Bills to abolish the straight-ticket device have been introduced recently in Rhode Island and West Virginia. A straight-ticket device lets a voter cast a ballot for all partisan offices on the ballot without even looking to see who is running. The voter simply makes a single mark to cast a vote for every nominee of one particular party for all offices.
The Rhode Island bills are SB 2310 and HB 7482. The Senate bill is sponsored by three Republicans, one Democrat, and one Independent The House bill is sponsored by four Democrats and one Republican.
The West Virginia bill is HB 2974, by Delegate Troy Andes (R-Hurricane).
There are also three Oklahoma bills to abolish the straight-ticket device, but they were introduced in 2009. They are still alive because Oklahoma has two-year sessions.
Interesting website on straight ticket voting: http://www.ncsl.org/LegislaturesElections/ElectionsCampaigns/StraightTicketVotingStates/tabid/16597/Default.aspx
Only sixteen (16) states still have it. At least three states did away with it, and a fourth nearly did, during the 1990s. Two more states abolished it in 2006 and 2007.
In West Virginia, it is augmented by party logos. Republicans use the federal eagle, and Democrats use a rooster, hence the old slogan “pull the rooster tail” to induce uninformed voters to vote straight democrat. (not sure what the Republican slogan was, but it hasn’t worked)
Do any of these three states also allow the combination of (1) a general vote for all candidates of party A, using the straight-ticket box/slot/space/etc; and (2) a specific vote for the voter’s choice of one or more candidates of other parties (or no party affiliation, or even write-ins) to override the straight ticket in the selected race(s) only?
(In Michigan we call this a *split* ticket. If you vote each race individually without using the straight-ticket option, we call that a *mixed* ticket.)
VOTERS SHOULD BE ALLOWED TO VOTE A STRAIGHT TICKET
WHAT IS WRONG WITH STRAIGHT TICKET VOTING?