I usually try to avoid voting straight party ticket. However, my other rule is that I don’t vote for politicians who use attack ads- tell me why I should vote for you, not why I should vote against your opponent!
It’s going to be a rough year to follow those two guidelines.
Step one is to eliminate republicans.
Then I usually end up flipping a coin if there is more than one choice left.
Those are generally pretty easy for me: The state publishes a pamphlet for all voters that (among other things) lists the full text of every measure, followed by a one-page pro and anti argument, and then a half-page rebuttal, written by various pillars of the community (state legislators and the like). In one case I did come to the Dope with some factual questions about one of the issues, but usually the three pages of arguments is enough.
Back to candidates, public appearances don’t sway me at all if they’re just parades and photo-ops, but for some of these events, the candidates will take questions from the folks they’re gladhanding, and that can be helpful. And of course something like a speech or debate is important, though you seldom see much of that from the folks running for county dogcatcher.
Ruby, I can help with the second part of your question.
Yes. Phone calls, door knocking, all those things matter a lot. That’s the actual meat and potatoes of running a campaign. Knocking doors goes above all else, phone calls go next, and everything else is a distant third. I’m not a high visibility guy.
LOUNE, are you saying that phone calls and door knocking help YOU decide how to vote? Or are you speaking from personal experience seeing those activities make a difference? I know many long-timers in local politics swear that they’re crucial. I just haven’t seen any data that convinces me. I’m not sure I could be convinced to participate, but I’d at least be less grumpy about the requests if I believed it would work.
I decide who to vote for by deciding which candidate’s beliefs most align with mine. Mostly, but not always, that’s a Democrat. As I mentioned over in the Missouri thread, I think this is the first election I’ve ever voted for all Democrats.
As far as get out the vote efforts, and campaigning, well . . . Honestly, most citizens don’t pay the attention to politics and don’t know about politics to the extent that we who hang out in political forums on the SDMB do. For those people, it’s simply advertising. While door hangers and robo-calling and flyers in the mail and ads on TV and radio do annoy me, I’m not going to vote against someone I like simply because they are quite properly attempting to get their name in front of the great number of people who vote based on their whim of the moment.
The apocryphal response of Adlai Stevenson to a woman who called out, “Senator, you have the vote of every thinking person!” rings absolutely true: “That’s not enough, madam, we need a majority!”
Figure out which is the worst canidate the vote for the other. If I can not descide between the two major party canidate I vote 3rd party.
Oh, no. I’m approaching it from the other side of the equation.
I use Rock, Paper, Scissors against the ballot on each Proposition. Since it’s paper, I USUALLY win. 
For people, it’s who’s the lesser evil as always.
For Propositions, does it cost money? Then no.
For me, if you attack your opponent as “not a true conservative” or “a Washington liberal” or, for that matter, as a “conservative” or a “Tea Partier,” you’ve lost me. If all you can do to make your point is emphasize how much your opponent is in the opposing tribe, you’re not really trying to get my vote.
Thus, this year, I voted for a bunch of people who have no chance of winning, and a bunch of other people who ran unopposed.
I generally vote the party line. If there is a candidate in my party who I really hate for whatever reason, I’ll abstain.
For positions where no party is identified (the Second Assistant Dog Catcher At Large type things), I’ll usually cast a vote for the candidate with most difficult to pronounce last name.
Other things being equal (which of course they wouldn’t be), a door knock would make me more likely to support a candidate. Someone putting in the time and sweat trudging door to door is a greater display of commitment than phone bank calls or broadcast advertising. I like talking to humans.
This year, the decision is pretty clear: Moderate centrist Democrats who don’t really correspond to my more liberal views on the issues or batshit insane Republicans. I tend to choose the former. At the local level, however, I research the candidates carefully, because it is a completely different animal.
I don’t have cites for this, but my reading suggests that DianaG is exactly the opposite of how most people behave. Canvassing and phone calls don’t change many minds, but they are incredibly effective at moving people from rooting for Candidate A to voting for Candidate A. I’m quite shy but I make phone calls and I knock on doors every cycle because it’s too important to just leave to fate. Getting the vote out is the name of the game, especially when the presidency is not at stake. It is how you win elections. So Ruby, I urge you to put your reservations aside and join me on the phones over the next several days. Unless you’re a Republican of course – then by all means, sit this one out.
–Cliffy
Knocking on doors is supposed to help people get stimulated enough to actually vote. I doubt it can change ideas. Some local candidates need literature to be passed door to door just to develop name recognition.
I walk too damn far every election. Walking on concrete makes my little legs tired.
I vote a straight Democratic Party ticket – nobody who’s willing to align themselves with the Republican Party believes in anything that I do. In local nonpartisan elections, I read interviews, surveys, and endorsements published by the newspapers and political organizations, and choose whoever I agree with most. Ballot propositions, I read the text and the arguments in the official pamphlet.
Primary elections I handle the same way as nonpartisan elections, except that I tend to select candidates who can beat the likely Republican nominee, rather than the one who aligns best with my beliefs – hence, Obama instead of Kucinich. In San Francisco elections, I tend to prefer pragmatic candidates who actually know what the office can accomplish, and not idealistic candidates who run for Supervisor on a foreign policy platform.
I ignore most campaign mailers, seldom get phone calls, and nobody knocks on my door.
It can’t be your “only criteria,” because “criteria” is plural.
Personally, I think the phone calls are as much of a turn-off than the knock on the door. At least going door to door actually requires some effort on their part.
My answer to the OP’s question:
I probably should put more effort into finding out about the various candidates—but I’m not sure if it’s worth it, and it would just leave me more pissed off when the wrong person wins.
So, I try to pay attention to the major races and candidates, but I don’t go too far out of my way to learn about all the different races. Sometimes, what I know about the candidates renders the choice an easy one. Other times, I don’t know enough to know who the best choice will be. Sometimes then, I’ll vote according to party (which currently means I’d vote Democrat, because the Republicans are really pissing me off, especially those at the national level, but that could conceivably change). Or, if I know nothing, I might just leave that section blank.
I’ll vote for Dems for the House/state reps. But I’m voting for the Independent for governor. (I’m in MA) reasons: the Republican is a Health Industry exec. (I NEVER vote for non-legal industry candidates), Democratic incumbet been below average.
Never voted a straight ticket. I don’t think any party has a corner on the truth.
I try to vote for the person who will embarass my district the least.