research. And I want you to know you can find us.
Finding The Compass Online and the True North of Jesus
not only live, if you go down to I voter guide at the bottom right hand corner, you can put on the compass, but also the AFR app and you can go to afr.net our producer is Brent Austin. Yay, Willie B. But true north on the compass is always Jesus. So thank you for being with us.
In this episode of The Compass, co-hosts Debbie Wuthnow and Rick Beggs discuss the importance of being informed voters as the election approaches. They emphasize the significance of down-ballot races, including judges, school board members, and statewide ballot measures, which often impact daily life more than federal elections. The hosts also share insights on how iVoterGuide can help listeners navigate the complex voting landscape, encouraging everyone to engage with their local community and make educated choices at the polls.
Live
Did you know American Family Radio is listener-supported? Your monthly financial support will allow us to continue upholding Godly values through our numerous channels, like American Family Radio, One Million Moms, The Stand magazine, and many more.
Become a Great Commission Partner TODAY to help AFR transform culture by rebuilding the family. When you donate today, you’ll get access to:
