# How does anyone decide who to vote for? I've not done it before.

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-anyone-decide-who-to-vote-for-ive-not-done-it-before/225628>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [January 22, 2004, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-anyone-decide-who-to-vote-for-ive-not-done-it-before/225628 "2004-01-22T14:50:56Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![TeaElle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8491ac/32.png) [@TeaElle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TeaElle)\
**Post date:** [January 25, 2004, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-anyone-decide-who-to-vote-for-ive-not-done-it-before/225628/21 "2004-01-25T18:50:34Z")

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Definitely, definitely know where you stand on the issues, then choose the person who best represents (as reported by objective sources) your stances.

Aligning yourself with a political party, a special interest, a gender, an age preference or any such qualification is all fine and good, but you can’t expect that an elected official is going to do anything in particular just because they’re a Dem, Repub, Green or whatever, because they’re endorsed by NOW or NRtL or the NRA, a woman, young, old or any of the above. There’s nothing to hold them to, accordingly. You should, however, be able to hold them accountable to the _positions_ that they claim to embrace. If a candidate says that he supports gay rights but then goes along with stuff like the Defense of Marriage Act (or now, a constitutional amendment prohibiting gay marriage) you can hold his feet to the fire over that.

Know the issues, pick accordingly.

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**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\
**Post date:** [January 25, 2004, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-anyone-decide-who-to-vote-for-ive-not-done-it-before/225628/22 "2004-01-25T22:07:25Z")

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> [@Elysian](#):
>
> 1. I will vote for the women first.  
> Yes, I realize that women aren’t always the better qualified candidates, but I believe that we are underrepresented in the legislature, and I will always vote for a woman if given the choice.
> 
> 2. I will vote for Democrats.  
> Democrats tend to be more concerned about the environment and other issues I support.
> 
> 3. I will vote for the younger of the two, or the least experienced.  
> This is only the case when I have a dislike of the way the office has been run in the past. I feel that younger people have more fire and a will to change things.

So you’re sexist, bigotted, and agist: you won’t consider a man over a woman, that he might actually be better for the job; you won’t consider other views; and you don’t value experience.

Nice one.

For my part, I suggest that the OP reads up thoroughly on all the candidates, endeavour to meet as many as possible (ok, in America this may not be possible), question them as thoroughly as possible (likely via email), and form a well-judged opinion.

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