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Voting for Ethics

Voting for Ethics Second Edition book cover. Authors: John P. Pelissero, Ann G. Skeet, Hana S. Callaghan.

Voting for Ethics: A Guide for U.S. Voters, 2nd ed., Palmetto Publishing, August 2024.

Voting for Ethics is a non-partisan guide that equips U.S. voters to make informed decisions. It emphasizes identifying ethical candidates, irrespective of political affiliations.

The updated second edition delves into the role of artificial intelligence in politics and the importance of a candidate's commitment to the peaceful transition of power. This book is a call to action for voters to scrutinize candidates' integrity, ensuring their vote contributes to an ethical political landscape.

 

 

Purchase Voting for Ethics: A Guide for U.S. Voters from Amazon

This guide to ethical behavior should be required reading for every candidate for public office. As a former public official, I believe the greatest reward of public service is to make people's lives better...but that can only happen with candidates who are honest, ethical, and respect the dignity of those who elected them to office.

Leon E. Panetta, former Director CIA, Secretary of Defense

Commentary on Democracy and Government

U.S. Capitol building in Washington, D.C overlayed with AI digital concepts including circuitry and the human brain. Images by Joel Carillet and Vertigo3d from Getty Images Signature combined and modified via Canva Enterprise.
AI Fuels a new Wave of Political Lies

Across races from Georgia to New York, deepfakes are steering political narratives and voter perception.

Statue of Franklin Delano Roosevelt sitting on a concrete bench outside the National World War II Museum by Jessica Tan via Unsplash.
Presidents Have a Duty to Care

Though much has been written in recent weeks about the hallmarks of the second Trump administration, little has been written about the absence of care—an overarching feature of this presidency’s first months in office.

Voting Booth
It’s Time for Undecided Voters to Choose

Undecided voters need to decide. They have an obligation to become informed and an ethical duty to vote as part of the rights they receive as citizens.

Voting for Human Flourishing. Voting for Ethics book jacket. American Leadership Forum Silicon Valley
Voting for Human Flourishing

Increasingly, people’s identities are wrapped up with their politics, reinforcing the sense that we are part of tribes that cannot find common ground. Ethics can be that common ground.

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Commentary on Democracy and Media

Two Black women sitting on a park bench. One is wearing a
How Journalists can Better Explain why Black Women Vote the way They do

Why did the affordability crisis, misinformation, immigration chaos, and endless wars not split the Black women’s vote? Civic duty and protecting hard-won freedoms.

Gary Fields of the Associated Press, right, interviews Evan Milligan, left, on Sept. 19, 2022, in Montgomery, Ala. Milligan was among voters and advocacy groups who filed a lawsuit challenging the redistricting that split Montgomery between two congressional districts. (AP Photo/Vasha Hunt)
Elections: Covering Low-Income Voters As Multifaceted, Whole People

U.S. Journalism leaders offer lessons and moral framing to help political reporters better cover low-income and poor Americans as voters.

A map of the U.S. highlighted in red and blue. Photo by Clay Banks/Unsplash.
The Missing ‘Swing Voters’ Whose Voices we Need to Hear

The Kamala Harris-Donald Trump presidential debate missed the voices of America's biggest category of 'swing voters'--low-income and poor people.

Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump, left, moderated by ABC's Rachel Scott, speaks at the National Association of Black Journalists convention, July 31, 2024, in Chicago.
Donald Trump Asked Rachel Scott to Define DEI. Here’s how she Could Have

At the NABJ convention in Chicago on July 31st, Donald Trump Asked Rachel Scott To Define DEI. She Should Have.

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Voting for Ethics in the 2024 Elections - Event Recording

A conversation with Voting for Ethics: A Guide for U.S. Voters, 2nd ed. coauthors John Pelissero and Senior Director of Leadership Ethics Ann Skeet, moderated by KQED Correspondent, and Santa Clara University Alum, Guy Marzorati ’13.

They discuss how to determine if candidates are ethical, conducting an ethical campaign, and fundraising in an ethical fashion, and, how ethics should be central to voters’ assessment of campaigns and candidates. They review how electoral campaigns have changed in the past few years, including the issues of truthfulness, integrity, and the responsible use of generative AI in campaigns.

Access the Voting for Ethics Event Recording

Wild Beasts: A Podcast About Ethics

The Ethics of Voting: John Pelissero on Voting Rights and Voter Suppression

Are laws always ethical? How have voting rights recently been restricted within the United States? Are state officials abusing their power in unethical ways to change voting regulations?

John Pelissero, former director of government ethics discusses voting rights, disinformation, discrimination, and voter suppression.

Listen to Wild Beasts

About the Authors

 

John Pelissero, director, government ethics
John P. Pelissero is the former director of government ethics at the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics of Santa Clara University. A professor emeritus of political science at Loyola University Chicago, he taught American politics, state and urban politics, and public administration courses for 40 years. He is co-author with Robert E. England and David R. Morgan of Managing Urban America, 8th ed. (CQ Press, 2016).

 

 

 

Ann Gregg Skeet, senior director, leadership ethics
Ann G. Skeet is the senior director of leadership ethics at the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics of Santa Clara University. A former media and nonprofit executive, Ann has studied the dilemmas of leaders and followers in her 10 years at the Center and in her role as CEO of American Leadership Forum-Silicon Valley. She was a contributor to the 1st edition of Voting for Ethics and also to Hana Callaghan’s book, Campaign Ethics. Ann is also a co-author with Brian Green and José Flahaux on Ethics in the Age of Disruptive Technologies: An Operational Roadmap.

 

 

 

Hana S. Callaghan

 

The late Hana S. Callaghan was the director of government ethics at the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics of Santa Clara University from 2014 to 2020. She wrote the first edition of this book (2020) and Campaign Ethics: A Field Guide (2018). She was a leader in the ethical political campaign movement.

 

 

 

 

For More Information

The Markkula Center for Applied Ethics staff and affiliated scholars can provide commentary and background information for media on a variety of government and ethics related topics including voting, elections, and campaigning.

For additional details contact Davina Hurt, Director, Government Ethics, or Joel Dibble, Senior Director, News and Public Relations at jdibble@scu.edu.