A Personal Pet Peeve Regarding Legislative Activism Sites

During the couple of years I’ve been blogging one thing I’ve tried to avoid is writing posts advocating legislative action without linking to the actual bill under consideration. Honestly it irritates me when somebody demands people vote for or against a piece of legislation without linking to, or at the very least explaining, the legislation in question. As you can imagine this pisses me right the fuck off:

For months we’ve been talking about tomorrow: Election Day. We’ve been telling you how much is at stake for Ohio workers and their families. We’ve show you how unfair, unsafe and dangerous Senate Bill 5 is to our communities. And now, the time to act and repeal Senate Bill 5 by VOTING NO ON ISSUE 2 is upon us.

Tomorrow is your last chance to vote against Senate Bill 5 with a NO vote on Issue 2. Polls across the state will be open from 6:30am to 7:30pm. Click here to find more information on your polling location.

We expect long lines as voter turnout is expected to be high. Make sure to schedule time in your busy day to get to the polls and VOTE NO ON ISSUE 2. Tell out-of-touch politicians and their Wall Street cronies that you stand with Ohio’s public workers.

Click here to get more information on your polling location.

Tomorrow’s vote will come down to people like you. Without your support, we could wake up on Wednesday knowing that our communities will be less safe now that firefighters, police officers, and nurses are no longer able to bargain for the safety equipment they need to protect themselves as they protect us.

Get ready to vote tomorrow by clicking here.

After reading that do you have any clue what the fuck “Issue 2” says or purports to do? Why should I vote against it? What would “Issue 2” do if passed? Why isn’t there a single link explaining this piece of legislation on the post demanding people go out and vote against it?

Obviously I don’t life in Ohio and thus don’t care much what legislative issues are under consideration there. With that said I really wanted to point out this complete lack of information because somebody linked to this in a chat room I frequent asking that we do as the linked material advocates. Even if I lived in Ohio I wouldn’t be motivated to vote against “Issue 2” from the material presented in this link because the link doesn’t present any material.

Honestly I don’t care enough about Ohio’s politics to even bother digging up what “Issue 2” is. Judging by the lack of information presented on that site I’d be tempted to vote yes on it just because those urging people to vote no aren’t presenting any information, which makes it appear as though they’re hiding something. Here’s a pro tip for those advocating legislative action: ensure a link to the legislation under question or a very detailed summary are readily visible on the site so those who know nothing about it can seek information quickly.