# Who was the first person you ever voted for? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 12, 2003, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-first-person-you-ever-voted-for/218479 "2003-12-12T01:01:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2003, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-first-person-you-ever-voted-for/218479/1 "2003-12-12T01:01:24Z")
As I said in a recent MPSIMS thread, the late Senator Paul Simon (D-IL) got my vote in the 1988 presidential primary (and that was the only state he won :(). So who got your first vote, and in what election? You can include school elections, like Homecoming royalty and class president, if the event was significant enough for you to remember. (Side note: If you ever ran for school office, did you vote for yourself?) ---
**Author:** ![Mojo\_the\_Monkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eada6e/32.png) [@Mojo\_the\_Monkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mojo_the_Monkey)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2003, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-first-person-you-ever-voted-for/218479/2 "2003-12-12T01:43:20Z")
Paul Tsongas in the 1992 presidential primary here in Minnesota. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2003, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-first-person-you-ever-voted-for/218479/3 "2003-12-12T02:11:46Z")
Ron Reagan in 1980. But you gotta remember two things; 1\> The alternative was more Jimmy Carter. 2\> I was 18 years old. ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2003, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-first-person-you-ever-voted-for/218479/4 "2003-12-12T02:16:22Z")
1990 Massachusetts Governor’s Race John Silber, the one-armed bandit of B.U. It was done with great feelings of misgiving, and looking back, Bill Weld (who won) was most likely the better choice. First Pres. election was for Clinton in '92. ---
**Author:** ![Duke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e8c25b/32.png) [@Duke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2003, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-first-person-you-ever-voted-for/218479/5 "2003-12-12T02:24:31Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Mojo the Monkey \* > \*\*Paul Tsongas in the 1992 presidential primary here in Minnesota. \*\* Hey, that was my first vote too. Not in Minnesota, though. ---
**Author:** ![luluBahrain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e5b9ba/32.png) [@luluBahrain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/luluBahrain)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2003, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-first-person-you-ever-voted-for/218479/6 "2003-12-12T02:29:49Z")
Clinton ---
**Author:** ![jackelope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@jackelope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackelope)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2003, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-first-person-you-ever-voted-for/218479/7 "2003-12-12T02:32:33Z")
Harry Browne. ---
**Author:** ![Michael\_Ellis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/977dab/32.png) [@Michael\_Ellis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Michael_Ellis)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2003, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-first-person-you-ever-voted-for/218479/8 "2003-12-12T02:34:11Z")
Arnold. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Carter\_of\_Mars](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/2bfe46/32.png) [@John\_Carter\_of\_Mars](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Carter_of_Mars)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2003, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-first-person-you-ever-voted-for/218479/9 "2003-12-12T02:37:14Z")
1. Janie Kelsey for 9th grade Queen. 2. Barry Goldwater, over LBJ. ---
**Author:** ![Ringo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/779978/32.png) [@Ringo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ringo)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2003, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-first-person-you-ever-voted-for/218479/10 "2003-12-12T02:51:02Z")
McGovern (1972). Then I voted for Carter (once) and Reagan (once). Right now it looks like I’ll probably vote for Dean in the Democratic Primary and GWB in the General Election. ---
**Author:** ![PaperBlob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/58956e/32.png) [@PaperBlob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PaperBlob)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2003, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-first-person-you-ever-voted-for/218479/11 "2003-12-12T02:58:54Z")
**John Anderson** in 1980. Carter was a sucky president and I hated Reagan (with good reason, as it turns out), so I went for the third party guy. ---
**Author:** ![Lisa-go-Blind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Lisa-go-Blind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lisa-go-Blind)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2003, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-first-person-you-ever-voted-for/218479/12 "2003-12-12T03:00:04Z")
This year’s Louisiana governor’s race. I voted for Kathleen Blanco. ---
**Author:** ![Loopus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loopus/32/15343_2.png) [@Loopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopus)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2003, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-first-person-you-ever-voted-for/218479/13 "2003-12-12T03:24:51Z")
George W. Bush in 2000. I didn’t worry too much about my vote, since Bush was a lock here in Texas with or without me. But if I had it all to do over again, I would probably write in Donald Duck or something… ---
**Author:** ![E.Thorp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@E.Thorp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E.Thorp)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2003, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-first-person-you-ever-voted-for/218479/14 "2003-12-12T03:39:42Z")
**School election:** in 4th grade we had some kind of mock-prom election and had to vote for a king and queen. I voted for Jim and Jackie (I remember their names and nothing else). The winners were Porter and Connie. Lots of kids voted for them thinking they’d be a perfect couple because…they were cousins! Fourth-graders, it must be said, don’t always get the point. Then again, neither do college students. To wit, my vote for… **President:** George H.W. Bush, in November 1988 against Dukakis. Started kicking myself pretty early in 1989. ---
**Author:** ![Dignan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f07891/32.png) [@Dignan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dignan)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2003, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-first-person-you-ever-voted-for/218479/15 "2003-12-12T03:47:09Z")
I voted for Gore in the 2000 presidential election. It was the first election I was old enough to vote in, and wouldn’t you know it, it was the big one! ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Babbington](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Mr.Babbington](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Babbington)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2003, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-first-person-you-ever-voted-for/218479/16 "2003-12-12T04:02:26Z")
1992: Dennis Black, for President of the Student Council. He ran on a “rid the school of tainted meat” platform. 1995: Coral Houle, Mayor of Bloomington, Minnesota. ---
**Author:** ![Fern\_Forest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/71c47a/32.png) [@Fern\_Forest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fern_Forest)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2003, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-first-person-you-ever-voted-for/218479/17 "2003-12-12T04:12:26Z")
Clinton in 92. The day I turned 18. In fact technically I voted a few hours before I turned 18. I don’t recall if anyone else was on the ballot. ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2003, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-first-person-you-ever-voted-for/218479/18 "2003-12-12T04:17:04Z")
Voted Nader in 2000. Hey, Gore carried NM with about 500 votes, so don’t look at me. ---
**Author:** ![Chance\_the\_Gardener](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@Chance\_the\_Gardener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chance_the_Gardener)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2003, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-first-person-you-ever-voted-for/218479/19 "2003-12-12T05:18:11Z")
Michael Dukakis. And if I had it all to do over again, I’d vote for Michael Dukakis. I didn’t get to vote in the primary, though. On principle, I registered independent. By 1992 I’d registered Democratic, and voted for Paul Tsongas in the Pennsylvania primary. I only mention my second vote because I think it’s odd that there are so many Tsongas voters on this thread. I mean, at the time of that election, I’d never even _been_ to Massachusetts, much less felt any connection to the place. I don’t remember why I went with him, anymore. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2003, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-first-person-you-ever-voted-for/218479/20 "2003-12-12T05:29:36Z")
Rosemary Gunning. If you’ve never heard of her, I’m not surprised. I turned 18 in 1979, an off-year for elections in New York. The biggest office on the ballot that year was for my local state assemblyperson, and I voted for incumbent Republican Rosemary Gunning. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-the-first-person-you-ever-voted-for/218479.md?page=2)