Straight-Party Ballot Mark May Have Boosted Dems

Long ago, there was something called a “Yellow Dog” Democrat. Such a voter was so attached to the Democratic Party that he would vote for a yellow dog if nominated by the Dems. Voting a “straight ticket” back in the days of the city political machines was much more common that a split ticket. However, in the latest election, psephologists have suggested that the ability to select a straight ticket with a single mark on the ballot may have helped oust the GOP from certain seats.

According to The Hill, which as the local paper of Capitol Hill should know, there are 16 states out of the 50 that permit this kind of ballot choice. Studies have shown that roughly one-third of voters select this option when offered it. In this month’s mid-term elections, the GOP straight party option remained constant, but the Democratic was much higher in many places.

There is, of course, a science to ballot design that can increase a candidate’s chances of receiving a vote. Having the top line on the ballot never hurts. Having more than one line (as happens in some New York races where multiple party nominations are allowed) helps. And paper ballots that require voters to line up boxes with candidates names (Florida’s infamous butterfly ballot) makes things hard for candidates not at the top or bottom of a column.

The straight party option, though, is much worse. It greatly benefits the candidates running for offices listed at the bottom such as alderman or state legislator, who might not be well-known even locally. Moreover, it prevents the voter from giving due consideration to every race. University of Rochester political science professor Richard Niemi told The Hill, “It seems pretty clear that what it was designed for is to keep people voting for a particular party without thinking about who they were voting for."

While three House elections still have to be settled (yes, it is that hard for Americans to count ballots it seems), the GOP lost 29 seats, and 15 of them came from straight-party states. The statistics on this aren’t well recorded, so they can’t be readily analyzed. However, any arrangement that makes it easy for a voter to cast an unconsidered ballot undermines democracy.

© Copyright 2006 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux.

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