# How should I have voted? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 9, 2006, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-should-i-have-voted/379641 "2006-11-09T01:25:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![LilyoftheValley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/54ee81/32.png) [@LilyoftheValley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LilyoftheValley)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2006, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-should-i-have-voted/379641/1 "2006-11-09T01:25:26Z")
In my district we elect 4 State Representatives. There were 8 people running for the 4 positions, and you could vote for up to 4 candidates in any distribution you choose (no individual was running directly against another). To simplify things, I’ll summarize my opinions of the candidates as follows: A & B : 100% for C & D : 60 % for E & F : 40% for G & H : 0% for So what would have been the best way for me to vote? How do you vote in these situations? I ended up voting only for A & B, but I’m not sure it was the best choice. FWIW, I probably won’t have 4 reps to elect next term (pending the results of a ballot question) so likely this is all academic. ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Who](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Doctor\_Who](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Who)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2006, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-should-i-have-voted/379641/2 "2006-11-09T01:31:14Z")
IMO you should have voted for A & B & C & D. Why C & D? Well - to keep out the other guys that you preferred at levels of 40% and 0%. You should have voted for the 4 that you would have been most happy with, regardless of the percentage of happiness. ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2006, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-should-i-have-voted/379641/3 "2006-11-09T03:20:29Z")
[QUOTE=Doctor Who] You should have voted for the 4 that you would have been most happy with, regardless of the percentage of happiness. [/QUOTE] I didn’t even know happiness could be represented by a percentage. I feel about 75% uneasy about that. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2006, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-should-i-have-voted/379641/4 "2006-11-09T03:43:14Z")
Your own opinions on the candidates is only one factor in making your decision. There’s also their electability. Suppose for example, that candidate C has no chance of being elected and the two front runner candidates are E and G. In that case, you might decide to vote for E rather than C. ---
**Author:** ![LilyoftheValley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/54ee81/32.png) [@LilyoftheValley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LilyoftheValley)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2006, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-should-i-have-voted/379641/5 "2006-11-09T18:54:04Z")
[QUOTE=Little Nemo] Your own opinions on the candidates is only one factor in making your decision. There’s also their electability. Suppose for example, that candidate C has no chance of being elected and the two front runner candidates are E and G. In that case, you might decide to vote for E rather than C. [/QUOTE] Ah, that is part of my problem. It’s not exactly a high-profile race (the winner had fewer than 3,000 votes), so we don’t really have a good idea of who is likely to win, except for name recognition. I just went to the state website, and it turns out that the results went: G-H-A-B, then only a 20 vote gap to E. There’s nothing like local elections to make you feel that your vote actually means something. ---
**Author:** ![LilyoftheValley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/54ee81/32.png) [@LilyoftheValley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LilyoftheValley)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2006, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-should-i-have-voted/379641/6 "2006-11-09T18:55:15Z")
Scratch “we” in my above post, and make that “I”. I suppose that people who are more into local politics than I do probably know better, but I am not in on that info. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2006, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-should-i-have-voted/379641/7 "2006-11-09T20:02:09Z")
I’d vote for any candidate that was at least %25 rasta. ---
**Author:** ![Jayrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Jayrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jayrot)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2006, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-should-i-have-voted/379641/8 "2006-11-09T22:41:53Z")
I agree with that 60%.