Get Straight Ticket Voting Off the Ballot
This year, more Texans voted a straight party ticket than in any election in a decade. But why do we let citizens blindly vote without even reading the ballot?
Commentators throughout the country attribute the GOP’s Election Day gains to an American public tired of big government. Implicit in this argument, one would think, is the suggestion that Americans are passionate about small government and do not wish to be governed by individuals that live inside the Beltway; we have local governments for a reason. But a survey of the votes cast in the state of Texas shows that more people opted to vote a straight party this November than in any election in more than a decade. According to the survey, 57.7% of those that voted in the November 2nd election did so by selecting the straight Republican or straight Democratic bubble found at the top of the ballot. This is a significant jump from recent elections (45% in 2006; 49.6% in 2002; 47.6% in 1998). Republicans fared better in straight ticket ballots, winning 57% of straight ticket votes while Democrats won 41%.
As a Texas voter, I can tell you that the straight ticket option is the first option you see on the ballot after reading the directions. If you choose to vote a straight ticket, it is highly unlikely that you will go through the actual contests to vote for a member of the other party in a particular race.
There are many reasons that voters could vote a straight ballot, convenience being the most obvious. However it’s difficult to square the idea that voters rebelled against Washington when so many individuals blindly cast their votes for candidates whose name they probably did not even read. In fact, it appears that Washington’s power is greater than ever. Even as voters tossed the bums (this time it was the Democrats’ turn) out, it’s still the Washington bigwigs who regularly dominate the headlines who seem to have set the local agenda. People may have been mad at Barack Obama and Nancy Pelosi, so they voted Republican, but not only in national races, but also in the local ones.
Political parties play an important role in making it easier for voters to make decisions. That said, if we truly value our federal system, we need not mix up national government with local government at the polls. We are not a parliamentary system. We vote for individuals and we have always taken pride in that. Perhaps the straight party line option makes laziness too easy. We should eliminate the option, and at least require ourselves to read through the names and cast our votes, office by office.
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