# Voting

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/voting/640062>\
**Category:** Politics & Elections\
**Created:** [November 6, 2012, 11:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/voting/640062 "2012-11-06T11:00:38Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![sabrina70](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e19adc/32.png) [@sabrina70](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sabrina70)\
**Post date:** [November 6, 2012, 11:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/voting/640062/1 "2012-11-06T11:00:38Z")

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Is it true if you vote straight Democrat then the vote does not go to POTUS.

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**Author:** ![Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hentor_the_Barbarian)\
**Post date:** [November 6, 2012, 11:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/voting/640062/2 "2012-11-06T11:07:14Z")

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Now why would that have the slightest chance of being true? That’s just dumb.

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**Author:** ![Enkel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/df705f/32.png) [@Enkel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enkel)\
**Post date:** [November 6, 2012, 11:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/voting/640062/3 "2012-11-06T11:09:14Z")

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You need to read your ballot. There is one state where if you tick off ‘straight democratic’ then you STILL need to make a selection for POTUS or else you haven’t voted for the POTUS position.

I can’t remember which state, I just remember seeing an ad to that effect.

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**Author:** ![Enkel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/df705f/32.png) [@Enkel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enkel)\
**Post date:** [November 6, 2012, 11:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/voting/640062/4 "2012-11-06T11:12:25Z")

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In North Carolina, voting “straight party” (using the term from an NC ballot) does not include a vote for the President and Vice President of the United States. North Carolina voters therefore must make separate selections for the President/Vice President and the straight-party option

Source: [Straight-ticket voting - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Straight-ticket_voting)

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**Author:** ![Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hentor_the_Barbarian)\
**Post date:** [November 6, 2012, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/voting/640062/5 "2012-11-06T13:04:16Z")

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> [@Enkel](#):
>
> In North Carolina, voting “straight party” (using the term from an NC ballot) does not include a vote for the President and Vice President of the United States. North Carolina voters therefore must make separate selections for the President/Vice President and the straight-party option
> 
> Source: [Straight-ticket voting - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Straight-ticket_voting)

So it is true, and dumb. Thanks for the info. It isn’t specific to Democratic votes, is it?

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**Author:** ![C3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/c3/32/3108_2.png) [@C3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C3)\
**Post date:** [November 6, 2012, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/voting/640062/6 "2012-11-06T13:13:50Z")

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> [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](#):
>
> So it is true, and dumb. Thanks for the info. It isn’t specific to Democratic votes, is it?

No, it’s for Republicans, too. It is dumb and rather confusing. In 2008, there was a big push to publicize this and there were a lot of warnings to be careful when you fill out your ballot. This year, not so much. There were some signs inside the polling stations and that’s it.