The Compass is the official radio show of iVoterGuide
Rick Beggs Welcome to the Compass, navigating the public square together with faith, truth and conviction. Oh, and good afternoon to you. We're so glad you're with us on the Compass. The Compass is the official radio show of, iVoterGuide Guide. And speaking of iVoterGuide , I have the president with me, who is all. Always. Not that president. The president of iVoterGuide Debbie Wuthnow now, who is, also vice president of AFA Action. So, Debbie, say hey.
Debbie Wuthnow Hey, everybody. Glad to be back with you again. One more week with the Compass. Thanks for joining.
Rick Beggs Yes, thank you.
There is one more primary left. It'll happen next week on Tuesday in Delaware
Debbie, I thought it'd be very fun today to kind of walk through, state offices, that we're going to be voting for in November. And. And I'm just so grateful we're out of the primary season. You know, that whole thing is.
Debbie Wuthnow Well, not quite.
Rick Beggs What are you talking about? What do you mean, not quite?
Debbie Wuthnow Well, do you remember when with primary started, the first one. Do you remember how long ago?
Rick Beggs I think it was, during the Vietnam War, wasn't it? It seemed like we've been going on that long.
Debbie Wuthnow Well, we did have primaries back then. That is true. But even just this year, they started in March. So six months ago, we started primary season. You would think we're done. And we're not close, but not quite. There is one more primary left. Delaware brings up. They kind of bring the sweet. They're. They. They bring up the end. They're the final primary. It'll happen next week on Tuesday or not. Next. Yeah, next week on Tuesday, the 15th. Yeah. So I'm so ready for primaries to be done. But, I mean, and literally that same week, there are states where early voting starts. So.
Rick Beggs Almost makes me sick to my stomach.
Debbie Wuthnow It makes me dizzy. Yeah. Give us a. Give us a break. But it's, you know, they want to make sure everybody has a chance to cast their ballot.
Rick Beggs Well, it wouldn't really matter that much if we weren't a, ministry for voting. So like you say all the time when we're out and about speaking, you always say somebody's voting. Always.
Debbie Wuthnow There's always an election going on. Yeah. So, that same. So the 15th is the Delaware primary. On the 18th, early voting starts in, what, Minnesota, South Dakota, Virginia. Just. It's just crazy. So. So be ready. Keep listening to the Compass. We will make sure you are educated and informed.
We asked George Barna to help us dig into down ballot voting
But I think for today, we kind of wanted to talk about some of those races that are going to be on the.
Rick Beggs What do people do when they get into office? What is their job? Yeah, I do want to kind of send a little tease out. I was going to do this at the end of the show, but I kind of want to do it now. You can do it because. Yeah, because you commissioned one of the great surveyors of culture, especially in the Christian world and kind of teases with what we're going to be doing here in a couple weeks.
Debbie Wuthnow Well, you guys may have heard of George Barna. He's been really famous in, as a pollster. He founded the Barna Group and then sold that and really moved into surveying like on Worldview and following Christian, Christian, their, their faith, their level of faith, their biblical worldview. He's the one who said, you know, only 6% of Americans have a biblical worldview. And it was just, just shocking. But so he does all but you can commission him for polling. And so we asked him to help us do a deeper dive into down ballot voting. And you know what, what's going on with people there? How do they vote if they don't? Why? And things like that. So we're getting, we're analyzing that data and getting ready to roll that out pretty soon. And you'll find we found some very interesting pieces of data. I can't wait to explain to you guys and talk.
Rick Beggs Don't, don't give them too much.
Debbie Wuthnow That was a tease.
Rick Beggs Mystery. Yeah.
We are going to talk about going down ballot on today's show
Which kind of leads us, it kind of leads us into the show because we are going to talk about going down ballot. Now. A lot of people might say, well Governor, Lieutenant Governor, that's probably not down ballot but we'll start there in the state. But we're also going to go, well
Debbie Wuthnow it is kind of down ballot because it's not federal. Right. It's state. But I mean even that first you mentioned Governor. Most people knew their governor is and they kind of know what the governor does. But what about all those other jobs, those other races that are on the ballot? So that's what we wanted to talk about today.
Rick Beggs Yeah, absolutely. And I know when I, I'm not speaking for you, I'll speak for myself here when I get in the voting booth.
Rick Beggs This is when I'm down ballot. I start glazing over and until you and I really started doing stuff together for iVoterGuide in AFA. we, I, I was that person. I was that, yeah. Guy in the, in the voter. And I don't.
Debbie Wuthnow Did you skip some races and just not vote in some of them?
Rick Beggs Okay. I'm okay. You know, there's not a true confession time.
Debbie Wuthnow Are you.
Rick Beggs Yes. I, I did not look all the way down ballot because I, I didn't take the time.
Debbie Wuthnow Tisk.
Rick Beggs I know, but now look at this resource we have, and it's free. and that's what we love about iVoterGuide
Debbie Wuthnow Well, yes, exactly. That is. And that's why iVoterGuide was created, really was people who understood, you know, Richard and Jim, who founded this thing. People don't know anything about the people. In fact, this guy who was a political leg, worked with legislators, realized he didn't know about, had never voted an intelligent ballot. And so that's why a voter guide was created to, to inform the public about, you know, what those candidates are that are seeking power, seeking authority over us and the things that they do and the responsibilities they have. The further down the ballot you go, the more important it is really. It impacts your family, your church, your school, life. Yeah. I'm proud of you for becoming, doing less under voting.
Rick Beggs Well, I have to give you some of that credit because iVoterGuide Yes, but you represent that to me. Gosh, I feel like I'm gonna end up in tears. I'm gonna need that couch.
Not every state looks at government the same way, although they're governed by governor
Okay, so I want to start. Oh, it'd be easy to just jump in to governor, but I want to remind the people, when we first started the show, we, talked about a portion of scripture where Moses personally was trying to judge every dispute in Israel. And his father in law, Jethro came along and said, Moses, you can't do this. You, you won't last.
Debbie Wuthnow Right.
Rick Beggs So they, he, they came up with this idea of beginning to disperse, decision making and, and jobs got divided that would help Moses make good decisions, good judgments. And so our government really is based on that federally, but it's based on that statewide. It's just not every state looks at it the same way, although they're governed by a governor.
Debbie Wuthnow Yeah.
Rick Beggs Going down the ballot, a lot of these jobs may look a little different from state to state.
Debbie Wuthnow Well, they all did it, you know, independently. Every state wrote its own constitution, every state ran its own government. So it was a similar model. They were all constitutional republics. They all wrote a constitution, but they didn't just carbon copy them. Lots, of similarities, but there are differences. And that's what kind of makes it, it's both the, the joy and, and the problem of a republic because, you know, even in our job, they're all different and very different in some ways, sometimes pretty similar.
Every state has a governor and they're all elected in every state
So kind of wanted to highlight a few of those little things as we're talking through each of these offices of how they're different in each of the states.
Rick Beggs Well, it's sort of like running a business when you look at the state. You have somebody who's the head of the corporation and then you have all these positions within the company and everybody has their job, initiative that they're going to pull out. So it's really easy to start at the top with Governor as your chief executive officer or CEO of the state if you will. M. And that they are setting policy, proposing big dollar spends for the budget.
Rick Beggs Signing vetoes and what have you. What, what do you think of when you think of governor of a state?
Debbie Wuthnow I think the governor I think of them as almost the public facing executive of the state. They set agendas. I know I live in Texas, they said, you know, this is the, he'll, he'll give an agenda to the state legislature, the senators and the, and the state congressmen of what are their state reps, what are, what what priorities is the governor set for them to work upon? And they're also the one that you know, they, if an emergency happens, they're the one checking and seeing what needs to happen and calling in fema. So they really are the CEO of the state. And the, the thing that's unique honestly is that's the only one of these positions that's on the ballot in all 50 states.
Rick Beggs Okay.
Debbie Wuthnow The rest. Well, in some states, some of the other positions don't exist or do exist and we'll get to some of those positions. But a governor is on a ballot and elected by the people in all 50 states. you know, it might be, it might be, you know there's party primaries and then they have a general election with people from the party. They might have different methods of elections. You know, they might have the ranked choice voting. But every state, every, every voter will see governor as a race on their ballot. And for some of these other roles like Secretary of state, Lieutenant Governor, you may not see it. Sometimes they're appointed, sometimes they run as, like in some states the governor, Lieutenant Governor run as, as a slate of two people that you vote once and they both come in. It's, it's just the joy of the republic that every state got to define how it was going to run and be different. in some states they have, you know, two year terms, sometimes states they have four year terms. sometimes they can only have one term, sometimes they can have multiple terms. That part's different. But there is always going to be a governor on your statewide ballot either.
Rick Beggs And so you're saying in every state it's exactly the same.
Debbie Wuthnow In every state they're elected by the vote. It's all the same when, except for when. Yeah, that exactly that's right.
Rick Beggs Except for the exceptions. Yeah, yeah. That's like I would get punished for something and I go, well, so. And so doesn't get punished. Well, in this house you get punished for it. So our house is different than somebody else's house. Yeah, yeah. Everybody has a governor.
Debbie Wuthnow Yeah.
Rick Beggs But we don't all run it the same way.
Debbie Wuthnow Right, exactly. And they're all elected.
Rick Beggs Yeah, yeah. Okay. So there are some who just have different power in their position as a governor.
Debbie Wuthnow Yes.
Rick Beggs Fair to say.
Debbie Wuthnow I think that's fair to say. because you know, some of the states don't have a lieutenant governor. and so things that might in one state have landed on the lieutenant governor's plate would be on the governor's plate. So you know, there's powers attached to the title that different. Differ by state. check that out. You know how that is in your state. But you are going to have a governor on your ballot and you are going to get to elect them, in all 50 states. So I think that that's an important point.
Rick Beggs Now there are a couple states that I think you just mentioned that really only have two year terms. Is that true?
Debbie Wuthnow yes, I think New Hampshire and Vermont. Yeah. And still use two year terms. And I think, you know, it's kind of like election trivia. And there is one state that only, you, your term limited at one term. In Virginia, the governor that gets elected gets elected just for one term. And it used to be only a two year old. Right now it's a four. At least it's a four year term. But kind of trivia for each state and how they did it differently.
Rick Beggs Well, don't we wish there was a two term governor of Virginia because we
Debbie Wuthnow wish could have run again. Yeah, exactly.
Rick Beggs Yeah. And especially because the one I don't mean to sideline here, but my goodness. And throw shade. But I'm going to throw shade on this governor who ran on a different platform than she was running the state.
Debbie Wuthnow Her name has become a. Is it a verb?
Rick Beggs It's a meme.
Debbie Wuthnow To pull a spam. You pull a spam burger.
Rick Beggs Yeah.
Debbie Wuthnow Means you run as one thing and you govern as another. So. Because that's what she did.
Rick Beggs But that, you know, well, let me see. That seems like a good reason to have iVoterGuide .
Debbie Wuthnow It's a perfect reason to have my voter guide really. To look at what they did so you'll know what they're going to do.
Rick Beggs Just put a red. They would have known.
Debbie Wuthnow But alas, that's why we're here.
Rick Beggs Yes, that's why we do what we do.
Debbie Wuthnow Yep.
Not every state has a separate elected lieutenant governor
Rick Beggs okay, so we kind of get the governor sort of the president of their state or the CEO as we discussed. What in the world does a lieutenant governor do?
Debbie Wuthnow Well, what would you. I mean you kind of assume it's like the, the number two. Right. The assistant guy. So they.
Rick Beggs Or the girl could be a girl. It could be the girl guy generically. whatever. It's. It's. Yeah, it could be either one. I don't want to upset anybody but.
Debbie Wuthnow But they. Go ahead.
Rick Beggs Yeah. No, I was going to say. I know it's the number two person.
Debbie Wuthnow They preside. Tip. They typically will preside over the Senate in some cases. Sometimes it's more honorary and sometimes it's more. Has more authority to it. I know somebody, when I moved to Texas, they told me that lieutenant governor is actually one of the more powerful positions, elected roles because the Lieutenant governor sets the agenda for the senate and defines who's on the committees and all of that stuff. And that really gives. It sets. It's great authority. It's. It's a lot of authority that is given to the lieutenant Governor. That doesn't happen in all the states
Rick Beggs because most of them it's very. There's very little independent authority.
Debbie Wuthnow Right.
Rick Beggs Unless the state constitution tells differently. And I think that's why it is different in Texas.
Debbie Wuthnow Yeah. well, you know, a lot of states the governors hand lieutenant governor the policy portfolio and they don't have a lot of independent authority. Some states do it differently and Texas is one of those. So not every state has a lieutenant governor though. Arizona's going to be phasing that in Maine, New Hampshire, Oregon and Wyoming don't have a separately elected lieutenant governor. so you know, one of the other.
Rick Beggs So who would succeed who, who would succeed then if. Because I would think the Lieutenant governor is the natural succeeds the governor something were to happen.
Debbie Wuthnow It's like the first runner up in a beauty contest. Right. So if the governor can't do his job, the lieutenant governor will the last loser.
Rick Beggs Yeah.
Debbie Wuthnow so in those cases a lot of times it'll be the Secretary of state or if they have somebody who's the senate president and sometimes the senate president is the Lieutenant governor, sometimes that's a state senator and then the other senators vote on them. Kind of like what happens in the US Congress and in the US Senate for who's the speaker or who's the leader of the Senate. So you know, roughly half the states elect a governor and a lieutenant governor on separate ballot lines. So you might end up with a Republican governor and a Democratic lieutenant governor. it's completely possible and not even very rare, for them to be from two different parties which, you know, that seems challenging to govern that way, but.
Rick Beggs Oh my God. Yeah. And I can't believe that it's interesting that people go into the ballot box and you would find that happening. That didn't kind of run down ballot in the same party.
Debbie Wuthnow And I think it happens in the, in the independent voters in the middle. Right. You know there's, there are people who are just like, just give me a straight ticket, I'm going to vote for one party. But then there are others who pick and choose. And honestly I think for those people, iVoterGuide voter guide is even more important to look at each of those individuals to see which one, you, you know, shares your beliefs and you know, knowing what they're going to do with power instead of just, you know, name ID and oh, I know that guy, he was great. yeah. So use iVoterGuide Be informed and you know, vote intelligently. If you're not just going to vote on party, which is, you know, some people will say that's what you do in the general election. You vote on platform and party. but not every voter does that. So we just want them all to be informed.
Rick Beggs Well, and that's where we go back to why primaries are really important.
Debbie Wuthnow Yep.
Rick Beggs Because you make sure you get the right person, in that position to run against the other party.
Almost every state has a chief legal officer. Some states the governor gets to appoint them
Okay, so let's move to attorney general.
Debbie Wuthnow Okay. Basically the chief legal officer. So I think almost every state has a chief legal officer. Some states the governor gets to appoint them. and 43 states, you get to elected vote for them directly, making it a pretty consistent voter facing office on the ballot. a couple states where the governor appoints them would be Alaska and Hawaii. I guess our last, the last two to join the union decided to do it different. And then a couple of first ones, New Hampshire, New Jersey and Wyoming, the governor appoints them. So you know, it's an important job. You'll see them in the news. a lot of times the, the they call them AGs or the General will file lawsuits against the federal government if they think the federal government's, you know, pushing, overstepping or whatever. you'll see a lot of the ags from, you know, red states will band together and sue a democratic government. You know, it, it. It's how, It's part of the accountability and the checks and balances that happen in our constitutional republic.
Rick Beggs Well, that's what makes what I'm about to say pretty fascinating and interesting because I think living here in Georgia, I know Tennessee, a neighboring state of ours, it, I think the Supreme Court makes the appointment of the attorney general.
Debbie Wuthnow That's unusual.
Rick Beggs Yeah.
Debbie Wuthnow That's the only state that does that, right?
Rick Beggs Yeah, yeah. And you go, okay, so what, is that good or is that not good? I think in all cases on that
Debbie Wuthnow I could see good. It depends on your Supreme Court and how. Well your, you know, how do you use your people get on the Supreme Court and are they elected or appointed and are they accountable and, you know, all of it all there. Everything has pros and cons.
Rick Beggs Yeah, it does. But just how bizarre. And that's like we said, it, let's call it unique. It all. Okay, it's bizarre. What makes it so fascinating is you have all these states that are congruent in, in running a, a free republic, but not congruent in how they want to do it. And, and here's a typical case and of course the ones you just described about where the governor appoints an attorney general in, in those four, five, six states that, you mentioned. It. It just is unique. Everything is unique. It is about how we beauty of our states. It is. Okay. Secretary of State.
Debbie Wuthnow Well, you know, it's not Marco Rubio. In every state, he is the secretary and he can do a lot of jobs. Right. But this is not something he does. And it's slightly different. The US Secretary of State. When you hear that a lot of times you'll think foreign relations. Right?
Rick Beggs Yeah.
Debbie Wuthnow But in states, it's really the chief election officer. So where elections and ballots are concerned and election integrity, that lands on the desk of the Secretary of State they oversee.
Rick Beggs Boy, we had that here in Georgia. My goodness.
Debbie Wuthnow I know you do. What was that guy's name? He was Rev. Right.
Rick Beggs But we'll just keep his name out of the press.
Debbie Wuthnow Moving on. But their job is to oversee the voter register, registration roles and the rules to make sure that the list is clean. Are they removing, people who aren't citizens? Are they removing people when they pass away? Are they, you know, are they keeping the rolls clean? are they. They actually certify the election results and they set the standards for ballot access. So it's a very important office, as they, you know, sometimes. Sometimes it's the job, and sometimes it's the Rules Committee that. That's important. And this is kind of like the Rules Committee for elections in a state, as you know, that's important. Knowing the rules and following the rules and whether will they follow.
Rick Beggs We get together and we play games with our family. Your family and stuff like that. You were going to say this, weren't you?
Debbie Wuthnow Go ahead, admit it.
Rick Beggs No. Yeah, I want you to call me it, because I think it's.
Debbie Wuthnow Aren't you the chairman of the Rules Committee in all.
Rick Beggs Yes, I am chairman in all games. Chairman of the Rules Committee. And then I can pass it on when I pass it on.
Debbie Wuthnow Have you ever done that? Have you ever done. Oh, I know that we've filed appeals to the rules during a game.
Rick Beggs Oh, yeah, yeah. And I hear them all. Yeah. Sometimes I rule with an iron fist, but we digress.
Secretary of State oversees state elections and ensures integrity
But the Secretary of State, that, is their job. It's really to uphold the standards for voting.
Debbie Wuthnow So super important position. You want somebody who's going to be a stickler to the law and the rules, to fill that position. So just, you know, fact m. You should factor that in when you're choosing who you're going to elect. Thinking of what that job is and what, what, what skill set is needed. You know, honestly, we will draw the correlation to when you're voting for people. It's like you're hiring somebody for a job, and you want to hire somebody that's qualified to do that job. So understanding what that job is is an important part. Right. And so that's why we're talking about that today.
Rick Beggs they oversee business filings. I'm reading this right here. But most importantly, they manage state elections and ensure integrity.
Debbie Wuthnow Yep.
Rick Beggs That's. That. To me, that's one of the heaviest positions, that you can have in a state.
Debbie Wuthnow I think so. But it's very overlooked. Right.
Rick Beggs underappreciated, no doubt. I. I mean, I, I don't really think about it much because I do think about what Marco Rubio does, and he just runs around the world, speaking on behalf of this administration, but upholding what, we would call freedoms in the United States that we would love for other countries to enjoy. And he goes around, does that. Well, Secretary of States in the state don't do that. Unless they're going over to Alabama from Georgia.
Debbie Wuthnow Well, unless you're a state like Texas that has an economy that's that big. But even then it's the governor that would do that job for a state.
Rick Beggs Always about Texas, I think they are. Okay, state treasurer.
Debbie Wuthnow Yeah. so this person manage pretty as, as you would think. They manage the state's cash and investments. They issue and manage any bonds that the state would issue. They do the payment on that. And in many states they run an unclaimed property program that can reunite people with their lost funds. So it's also another important job, especially when you look at, you know, the spending. They're kind of, tracking all of that, making sure that the money's where it's going, where it needs to go.
Rick Beggs Especially when, when we're voting and we come across, you know, referendums or things like that. You're voting on a bond issue and this is the person that carries it out, correct? Yeah, yeah.
Debbie Wuthnow And so since we talk about Texas a lot, we actually don't have a treasurer in Texas. They folded that job or that responsibility into a position called the comptroller, which kind of does auditing and things like that. So in Texas, the treasurer slash comptroller is just one job that's, that's on the ballot there.
Rick Beggs So, 40, I think. Did you say 48 states have a. Or did I just make that up?
Debbie Wuthnow The. Well, from what I, my notes for my research, there are 48 states that have a state treasurer. New York and Texas. Don't they fold those duties into the comptroller? and, and again, it's going to vary even more because 36 states is when you elect the treasurer. So even though there is a treasurer job, only in 36 states will it appear on your ballot. In eight of the other states, the governor appoints somebody to that again, giving, you know, more authority to the, the, the governor. And then in four states, the legislature gets to pick the treasurer. So. Importance of choosing your legislature. So, yeah, it's still important to vote intelligently in every race on your ballot.
iVoterGuide helps voters understand candidates before voting in every election
Rick Beggs Well, this would be a good place to make a commercial for iVoterGuide. Debbie, why is it important that we have iVoterGuide? Well, you know, allow the people to do.
Debbie Wuthnow Before voting in every election, voters need to know more than what the candidates names are. They need to know what they believe, what they'll do with power, what policies do they support. And for faith based voters like me and you, we need to know what they believe. So iVoterGuide exists to do that deep dive research on candidates to equip millions of voters with what those candidates will do with power if they're elected. So we don't just tell you who's running. We tell you what the candidates believe, what they're going to do. And it's easy to use and [email protected] if you've never been there, I would encourage you to check it out. Now is the time. If you know, check out what happened in your primary, get ready for the general election. we are working diligently to release the voter guides in all 50 states. So we have personalized ballots for every address in America. Go to ivoterguide.com Enter your address that you registered to vote, and you'll get your personalized ballot with a rating of how that candidate lands on their political spectrum. All the research you need, judges, all these statewide races. We've been talking about your state legislature, Congress, U.S. senate, really a complete one stop shop resource for, everything related to voting and elections.
Rick Beggs And we're going to, actually have a part two of this because we actually want to go down farther into the ballot where we come across other jobs. Yeah, that you go, what? I'm voting on this. Who in the world does railroads in Texas? You know, those kinds of things anyway. But we'll talk about that on another show because I think it's so fascinating, Debbie, if somebody wanted to write to
Debbie Wuthnow us, whoever they write, email [email protected] and we have a team who will answer your questions. If you have a question for Rick and I to talk about on air, please email compassivoterguide.com ask that and we will talk about it.
Rick Beggs we are grounded in God and rooted in research. Our producer is Brent Austin and, we love Willie B. He makes us sound good, so we're always so grateful for him. Ah, you can find [email protected] and if you really want to be a good listener, go get the app, the AFR app, and you can listen to our shows anytime. We want you to remember, our true north on the compass is always Jesus. Thank you so much for being with us.
The Compass is the official radio show of iVoterGuide
Rick Beggs Welcome to the Compass, navigating the public square together with faith, truth and conviction. Oh, and good afternoon to you. We're so glad you're with us on the Compass. The Compass is the official radio show of, iVoterGuide Guide. And speaking of iVoterGuide , I have the president with me, who is all. Always. Not that president. The president of iVoterGuide Debbie Wuthnow now, who is, also vice president of AFA Action. So, Debbie, say hey.
Debbie Wuthnow Hey, everybody. Glad to be back with you again. One more week with the Compass. Thanks for joining.
Rick Beggs Yes, thank you.
There is one more primary left. It'll happen next week on Tuesday in Delaware
Debbie, I thought it'd be very fun today to kind of walk through, state offices, that we're going to be voting for in November. And. And I'm just so grateful we're out of the primary season. You know, that whole thing is.
Debbie Wuthnow Well, not quite.
Rick Beggs What are you talking about? What do you mean, not quite?
Debbie Wuthnow Well, do you remember when with primary started, the first one. Do you remember how long ago?
Rick Beggs I think it was, during the Vietnam War, wasn't it? It seemed like we've been going on that long.
Debbie Wuthnow Well, we did have primaries back then. That is true. But even just this year, they started in March. So six months ago, we started primary season. You would think we're done. And we're not close, but not quite. There is one more primary left. Delaware brings up. They kind of bring the sweet. They're. They. They bring up the end. They're the final primary. It'll happen next week on Tuesday or not. Next. Yeah, next week on Tuesday, the 15th. Yeah. So I'm so ready for primaries to be done. But, I mean, and literally that same week, there are states where early voting starts. So.
Rick Beggs Almost makes me sick to my stomach.
Debbie Wuthnow It makes me dizzy. Yeah. Give us a. Give us a break. But it's, you know, they want to make sure everybody has a chance to cast their ballot.
Rick Beggs Well, it wouldn't really matter that much if we weren't a, ministry for voting. So like you say all the time when we're out and about speaking, you always say somebody's voting. Always.
Debbie Wuthnow There's always an election going on. Yeah. So, that same. So the 15th is the Delaware primary. On the 18th, early voting starts in, what, Minnesota, South Dakota, Virginia. Just. It's just crazy. So. So be ready. Keep listening to the Compass. We will make sure you are educated and informed.
We asked George Barna to help us dig into down ballot voting
But I think for today, we kind of wanted to talk about some of those races that are going to be on the.
Rick Beggs What do people do when they get into office? What is their job? Yeah, I do want to kind of send a little tease out. I was going to do this at the end of the show, but I kind of want to do it now. You can do it because. Yeah, because you commissioned one of the great surveyors of culture, especially in the Christian world and kind of teases with what we're going to be doing here in a couple weeks.
Debbie Wuthnow Well, you guys may have heard of George Barna. He's been really famous in, as a pollster. He founded the Barna Group and then sold that and really moved into surveying like on Worldview and following Christian, Christian, their, their faith, their level of faith, their biblical worldview. He's the one who said, you know, only 6% of Americans have a biblical worldview. And it was just, just shocking. But so he does all but you can commission him for polling. And so we asked him to help us do a deeper dive into down ballot voting. And you know what, what's going on with people there? How do they vote if they don't? Why? And things like that. So we're getting, we're analyzing that data and getting ready to roll that out pretty soon. And you'll find we found some very interesting pieces of data. I can't wait to explain to you guys and talk.
Rick Beggs Don't, don't give them too much.
Debbie Wuthnow That was a tease.
Rick Beggs Mystery. Yeah.
We are going to talk about going down ballot on today's show
Which kind of leads us, it kind of leads us into the show because we are going to talk about going down ballot. Now. A lot of people might say, well Governor, Lieutenant Governor, that's probably not down ballot but we'll start there in the state. But we're also going to go, well
Debbie Wuthnow it is kind of down ballot because it's not federal. Right. It's state. But I mean even that first you mentioned Governor. Most people knew their governor is and they kind of know what the governor does. But what about all those other jobs, those other races that are on the ballot? So that's what we wanted to talk about today.
Rick Beggs Yeah, absolutely. And I know when I, I'm not speaking for you, I'll speak for myself here when I get in the voting booth.
Rick Beggs This is when I'm down ballot. I start glazing over and until you and I really started doing stuff together for iVoterGuide in AFA. we, I, I was that person. I was that, yeah. Guy in the, in the voter. And I don't.
Debbie Wuthnow Did you skip some races and just not vote in some of them?
Rick Beggs Okay. I'm okay. You know, there's not a true confession time.
Debbie Wuthnow Are you.
Rick Beggs Yes. I, I did not look all the way down ballot because I, I didn't take the time.
Debbie Wuthnow Tisk.
Rick Beggs I know, but now look at this resource we have, and it's free. and that's what we love about iVoterGuide
Debbie Wuthnow Well, yes, exactly. That is. And that's why iVoterGuide was created, really was people who understood, you know, Richard and Jim, who founded this thing. People don't know anything about the people. In fact, this guy who was a political leg, worked with legislators, realized he didn't know about, had never voted an intelligent ballot. And so that's why a voter guide was created to, to inform the public about, you know, what those candidates are that are seeking power, seeking authority over us and the things that they do and the responsibilities they have. The further down the ballot you go, the more important it is really. It impacts your family, your church, your school, life. Yeah. I'm proud of you for becoming, doing less under voting.
Rick Beggs Well, I have to give you some of that credit because iVoterGuide Yes, but you represent that to me. Gosh, I feel like I'm gonna end up in tears. I'm gonna need that couch.
Not every state looks at government the same way, although they're governed by governor
Okay, so I want to start. Oh, it'd be easy to just jump in to governor, but I want to remind the people, when we first started the show, we, talked about a portion of scripture where Moses personally was trying to judge every dispute in Israel. And his father in law, Jethro came along and said, Moses, you can't do this. You, you won't last.
Debbie Wuthnow Right.
Rick Beggs So they, he, they came up with this idea of beginning to disperse, decision making and, and jobs got divided that would help Moses make good decisions, good judgments. And so our government really is based on that federally, but it's based on that statewide. It's just not every state looks at it the same way, although they're governed by a governor.
Debbie Wuthnow Yeah.
Rick Beggs Going down the ballot, a lot of these jobs may look a little different from state to state.
Debbie Wuthnow Well, they all did it, you know, independently. Every state wrote its own constitution, every state ran its own government. So it was a similar model. They were all constitutional republics. They all wrote a constitution, but they didn't just carbon copy them. Lots, of similarities, but there are differences. And that's what kind of makes it, it's both the, the joy and, and the problem of a republic because, you know, even in our job, they're all different and very different in some ways, sometimes pretty similar.
Every state has a governor and they're all elected in every state
So kind of wanted to highlight a few of those little things as we're talking through each of these offices of how they're different in each of the states.
Rick Beggs Well, it's sort of like running a business when you look at the state. You have somebody who's the head of the corporation and then you have all these positions within the company and everybody has their job, initiative that they're going to pull out. So it's really easy to start at the top with Governor as your chief executive officer or CEO of the state if you will. M. And that they are setting policy, proposing big dollar spends for the budget.
Rick Beggs Signing vetoes and what have you. What, what do you think of when you think of governor of a state?
Debbie Wuthnow I think the governor I think of them as almost the public facing executive of the state. They set agendas. I know I live in Texas, they said, you know, this is the, he'll, he'll give an agenda to the state legislature, the senators and the, and the state congressmen of what are their state reps, what are, what what priorities is the governor set for them to work upon? And they're also the one that you know, they, if an emergency happens, they're the one checking and seeing what needs to happen and calling in fema. So they really are the CEO of the state. And the, the thing that's unique honestly is that's the only one of these positions that's on the ballot in all 50 states.
Rick Beggs Okay.
Debbie Wuthnow The rest. Well, in some states, some of the other positions don't exist or do exist and we'll get to some of those positions. But a governor is on a ballot and elected by the people in all 50 states. you know, it might be, it might be, you know there's party primaries and then they have a general election with people from the party. They might have different methods of elections. You know, they might have the ranked choice voting. But every state, every, every voter will see governor as a race on their ballot. And for some of these other roles like Secretary of state, Lieutenant Governor, you may not see it. Sometimes they're appointed, sometimes they run as, like in some states the governor, Lieutenant Governor run as, as a slate of two people that you vote once and they both come in. It's, it's just the joy of the republic that every state got to define how it was going to run and be different. in some states they have, you know, two year terms, sometimes states they have four year terms. sometimes they can only have one term, sometimes they can have multiple terms. That part's different. But there is always going to be a governor on your statewide ballot either.
Rick Beggs And so you're saying in every state it's exactly the same.
Debbie Wuthnow In every state they're elected by the vote. It's all the same when, except for when. Yeah, that exactly that's right.
Rick Beggs Except for the exceptions. Yeah, yeah. That's like I would get punished for something and I go, well, so. And so doesn't get punished. Well, in this house you get punished for it. So our house is different than somebody else's house. Yeah, yeah. Everybody has a governor.
Debbie Wuthnow Yeah.
Rick Beggs But we don't all run it the same way.
Debbie Wuthnow Right, exactly. And they're all elected.
Rick Beggs Yeah, yeah. Okay. So there are some who just have different power in their position as a governor.
Debbie Wuthnow Yes.
Rick Beggs Fair to say.
Debbie Wuthnow I think that's fair to say. because you know, some of the states don't have a lieutenant governor. and so things that might in one state have landed on the lieutenant governor's plate would be on the governor's plate. So you know, there's powers attached to the title that different. Differ by state. check that out. You know how that is in your state. But you are going to have a governor on your ballot and you are going to get to elect them, in all 50 states. So I think that that's an important point.
Rick Beggs Now there are a couple states that I think you just mentioned that really only have two year terms. Is that true?
Debbie Wuthnow yes, I think New Hampshire and Vermont. Yeah. And still use two year terms. And I think, you know, it's kind of like election trivia. And there is one state that only, you, your term limited at one term. In Virginia, the governor that gets elected gets elected just for one term. And it used to be only a two year old. Right now it's a four. At least it's a four year term. But kind of trivia for each state and how they did it differently.
Rick Beggs Well, don't we wish there was a two term governor of Virginia because we
Debbie Wuthnow wish could have run again. Yeah, exactly.
Rick Beggs Yeah. And especially because the one I don't mean to sideline here, but my goodness. And throw shade. But I'm going to throw shade on this governor who ran on a different platform than she was running the state.
Debbie Wuthnow Her name has become a. Is it a verb?
Rick Beggs It's a meme.
Debbie Wuthnow To pull a spam. You pull a spam burger.
Rick Beggs Yeah.
Debbie Wuthnow Means you run as one thing and you govern as another. So. Because that's what she did.
Rick Beggs But that, you know, well, let me see. That seems like a good reason to have iVoterGuide .
Debbie Wuthnow It's a perfect reason to have my voter guide really. To look at what they did so you'll know what they're going to do.
Rick Beggs Just put a red. They would have known.
Debbie Wuthnow But alas, that's why we're here.
Rick Beggs Yes, that's why we do what we do.
Debbie Wuthnow Yep.
Not every state has a separate elected lieutenant governor
Rick Beggs okay, so we kind of get the governor sort of the president of their state or the CEO as we discussed. What in the world does a lieutenant governor do?
Debbie Wuthnow Well, what would you. I mean you kind of assume it's like the, the number two. Right. The assistant guy. So they.
Rick Beggs Or the girl could be a girl. It could be the girl guy generically. whatever. It's. It's. Yeah, it could be either one. I don't want to upset anybody but.
Debbie Wuthnow But they. Go ahead.
Rick Beggs Yeah. No, I was going to say. I know it's the number two person.
Debbie Wuthnow They preside. Tip. They typically will preside over the Senate in some cases. Sometimes it's more honorary and sometimes it's more. Has more authority to it. I know somebody, when I moved to Texas, they told me that lieutenant governor is actually one of the more powerful positions, elected roles because the Lieutenant governor sets the agenda for the senate and defines who's on the committees and all of that stuff. And that really gives. It sets. It's great authority. It's. It's a lot of authority that is given to the lieutenant Governor. That doesn't happen in all the states
Rick Beggs because most of them it's very. There's very little independent authority.
Debbie Wuthnow Right.
Rick Beggs Unless the state constitution tells differently. And I think that's why it is different in Texas.
Debbie Wuthnow Yeah. well, you know, a lot of states the governors hand lieutenant governor the policy portfolio and they don't have a lot of independent authority. Some states do it differently and Texas is one of those. So not every state has a lieutenant governor though. Arizona's going to be phasing that in Maine, New Hampshire, Oregon and Wyoming don't have a separately elected lieutenant governor. so you know, one of the other.
Rick Beggs So who would succeed who, who would succeed then if. Because I would think the Lieutenant governor is the natural succeeds the governor something were to happen.
Debbie Wuthnow It's like the first runner up in a beauty contest. Right. So if the governor can't do his job, the lieutenant governor will the last loser.
Rick Beggs Yeah.
Debbie Wuthnow so in those cases a lot of times it'll be the Secretary of state or if they have somebody who's the senate president and sometimes the senate president is the Lieutenant governor, sometimes that's a state senator and then the other senators vote on them. Kind of like what happens in the US Congress and in the US Senate for who's the speaker or who's the leader of the Senate. So you know, roughly half the states elect a governor and a lieutenant governor on separate ballot lines. So you might end up with a Republican governor and a Democratic lieutenant governor. it's completely possible and not even very rare, for them to be from two different parties which, you know, that seems challenging to govern that way, but.
Rick Beggs Oh my God. Yeah. And I can't believe that it's interesting that people go into the ballot box and you would find that happening. That didn't kind of run down ballot in the same party.
Debbie Wuthnow And I think it happens in the, in the independent voters in the middle. Right. You know there's, there are people who are just like, just give me a straight ticket, I'm going to vote for one party. But then there are others who pick and choose. And honestly I think for those people, iVoterGuide voter guide is even more important to look at each of those individuals to see which one, you, you know, shares your beliefs and you know, knowing what they're going to do with power instead of just, you know, name ID and oh, I know that guy, he was great. yeah. So use iVoterGuide Be informed and you know, vote intelligently. If you're not just going to vote on party, which is, you know, some people will say that's what you do in the general election. You vote on platform and party. but not every voter does that. So we just want them all to be informed.
Rick Beggs Well, and that's where we go back to why primaries are really important.
Debbie Wuthnow Yep.
Rick Beggs Because you make sure you get the right person, in that position to run against the other party.
Almost every state has a chief legal officer. Some states the governor gets to appoint them
Okay, so let's move to attorney general.
Debbie Wuthnow Okay. Basically the chief legal officer. So I think almost every state has a chief legal officer. Some states the governor gets to appoint them. and 43 states, you get to elected vote for them directly, making it a pretty consistent voter facing office on the ballot. a couple states where the governor appoints them would be Alaska and Hawaii. I guess our last, the last two to join the union decided to do it different. And then a couple of first ones, New Hampshire, New Jersey and Wyoming, the governor appoints them. So you know, it's an important job. You'll see them in the news. a lot of times the, the they call them AGs or the General will file lawsuits against the federal government if they think the federal government's, you know, pushing, overstepping or whatever. you'll see a lot of the ags from, you know, red states will band together and sue a democratic government. You know, it, it. It's how, It's part of the accountability and the checks and balances that happen in our constitutional republic.
Rick Beggs Well, that's what makes what I'm about to say pretty fascinating and interesting because I think living here in Georgia, I know Tennessee, a neighboring state of ours, it, I think the Supreme Court makes the appointment of the attorney general.
Debbie Wuthnow That's unusual.
Rick Beggs Yeah.
Debbie Wuthnow That's the only state that does that, right?
Rick Beggs Yeah, yeah. And you go, okay, so what, is that good or is that not good? I think in all cases on that
Debbie Wuthnow I could see good. It depends on your Supreme Court and how. Well your, you know, how do you use your people get on the Supreme Court and are they elected or appointed and are they accountable and, you know, all of it all there. Everything has pros and cons.
Rick Beggs Yeah, it does. But just how bizarre. And that's like we said, it, let's call it unique. It all. Okay, it's bizarre. What makes it so fascinating is you have all these states that are congruent in, in running a, a free republic, but not congruent in how they want to do it. And, and here's a typical case and of course the ones you just described about where the governor appoints an attorney general in, in those four, five, six states that, you mentioned. It. It just is unique. Everything is unique. It is about how we beauty of our states. It is. Okay. Secretary of State.
Debbie Wuthnow Well, you know, it's not Marco Rubio. In every state, he is the secretary and he can do a lot of jobs. Right. But this is not something he does. And it's slightly different. The US Secretary of State. When you hear that a lot of times you'll think foreign relations. Right?
Rick Beggs Yeah.
Debbie Wuthnow But in states, it's really the chief election officer. So where elections and ballots are concerned and election integrity, that lands on the desk of the Secretary of State they oversee.
Rick Beggs Boy, we had that here in Georgia. My goodness.
Debbie Wuthnow I know you do. What was that guy's name? He was Rev. Right.
Rick Beggs But we'll just keep his name out of the press.
Debbie Wuthnow Moving on. But their job is to oversee the voter register, registration roles and the rules to make sure that the list is clean. Are they removing, people who aren't citizens? Are they removing people when they pass away? Are they, you know, are they keeping the rolls clean? are they. They actually certify the election results and they set the standards for ballot access. So it's a very important office, as they, you know, sometimes. Sometimes it's the job, and sometimes it's the Rules Committee that. That's important. And this is kind of like the Rules Committee for elections in a state, as you know, that's important. Knowing the rules and following the rules and whether will they follow.
Rick Beggs We get together and we play games with our family. Your family and stuff like that. You were going to say this, weren't you?
Debbie Wuthnow Go ahead, admit it.
Rick Beggs No. Yeah, I want you to call me it, because I think it's.
Debbie Wuthnow Aren't you the chairman of the Rules Committee in all.
Rick Beggs Yes, I am chairman in all games. Chairman of the Rules Committee. And then I can pass it on when I pass it on.
Debbie Wuthnow Have you ever done that? Have you ever done. Oh, I know that we've filed appeals to the rules during a game.
Rick Beggs Oh, yeah, yeah. And I hear them all. Yeah. Sometimes I rule with an iron fist, but we digress.
Secretary of State oversees state elections and ensures integrity
But the Secretary of State, that, is their job. It's really to uphold the standards for voting.
Debbie Wuthnow So super important position. You want somebody who's going to be a stickler to the law and the rules, to fill that position. So just, you know, fact m. You should factor that in when you're choosing who you're going to elect. Thinking of what that job is and what, what, what skill set is needed. You know, honestly, we will draw the correlation to when you're voting for people. It's like you're hiring somebody for a job, and you want to hire somebody that's qualified to do that job. So understanding what that job is is an important part. Right. And so that's why we're talking about that today.
Rick Beggs they oversee business filings. I'm reading this right here. But most importantly, they manage state elections and ensure integrity.
Debbie Wuthnow Yep.
Rick Beggs That's. That. To me, that's one of the heaviest positions, that you can have in a state.
Debbie Wuthnow I think so. But it's very overlooked. Right.
Rick Beggs underappreciated, no doubt. I. I mean, I, I don't really think about it much because I do think about what Marco Rubio does, and he just runs around the world, speaking on behalf of this administration, but upholding what, we would call freedoms in the United States that we would love for other countries to enjoy. And he goes around, does that. Well, Secretary of States in the state don't do that. Unless they're going over to Alabama from Georgia.
Debbie Wuthnow Well, unless you're a state like Texas that has an economy that's that big. But even then it's the governor that would do that job for a state.
Rick Beggs Always about Texas, I think they are. Okay, state treasurer.
Debbie Wuthnow Yeah. so this person manage pretty as, as you would think. They manage the state's cash and investments. They issue and manage any bonds that the state would issue. They do the payment on that. And in many states they run an unclaimed property program that can reunite people with their lost funds. So it's also another important job, especially when you look at, you know, the spending. They're kind of, tracking all of that, making sure that the money's where it's going, where it needs to go.
Rick Beggs Especially when, when we're voting and we come across, you know, referendums or things like that. You're voting on a bond issue and this is the person that carries it out, correct? Yeah, yeah.
Debbie Wuthnow And so since we talk about Texas a lot, we actually don't have a treasurer in Texas. They folded that job or that responsibility into a position called the comptroller, which kind of does auditing and things like that. So in Texas, the treasurer slash comptroller is just one job that's, that's on the ballot there.
Rick Beggs So, 40, I think. Did you say 48 states have a. Or did I just make that up?
Debbie Wuthnow The. Well, from what I, my notes for my research, there are 48 states that have a state treasurer. New York and Texas. Don't they fold those duties into the comptroller? and, and again, it's going to vary even more because 36 states is when you elect the treasurer. So even though there is a treasurer job, only in 36 states will it appear on your ballot. In eight of the other states, the governor appoints somebody to that again, giving, you know, more authority to the, the, the governor. And then in four states, the legislature gets to pick the treasurer. So. Importance of choosing your legislature. So, yeah, it's still important to vote intelligently in every race on your ballot.
iVoterGuide helps voters understand candidates before voting in every election
Rick Beggs Well, this would be a good place to make a commercial for iVoterGuide. Debbie, why is it important that we have iVoterGuide? Well, you know, allow the people to do.
Debbie Wuthnow Before voting in every election, voters need to know more than what the candidates names are. They need to know what they believe, what they'll do with power, what policies do they support. And for faith based voters like me and you, we need to know what they believe. So iVoterGuide exists to do that deep dive research on candidates to equip millions of voters with what those candidates will do with power if they're elected. So we don't just tell you who's running. We tell you what the candidates believe, what they're going to do. And it's easy to use and [email protected] if you've never been there, I would encourage you to check it out. Now is the time. If you know, check out what happened in your primary, get ready for the general election. we are working diligently to release the voter guides in all 50 states. So we have personalized ballots for every address in America. Go to ivoterguide.com Enter your address that you registered to vote, and you'll get your personalized ballot with a rating of how that candidate lands on their political spectrum. All the research you need, judges, all these statewide races. We've been talking about your state legislature, Congress, U.S. senate, really a complete one stop shop resource for, everything related to voting and elections.
Rick Beggs And we're going to, actually have a part two of this because we actually want to go down farther into the ballot where we come across other jobs. Yeah, that you go, what? I'm voting on this. Who in the world does railroads in Texas? You know, those kinds of things anyway. But we'll talk about that on another show because I think it's so fascinating, Debbie, if somebody wanted to write to
Debbie Wuthnow us, whoever they write, email [email protected] and we have a team who will answer your questions. If you have a question for Rick and I to talk about on air, please email compassivoterguide.com ask that and we will talk about it.
Rick Beggs we are grounded in God and rooted in research. Our producer is Brent Austin and, we love Willie B. He makes us sound good, so we're always so grateful for him. Ah, you can find [email protected] and if you really want to be a good listener, go get the app, the AFR app, and you can listen to our shows anytime. We want you to remember, our true north on the compass is always Jesus. Thank you so much for being with us.
In this episode of The Compass, we navigate the complex landscape of state elections with Debbie Wuthnow, president of iVoterGuide and vice president of AFA Action. Join us as we dissect the various state offices up for election this November, including the roles of governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general, and more. Discover why understanding down-ballot races is crucial for making informed voting decisions and how iVoterGuide can empower you to cast an intelligent ballot. Don't miss this insightful discussion that blends faith, truth, and civic responsibility!
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