I don’t mean your party affiliation - I mean your decision-making process.
This thread was prompted by the recent mayoral race in Jacksonville - it’ll be settled next month with a runoff of the top two finishers - a black Democrat (the very popular sheriff) and a white Republican (I really don’t know anything about him, but I don’t live in Jax, so I guess that’s to be expected). I’m sure the pollsters are trying to predict who will vote black vs white, who’ll vote Dem vs Rep, and who’ll vote based on careful consideration of the candidates and the issues.
So, when there’s an election in your precinct, how do you make up your mind? Party line? Endorsements by organizations you belong to or trust? Name recognition? Most colorful signs? Do you educate yourself on the candidates and the issues? Do you flip a coin? Vote counter to conventional wisdom?
I worked with a couple of guys who routinely voted “no” on any yes/no question. Didn’t matter what the question was. I know another who always voted against the incumbent. And others who never bothered to vote at all.
As for me, I try to educate myself. Sometimes this means I vote against one person rather than for the other. And if I truly don’t have an opinion, I’ll skip that office/ballot item. I can’t just randomly make selections. While I don’t specifically vote for one party over the others, I find I tend to agree more with one than any other, so my votes fall that way. And I don’t necessarily vote in every election. I skipped the last couple here (one in March, one last week) because nothing was on the slate that I was particularly interested in, and since I’ll be moving in a year, it’s hard for me to care about local changes which won’t go into effect till after I’m gone.
I’m still enough of an optimist to think that my vote does matter.
Well, this most recent election I had the good fortune to be able to interview most of the candidates in person. Of course, that was greatly due to the fact I work in the political operations dept. of a lobbying company ::
I usually get together all the information I can on a candidate, whether from their website, media and PR notices, commercials, and word-of-mouth. In general I stick to one party over the other, but I’ve been known to vote against my party of choice.
It’s always stuck in my craw that there are people out there who vote and really don’t care about the outcome. Not that I’d ever think of infringing on their right to do so, it just bothers me that there are enough of those kinds to make an impact.
I try to read up on the candidates stances and go on past action/inaction where available. Obviously, my ethical leanings play a pretty big role as well.
And, as a Georgia voter I have too often had to use my own personal rule of not voting for a candidate that includes the nicknames “Bubba”, “Big”, or “Red” as part of their official candidacy name.
I do detailed research and find out exactly how many porno tapes/DVDs/movies each candidate on the ballot has purchased/rented and then I get a picture of each candidate and 4000 darts and spend about 6 hours throwing darts blindfolded, and then…
Oh! That reminds me of when I was working at a video store. It was great fun when the mayor’s office was up for election – both candidates rented at my store ::
Straight Democratic on candidates, unless they are known to have important views opposed to mine, then Green as protest.
**NO **on all judges, since they run uncontested, which makes for a sham “election”. YES to all general interest bonds, such as schools and water and libraries. NO to all special interest bonds, such as semi-private toll roads and funding for military schools.
Educate myslef on candidates and issues. Dems seem more in line with my values.
I don’t vote on judges unless there’s a compelling reason to vote them out.
No on all bonds except for education or a showing of a compelling need… and I mean compelling, as in a crisis. If the general (or other) fund can’t handle it, then we should re-evaluate our spending priorities before passing bonds.
That Heinlein quote is pretty close to the famous one by W. C. Fields: “Who am I voting for? I never vote for, I vote against.” Or something like that. I’m sure someone can locate the original. Anyway, that comes sadly close to how I’ve made my decisions in many elections.
The League of Women Voters in my county publishes a pretty thorough voting guide each year. It lists each candidate in all levels of elections from federal on down to town dogcatcher. Each candidate is invited to submit a position statement. The part I rely on mst heavily is the explanations of the referendums. (Referendae?) Some of them are written in a very convoluted way. The guide clears it up. “Voting ‘Yes’ fort this one will obliterate libraries in your state and make Tuesdays illegal” For some races I will attend or watch debates but I get most of my information from this guide.
If they are pro-choice, I vote against them. If they are anti-choice(pro-life), I vote for them.
If neither mainstream candidate is pro-life(anti-choice), I vote for a third party who is. Every major election has had a pro-life candidate in my lifetime.
It’s not the only thing I consider, but it is the first and most significant.
I try to find out about the candidates’ positions. After doing this, I almost always end up following party lines, if there is a member of my party (Green) on the ballot. If no Green is running, I end up voting for a Democrat or Independent. I don’t think I’ve ever voted for a Republican, because no matter how good and upstanding a citizen they may be, no Republican is going to have a political ideology I agree with.
For Federal office I always vote Democratic, because regardless of how individual candidates feel, the election might affect the balance of power in Congress on any number of issues. In the 2000 election I almost voted for Republican Tom Campbell for U.S. Senate in California because he favored legalization of medical marijuana, but decided against it at the last moment.
In local races I read the candidate statements and check voting records. In cases where the Democratic candidate will clearly win in a landslide, I may vote for a third-party left wing candidate if a good one is available, since it’s good to remind the Dems that they shouldn’t run too far to the center.
On California’s famous ballot initiaitves, I again decide on a case-by-case basis. I vote against most bond initiaitives because I’ll end up paying for them with my tax money, plus interest, at some later date. It’s not like bonds just pull money out of thin air.
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