I can always tell when an election in Virginia is coming up because my husband and I start receiving several political phone calls a day. Some callers simply ask us to vote for specific candidates. Others ask for money. Some try to hold conversations with us.

I understand the candidates’ desire to get name recognition and educate potential voters about their positions on issues. I appreciate their desire to “connect” with the electorate. I do wish, however, that my husband and I would not receive multiple calls from each campaign every week. Since the campaign calls are so frequent, they rarely teach me anything new because not enough time passes between the calls. If I’ve contributed money to a campaign, I also resent being asked for more so soon afterward and wonder about the campaign’s record-keeping.

Sometimes the candidates try to appeal to my ethnicity, asking me to vote for fellow Asian Americans. I find this tactic somewhat offensive. I don’t vote for people based on their race; I judge people by their public stance on issues and their record of effectiveness. I also dislike calls that try to scare me away from voting for political opponents.

Ironically, the frequent political calls are having the opposite of their intended effect; the more I hear from a campaign, the less I want to vote for its candidate because I feel as though I’m being harassed. But I would much rather keep receiving these calls than not have a choice at the polls, or not be able to vote at all.