How do these ballots work.
ie. Can you check of Democrack on the Straight-Party part of the ballot and then still pick Mccain? Where does the party vote go to?
Enquiring foreigners need to know.
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lylenorg |
What's a straight party vote? |
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I was reading something some states having a ballot with a straight party box and then another box for the president?
How do these ballots work. ie. Can you check of Democrack on the Straight-Party part of the ballot and then still pick Mccain? Where does the party vote go to? Enquiring foreigners need to know.
Save a Cowboy, ride a Redhead.
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Sarawaraclara |
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I don't think you just check off Republican or Democrat and they are automatically filled in... I think they put all the candidates for each party on the
same side of the ballot so that it's easier to just vote Republican all the way down, or Democrat all the way down.
You say I'm a bitch like it's a bad thing...
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lylenorg |
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Actually, you're kind of right and kind of wrong. I found this.
It's kind of scary how it works and I can see how first time voters would struggle with the system. It's also kind of scary how the article implys that the system is skewed to favour the Republican Party. A an obviously biased article yes, but still scary. It's a long article, but for Bangabong, a must-read.
Save a Cowboy, ride a Redhead.
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prairiequeen |
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We have that in Wisconsin.
At the top of the ballot are a list of all the parties that have candidates in the election. If you vote for a party it will count a vote for each candidate for each office of that party. It is for people who are staunch party followers and in my opinion lazy. You do not HAVE to pick a party, you can pick and choose on every office between the different parties if you want to vote that way. You then just don't choose a party. HOWEVER. If you vote for a particular party and then vote for a person from another party for a particular office, it voids the "vote for everyone in this party" choice and you have only one vote for whoever you voted for in that office. We use optecs in Wisconsin and they check them with every combination of possible votes to make sure they tabulate correctly. If you mark one mark for the party, it will show a vote for the person running for every office on the ballot in that party. I work at the polls so I have seen the tests first hand. Edited to Add - We use paper ballots. The optec only READS or scans the ballot, it is NOT electronic voting. There may be problems with electronic voting, but there is not with the paper ballots and the optec scanners.
Last Edited By: prairiequeen
10/28/08 6:15 PM.
Edited 2 times.
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jane1958 |
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I have never seen or heard of those. Interesting
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lylenorg |
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Prairie. The article eludes to a few things ...
1. People select a Party and assume that if they don't make a choice below that everyone belonging to that party is a vote for them. The article goes on to say that people don't realize that changing 1 vote nullfys the Party Choice. I can see people making that wrong assumption. States we these types of ballots have a much higher rate of "non" votes. 2. The article further goes on to say that optic scanners and electronic votes are being miscounted for the same reasons. 3. The article is tilted towards the Democrats - it does accuse the system of being biased for the Republican Party at least in New Mexico. Before the republicans jump all over the biasedness of it all, it still doesn't negate 1 and 2. Regardless of number 3, it is a very poorly designed ballot. Although the average person coould probably figure it out, we do have to realize that about half the people voting are under the average intelligence - that's why it's called "average". Thus the ballots should be designed for dummies, not average people. |
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lylenorg |
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Edit a double post. Apparently I clicked the "party" toggle rather than the "edit" toggle and Yuku counted my post twice.
Save a Cowboy, ride a Redhead.
Last Edited By: lylenorg
10/28/08 7:14 PM.
Edited 1 times.
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Wilkin |
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In Pennsylvania it's referred to as "pulling the lever". (back in ancient days, there actually was a single lever that would activate all the
individual levers for the specific party candidates for each office) You'd be in and out of the voting booth in a jif.
I've only done it once, back in the mid 80's when I was so disgusted with GOP policies that I pulled the Democrat lever in protest. The upshot was that the Republican congressman in my district, not a bad guy in comparison to most of his party, was defeated by a pro-life Democrat I never would have supported otherwise. I'm tempted to repeat it this go-round though, as a protest against the conservative faction that seems to prevail in the GOP, but there are some smaller office Publicans that I actually do like and would like to see continue in office. |
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prairiequeen |
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lylenorg wrote: |
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Teen LaQueefah |
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A straight party vote is one that doesn't include a vote for Congressman Barney Frank.
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Downpuppy |
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Then there's North Carolina. There, a straight party vote only covers some offices. They don't tell you which ones. For example, President is not
covered by a straight party vote.
Republicans spend more time developing ways to prevent people from voting than they do figuring out ways to get people to vote for them. |
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incrediblegobstopper |
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I voted this morning, and it was probably the first time I did a straight party voted. Usually there's at least one from the other party that I'll vote
for.
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