I voted straight Democrat this year. However, I have in the past voted for certain Republicans. At least in this area, once it gets before state level offices party affiliation doesn’t necessarily mean much. For example, schools in this state must have a balanced budget. So even a tax and spend Democrat couldn’t just tax and spend. They just have to spend what money they’ve got. And the township supervisors’ position on abortion is irrelevant. They can’t pass laws about abortion. Thus at these lower offices, if I knew the Democrat candidate was incompetent I wouldn’t hesitate to vote for the Republican.
Don’t forget, PC&B, that in NC if you just check the straight ticket box alone you will not have voted for the president. You also have to vote for the president with a separate check, punch, touch, whatever. I read and heard of so many early voters who did not read the instructions on that point and failed to cast a presidential vote. I wonder if NC is the only state to do that.
Well, given the number of non-partisan races usually on the ballot (city offices and judicial positions), it’s hard to vote straight ticket. Plus, there’s no way to do that on the ballot - if you’re voting the party line, you still have to fill in all the individual bubbles for each office.
The majority of the time, though, my votes are going to Democrats, for the reasons that t-bonham said. But, this year, for the first time in my memory, I’m voting for a (one, one single, exactly one) Republican for a certain office.
Thank you for the enlightening replies.
here in Oklahoma, I don’t think I could ever vote straight ticket. Just too much shit all the way around. I feel we Okies have to really look at each guy.
Shoot, we’ve got a Senate race where a Dem is endorsed by the NRA and is listing all his Rightish leanings and the Pubbie thinks Bush isn’t right enough and wants to execute abortion doctors but has Dem lawyers on his side. And that’s just one race! The state positions are even more convoluted.
I guess I was wondering if there are indeed any states left where the positions are still mainline Dem or GOP. Seems there are.
But in some years, they do not conflict:
- How can a fiscal conservative vote for the Bush deficit?
- How can a social liberal vote for the Bus anit-gay, anti-immigrant policies?
Please, I DON’T want this to turn into another debate thread. State your reasons if you must, but no refering to other’s.
No Clue Boy
Good call.
<sitting on hands… for a minute, then going off to the Pit>
The only Republican I would have voted for was Goldwater, though I wasn’t old enough to vote then.
So I usually wind up voting Democratic, though I often have to suppress my gag reflex.
This year: since Bush wants a Constitutional amendment making me a second-class citizen, I cannot support anyone who still calls himself a Republican. I know how “unfair” that sounds, but it’s a reflection of how totally pissed I am over this issue.
Sorry!
I don’t, since there are always at least a few democrats I vote for on the local level. My grandparents and greatgrandparents always voted straight ticket for Dems. Always struck me odd, too, not even my very conservative parents vote a straight ticket.
I don’t think WI has a straight ticket option, but I can’t imagine a circumstance under which I’d vote for a Republican on the federal level (this year I get to vote for Kerry, Feingold and Baldwin, how great is that?) or the state level. Perhaps if there were a Republican running for, I don’t know, clerk of courts or something I could vote for him or her. If there’s a Green running for some nothing office I don’t care about I might vote for them just because I know they aren’t going to win and it’s a chance to vote for a third party candidate without actually fucking over the country (I’m looking at you, 2000 Nader voters!). I can’t ever vote for a Libertarian in Wisconsin because I’ve met many Libertarian stalwarts and they’re all to a man batshit crazy.
I vote for the candidate I consider to be the best choice. It’s almost always the Democrat, but I don’t just automaically vote a straight ticket.
My vote is mostly based on the issues at hand, with one major exception. I will not vote for someone who is a career politician. I firmly believe that political office holders, like diapers, need to be regularly changed, for the same reason. 
First off all, California doesn’t have straight ticket voting, and, even if it did, local races are non-partisan.
For the five partisan races that I am voting for, I’ll be voting for 3 Reps and 2 Dems. (Kerry/Jones/Castillo/Cox/Niello)
I’m still trying to determine how I vote on the local races.
I’m not affiliated with either party, though the county clerk puts ‘DTS’ (Declined to State) rather than ‘Independent’ in the little box on my registration card for party affiliation. Sigh.
Anyway, I’m doing something I thought I’d never do - Vote straight ticket. Simply put, no one who is a Republican gets my vote this year.
Actually, it’s a done deal. I voted early.
I usually mix my votes around (in New York, you can usually vote for a candidate on any of several parties – Bush, for instance, is both Republican and Conservative), but since Andrew Cuomo singlehandedly destroyed the Liberal Party a few years back, I tend to stick to Democratic.
Please say you voted against incumbency with respect to the Assembly and the Senate. Please. Even if you’re lying, tell me you didn’t vote to re-elect anyone involved in Albany’s cluster-fuck. Please! I’ll be your best friend. <nodnodnodnodnodnod>