Friday, November 06, 2009

Straight party voting

Fewer people voted a straight party ticket than in the past in Luzerne County.

TL: Of all votes cast Tuesday, 15 percent, or 10,422, were straight-party.
County Election Bureau Director Leonard Piazza compared that to the last municipal election two years ago, when 23 percent of the votes, or 15,300, were straight-party...Nearly 6,000 Democrats voted straight party on Tuesday, versus 10,041 in 2007...Around 4,000 Republicans voted straight party on Tuesday, compared to 5,200 two years ago...Renita Fennick, executive director of the county Republican Committee, said she believes the party’s public opposition convinced people to avoid straight-party voting.
“It brought attention to the fact that we don’t think it’s a wise way to vote. People should base their selections on the person.”


I think that straight party voting is an anachronism that should be done away with but that would take an act of the Pennsylvania Legislature. Fat chance of that happening because Democratic legislators in Luzerne County, Philladelphia, Pittsburgh and other Democratic strongholds know it helps their party and Republicans in Lancaster, Wayne County and the T, etc. know it favors the local GOP candidates.

Another reform that should be enacted is a little tougher because it requires amending the state constitution. Gerrymandering has to end. The biggest problem with our legislature and the US House of Representatives is gerrymandering. A couple of states have taken redistricting out of the politicians hands but it will be a cold day in hell when that happens here but we can try. Why should districts be drawn to favor one person or one party over another? Congressional and state house/senate districts should be drawn to make geographic sense and be as competitive as possible. That would ensure term limits in many cases and make our representatives more responsive to the people.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Does the state law require stragiht voting avialbility or can the county remove it from the ballot? I found myself looking at the ballot and wondering what the hell do they want to know my registration for in the General? Then I realized that it was the straight party vote. I spoke with dozens of people who were also confused by it. The ballot should require an action on every office even if a "none of the above" be included after the "write in" opetion. Then I'm going to change my name to Mr. Noneof Theabove.

Anonymous said...

What would be the percentage of straight voting this time compared to last muni election? Seems to me tha the straight vote really helped some and hurt some candidates. Any third party or independent candidate startedd 10,000 votes in the hole. I think that's significant. Where's that pink pig when needed?

Dana said...

I quite proudly pushed the straight party -- Republican, of course -- button, but then I worked my way through the ballot, eliminating votes I didn't want to cast; it worked out fine! :)

Big Dan said...

Here's the question: do Republicans want to do away with straight party voting...ONLY IN DEMOCRATIC PRECINTS? THAT is the question!

Like when they want to defund ACORN...but not Cheney/Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg, Brown, & Root - found guilty of many violations of defrauding the government on contracts...know what I mean? "Selective"...

How about this idea: get rid of electronic voting machines, which are PROVEN insecure, unreliable, easily hackable by as little as ONE person who can swing an election.

Instead of worrying about straight party votes, worry about the machines themselves.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3_xFb1sWKU&feature=player_embedded

Big Dan said...

No one seems to be concerned about the RIGHT THING - pretty soon ONE COMPANY will OWN virtually ALL the electronic voting machines, of which they claim proprietary knowledge, which means YOU don't get to see how they work:

http://www.blackboxvoting.org/BBV-AntiTrust-Letter.pdf

...but you're worried about straight party buttons...

Anonymous said...

Like our vote counts! This was my last election. I am going to eat, drink and have sex with as many random strangers as possible. F it all...

Anonymous said...

just pull droogie lever. Haina?