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Straight Democratic Party Voting - More Than One Box


by: sonia

Fri Sep 29, 2006 at 11:37 PM CDT


Phillip's ed. note: I think this is a good idea that is very, very, very poorly written. PLEASE VOTE STRAIGHT TICKET, and if you happen to live somewhere with a special election, take note. I'd imagine that if you are reading this blog, you'll be active enough to know there's a special election -- but please, please, please, vote straight ticket Democrat! Vote early, and vote often!

Straight Democratic Party Voting this November election - don't do it.  It's a trap. (Phillip's ed. note: no it's not.)

For a good Democrat to tell other good Democrats not to vote a straight party ticket sounds insane. Especially this year when we have such a great slate of candidates. I mean it though, and Lloyd Doggett and John Courage will tell you the same thing this time around. 

This Nov. 7th election is special. So special in fact, that it's really two separate elections if you live in any of these Congressional Districts 15, 21, 23, 25 or 28.  These are the five US Congressional Districts that just got re-re-re-districted.  The Congressional races on Nov. 7th in those districts are like open primary races.  At least two of these races have more than five candidates running (CD21 & CD23).  If no candidate wins their open primary race with more than 50% of the vote, a runoff of the top two vote getters will occur probably in December.
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Here's Lee Nichols from The Austin Chronicle in the Sept 29th issue:
Beware the Straight Party Vote
Straight-ticket voting may be a convenient way to declare your party loyalty in the voting booth, but beware: In the Nov. 7 election, pressing the straight-ticket button could damage your favorite party.

As with so much more that is screwed up with democracy in Texas, you can thank Tom DeLay. In August, portions of the congressional redistricting that he forced upon Lone Star voters was found unconstitutional, necessitating that five districts be redrawn yet again, including two in Travis, districts 25 and 21. That in turn invalidated the spring primaries in those races, forcing special elections in which multiple candidates of a political party may run. As District 25 incumbent Lloyd Doggett points out in a letter in today's "Postmarks" section, that means straight-party votes don't apply in those particular races – i.e., if you live in District 25 and press the "Straight Democrat" button, no vote will be recorded for Doggett, or anyone else in that race. Voters must go directly to that race on the ballot and select a specific candidate. Other races on the ballot are unaffected by this situation.

Here's Lloyd in the same issue - Postmarks column:

Vote (but Vote Carefully)
Not only these district lines, but the election process itself is confusing. Unlike any other that we have had in Central Texas, a separate vote is required in my congressional race. Straight party votes will not be counted toward my election.

With new lines, new procedures, and three candidates running against me, I am hard at work trying to earn votes in what is my third new district in three elections. So if you believe the Bush administration and its cronies have our nation on the wrong course, I hope you will bother to vote in the upcoming congressional elections.

Each county may have a different election system, but the same kind of process - two separate elections are being held in each of these five Congressional Districts. Our job between now and early voting and all the way through election day is to make sure all our early voters, first time voters and especially our yellow dog and triple D Democrats get this right.  It's wonderful to be so civic minded about voting that we vote early, but let's just make sure we get it right too.  We have enough problems trusting our electronic voting machines that we don't need to create unintentional traps by telling our voters to vote a straight Democratic ticket this year.  This year we get to vote twice, and have both ballots count.  Oh and you can tout straight ballot voting to your die hard republicans for these special elections.
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Straight Democratic Party Voting - More Than One Box | 46 comments
And More (1.00 / 1)
There are the 5 redistricting cases AND 3 other races added thanks to Perry's call to fill the terms of TX-22, SD-19 (Madla resigned after the special remember?), and HD-32 where Vilma Luna resigned.

Vote for the Democrats, all of them (or just one of them in the case with some districts). Just don't be fooled into thinking that you're done with your ballot with one box.

Oh, and for all those already deciding not to vote straight ticket because of the Governor's race (while you should be voting for Bell), DO NOT skip the Democrats down the ballot.

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3rd court? (0.00 / 0)
Please pay attention to this race-it was so important that the Travis County Democrats had to post an "alert" about this court.
I used to work for that court-Our party is not telling the truth!  They work harder than Trial Judges-just go by the Travis COunty Courthouse on a Friday afternoon and look at the front parking lot-NO ONE IS THERE!!  I'm about to switch parties because alot of Democrats work there, but we are being put down with the R's.  Hit Bush where it hurst-in the Congressional races.

I won't stand for dirty politics and lying - we aren't Tom Delay!

huh? (1.00 / 1)
I'm with you on the 3rd Courts, they are hugely important and one of the major benficiaries of the coordinated campaign. But you have like 3 other messages in there and I lost you.

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[ Parent ]
This post sees the problem, but offers bad advice (5.00 / 1)
1. We should still encourage a straight ticket vote, AND

2. ADD that you also have to vote in the special election where relevant.

In 1996, we spent a lot of time and money to educate voters about voting in several special elections for Congress that were court-ordered just like this year's have been. However, you SHOULD NOT "educate" by saying "don't vote the straight ticket" if you want our voters to get down the ballot to important races.

The right way to "educate" voters in these CD's is saying "VOTE STRAIGHT TICKET AND IN THE SPECIAL ELECTION". Or say "YOU HAVE TO VOTE TWICE." Or "IN, 2006, YOU GET TO VOTE TWICE." In any case, discouraging straight ticket voting is not the best way to approach this. Agreed, a straight ticket vote is not enough courtesy of Mr. DeLay, but it is unwise to wrap that around discouragement of straight ticket voting.

Also, there's no need for the gratuitous shot at TDP. On a statewide basis, a straight ticket vote is well-advised for a ticket with very low name ID. By contrast, education on voting in these special elections has to be done specifically in each area where it applies (there are two overlapping specials, for example, in South SA). But a straight ticket vote there is important to Joe Farias' hotly-contested race for State Rep. Do you get the point?

You have the point about educating right, but think about how you say it.

Amen! (5.00 / 1)
Right on, GetReal!

First off, if you live Dallas, Houston, Corpus, El Paso, Waco, etc, please IGNORE THIS POST.  Yes, there are special elections in South Texas, San Antonio and parts of Central Texas, but in the rest of the state all any Democrat has to do is vote the straight ticket. 

(Yes, I know there's a special in Corpus, but the general election in Luna's seat is the only one that matters.)

As for folks in Austin and San Antonio...contrary to what K-T or Lloyd Doggett or anybody else says, you should, in fact, vote the straight Democratic ticket.  As getreal says, you'll need to ALSO vote in the special election in your area.  But if you pass on casting your straight ticket vote, and you fail to vote individually all the way up and down the ballot, you'll be robbing Democratic judicial candidates, state House candidates and more of valuable votes.

So please, VOTE THE STRAIGHT DEMOCRATIC TICKET and in the special election in your area!

[ Parent ]
Although if you're in Houston (0.00 / 0)
and in TX-22, is there any objection to the idea of voting for Lampson for 2 years and Stockman for 2 months?

Hey, either Stockman, or G.H. Tran.

Granted, if Sekula Gibbs can't get 50% in the special election, isn't there another election that would be held in December, for just 30 days of the term?

As for districts with special primaries. Vote for the best Democrat for each race. ;D

[ Parent ]
Point taken, but voters are still going to be confused (2.50 / 2)
I usually vote a straight ticket too, and it is the education part of this problem that is the key.  This re-districting happened so quickly that a lot of new voters and even frequent voters will make the mistake of just voting a straight Democratic ticket and then leave. And that will hurt us in CD21 and CD25. A lot of voters that we're targeting are first time voters. We need people to take the time and vote for the special Congressional election too.

What about early voting?  People vote all over the city and county during early voting.  Some voters are in these CDs and some are not. Who is going to tell them they need to vote twice?  The Travis County clerk hasn't put out a sample ballot, so we don't even know what the order is. Special election first page or last page?  I think a warning just makes people think about it.  Early voting starts Oct. 23rd.

I'd love it if you would write us an educational flyer explaining this to new voters.

[ Parent ]
Respectfully Disagree (5.00 / 1)
I think that saying "Don't vote a straight ticket" is kinda alarmist and hurts further people down the ballot.

As I said above, my suggestion would be- "Vote Straight D, plus one"

thejeffersonian.blogspot.com

[ Parent ]
Education is the key... (5.00 / 1)
And straight ticket voting has nothing to do with it...

The message - Vote Straight ticket Democratic and then vote again for the Democrat in the special election.

Telling Democrats not to vote straight ticket Democratic only hurts our downballot candidates. It's a terrible message.  Don't fall for it.

[ Parent ]
3 words (0.00 / 0)
Write a journal.

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[ Parent ]
4 words (0.00 / 0)
Don't promote stupid journals
[ Parent ]
3 words (0.00 / 0)
write your own

Please read the Community Guidelines and How to Rate Comments.
[ Parent ]
OK I'll write one this week. (0.00 / 0)

[ Parent ]
I Agree (5.00 / 1)
The slogan should be:

"Vote Straight D Plus 1"

thejeffersonian.blogspot.com

[ Parent ]
Agreed (5.00 / 1)
We should never discourage people to vote straight ticket Democratic.  Encouraging out base to vote straight ticket is what prevents the drop off for our down ballot candidates.  The dozens of candidates in Dallas County, for example, that were recruited to run for judicial posts will mostly all win or mostly all lose based upon how many Democrats turn out and vote straight ticket.

When special elections occur in conjunction with regular elections and a straight ticket ballot doesn't cast a ballot for the special, then the message should be tweaked slightly to: Vote Straight ticket Democratic, and remember to vote again in the special election.

[ Parent ]
Are we sure about this? (5.00 / 1)
Given that the special elections are by definition open primaries, where straight ticket voting is not an option, are we sure that the machines won't prompt for a vote in the specials regardless of whether or not a straight ticket is selected?

In other words, are we sure that extra effort is needed? Has anyone asked the Travis County Clerk what will happen?

I've got a note to myself to call the Harris County Clerk's office about this on Monday.

technicalities... (0.00 / 0)
El Paso does count.  TX 23 goes all the way out to EP county and includes a good 11000 voters.  In any case, the sample ballot in El Paso seems to put the specials up in front before the rest of the ticket.  I wonder if the other counties are organizing the ballot like this?  Definitely something to advocate for before the election if your county isn't doing so.

you can find it here:

http://www.co.el-pas...

bigger problem and answers (5.00 / 1)
1. Consider this - there may be just as great a danger that voters will only vote in the special election and not get to the straight ticket or regular general election ballot, because the special elections will be placed at the top of the ballot according to the SOS. So that makes educating about voting FOR the straight ticket very important (not just the other way around). 

2. Kuff, the special elections are separate and the straight ticket won't count in them. Because we went through this in 1996 and lost CD5 to Pete Sessions in a two-person special election ONLY because of votes we lost when we had no straight D ticket votes, the Dem attorneys at the re-re-redistricting trial asked the court to allow the straight ticket to be used in places if there were to be only one D and one R in a special election. The Court did not grant that request, and where there are multiple candidates it wouldn't matter.

2. Sonia, I'm sure TCDP and TDP can develop a template for a basic flyer explaining how to vote twice - straight ticket and in the special elections -  but the ones who have direct interest in doing so (and some resources in most cases) are the special election candidates. For example, in Travis Co. Doggett has lots of money and should produce flyers and mail to Democrats in his district. I think Frost spent $200K doing that in DFW in '96.

Again, you are right to recognize that this is a challenge and education is necessary, but PLEASE pull down this headline about not voting the straight ticket. In the specials, it's not enough, but we still need that straight ticket vote down the ballot.
 

Not my question (0.00 / 0)
Kuff, the special elections are separate and the straight ticket won't count in them.

I understand about special elections. What I want to know is if the voting machines will take that into account. Note SADem's comment - the voting machine can present the specials prior to giving the straight ticket button. That solves the problem without any need for paranoia or bad messages.

As I said, I'm calling the Harris County Clerk on Monday. I strongly suggest someone do the same in Austin rather than risk making a bad guess.

[ Parent ]
Again, PLEASE pull down this headline (5.00 / 1)
In view of the discussion on this matter, I think all agree the special elections are confusing and education is required, but also see that straight ticket voting should not be discouraged.
This is a very counterproductive post (1.00 / 1)
I hope that it is taken off the front page or re-titled.
Stupid question... (5.00 / 1)
But don't you still have the ability to front page/pull stories??
[ Parent ]
I don't own the blog anymore (0.00 / 0)
I'll let the current owner / editors do that.  It's not about what I can do, but letting the people currently in charge know what they ought to do...
[ Parent ]
Still a bad post and bad upgrade (0.00 / 0)
"Straight Democratic Party Voting this November election - don't do it.  It's a trap."

That's an absolutely terrible message.  The message should be - Vote straight ticket Democratic and then vote for the Democrat in the special.  The message that this post promotes will hurt all of our downballot candidates.

then take it up with Sonia (1.00 / 1)
eom

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[ Parent ]
I'm just saying... (0.00 / 0)
That it shouldn't have been promoted in the first place.
[ Parent ]
Maybe so (1.00 / 1)
But point is, there is no one message fits all for the entire state of Texas this cycle. I agree with your statements as well. The TDP e-mail was just as un-helpful as this might have been, just to the opposite campaigns. Of course, I guess it doesn't matter since they aren't doing anything after all. Which of course raises the other issue of why make up a project to look like you're doing it if you're not? But that's not the point of this thread.

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[ Parent ]
Missing my point.... (0.00 / 0)
That this post is completely counterproductive and sending the wrong message to Democrats that voting straight ticket is wrong in some way.  It will only serve to lose votes for our downballot candidates.
[ Parent ]
or your point (1.00 / 1)
Compared to losing votes for candidates not part of the normal ballot for which straight party applies?

The discussion should be had as both are important (which if you'd look back, I said in my very first comment to this post).

Straight Ticket voting is good, but not complete in many areas. Straight ticket voting is good and complete in other areas. But a statewide message of "check one box and you are done" doesn't work in itself.

Personally, I never vote a straight ticket by checking the box. I vote in every race, even if it accomplishes the same result, but I also fill in the Libertarians or whatnot in uncontested Republican races. There's a part of me that doesn't always feel comfortable with people just assuming that because people are one party or another they are the better candidate. That's not always the case as there are a lot of miserable Republicans out there.

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[ Parent ]
which is it? (0.00 / 0)
"Straight Ticket voting is good" OR "Straight Democratic Party Voting this November election - don't do it.  It's a trap."

What strategy will BOR promote?

[ Parent ]
are you writing that post? (1.00 / 1)
discussion. that's what's promoted.

one, it'll be buried by tomomrrow, two, are you writing that post or still whining in the comments?

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[ Parent ]
NO (0.00 / 0)
I'm simply asking whether BOR will go forward in a direction of sanity or not...
[ Parent ]
nice frame (0.00 / 0)
byron, love ya, but you just framed BOR as insane if they don't agree with your position.

wrong wrong wrong, brother.

Fudd's first law of opposition: Push something hard enough and it will fall over.

[ Parent ]
It Depends on Your County (5.00 / 1)
In Bexar County, the special elections for 21, 23, and Senate District 19 will all be before the general election races.  People will vote in those races first, then they can vote straight ticket after that.
it doesn't matter.... (0.00 / 0)
The message of not voting straight ticket doesn't help anyone. The message for voters in San Antonio should be to vote straight ticket and vote Democratic in the special election.

Telling Democrats not to vote straight ticket is one of the most stupid messages that I have ever heard!!!

[ Parent ]
It still needs changing. (5.00 / 1)
Now the headline is good, but the story still says the same thing.  It's still telling people that voting the straight ticket is a trap.  It's still discouraging people from choosing the box that says, "Democrat."

I think the whole article needs to be changed and should reflect the new headline.

The new headline makes sense.  The article still doesn't, except for the bit that says it's really two separate elections. 

In addition, the bit from the Austin Chronicle makes the whole thing way more confusing than it really is, and still claims that "pressing the straight-ticket button could damage your favorite party."

That's not correct.  *Just* pressing the straight-ticket button and doing nothing else if there's a special election in your district isn't enough to help your party.  You have to do more.

Why?!?!? (0.00 / 0)
Is "Straight Democratic Party Voting this November election - don't do it.  It's a trap" still on the front page of BOR???

This is embarrassing.

again, like I said before (1.00 / 1)
I didn't write it, Sonia did. The overall message was the point.

Instead of bitching how about you write your own journal about why Democrats should and I'll promote that?

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[ Parent ]
you promoted it (0.00 / 0)
it was counterproductive and you promoted it so you should take some responsibility...
[ Parent ]
i did (1.00 / 1)
Conterproductive to some, productive to others. One standard doesn't apply to all. But I'm glad to see that some positive messaging has come as a result of this post. I liked Cincinatus's comment of "Straight D + 1".

So how about it, you going to write up a cumulative post that's positive about what good messaging is now that we've had this debate? I'll promote it.

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[ Parent ]
yes I will (0.00 / 0)
I'll write something in the next week.  Thank you for pulling this off the front page.  It was the right decision.
[ Parent ]
and (0.00 / 0)
i would address this with you personally instead of publicly if you would return my calls..
[ Parent ]
I'm at the office (0.00 / 0)
my phone is at home. ever considered that might be why I have no idea you'd called?

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[ Parent ]
no I hadn't (0.00 / 0)
I'm on IM. I'd be happy to talk with you.
[ Parent ]
Do you not have IM? (0.00 / 0)

[ Parent ]
Please vote straight Democrat! (0.00 / 0)
Pay attention if there's any local elections, but jeez -- please vote straight Democrat.

Now, a very great man once said that some people rob you with a fountain pen.
Straight Democratic Party Voting - More Than One Box | 46 comments
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