November 20, 2025 · 50:49

Debbie Wuthnow, iVoterGuide President, returns to “The Corner.”

Politics & Policy

Show notes

0:00 - 15:00. Proverbs 4:5-7. Wisdom and understanding are in short supply but it doesn’t have to be this way. 15:00 - 31:00. Debbie Wuthnow, iVoterGuide President, returns to “The Corner.” 31:00 - 48:00. An ignorant populace is ripe for Regressive manipulation. | 1-800-326-4543 ext. 345 To donate call : 877-616-2396

References & links

Phone lines mentioned

1-800-326-4543 ext. 345
877-616-2396

Full transcript Auto-generated · 10,278 words

Transcribed with OpenAI Whisper (base.en). Timestamps are approximate. Lightly cleaned for readability; quotations from on-air callers may include filler words. Use the audio player above for the authoritative recording.

0:00Darkness is not an affirmative force.
0:03It simply reoccupies the space vacated by the light.
0:07This is the Hamilton Corner on American Family Radio.
0:11It should be uncomfortable for a believer to live as a hypocrite.
0:15Delivery people out of the bondage of mainstream media.
0:18And the philosophies of this world.
0:20God has called you and me to be his ambassador.
0:24Even in this dark moment.
0:26Let's not miss our moment.
0:28And now the Hamilton Corner.
0:33Good evening, everyone.
0:35Welcome to the Hamilton Corner.
0:37Here on American Family Radio, I am your host, Abraham Hamilton, the third broadcasting once
0:43again from the home of Rick Green on the campus of the Patriot Academy right here in Constitution
0:51City, Texas.
0:53We've been having an amazing time while we are here.
0:56I had the opportunity.
0:57I didn't know I was going to have the opportunity, but to address a group of Patriot Academy
1:03scholars this morning, which was absolutely thrilling.
1:08We had a session really where it was kind of an ask me anything kind of deal.
1:13And it was quite, quite, quite fun.
1:17It was mutually edifying.
1:19I left just as encouraged as I hoped the children in the class, not children, young adults in
1:24the class left.
1:25It was amazing and amazing time.
1:27At this very moment, many of you,
1:29if not most of you are making your transition
1:31from your part time jobs where you generate an income,
1:33do your full time jobs where you cultivate an outcome.
1:35And as you do so, I want to remind you
1:38to make your move with intentionality.
1:40I'm broadcasting here from Constitution City.
1:43We got the corner contingent on deck.
1:45Mr. Bobby, Roost Size still behind the board
1:50at our home base,
1:51and we have our friendly neighborhood, Woodaholic,
1:55leaving tall stacks of birch, sap, maple, you name it.
2:00He gets down with it, none other than Mr. Marty Sparks.
2:03And we're ready to rock and roll with today's program.
2:05And this is why, and sorry, this is where,
2:08I say on a daily basis, what goes on in your house
2:10is far more important than what goes on in the White House
2:14simply because it is a true statement.
2:17Not because what happens in the White House is unimportant,
2:19but simply because you and I are directly responsible
2:22for what we have direct access, authority,
2:25and jurisdiction over.
2:26That's just a simple reality.
2:28And we have to get out of this mindset in paradigm
2:31to where we muse about all of the wonderings
2:33and the fixings and the fusses all over the world
2:36only to the point and purpose
2:39to where we do nothing about what's happening
2:41right in our immediate vicinity.
2:42I've been saying for the longest
2:44and I will continue to say that we must,
2:46We must live locally, take full advantage of the time,
2:51the grace and the space that God has given us,
2:52to get active, get engaged.
2:55We're still talking about enrolling people
2:59for the get off the couch ministry.
3:02We can't just keep complaining about Zoramamdani
3:05and we're not battening down the hatches
3:08where we are.
3:09We have the unfortunate reality is that we have mosques
3:12going up in our country, at record paces,
3:15while at the exact same time,
3:16certainly this is true around the world,
3:19that churches are closing, even in our own country,
3:22you have the younger generations skewing towards,
3:25socialism and things, and I'm pretty sure
3:27on many of those national surveys that the people,
3:30in fact, not just saw on George Barnard,
3:32our friend said that right here on this program,
3:34that's often when you have younger people
3:36that responded to those surveys,
3:38they've heard the term socialism,
3:39but they don't really know what it means.
3:41But here's the question, why do we have young folks
3:43and some don't even know what they're talking about.
3:45You know, there's been a great chasm
3:47that has been created in our country
3:49and that chasm is a discipleship chasm.
3:51And as you've heard me say numerous numerous times,
3:53darkness is not an affirmative force,
3:55but it will reoccupy the space that is vacated by the light.
3:59And in many ways and many spades and many locales,
4:02there's been a great vacancy
4:04in that the ideologies of the world
4:06have replaced the empty space and taken a brute.
4:11And so we have to be committed to doing the challenging work of meeting people and communicating
4:17with them and reasoning with them at a heart and mind level.
4:23Making disciples is very, very challenging, but frankly, that's what God called us to.
4:28And it's not something that we are to pursue in our own strength, excuse me, in our own
4:32capacity, but that we have access to the grace of God to obey what he calls us to.
4:38He indwells his people by his spirit.
4:41He doesn't say, hey, not go and do this in your own stead, but that he sends us out and
4:45he commands us to execute his commission within the ambit of his authority.
4:52It is not by our own authority.
4:54It is by his authority.
4:55So as you're making your transition from your part time job, where you generate an income
4:59to your full time jobs, where you cultivate an outcome, let's do so with intentionality.
5:05Let's do so with resolve.
5:07do so with conviction. Alright, to the word of God we go. Proverbs chapter 4, and this
5:12this is a conversation that needs to be had more often. Proverbs chapter 4 verses 5 through
5:187 is where we're going to begin the program today. Proverbs chapter 4 verses 5 through
5:247, and this is what God's word says. Get wisdom, get understanding, forget it not, neither decline
5:33from the words of my mouth, forsake her not, and she shall preserve the love her, and she
5:42shall keep the wisdom is the principle thing. Therefore, get wisdom. And with all thy getting,
5:52get understanding. You know, during our conversation with Rick Green yesterday, he was talking about
5:58within the context of the Second Amendment, that we don't need, you know, merely a good
6:02guy with a gun to repel a bad guy with a gun, we need a good guy with a gun who is trained
6:08to use that gun. If you have a good guy who may be a good guy, but that good guy is not
6:12trained with that gun, he could cause more problems than solutions. And the whole point
6:20of that conversation was to encourage people to be trained with the firearms in order to
6:24take full advantage of the full breadth and scope of our Second Amendment. Well, what
6:27What I'm saying here is that we have a society by and large that is reeling from an endemic
6:38communicable disease that is not schmovid-19, but it's ignorance.
6:44I alluded to it earlier, young people saying we want socialism, but when you start asking
6:47the questions, you know, about from the mini according to his ability to the mini according
6:55to your needs, you start talking about the dictates of socialism, you start asking about
7:00specific questions and people, especially those who said they supported socialist one was a,
7:04no, I don't want that. So why would you then attach yourself to a label that you don't really
7:11understand what it means? It's because ignorance is somewhat in vogue. There has been a demonization
7:19of people who communicate with objectivity one and secondarily with certainty to where
7:26the only celebration is for those who are consistently uncertain, you know, that it is somehow more
7:33wise to have no answer to anything but just have questions.
7:38Like that's just, that's a foolish assertion.
7:40You know, the scripture says there are things that we can know.
7:42I say this so that you might be able to know that you might know, that you might have a
7:46certainty that you might have a confidence, that you might have a conviction, you know,
7:50that is available to us.
7:51But in order to be able to have that type of conviction and the types of certainty that's
7:54available to us, is that we have to, as the scripture says, study to show ourselves approved.
7:59One of the things that was so impressive from Charlie Kirk was, as he describes it,
8:03was an auto-didact that he learned so much on his own, not going to any university, a
8:08collegiate educational route, but having studied on the terms of economics, having studied
8:13some of the classics, knowing who FA Hayek is, knowing who Milton Friedman was, knowing about
8:20Mises, or Mises, I should pronounce his name properly, Mises, having read
8:24Souls writings, having read Waltz Women's writings, having read these things in order to have an
8:28understanding. But some of his opponents, only one they know, if they knew any economist, they would
8:33know John Maynard Keynes. That's all you know about economics. You do not have a robust understanding
8:40of economics, you know, and you start talking about other things and other ideologies and other
8:44views and other ideas that we have access, this is an information age, we have access to so much
8:49information while at the exact same time we have so many people who are ignorant and they'll refer to
8:56things like, you know, face-based media, social insta-face gram as the ultimate authority on everything.
9:04It's like, dude, just because you ran somebody's post doesn't make you an expert on what it is
9:09you're talking about. This is the era that we live in, but the scripture shows us it does not have to
9:17be. Here you have wisdom once again being personified, communicated from a father's disposition, and
9:24literally, literally saying get wisdom, get understanding, forget it not. Why would you have that
9:31admonition about forget it not? Because the opportunity exists to abandon, to reject, to forget the
9:38the wisdom that used to be established as foundational, understood norms, we've become
9:43conveniently ignorant of in our modern times.
9:47How do we get to a place where it becomes societally acceptable for some people to say
9:52some of the most idiotic things like, oh, a child knows as early as two years old whether
9:58or not they've been born in the wrong body?
10:02What are you talking about?
10:05is an absurd assertion that we have terminology that we just throw around like
10:10it's a transgenderism. What does that mean? Trans means change. Gender, which once again
10:15there was a time in our national communication that we didn't use the term
10:22gender to apply to people. That's why we use the term sex. That's why the Civil
10:26Rights Act talks about the prohibition of discrimination on the basis of sex
10:29and then saying about gender because we didn't use the term gender to apply to
10:33human beings. But the term gender as applied to human beings started being utilized as a step
10:39toward dehumanizing sex, using the amorphous cycle babble term gender in order to move society
10:49ever so imperceptibly. Which is why now we talk about sex as if we've always talked about gender
10:55as if we were describing terms of gender. But if you actually do the research and do the math,
10:59to realize that's a relatively recent phenomenon. So we have these things that we have conversations
11:05about and it becomes a controversial statement for me to say and I say this with no malice,
11:10no malevolence in my heart, no ill intentions, but no matter how much a person struggles,
11:15there is no amount of medication, no amount of surgery, no amount of chemical ingestions
11:20that can transpire, no amount of hormone digestion that can occur that will ever change a man into
11:26to a woman. It cannot happen. Never will it happen. This is not merely a sociological construct,
11:33as some like to say. This is a biological reality that is true down to the cellular level, to
11:40the DNA level. That is how we're able to exume skeletons. And without any visible organs,
11:46we can determine whether or not the skeleton is one that belong to a man or it's one that
11:51belong to a woman. These are things that used to be understood, but it flows to the
11:56scriptural admonition, get wisdom, get understanding, and forget it not. Ronald
12:03Reagan popularized the phrase that freedom is never more than one generation
12:06away from extinction. Well, I want to say something that the contending for truth
12:10is never more than one generation away from extinction. And we often think
12:14about these being challenges that are that are indicative solely of my
12:18modernity, but I will remind you, what did Jude's Epistle say? That in the first
12:23century, the half-brother of Jesus Christ naturally, I wanted to write to you guys
12:27about our common salvation, but I was unable to do so. Why? False brethren have
12:33crept in unawares, perverting or twisting the grace of God into the
12:39civiousness. This was contending that had to occur dating back all the way to the
12:44century. And so in many ways we have in the 21st century in America, we have been in the
12:50heritage of such a great and robust history that certain things that we used to have common
12:57understanding for, we now have to contend for. And on certain ways, on certain places, we
13:02weren't ready to have the concept of conversations that were necessary. Which is why when you have
13:07the advancement of anti-Christ ideologies and you have genuine questions offered by young
13:13people and the response is, oh, you just got to have faith.
13:16You just got to have faith.
13:19But Jesus said that we were to love Him with our heart, our souls, our strength, but also
13:24our minds.
13:26Our minds have to be included in our commitment and our love for the Lord.
13:32And then you have the attendant command and I've explained this before.
13:36From Ephesians chapter 6, the first half of Paul's Ephesians written in the Indigative
13:41including Greek indicating who we are now that we're in Christ transcended
13:44glowing theology about being dead and trespasses and sins quick and alive
13:48together in Christ Jesus. Well the second half of that epistle is written in the
13:51imperative of food in Greek. An imperative is this in them for command. And we have
13:56commands like Ephesians 6 for fathers do not exasperate your children rather rear
14:00them in the pidea and nuthisia of the Lord the discipline and instruction of the
14:05Lord. Well the word pidea means the whole training of the mind and the morals.
14:09This notion of bifurcating academic matriculation from spiritual development is an unbiblical
14:15idea, but in many times, in many ways, we've ceded that ground and even that authority to
14:21God-haters entrusted the cultivation of the mind, generationally, to people who deny the
14:27truth of our Lord.
14:29To say it simply, the secularization of America happened not merely or not because of a passionate
14:35evangelistic fervor amongst atheists of no it happened via discipleship a combination
14:41of neglect and affirmative pursuit have come together to move our nation in a way
14:47that has to our world but Lord be the God that the story has not ended that we
14:52can disciple our way out of where we are current. A discipleship minute with
15:02Joseph Parker someone beginning at verse one it tells us these words
15:07Blessed is the man who walks not in the council of the wicked,
15:12or stands in the way of sinners, or sits in the seat of scoffers,
15:16but his delight is in the law of the Lord,
15:19and on his law he meditates day and night.
15:23The most powerful weapon in the universe is the word of God,
15:26which is also known as the sword of the Spirit.
15:30As a believer spends time reading and meditating on the word of God,
15:34He or she is fortifying their mind, body, and spirit against the attacks of the Kingdom of Darkness.
15:40Time reading and meditating on God's word prepares us to step out onto the battlefield of life to walk in victory.
15:48We as believers are wise to make it a high priority to read and meditate on the Word of God every single day of our lives.
15:57Shiting light into the darkness, this is the Hamilton Quarter, an American family radio.
16:11Welcome back to the Hamilton Corner Abraham Hamilton the third here and I'm delighted to have in not my studio and Rick Green's studio
16:19The president of I voter guide. I'm speaking not other than miss Debbie. What's now? Thank you so much for joining me here
16:26On the program. I've been looking forward to having this conversation as have I just love all that you do
16:31I love having your wife on my team at I voter guide and yes, I've been dying with you as always a blessing
16:36Yes, I've mentioned that my wife does Spanish translations that work for I've
16:40voted God. So I has been quite a blessing. So for those who may not be aware, I'll
16:46say it this way. You have to say it. It sounds like you bragging, but I'll say it
16:49for you. I voted God is the preeminent voter education and guidance resource in
16:56the country bar none. If you have an election in your area, you must use the
17:03I voter guide to otherwise you will be cutting yourself off of a portion of what I was just
17:09talking about or access for information that you will not only vote, utilize and inform
17:13me as you vote, but that will empower you to vote wisely.
17:18Now with me having set it up that way, how would you describe for the audience that be
17:23what I voter guide is and how it should be utilized?
17:25Well, to vote wisely you need to know who you're voting for and what they stand for and that
17:31That takes time to research.
17:32And God really, I would say God created iVoterGuide for the church to know that about the candidates.
17:38God has woven together this platform at iVoterGuide.com.
17:42He's called this team together.
17:44In fact, the reason we're together is our whole team just gathered in person for some training,
17:49getting ready for 2026.
17:51But we average about four hours of research on every candidate that we cover.
17:55Now we don't yet cover the whole ballot.
17:58We start at this top and we go as far down as we can.
18:00federal races in all 50 states, statewide races in 40 states, state legislative races in 33 states,
18:08some school boards, some judges, some municipal, some ballot measures. So as you said, go to iVotarguy.com
18:14and I would say go there first to see what we do cover because we'll save you the research. We'll
18:19give you the information of who they've given money to, how have they voted on legislation and been
18:25scored by different conservative and liberal groups, who's endorsed them, how
18:29they answered our survey, and really what for the average voter, which I would
18:33place myself in that camp, I am learning more, but we have this army of volunteers
18:38who help us rate every candidate on a political spectrum. We show it on a
18:41gas gauge, so it's a real clear little way to see you know where does each
18:45candidate line up from verified liberal to verified conservative, and that's just
18:50kind of a summary, but yet you can still click in and see all the information for
18:54yourself. And we provide that to you for free through AFA and supporters of AFA
18:58at iVoterGuide.com and it's even easier to use because it's a personalized ballot
19:05for every address in America. Now one of the things I know about iVoterGuide is
19:10that it's nonpartisan. You evaluate all candidates, you don't tell anybody who
19:14to vote, who to vote for, but you just provide the information frankly in a
19:19neutral and an unbiased manner. Now when we say you provide the information and
19:23you refer to several pieces of information,
19:26I wanna invite you to do two things again
19:28to the first part that you've already done,
19:30which is to share what type of information
19:32do you provide for the candidates?
19:34And then I want you to explain why that information
19:36is important for the perspective voters
19:40to know about before they cast their ballots.
19:42Yeah, so really the lane we're in is researching candidates
19:46and we try to aggregate every piece
19:48of political intelligence we can find.
19:50I mean, if it's out there and it's publicly available
19:53And sometimes it's not, we have to file freedom of information requests sometimes to get the
19:58information.
19:59It's public, it just takes a little more work to get how many voters are going to do that.
20:03So we do that effort and get you that data.
20:05So we start with actions, right?
20:08Actions of what, and this is to the why of candidates will say what they think you want
20:13to hear to vote for them, right?
20:16They know that sometimes they don't, aren't 100% completely honest.
20:20Are you saying sometimes candidates lie?
20:23I'm sorry, excuse me, misrepresent their position
20:27in order to get a vote.
20:29Potentially. Okay.
20:31Which is why we look at actions, right?
20:33The best predictor of what you're gonna do
20:36is what you've done. Huh.
20:38So we look and we start with what they're called scorecards
20:42or vote ratings. Mm-hmm.
20:43So if anybody's held a legislative office,
20:45it could be a state legislator, it could be in Congress.
20:48There are groups on both the right and the left.
20:50City Council?
20:51Not so many groups that score city councils, but we can talk about local races differently.
20:56But at the legislative level, there's a second amendment groups, there's pro-life groups,
21:01there's conservationist groups, there's green new energy groups, and they have, will look
21:06for particular votes that that legislative body would take on their issues and then they
21:12score the candidates.
21:14So we gather everyone we can find.
21:16So it is, you know, liberal data, conservative data, and just aggregated into one place because
21:22it's all just research and nonpartisan.
21:24And so that's the first action.
21:26Yeah.
21:27So you tabulate the voting records for those who have held previous legislative positions
21:30to show how they voted on previous issues.
21:33Correct.
21:34So for example, you know, in Virginia, we just had election and you've probably talked
21:40about it.
21:41Maybe.
21:43But the Republican candidate for governor was previously lieutenant governor.
21:46That's right.
21:47But not many people know she served in the state delegate.
21:50She was a delegate.
21:51We had her scorecards as a delegate to the legislature.
21:53And for those who may not be aware in Virginia, the House of Delegates is how they describe
21:57their House of Representatives at the state level.
21:59Some states refer to their state, their state house similarly to Congress as a House of
22:04Representatives, but Virginia refers to theirs as a House of Delegates.
22:07Thank you.
22:08You're correct.
22:09So, but we've gathered all those scorecards.
22:10We've been doing this since 2012.
22:11So we've got scorecards going pretty far back if somebody was in the legislature and then moves on we pull that in
22:16It's the best predictor second best predictor would be money as we know the love of money
22:22The root of all even and we know colloquially follow the the money
22:27So we have downloaded the entire database from the federal election Commission
22:31Which is where all the federal candidates report to so we know not just who supports their campaign
22:36But who they is individuals have supported when they've given to activist organizations
22:40So that's an important piece of information. So the federal election commission is the body that tabulates funding
22:47Yes for various candidates at previous stages who've given to the candidates
22:51Mm-hmm as well as those who maybe the candidates if they held office who they might have been who they've given to correct and you
22:56Accumulate all of that data. Yeah, so like like you said how many
23:01Citizens in their daily lives have direct access to see candidate John Doe is running for office. I
23:08Wonder who I was given to candidate John Doe
23:10And to have all of that information at the click of a button where you can run down a list to see who's all given to
23:15Canada John Doe have the Democratic Socialists of America given to John Doe have the American Communist Party Communist Party USA given to John Doe
23:22I wonder if the Human Rights Campaign has given the John Doe. I wonder if so on and so forth
23:26So you accumulated that information so I had to click of a button voters can see
23:31This is how they've campaigned, but look at all of these people look all of the people who have given them money
23:35Why would they give them money if this is his public campaign position?
23:39they're seeking to have influence over them.
23:42That is sometimes it's a pay to play.
23:43They want to have access to that candidate.
23:45But what we do is even more than that,
23:46not only do candidates report,
23:49but political organizations,
23:51Planned Parenthood, NRA,
23:53other groups like that have to report who give them money.
23:56So we know who the candidate as an individual,
23:59maybe even before they ran,
24:01has given their money too.
24:03So that's also very indicative.
24:04And so what if you have a scenario
24:06where if a person campaigning on a certain platform,
24:08But the organizations who have given to the candidate
24:12indicate one thing, and then you see that the candidate
24:14themselves have given money to certain parties,
24:18certain organizations, or even certain candidates
24:22that seem to either confirm or contradict
24:25their public platform.
24:26That's information a voter will wanna know, I imagine.
24:28Oh, amen, voters wanna know.
24:29And that's why we have an army of volunteers
24:31who combed through all that data.
24:32It's not just computer tabulated to create those scores
24:36on that gas gauge, but we have individuals
24:39who are using their discernment to know, you know, really digging deeper in, you know,
24:43what's going on with all of this to come up with those evaluations.
24:46Was there another piece of data you wanted to put to?
24:48With the two evaluations, there was the endorsements, which are like a job reference.
24:52Yeah.
24:53These are the people who have vetted these candidates.
24:54Yeah.
24:55Say this is the best one in the race.
24:56Then there's the questionnaire.
24:57Mm hmm.
24:58Which...
24:59What is the questionnaire?
25:00The questionnaire is we have about 35 questions.
25:01We ask every candidate on a broad spectrum of topics.
25:04We're really trying to get at not just their political positions, but if we can get at
25:08their worldview and what drives and motivates them. That can help us to predict how they're
25:13going to vote on legislation that's maybe not even an issue we know about. Who would have
25:17thought about mask mandates or vaccine mandates before COVID. But if we knew that they, you
25:22know, had biblical worldview, that we could predict how they might act in that instance.
25:27So with all of that information, I mean, I can let me just in full disclosure, I use
25:31eye voter guy myself, you know, before any election that I've the first stop, my first
25:35First stop is I voter guy.
25:37I want to put in my zip code.
25:39I want to get my advanced ballots so I can know one, what are all the races that are up
25:43for election at this particular time, who are all the candidates?
25:46And then at the click of a button, I can run down all of that information you just described,
25:50which moves me away from merely being a willing constitutionalist, a patriotic American to
25:55being an informed patriotic American.
25:59And then I apply my own biblical worldview to all of the data that you and your team have
26:03accumulated in order to do so.
26:05I refer to you and your team how many people are employed by iVotagod and how
26:10many volunteers do you use in order to do this critical research and average of
26:14four hours per candidate. Yeah we have about 70 total staff members we have about
26:18six or eight on our technical team that enable the website and create all the
26:22capabilities we have a communication team about five or six and then the
26:26rest are researchers that is really what we do we've got you know somebody who
26:30manages the whole team and we have one individual responsible for each state
26:33and entering the candidates into each election,
26:37sending them the questionnaire,
26:39make sure they answer the questionnaire.
26:41We have, so 72 staff, 70-ish staff,
26:44and then the ratings are by panelists, volunteers,
26:47and we last cycle had 850 volunteer panelists.
26:51Those are really critical,
26:52and I believe any conservative that's out there
26:54should apply.
26:55We do vet you in the same way that we vet candidates.
26:58You have to apply and answer our survey.
27:00We call your references, but then we'll train you.
27:02What to look for?
27:03We have found panelists not only help us in rating the candidates, but they find that
27:07they become a more informed voter because they know what to look for when they're looking
27:12at candidates we haven't covered.
27:13So for their city council or their school board or, you know, races that we're don't have the
27:17bandwidth yet to cover.
27:19Our goal is to go back to that level.
27:21We started.
27:22It just in Texas full ballot.
27:24We'd love to do that nationwide, not there yet.
27:27But yeah, you learn what do I look for?
27:29What are the little hits I look for?
27:31even when I look at their website or their social media
27:34because we've pulled together the links
27:35on iVoter Guide for the candidates week over,
27:37but we don't cover them all.
27:38So you can Google them yourself
27:40for whatever your favorite search engine is
27:42and find that information, know what to look for.
27:45And the previous question was asked because I know
27:48you have an army of volunteers basically.
27:50And I think in 2025 or was it 2024
27:53that you covered what, 15,000 races?
27:56Yes, yes, we're at work.
27:5715,000 races.
27:59No, candidates.
27:59I'm sorry, candidates.
28:00Thank you for that correction.
28:0115,000 candidates having this amount of information,
28:05this type of data available concerning 15,000 candidates.
28:10And I know because I'm here at the training
28:12that you're already gearing up for 2026,
28:15working on the questionnaire and things of that nature.
28:17Would you wanna speak about that?
28:18I would.
28:19So the first candidate filing deadline for 2026
28:21is the midterm elections has already passed.
28:24There are two states that the deadline's already
28:26and we know the candidates are gonna be in Illinois
28:29and it could be Arkansas.
28:30So we're moving right we're getting ready. So we go through a process of updating the questions we ask issues change
28:35Some issues aren't as relevant and some come on the screen. We've added questions about
28:40IVF and the chemical abortion pill. We've added a question about China and what's going on there
28:46So we are updating the questionnaire. We're hiring new staff training new staff to get ready for
28:51All those states all those 15,000 candidates as we get ready for 2026
28:55So we are hitting our big crunch the first two elections are march
29:00Third.
29:01Wow.
29:02Primaries.
29:03Wow.
29:04So I started off the program talking about the necessity of getting wisdom and getting
29:07understanding and I know one of the major things that I have older guide advocates for is not
29:12merely civic participation but being an informed voter, a wise voter.
29:19What are some of the things that you are seeing and I would ask this twofold that got you
29:24to first want to be involved with I have older guide initially but then now on the other
29:29side of it having been involved since what 2000. I joined the company in 2011. It was
29:34a broads idea that brought me here. Okay. 2011 to now where we are. What are the
29:39things that you're seeing that kind of reveals a chasm between a willingness to
29:44vote and doing so with information and voting wisely? Well, you know, it's
29:50interesting especially in part of that comes from participation in elections,
29:54right? People don't vote because they don't know who to vote for sometimes or
29:58they just don't understand the importance of it. So that is part of why we really participate
30:04in some of those local elections and those special elections is to encourage that. Because, you
30:08know, we see that ballots that get have an under vote, that happens in 40% of ballots. To me,
30:16that indicates the lack of information on who they're going to vote for.
30:19What is an under vote? So I'm sure I've done this. You go into vote and you know who to vote
30:24for governor and you fill in your box and attorney general or
30:28but you get to state rep and I don't especially in a primary I
30:30don't know who these people are or judges or school boards and so
30:33you leave a blank you skip it. So you'll have a ballot where you
30:36have several races where someone votes right. And then you have
30:41the down ballot offices that go without a vote being cast in
30:45either direction. Right. Sometimes the reason is because
30:47someone doesn't have enough information. Well you would
30:49what I can't think of another good reason why they would not
30:52vote, they've gotten to the polls, they know there's an election, they've gone to vote for
30:57president or for governor, but then they leave it blank. And the only three reason I can think
31:00of is sometimes we're like, I don't want to vote for the wrong person, so I'm just going
31:03to leave it blank. And to me, that's where the iVoter Guide need comes in is to give them
31:07that information. And in a nonpartisan race, like a city councilor school board, it will
31:12be more than half of the ballots that will leave that blank.
31:15That is a startling fact because I have been advocating for a long time on this show for
31:23people to live locally.
31:24Yes.
31:25There's lots of attention that there's lots of attention that's been placed on presidential
31:30elections, even maybe US Senate elections, congressional elections, gubernatorial elections.
31:36But the reality is usually who becomes senators, governors, presidents of many instances,
31:42they often start as local city council members.
31:45They often start as aldermen.
31:47They often start as precinct commissioners.
31:50And they later on become something else.
31:53And so that process often begins
31:55with a very, very small amount of voters,
31:57with a very, very small margin
31:59that has led them to the office.
32:01The disrespect from music has started.
32:03So when we come back from the break,
32:04I want you to kind of revisit the point you just made
32:07concerning that under vote phenomenon
32:09and then to talk a bit about the margins
32:12in many of these local elections.
32:14because some may not know, they might think,
32:16oh, my vote doesn't really matter,
32:17but when you really dig into this
32:19and you see just how impactful you can be
32:21right in your own neighborhoods,
32:23I expect you to have a different perspective
32:24if you didn't have that perspective before.
32:26You are watching and or listening
32:28to The Hamilton Corner, my guest,
32:29is I, Voter Guide President Debbie Wuff Now.
32:32We are having an amazing time here
32:34in Constitution City, Texas, where as you've heard,
32:37I, Voter Guide is gearing up for the 2026 cycle
32:40where we want an army, first and foremost,
32:43people who are born again, as well as being born again, to be armed with the information
32:48necessary to be able to cast wise and inform votes when the time comes.
32:53Stay with us.
33:00Thoughts of the child you were carrying keep poring over in your mind.
33:04A deep unrelenting sadness over shadows your days and you wonder if you will ever feel
33:10whole again.
33:11There is hope and healing from a reproductive loss.
33:15the International Helpline 866-482-LIFE and talk with someone who has been where you
33:22are.
33:23Your call is confidential and we will help you find healing 866-482-LIFE.
33:30Today's issue, blaming a gun for a violent crime or a murder is like blaming the pencil
33:40for a misspell word.
33:41Ooh, I like that.
33:42Who I like that.
33:43That would be like a student who has terrible own spelling.
33:49And he says, we've had a rash of pestil-oriented mistakes.
33:53Today's issues, weekday mornings of 11 Eastern, 10 Central, on American Family Radio.
34:00Will America Resist an Islamic Future?
34:03This is David Wheaton, host of The Christian World View.
34:07America's largest and most well-known city just elected a Muslim to be its mayor.
34:12New York City Mayor-elect Zora and Mamdani is a self-identifying member of the Democratic
34:17Socialists of America.
34:19Mamdani is the personification of the Red-Green Alliance, the intersectional partnership of
34:25communists in Islamist with the goal of toppling America and Christianity.
34:30While individual Muslims are the mission field for Christians, Islam is a false religion
34:35of Satan that deceives billions.
34:37Jesus Christ is the way and the truth in the life.
34:41No one comes to the Father except through Him.
34:44Here are most recent program on this topic
34:46at theChristianworldview.org
34:48and then tune in this weekend for another topic
34:50that will sharpen your worldview.
34:52Listen to the Christian worldview with David Wheaton,
34:55Saturday mornings at 8 Central on American Family Radio.
35:04The Hamilton Quarter Podcast
35:06and One-Minute Commentaries are available at aFR.net.
35:10back to the Hamilton Corner on American Family Radio.
35:14Welcome back to the Hamilton Corner,
35:16Abraham Hamilton III here with iVotoguide President,
35:19Debbie Westnow, we are talking about being wise
35:22and astute citizens taking full advantage of the resources
35:26that are available to us so that we would not just be engaged,
35:29but we're engaged with the information
35:31to allow us to do so with wisdom.
35:32Before we went to the break, Debbie,
35:35you were describing for us what an undervote is,
35:39And we got to the point of the conversation to show,
35:44or to the point of the conversation
35:45where we were talking about the impact
35:48that we can have locally.
35:49And frankly, why is so important not to allow
35:52under votes to persistently happen.
35:54One, we have the information to prevent that.
35:56But why also are these local races,
35:59local candidates so vitally important?
36:03Well, I think I'm sure you've talked about this,
36:04that the local officials in your city council
36:08on your school board, they impact you much more directly than Washington or even your
36:13state capital. They're setting your tax rates, they're setting your sidewalk rules, they're
36:18setting the curriculum at the public school that either your kids attend or their peer
36:22group will attend. So it's really it impacts you much more directly and participation is
36:27typically much lower if we look at typical voter turnout rates in those types of elections.
36:34So sometimes they happen in November when normal elections happen.
36:38So just to step through a few basic statistics, in 2026 is considered a mid-term election.
36:46Average turnout, if it follows historical norms, will be about 40% of registered voters.
36:51That's a registered vote, but 40%.
36:53That's in November.
36:55In the primaries that are going to start in the spring, which is honestly 80 to 90% of
37:00legislators are chosen in the primary because the districts are drawn to favor
37:05one party over the other. So if you really want to have a great choice, you got to vote in the primary.
37:08And typical average turnout is only 20% of registered voters.
37:13And to illustrate that point, if you have a district that's joined in a certain way,
37:16that one party's candidate will win the ultimate general election, then the race is the primary election.
37:22Amen, yes. So it doesn't really, the general is not the time or the place for that office to be filled,
37:27that actually is determined by the primary election.
37:30But turn out for the primary elections are usually about what?
37:3220%.
37:3320% of registered voters.
37:35Of registered voters.
37:37Not eligible voters.
37:38Correct.
37:39Registered voters.
37:40So only 20% of registered voters from the majority
37:44of state legislators, they are elected by 20.
37:47And Congress.
37:48And Congress.
37:49Yeah.
37:50Yeah.
37:50And so 10% are choosing the winner.
37:53Right.
37:5310%
37:53If it's 50%, right?
37:55But what's even worse is those local elections,
37:58when they happen at different times,
38:00and every state's different, every locality's different.
38:02But when it's just a city or school board election,
38:04or a special election, typical turnout is 6% of registered voters.
38:11So when you have turnout at 6%, 20%, as we were just referring,
38:15as you were just describing,
38:17what is often the margin of victory in the crisis?
38:20It's one, it can be dozens.
38:23And so we started covering school votes.
38:25Dozens of votes.
38:26Of votes, individual votes.
38:29There are all kinds of instances of,
38:31you know, there's one guy who didn't even go vote himself,
38:33and he lost because nobody voted, and he could have won.
38:36But we covered school board races in 2024,
38:40and about 300 races.
38:42And in a third of those races,
38:43the winning margin was less than 400 votes.
38:48There are churches that could.
38:50One church.
38:51One church.
38:52In some places.
38:53could have changed the entire result of those elections. Yes. And the average on all those races
38:59was just 900 votes. So so achievable if we the people, if the church would get informed and get
39:07engaged and be the light, honestly, we can impact those elections. And I'm so glad you shared those
39:13statistics because so often, and I encounter people this way, I'm sure you do as well,
39:17well Abe, does my vote really count? Does it really make a difference if I participate?
39:21And the answer is yes.
39:23And here's how, like to have an election at a local level to where it's determined, as you mentioned by dozens of votes, dozens of votes led to the difference in the outcome in the since instance, that is vitally important.
39:36But again, it takes engagement, but informed engagement usually will carry the day.
39:42Yep.
39:42To know who to vote for and to me, it becomes a stewardship issue of, you know, duty is ours.
39:47You got to do your part.
39:48I always say it, Church.
39:49Don't complain about it if you're not going to be part of the solution.
39:52Part of the solution here is to participate, to be informed, to do your research.
39:56Start at iVotyrGuide, know who you're voting for, know why, be informed about the issues.
40:00Listen to AFR, read some articles, there's all kinds of sources to keep you educated on the issues,
40:06and then know what you're voting for, know who you're voting for before you cast that ballot.
40:11Well said. Now I often talk about on this show, your full-time job versus your part-time job,
40:18and various life stages, we've actually been talking
40:21in our men's group at our local church
40:24about the necessity of having a vision
40:26for faithful service to the Lord at every life stage.
40:28And so in the body of Christ, this is one of the things
40:30we say to our church that you never find in scripture
40:33a biblical sanction for retirement.
40:35That in the body of Christ, we don't retire, we refire.
40:38If we have a magazine that's empty,
40:40we don't say, oh, my God's no longer working,
40:43we drop the empty mag and we reload.
40:44I learned that this week.
40:46And even if the Lord retrains us on a new or slightly different target that we still remain engaged and a part of your testimony
40:53To where now you didn't all you weren't always president of I've ordered out your president now
40:57But would you just share a little bit about how you got started?
41:01Initially with I've ordered guide and the life stage were in at that time that helped to
41:06The Lord really set the stage to allow you to say hey
41:09Here's a target that I want you to take aim at yeah, so I'll lay a little bit of foundation so by training
41:14I'm an engineer. I have a master's in computer science. I had worked for Bell Laboratories for
41:19five years, but I knew I wanted to raise my own kids. I needed to stay home and raise my
41:23kids. So as soon as I had my first child, I quit and I was a state-owned mom. Got involved
41:28in my church. I would run vacation Bible school. I would teach in a wannas. I really discipled
41:34myself and my children through community Bible study. It was also that involved parent and
41:39the kids activities and all that stuff. I'm not a sitter stiller, I'm a getter
41:43doner. So I knew through my discipleship, God's planned in advance all the days or
41:48day in for me. And I'm looking at this empty nest going, I focused a lot on my
41:53children. What God, do you have planned for me? So you advanced through port into your
41:57children and all those things that you just described. But now your children now
42:00grown. And as you said, you were looking at an empty nest. Yeah, my daughter started
42:05college that first of three was starting college and so I'm not quite empty
42:09nest but I can see it on the horizon. So I just started praying God I don't know
42:14what I can do but a 20 year old computer science degree was a little out of date.
42:18You know you don't tell God you can't do something because you know what's gonna
42:21happen right so I'm sure you can't use that God but I have too many hobbies that
42:26I thought you gotta just show me what you want me to do God because I have no idea
42:29even what to look for. So this is January of 2011 I went to my community Bible
42:33study teaching director because I'd been on the servants team. And I said, would
42:37you be a job reference for me? I'm gonna look in the fall. She comes back a week
42:41later and said, my husband programs this online voter guide and he's been
42:46complaining at the dinner table that he needs some help with the website stuff.
42:49She said, I asked him if I knew somebody with an aptitude, could you train them?
42:54And he said, oh yeah. So she said, are you interested? Well that beamed like an
43:01open door open window that I had been praying for. So I said, of course, yes, you know, I,
43:06my other discipleship is when you ask God to tell you what to do, and he shows you your
43:10answers. Yes, I'm willing. So here I am, Lord, use me. I said, yes, he interviewed me on
43:16the phone, must have liked what he said, because he said, send me a resume. I didn't have a
43:21resume. I wasn't even ready. But so they brought me on board. And I just sat at my kitchen
43:25table and he showed me how to do some website stuff. And I thought, I saw it as God's calling.
43:30I saw it as God's provision to plan my steps,
43:33but also to make me understand politics
43:37and to pay for college, honestly.
43:38And that was an element of it.
43:39So I just completely saw it as a calling.
43:42Three years later, they named me director.
43:43Pay for your children's college.
43:44My children's college, I'd already done that.
43:46But, so three years later, they named me director of operations,
43:51which to me was in my comfort zone.
43:53It was like being the mom, just making sure everything gets
43:55done the way it's supposed to get done.
43:57and two years later when they called me and said the board's named you executive director,
44:02I had a God moment where I said, God, this is not, not, I didn't sign up for this.
44:09I didn't sign up for this. What am I doing? And it wasn't a will you. It was a they have in the statement.
44:14So I am like, okay God. He says, and he spoke to me, not audibly, but you know, I called you to this.
44:21I know. He said, you do know that I will equip those I call. I know. He said, Debbie, you represent
44:28the target audience of my voter guide. It's the Christian mom who's taking care of their family,
44:33but trying to be a good steward of everything that God's blessed them with. And they need to vote,
44:38but they don't know who to vote for. They need this research. So God has called a great team to
44:42I voter guide that created it, that created, that make it happen every year now. But it's needed
44:49by people who don't know how to do that research. So that's who I represent. So while it was created
44:53by Richard Ford and Jim Snarenger, who really that's a whole other story, he used me and wove me
44:59and to really help grow it. So they kind of created it, but it has grown, you know, used by millions of
45:03owners every election cycle. And Richard couldn't get out and present. I've gone out and created,
45:08you know, speak and do interviews and tell people about what we do as kind of its ambassador.
45:15I'm on God's conveyor belt, just trying to keep my feet underneath me.
45:18And I wanted you to share that testimony for several reasons.
45:21One, to certainly amplify and underscore the reality.
45:25It is.
45:26And I don't mean that as a moment of flattery, but having used the tool for years.
45:33It is the foremost voter education resource in the country.
45:37It truly, truly is.
45:38But also, we have people in all life stages in this audience.
45:42We have parents, we have grandmoms.
45:43thing we've talked about on this show is grandparents having a vision for their
45:48life stage that we you might be you might be Graham Graham or you know
45:51gammy whatever you want to do pop pop pop pop but that doesn't mean God is
45:56through with you you know and so if you are still inhaling and exhaling his
45:59oxygen God has purpose for you in his kingdom and so having your testimony
46:05that you're at a stage where an empty nest is on the horizon and you simply go
46:10before the Lord and say, Lord, what would you have of me at this stage? And he says, oh, you're willing,
46:18where here you go. And so I'm sharing that really, and I invited you to share it, but really as an
46:22encouragement for those in our audience right now, in this audience who are listening and watching the
46:26show, that you may be in a similar stage. Are you approaching an empty nest? You know, are you a
46:31grandparent? Are you a great grandparent? Well, what is God calling you to at this stage in your life?
46:39What is God drawing you toward in this life stage?
46:42And one of the things that's a passion of my heart really is why I call it my season saints.
46:47To understand that we need your seasoning.
46:50You know, we need to be salt and light.
46:51And season saints have a lot of opportunity for season.
46:54It's Cajun seasoning, be not it.
46:55That's right. Some Cajun seasoning, some blackened seasoning, some, you know, we need it all.
47:00And we are at a moment in our nation's history that we need all hands on deck.
47:05And so it is so encouraging for me.
47:08And I pray that it's likewise encouraging for the audience here to recognize.
47:12Oh, I haven't necessarily gone before the Lord for this particular life stage to be encouraged to do so.
47:19Now we have about maybe four minutes, four and about three and a half minutes left.
47:23What are some of the things that you are looking forward to as 2026 rolls a rolls around
47:28and then secondarily the role that the informed wise voter can play
47:31and doing as Benjamin Franklin said,
47:35keeping our republic as we approach our 250th anniversary
47:38of the Declaration of Independence.
47:39Well, I'm looking forward to really letting more people
47:43find iVotargide.
47:44We have been doing some work to help more people discover it.
47:47It's really been a word of mouth tool.
47:50As you think people hear about it on the radio,
47:52they tell their friends and their family,
47:53what I love about iVotargide is it's nationwide.
47:56It's one website, as you said,
47:58and it's personalized ballots in all 50 states.
48:00So you can send it to your family across the nation.
48:03I'm looking forward to really growing
48:05our educational content that we have through emails.
48:08We just did our first campaign training school
48:12to encourage people listening, you know, everyday Christians.
48:16God may be calling you to run for office.
48:18Let's drill down on those two for a moment.
48:20So your educational insights, what are those?
48:24So we write an email once a week
48:27And it is on topics of like,
48:30what does the Bible say about immigration?
48:32How do you ask good questions of candidates?
48:34How do you even have civil discourse
48:36with people who don't agree with you?
48:38So it's in a way a political and spiritual discipleship
48:42that we are seeking to do
48:43because civics education is kind of lacking.
48:45So how does government work?
48:47How should you reach out and participate in government?
48:50And it's just a once a week email.
48:52So I would encourage people, if you wanna receive that,
48:54go to ivoterguy.com
48:56and you might get a pop up that says get our emails,
48:59you might go down to the footer or whatever.
49:02I've heard people tell me that this is one of the best
49:05weekly emails that organizations,
49:06very educational, designed to inform you,
49:09but also give you something to share and forward
49:11to somebody else, they all become articles on our websites,
49:14you can go to our articles and insights.
49:16So we want more informed people, not just at ballot time.
49:18Yeah, not just ballot education,
49:20but even civic and spiritual formation education.
49:23Yeah, so that's really my heart is that discipleship aspect that's been on our heart through 2025
49:29as we get ready for 2026.
49:32And my other heart is to expand in what we can do more down ballot because that's the
49:36need.
49:37And so that it comes with financial support because that's what it hinges upon is the bandwidth
49:42to do that.
49:43And working with grassroots organizations that are also on fire and recruiting good candidates
49:48to run.
49:49So we want to partner with those people and those organizations.
49:53asked me early on, you know, I'm not a business major. They're like, what's the
49:55business model of my voter guy? And I was like, body of Christ.
50:02It certainly is. And look, the music is all we're about to wrap it up. But you also
50:06mentioned identifying good candidates and helping them learn how they can run for
50:11office and providing information and resources in that regard as well. That's
50:15available. I would have got calling you. We have some tools we can direct you to
50:19other tools. So say yes and then reach out and we'll help you.
50:22Amen. If God is calling you, we have tools and we can direct you to other tools. If God
50:28is calling you, say yes. Debbie, thank you so much for joining us here today.
50:31Folks, thank you for tuning in to The Hamilton Corner. You all have a wonderful, wonderful week.
50:40The views and opinions expressed in this broadcast may not necessarily reflect those
50:44of the American Family Association or American Family Radio.

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