Straight-party voting is often derided as the crutch of the lazy voter, but is it actually dangerous? Have we elected anyone with, say a serious criminal record, merely because they were a member of one of the big two political parties?
I doubt that there has ever been a time when every voter either voted the straight Democratic or the straight Republican tickets. The only possible time this could have happened was when the Democratic Party, so controlled southern politics that there effectively was not a two party system in the south. Having grown up in Georgia, the name Eugene Tallmadge comes to mind, but there were others during that time who were also rabidly racist.
I can remember an Illinois primary contest a few years back. The Democrats weren’t paying close attention and supporters of Lyndon LaRouche managed to get their candidates for (I think) two candidates on the general election ballot. The state Democratic party was in the awkward position of not only repudiating its own nominees, but asking the voters to vote for the Republican candidates for those offices.
Explaining this a little better:
In 1986, the Illinois Democratic Party had endorsed State Senator George Sangmeister for Lt. Governor, and Chicago Metropolitan Sanitary District Board member Aurie Pucinski for Secretary of State.
In the primary, Sangmeister and Pucinski lost to LaRochites named (I believe) Fairchild and Davis.
I can’t remember exactly why Sangmeister lost, but electoral evidence shows that Pucinski lost the black vote (her father, Alderman and former Congressman Roman Pucinski, was a noted Vrdolyak supporter), and, in addition, she also did poorly in southern Illinois, largely because of her last name.
As a result, the Democratic candidate for Governor, Adlai Stevenson III, ended his campaign as a Democrat, and created a new party line, Illinois Solidarity, to run on.
In a great bit of trivia, in that election, incumbent Secretary of State George Ryan ended up being the last Republican to ever outpoll a Democrat in Chicago, thanks to the split between the Democratic and Solidarity candidates for that office.
This thread might be better suited to Great Debates. In Detroit, the dominance of the Democratic party led to mayor Coleman Young getting re-elected year after year, because there is no other party that has a chance in heck of winning there. As a result, Detroit went from being a thriving Midwest city to being a city synonymous with urban blight.
In Ohio’s 15 district, Mark Brown keeps getting on the ballot for the Democrats. I’m a very loyal Democrat, but I hold my nose and vote for Deborah Pryce ®. One of the few Republicans I’ve voted for. However, the thought of Mr. Brown attaining office makes me ill.
This is a matter of opinion and not fact.
Off to Great Debates.
DrMatrix - GQ Moderator