(No, not a gay marraige thread)
Does anyone here vote or plan on voting straight ticket?
Is it still done by anyone you know?
Thread rule: Please don’t judge anyone’s replies or debate their merit. I’m simply curious about a practice I saw a lot while growing up but rarely hear of now.
All my votes go for candidates of one party, so I guess that makes me a straight party line voter.
I voted for five Democrats, one Republican, a Libertarian, and a member of the Pacific Green party so I have a definite bias but nothing overwhelming.
I voted for all Democrats, but I didn’t just blindly check the Democrat box without finding out at least something about the people I was voting for.
I look over all the candidates and decide who I’m voting for on their individual merits. Then, typically, I go to the polls and push the button for the straight Democratic ticket. Then I change the choice for the one or two candidtes who aren’t Democrats. It saves a lot of button-pushing and has the same effect.
I vote for individuals, and it usually winds up about 50/50 Dem/Pubbie.
Two people I know through work are both going to mark the straight ticket for the Democrats. One is in her forties and the other one is fifty-something. As far as I can tell they’ve always done this, as did their parents before them. :rolleyes:
My state doesn’t have a “vote straight” option; you have to vote for each position individually. I do tend to vote for a certain party, but there are times that I go the other way. The only time it becomes a “straight” (as in blind, I don’t care if he’s a child molester as long as he’s from my party) ticket is when I have no idea who these people are. At that point I figure that any guy from my party is better than any guy from their party.
Which is probably about as much thought as these yahoos put into their decision to run as the Republican/Democratic Assistant Dog Catcher.
As always, I voted for all Democrats (except in the non-partisian offices). There isn’t actually a “party ticket” spot on the ballot, but I filled in all the Democrat spots.
Because many years ago, I looked at the parties & compared them to my own personal views, and decided that I was clearly much closer to the Democratic positions than Republican ones. (And the changes in the Republican party since Barry Goldwater have only confirmed my decision.)
So even if I don’t know anything personally about a candidate, I go with the Democrat. Odds are that this person is closer to my views than the Republican opponent.
I vote for the Democrat even if I know them and don’t happen to like their views on issues. Even a bad (disagrees with me) Democrat is better than a good Republican. Having one more Democrat in office might give us the majority, thus control of the legislative agenda, appointment of committee chairs, etc. This can make a big difference in the legislature. And if I dislike a Democratic candidate’s views that much, I will work hard within the party to get someone else the Democratic nomination. And that is not always so hard to do; as there are fewer Democratic delegates to influence than voters in general.
What I can’t understand is people who proudly proclaim that they are “independent”, and don’t support any political party. Don’t they have principles that they stand for? Most of them that I know seem to vote based on the 30-second sound bite that they saw last! And seem actually proud that they didn’t do any study or even think about the issues. I just can’t understand that.
Typically, I vote straight Libertarian. For the fill-in positions, I vote Democrat for social offices and Republican for fiscal offices. So, Democrat for Sheriff, and Republican for Treasurer, etc. Nowadays, though, it’s a more blurry line.
While I’ve tried to learn as much as I could about the local/state candidates since moving up here last month…things like life and the new job get in the way, so I’m much more likely to select a candidate because of their political party for those jobs than I have been in any previous election.
Typically, I look at the candidates and their issues and history (if they’ve held an office previously) and make a decision independent of the party from there. This time…I’m likely voting a straight ticket.
I always vote for the Republican candidates, as a ‘Lesser of Many Evils’ choice.
I vote for all Democrats, except:
There is this one Republican I like, yet he has done two crazy things. He used to have a reasonable stance on a certain issue, then switched to get more votes. This past week he did something else really crazy. So when he runs for Governor, if he is the Republican candidate, I’m not voting for him. Even though I met him once through my father-in-law and I liked him.
Also, I am voting for the Independent County Prosecutor because the one in there now, who happens to be a Democrat, only cares about getting a conviction. Who cares if the person actually did the crime. There is not a Republican running.
That’s not to say I wouldn’t ever vote for a Republican. I just feel at this time that the President isn’t really acting as a Republican or as a conservative in the normal definition of the word. I think he is extreme and must be stopped.
The lesser of two evils? I like Kerry and think he would be a good Presidnet. That said, if Jerry Springer were the Democratic candidate I would whole-heartedly vote for him.
But would I vote for Al Shaprton? No. Ralph Nader? No, he has become some kind of egomaniac.
I vote a straight-party ticket- although I can see circumstances where I might deviate some (particularly with senate and presdential elections where I have more info on the candidate).
For the most part I vote for the party philosophy rather than the individual. This keeps me from just voting for the guy that happens to be the better speech maker or from picking the next criminal appeals judge based on who has the coolest blurb in the LWV voter’s guide- and even if the guy turns out to be somewhat incompetant, at least he’s incompetantly pursuing my goals rather than competantly opposing them. Unless of course he’s not really in the party that he claims to be in- like a libertarian Democrat or a socialist Republican or something like that. But I don’t imagine that sort of misrepresentation is too common.
I’m going to vote a straight Democratic ticket. However, for congress, Ohio D 15, I’m going to write myself in. I’m not voting for Mark Brown (local maverick) and I won’t cast a single Republican vote this year.
It is going to be a long time until I’ll ever consider voting for a Republican.
Barb and I will be voting the straight Democratic ticket next Tuesday.
We’ve often voted for Republicans in the past. But there is not a man on the ballot from the Republican party for whom we can in good conscience vote, this time around.
I think we’ve voted for one Republican since we’ve been in North Carolina – a moderate Republican running for one of the statewide judgeships.
In New York we were about 60% Republican, 35% Democrat, 5% miscellaneous other in our votes – generally Democrat for executive offices, (moderate to liberal) Republican for our various legislators, occasionally Liberal or Conservative when the two major-party candidates neither suited our tastes.
I’m voting almost a straight ticket: KBO
If a candidate is an incumbent, they’re not getting my vote. There are two exceptions to this rule: Senate, and President. For Senate I’m voting for the incumbent, because I don’t ever want Hillary to become NYS’s senior Senator. And, he’s pretty much a good senator.
I’m not fond of Shrub, but I can’t stomach Kerry, so… I’m probably going to write in NSRP candidates.
My US representative may get my vote again, even though she’s on record as saying she’ll vote for any bill with spending in it for her district. She’s still a reasonably honest representative, and the person the Republicans have chosen to run against her is a State Senator.
On the State level, anyone involved in the botched abortion that is Albany is not getting my vote. I don’t care if they walk on water, and have a cure for cancer in their paws. 20 years without an on time budget is too fucking long. Political party affiliation doesn’t come into it. Incumbency is what I’m out to punish.
They may have principles that conflict with both major political parties. A common example would be a fiscal conservative who is a social liberal.
Or they may simply have seen too much of what happens to politicians in one party states. Corrupt politicians should be booted out, no matter what they officially espouse.
I tend to vote a straight ticket as I did this year but not always. Next election might be completely different.
I like to vote for Greens if there is one I like running, especially for local positions. I often agree with their social positions more than the Democrats, although their fiscal ideas are cuckoo. I don’t have anything against voting for a Republican or Libertarian in principle, but I’ve never done it yet.