Informed voters

COEUR d'ALENE - Idaho residents over age 50 represent 56 percent of all votes expected to be cast at the polls on Nov. 2, and Idaho's AARP wants them to be armed with accurate candidate information when they do.

A group of AARP members and representatives gathered Monday at The Coeur d'Alene Public Library to celebrate the launch of a massive voter education effort in the state. "Campaign trail rhetoric is starting to heat up. The noise is starting to get louder. You're starting to see a lot of ads this month, a lot more television ads, print ads, radio ads, and there are a lot of messages out there," said David Irwin, AARP of Idaho's director of government affairs and communications. "Our efforts are pretty plain and simple. We're working to help people cut through the political campaign clutter, and get right to the issues."

Irwin announced the release of the organization's "first-ever straight-from-the-member" voting guides for every Idaho race. The guides are available in print, and online at www.aarp.org/your vote. Print editions will be distributed at area senior centers. There are 180,000 AARP members statewide, with 6,234 in Legislative District 4.

"To say you're a voting force, I think, is putting it mildly. You're a voting powerhouse," Irwin told the members at the library. The organization surveyed its members last spring, to find out which issues were most important to them.

"All AARP members, like most of the public, have some very tough choices this year, and some hard questions for the candidates," said Larry Belmont, a Coeur d'Alene member of the organization. "We're going to help them get the answers to those, that they deserve, right from the candidates." In the guides, the candidates' answers are unedited, in their own words.

The four key issues older Idaho voters are most concerned with include the state budget, education funding, where they stand on the "conscience law" which allows health care professionals to deny living wills and advanced directives, and addressing Idaho's doctor shortage. According to AARP literature, Idaho has one of the lowest rankings (49th) for doctor-to-patient-ratios in the nation, and a rising number of existing physicians are not accepting Medicare patients.Irwin said the issues are not just important to the 50-plus population, but affect all Idaho residents.

John Boraas is an AARP member who moved to Coeur d'Alene from California in 2001."They always had voter guides. One of the things you find in Idaho is you can't find any information on a lot of the candidates at all," Boraas said. "People are not informed here, and when they're not informed, they don't go out and vote. People who are running unopposed, are running unopposed because people aren't aware of what's happening."

Irwin encouraged AARP members to explore other voter resources as well."If the candidates aren't talking about the issues that matter most to you, when they're knocking on the door, when you see them at the community picnic, ask them where they stand on the issues that matter most to you," Irwin said. "It's your job to get the facts on these issues, and this is one resource to do it."

Information: www.aarp.org/yourvote