# Americans: How big is your ballot? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 23, 2004, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-how-big-is-your-ballot/270779 "2004-10-23T17:04:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2004, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-how-big-is-your-ballot/270779/1 "2004-10-23T17:04:17Z")
Looking at [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=5402615#post5402615) Just wondering - how many things are you going to be voting on for the November election. Adding up all the federal, state, local positions and the referendums, initiatives, everything - how many things are there for you to make potentially make a decision on? I’ve got (if I’ve counted right) 30, exactly this year. ---
**Author:** ![Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laughing_Lagomorph)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2004, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-how-big-is-your-ballot/270779/2 "2004-10-23T17:55:20Z")
It is a slowish year in Mass., apparently…I’ve only got six offices to vote on at the county level and higher. There are usually at least a few statewide referenda on there. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2004, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-how-big-is-your-ballot/270779/3 "2004-10-23T17:57:28Z")
“It’s not the size of the ballot. It’s how you vote with it.” 😃 ---
**Author:** ![PigBoy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/97f17d/32.png) [@PigBoy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PigBoy)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2004, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-how-big-is-your-ballot/270779/4 "2004-10-23T18:25:18Z")
I think I counted 30 for me, though a number of them are county offices with people running unopposed. ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2004, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-how-big-is-your-ballot/270779/5 "2004-10-23T18:58:14Z")
I’ve already voted since Oregon does their voting by mail and if I remember right, we had around two dozen things to vote on. Eight measures and somewhere around a dozen offices. ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2004, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-how-big-is-your-ballot/270779/6 "2004-10-23T19:16:59Z")
I think this year all I get in the way of contested races is President, Senator and Representative (Kerry, Feingold, Baldwin all the way). There may be a few uncontested races too, for stuff like coroner and clerk of courts. My ballot feels small and inadequate… ---
**Author:** ![Queen\_Tonya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/4491bb/32.png) [@Queen\_Tonya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Queen_Tonya)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2004, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-how-big-is-your-ballot/270779/7 "2004-10-23T20:57:38Z")
[Here’s](http://www.sospublius.org/ballot/ballot.asp) my ballot, if I subtract all the candidates running without opposition, all the stuff like university board of regents or positions where you’re allowed to vote for 19 and there are 18 running, I’m left with 16 actual decisions, 20 counting the proposals. I haven’t a clue what the board of regents, board of trustees or board of governors for the various university’s do, so I just don’t vote for them. ---
**Author:** ![Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laughing_Lagomorph)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2004, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-how-big-is-your-ballot/270779/8 "2004-10-23T21:04:57Z")
> [@Otto](#): > > … > > My ballot feels small and inadequate… You could always attempt to compensate by buying yourself a massive SUV… ---
**Author:** ![Governor\_Quinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d26b3c/32.png) [@Governor\_Quinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Governor_Quinn)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2004, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americans-how-big-is-your-ballot/270779/9 "2004-10-23T21:17:27Z")
I have President, Senate, House, State Senate, State Assembly, the local school board, and a ton of state and local propositions to vote on.