A Warning About Straight Ticket Voting and Presidential Elections-Depends Where You Vote!
Summary of eRumor:
A warning not to vote straight Democrat or Republican tickets this election prior to voting for President. Doing so could prevent your presidential vote from being counted if your choice belongs to another political party.
The Truth:
Straight-ticket voting is an option on the ballots of some states in which a voter can simply choose all of the candidates of a particular party at once instead of having to vote for each of them individually.
If you want to vote for all of the Republicans on the ballot, for example, all you have to do is choose the straight ticket option for “Republican” and with one punch of the ballot or one press of the button on electronic machines, you’re done.
The reason for this warning, however, is to alert voters that if they choose the straight ticket option, they can’t vote for any other candidates individually. If, for example, you chose the Republican straight vote option for the entire list of Republican candidates—but you also wanted to vote for Barack Obama for president, your marking of the ballot for Barack Obama would be invalidated because you had already chosen the Republican straight vote option.
So if you want to vote across party lines for various candidates, mark the ballot for each of those candidates individually.
Straight ticket voting is only available in 16 states: Alabama, Oklahoma, Indiana, Pennsylvania, Iowa, Rhode Island, Kentucky, South Carolina, Michigan, Texas, New Jersey, Utah, New Mexico, West Virginia, North Carolina and Wisconsin. New Jersey only has straight-ticket voting in primary elections. North Carolina straight-ticket voting is not available for presidential electors. Rhode Island only has straight-ticket voting in general elections.
A spokesperson from the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) website told truthorfiction.com that in states where voting polls are set up for straight ticket voting, the voter may select to vote individually or for all candidates affiliated with a particular party. Once the option is selected the other option will be locked out.
Voters who live in these states choosing to vote straight tickets should consult their ballot instructions:
Click for Alabama Voter Information
Click for Indiana Voter Information
Click for Iowa Voter Information
Click for Kentucky Voter Information
Click for Michigan Voter Information
Click for New Jersey Voter Information
Click for New Mexico Voter Information
Click for North Carolina Voter Information
Click for Oklahoma Voter Information
Click for Pennsylvania Voter Information
Click for Rhode Island Voter Information
Click for South Carolina Voter Information
Click for Texas Voter Information
Click for Utah Voter Information
Click for West Virginia Voter Information
Click for Wisconsin Voter Information
updated 10/29/08