# Share your dirty little Election Day secrets **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 6, 2012, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-dirty-little-election-day-secrets/640076 "2012-11-06T14:00:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2012, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-dirty-little-election-day-secrets/640076/21 "2012-11-06T17:49:57Z")
I normally vote Republican, but I voted for the Democratic senator in the last election because I hoped he would help secure the auto bailout. I’m still not sure if I did the right thing or not. The guy in question (Carl Levin) has been around longer than the dirt in my back yard, and is mostly a worthless empty suit. Our other senator is up for re-election this year, and I’m going back to voting for the Republican, even though I know he won’t win, because the incumbent is another worthless empty suit. ---
**Author:** ![gallows\_fodder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8c91f0/32.png) [@gallows\_fodder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gallows_fodder)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2012, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-dirty-little-election-day-secrets/640076/22 "2012-11-06T18:08:16Z")
I voted for Nader in 2004 because no way in hell would I vote for Bush, but I didn’t like Kerry either. ---
**Author:** ![Satchmo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/satchmo/32/4223_2.png) [@Satchmo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Satchmo)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2012, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-dirty-little-election-day-secrets/640076/23 "2012-11-06T18:14:19Z")
> [@Lacunae\_Matata](#): > > My husband and I are saving time, gas money, and taxpayer expense by not voting: we disagree on every single candidate (including city council and an amendment,) so we’d just cancel out one another’s ballots. I know it sounds lazy and unpatriotic and all, but what would be the point? Wait. Are you my grandparents? 😃 I used to encourage everyone I knew to vote, now I don’t, because that makes my vote count for more. ---
**Author:** ![Trion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ccd318/32.png) [@Trion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trion)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2012, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-dirty-little-election-day-secrets/640076/24 "2012-11-06T18:15:33Z")
There’s somebody I know who lives in the same town I do who’s running for state senate. He is living with the mother of one of my daughter’s “kind-of” friends. He shoves the mother around and is cheating on her with a married woman. I voted against him. ---
**Author:** ![corkboard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9bcb4/32.png) [@corkboard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/corkboard)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2012, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-dirty-little-election-day-secrets/640076/25 "2012-11-06T18:21:42Z")
I was in college, 1988. The TV in our apartment (5 guys) was always tuned to MTV. That year the channel was running some goofy “campaign” for the candidate Randy of the Redwoods, some 60’s burnout hippie-type dude who was running on a platform of “more rock 'n roll, dude!”, or something equally cerebral. Hey, it was MTV. My parents sent me an absentee ballot so I could vote in the presidential election without driving 3.5 hours home. I had absolutely zero interest in the race, and didn’t give a rusty left nut who won the election. So I wrote in Randy of the Redwoods in my absentee ballot and sent it in. ---
**Author:** ![zev\_steinhardt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/97f17d/32.png) [@zev\_steinhardt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zev_steinhardt)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2012, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-dirty-little-election-day-secrets/640076/26 "2012-11-06T18:24:21Z")
I voted at the wrong address once, and it may have saved my life. In New York, the state primaries were held on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. I had moved to a new address (a few blocks away) the year before, but forgot to change my voting place. So, I went and voted at my old place. After that, I got on the subway and went to work in downtown Manhattan (I worked for J&R Music World at the time). My old house was closer to the F train, so I took that train to Jay Street, where I transferred to the A. I took the A to Chambers Street and got up to ground level at about 9:05am, right after the second tower was hit. The place looked like a war zone. Had I changed my voter registration and voted in the right place, I would have ended up taking the D train, switching for the N or R at Dekalb and getting out right at the World Trade Center. In addition the D/N-R combination typically took a few minutes less than the F/A combination, meaning I would have probably arrived just about as the second plane hit. I could have easily ended up coming out of the subway and having jet fuel and airplane parts raining down on my head. Instead, because I voted at the wrong place, I ended up arriving two blocks away and a few minutes later. Zev Steinhardt ---
**Author:** ![RandMcnally](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b782af/32.png) [@RandMcnally](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandMcnally)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2012, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-dirty-little-election-day-secrets/640076/27 "2012-11-06T18:44:13Z")
I didn’t vote in the election I was first able to (2004) and I’m glad I didn’t. If I did I would have voted for W. (I was young and stupid). I mean, my vote wouldn’t have mattered as I’m in California, but still. I’d know. ---
**Author:** ![Lacunae\_Matata](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8491ac/32.png) [@Lacunae\_Matata](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lacunae_Matata)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2012, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-dirty-little-election-day-secrets/640076/28 "2012-11-06T18:55:22Z")
> [@Satchmo](#): > > Wait. Are you my grandparents? > 😃 I don’t think so… maybe? Is your grandmother a remarkably lovely, brilliant, and witty woman with a charming southern accent and far more political acumen than your grandfather? 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Daylate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9dc877/32.png) [@Daylate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daylate)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2012, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-dirty-little-election-day-secrets/640076/29 "2012-11-06T19:23:45Z")
I am currently (as I’ve done for every presidential election since then) wearing my big “ **Goldwater in '64** ” pin. Still think we’d have been much better off with him than with LBJ. It’s actually a little scary for me to think that the '64 election was the fourth one I’d voted in. This election is my sixteenth. How many of you Dopers can equal or better that? ---
**Author:** ![Ponch8](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponch8/32/9883_2.png) [@Ponch8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponch8)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2012, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-dirty-little-election-day-secrets/640076/30 "2012-11-06T19:38:22Z")
On Election Day in November 2010, we had a special election for a vacant Senate seat. The winner of that special election would get to be Senator for six weeks until the term expired. At the same time, we had the regular election for the next six-year term for that seat (the term starting in January 2011). The same two candidates were on the ballot for both elections. I voted for one guy for the six-week term, and I voted for the other guy for the next full term. ---
**Author:** ![leftfield6](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leftfield6/32/18780_2.png) [@leftfield6](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leftfield6)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2012, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-dirty-little-election-day-secrets/640076/31 "2012-11-06T19:46:29Z")
Yellow dog Democrat here, but my first two presidential votes went for Reagan. I didn’t know better, I was 16 and 20 years old. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2012, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-dirty-little-election-day-secrets/640076/32 "2012-11-06T19:50:43Z")
> [@leftfield6](#): > > Yellow dog Democrat here, but my first two presidential votes went for Reagan. I didn’t know better, I was 16 and 20 years old. ☹ I’m a little more concerned about you voting at age 16… (Unless you mean mock school voting.) ---
**Author:** ![Taomist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/53a042/32.png) [@Taomist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taomist)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2012, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-dirty-little-election-day-secrets/640076/33 "2012-11-06T20:28:48Z")
> [@zev\_steinhardt](#): > > I voted at the wrong address once, and it may have saved my life. > > In New York, the state primaries were held on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. I had moved to a new address (a few blocks away) the year before, but forgot to change my voting place. So, I went and voted at my old place. After that, I got on the subway and went to work in downtown Manhattan (I worked for J&R Music World at the time). > > My old house was closer to the F train, so I took that train to Jay Street, where I transferred to the A. I took the A to Chambers Street and got up to ground level at about 9:05am, right after the second tower was hit. The place looked like a war zone. > > Had I changed my voter registration and voted in the right place, I would have ended up taking the D train, switching for the N or R at Dekalb and getting out right at the World Trade Center. In addition the D/N-R combination typically took a few minutes less than the F/A combination, meaning I would have probably arrived just about as the second plane hit. I could have easily ended up coming out of the subway and having jet fuel and airplane parts raining down on my head. Instead, because I voted at the wrong place, I ended up arriving two blocks away and a few minutes later. > > Zev Steinhardt Voting: It Changes Your Life! \ ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2012, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-dirty-little-election-day-secrets/640076/34 "2012-11-06T20:45:38Z")
I voted straight party ticket this year. I don’t think of myself as one of those, but I’m just nauseated by what I’m seeing happening on the other side. ---
**Author:** ![StusBlues](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@StusBlues](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StusBlues)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2012, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-dirty-little-election-day-secrets/640076/35 "2012-11-06T20:51:05Z")
My big one is this year. I haven’t voted yet, and haven’t really looked at the League of Women Voters’ guide like I usually do. I’ll get it done, but this is by far the longest I’ve waited. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2012, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-dirty-little-election-day-secrets/640076/36 "2012-11-06T21:12:11Z")
I did not run over a long line of abortion protesters one year, so the world will never know if they could actually scream louder while being crushed. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2012, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-dirty-little-election-day-secrets/640076/37 "2012-11-06T21:26:55Z")
I vote no on all school budget initiatives. Without looking at it deeply. If you rubber stamp a budget I put together I’m damn sure going to pad it. So I want to make them work a little harder at it. Also because I know a guy who was on the board who told me about how even it the budget got shot down they would repackage push it through the council. So the election is basically a sham to make it seem like the people have a say in how the budget is spent. So my vote is a fuck you. ---
**Author:** ![SmellMyWort](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea5d25/32.png) [@SmellMyWort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmellMyWort)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2012, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-dirty-little-election-day-secrets/640076/38 "2012-11-06T21:31:55Z")
> [@Lacunae\_Matata](#): > > My husband and I are saving time, gas money, and taxpayer expense by not voting: we disagree on every single candidate (including city council and an amendment,) so we’d just cancel out one another’s ballots. I know it sounds lazy and unpatriotic and all, but what would be the point? How can you be sure that one of you isn’t planning to sneak out at some point? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Winston\_Smith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e95f7d/32.png) [@Winston\_Smith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Winston_Smith)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2012, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-dirty-little-election-day-secrets/640076/39 "2012-11-06T21:36:11Z")
I’ve voted for Joe Walsh in every Presidential Election since 1988, when I was first eligable to vote.\* \*Not true, but I wish it was. ---
**Author:** ![InternetLegend](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/internetlegend/32/13154_2.png) [@InternetLegend](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InternetLegend)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2012, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-dirty-little-election-day-secrets/640076/40 "2012-11-07T00:26:27Z")
> [@SmellMyWort](#): > > How can you be sure that one of you isn’t planning to sneak out at some point? 😃 See, that was my first thought: “Honey, I’m just going to run to the store for some milk…” The first time I was old enough to vote for president, I voted for John Anderson instead of Carter, just because Carter wasn’t cool. Or something. Looking back, I really wasn’t informed enough to be voting in a presidential election. I also failed to change my voter registration when I moved to Los Alamos in 1981; I drove back to Albuquerque and voted in the spring school board and bond issue election that year, even though I technically wasn’t living there anymore. This one, I don’t regret, especially since I moved back to Albuquerque later that year. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-dirty-little-election-day-secrets/640076.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-your-dirty-little-election-day-secrets/640076.md?page=3)