This is especially for upcounty friends who haven’t voted early, but are asking how to figure out who to vote for in our Maryland primary. We’ve had a number of calls in the past few days asking where to even start with the tanker full of mailers and gazillion scorecards they are (trying to) sort through.

Here’s the system my husband and I used – neither scientific, nor in some cases, entirely brilliant, but the job is done and three days later, we’re still happy with our choices. Our opinions are our own. No names named – and no finger pointing here. Just reiterating the actual conversations we’ve had around our kitchen table and with neighbors and friends.

First stop is to get the handy LWV guide just to get an idea of who is running for which seats. They don’t endorse, but all candidates are listed with answers from most to broad questions about a variety of subjects. You can find it online or come by for a glass of wine (or coffee) and we’ll give you ours.

It’s a weird year – too many people we like running against each other, both of us have colleagues, former colleagues, or neighbors running. Where we just couldn’t choose one over the other – we split the vote. Stupid, perhaps, but at least our conscience is clean.

The rest represent what’s important to us on a local level, for the county as a whole, and at the tippy top of the ticket, who can represent the state with grace, experience, and thought, although many of them reach that bar, so we feel we are in good hands, no matter who wins in the primary.

Mostly, though, our choices were based on the following:

1. Were they a transit advocate – did they advocate early and often for the Purple Line – something that won’t effectively change our lives up here, but certainly something I’ve put just shy of a decade into professionally and, obviously, believe will change the face (and fate) of our state for the better. We also believe whenever transit can replace cars and roads it’s a good thing for all of us. Much like those ubiquitous signs popping up in areas that aren’t in a particular candidate’s district, air knows no boundries, either, so fewer roads, fewer cars, more transit is always a front runner for us.
2. Having said that, there is also reality for us upcounty folks. Does the candidate have a real, doable plan for the I-270 corridor? Being an advocate of All Day MARC service certainly helps, but even that didn’t tip the iceberg for us completely. All day Marc service + a reversible lane + a dedicated express bus lane is more like it. We looked for candidates that rounded out some solutions to solve the insane traffic problems up here – not just paid lip-service to something that won’t be considered (sure we would LOVE a light rail all the way up to Frederick, but we need relief now and I am a good person to assess how long it can take a project to become reality, trust me.)
3. If the candidate held office at the time, did they show up in our community in person to support our neighbors and friends when the murder of two high school students occurred in a sleepy and safe neighborhood?
4. Does the candidate, if they are an incumbent, respond to community complaints quickly? Did they solve the problems they were called about – either by giving specific information or making sure the services needed were contacted?
5. Did the candidate refuse to endorse Hillary Clinton after the primary, even after Bernie did? Yeah, I know, a hard one to pin down, but it’s important for us, especially at the top of the ticket. We reason that we need someone who will pull the factions together as we head into the midterms and into the 2020 election – not continue to drive a wedge in our party.
6. Has the candidate ever been seen in these parts…I mean like, EVER? Trust me, candidates do themselves no favors by ignoring the low hanging fruit up here.
7. Do we know the candidate to be an awesome person?
8. And, in the case of the at-large County Council candidates – we looked at them as a package and wanted balance. Fine to have our favorite people elected, but we wanted at least one incumbent. That would be the terrific Hans Riemer, for whom we would have voted regardless, but he is also the only incumbent running for an at-large seat. We also wanted at least one representative from upcounty – our needs are different from Silver Spring, Bethesda, and Chevy Chase. The other two votes went to folks we have known and supported for years, who happen to live in other parts of the county.

And that’s about it. I’m glad this election season is coming to a close. I hope, in the future, someone figures out how not to have 459,000 candidates running for a thimble full of seats.