Make sense of Kansas primary season with these tips from your friendly local opinion editor

Kansans will vote in the state's primary election next month. Opinion editor Clay Wirestone offers some quick tips to sort through the political clutter. (Getty Images)

With two weeks and a couple of days left to go until the Kansas primary election , I thought it was a good time for all of us to sit down this morning and have a chat.

Primary elections can be easily overlooked in the rush toward November. In a red state like Kansas, however, they can decide an awful lot (setting aside the lucky folks running unopposed ). And if you think every Republican legislator votes like every other Republican legislator — welcome to the Sunflower State. You must be new here.

Here are a few words of caution and encouragement for these late-summer days.

If an ad or social media post upsets you, watch out

Pay attention to your emotional responses. If a piece of political content sends you into overdrive, take it as a flashing “DANGER” sign.

That shows your fight or flight reflexes have been triggered. Your body has decided to pump out the same kind of chemicals that allow mothers to lift cars so their trapped children can escape. That’s not necessarily a bad thing – sometimes we should rescue our children. But in politics?

The well-paid operatives making TV ads and overseeing social media campaigns sometimes understand voters’ minds better than we do. They understand that if they can make viewers mad or exasperated or disgusted, they can push those viewers to make certain choices. Both Republicans and Democrats do this. The “daisy” ad , shown above, remains one of the best examples.

Maybe you agree with the ad or social media post. Maybe you were going to vote that way already. But we should all understand when the media we consume has manipulated us to feel or behave a way we might not otherwise feel or behave.

Treat the news media you consume with care

What I wrote above carries over when it comes to TV, online or print news coverage. The News Literacy Project offers a handy five-step process for judging the credibility of a news source. I’m taking the liberty of quoting those steps directly below.

• Do a quick search: Conducting a simple search for information about a news source is a key first step in evaluating its credibility.
• Look for standards: Reputable news organizations aspire to ethical guidelines and standards, including fairness, accuracy and independence.
• Check for transparency: Quality news sources should be transparent, not only about their reporting practices (see above), but also about their ownership and funding.
• Examine how errors are handled: Credible news sources are accountable for mistakes and correct them. Do you see evidence that this source corrects or clarifies errors?
• Assess news coverage: An important step in vetting sources is taking time to read and assess several news articles.

That’s a fair number of steps , I understand. But even one or two can help separate solid reporting from vaporous propaganda.

Who paid for messaging and what do they get out of it?

Pay attention to the text at the bottom or side of mailers and TV ads. Who has put up the cash to sell this or that candidate to the public?

This matters because not all advertising during elections comes from candidates. Much instead comes from outside groups, such as political action committees or nonprofits promoting ideological beliefs.

The Kansas Chamber and Americans for Prosperity-Kansas have traditionally invested in state elections while promoting their brands of business-oriented conservatism. The KNEA advocates for public education and candidates who support their issues. You can easily visit such group’s websites to see what proposals they support and what they would like state legislators to accomplish.

That way, we all might be less surprised when certain bills advocating one position or another pop up during session.

Party labels only tell you so much.

Not all Republicans believe the same things. Neither do all Democrats.

For primary election voters, it therefore makes sense to figure out how candidates differ. In Kansas, Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly’s Middle of the Road PAC has endorsed in a number of primaries. So has the nonprofit educational group Kansans First , which has backed a moderate Republican agenda. You can also look up news stories and candidate websites, of course.

Some candidates support Medicaid expansion. Some don’t. Some support marijuana legalization. Some don’t. Some support strong public education, while others want to pass voucher programs. These issues cross party lines and see wide support from Kansas voters. So know where the folks who want to represent you stand.

Send us your mailers

Do you have  mailbox overflowing with campaign mailers? Send them to us! We’re assembling a collection of these ads for analysis and future reporting. So far, we have about a dozen submissions but would love to see more examples.

As I noted last month , you can send us those mailers in two different ways. You can take photos of both sides of the advertisement and email those pictures to us at info@kansasreflector.com . You can also send them to us via snail mail. Our address is: Kansas Reflector, 112 SW 6th Ave., Suite 408, Topeka, KS 66603. And speaking of addresses, we will obscure yours.

Time to reflect and recharge

I’ll taking some time off next week, so I’ll see you all July 29. I’ve banked another column for Monday, but I’ll attempt to focus elsewhere for a few days.

Try to keep things under control in the meantime.

Clay Wirestone is Kansas Reflector opinion editor. Through its opinion section, Kansas Reflector works to amplify the voices of people who are affected by public policies or excluded from public debate. Find information, including how to submit your own commentary, here .

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