(no subject)
Sep. 12th, 2006 12:42 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rivkaMaryland's primary elections[1] are today, so I voted on my way to work. We've got an open Senate seat this fall - Paul Sarbanes is retiring, and a grand total of twelve different candidates are vying for the Democratic nomination - and so the primary holds more interest than it ordinarily might. (In contrast, my Congressman is running unoposed - not just in the primary, but in the general election.)
I care about the Senate nomination. I care about the Congressional and Gubernatorial races, but those are uncontested primaries. To a lesser extent, I care about the races for state comptroller (because the incumbent is a truly horrible man) and attorney general. I care slightly about the Maryland House of Delegates and the State Senate. And then, of course, there were a number of down-ballot races on the ballot that I knew nothing about at all. Judges, the sheriff, the county clerk, the city attorney, et cetera.
I did a little independent reading about the Senate and attorney general candidates. I went with the local alternative newsweekly's endorsement in the comptroller's race, given that my only real preference, based on general newspaper reading, was "NOT the incumbent." For the State Senate and House of Delegates, I went with Equality Maryland's endorsements. And for the races lower on the ballot, I mostly left the ballot lines blank.
It made me curious: how do you all make decisions about the minor races on the ballot? Do you research everything? Do you follow someone's advice? Do you pick people at random? For the purposes of the following poll, use your own definition of "down-ballot races" - I'm not going to try to stipulate where the cut-off lies between major and minor races. And, as always, feel free to elaborate in comments.
[Poll #819245]
[1] For non-U.S. readers, primary elections are how the members of U.S. political parties decide which candidates will represent their party in the general election. Different states have different systems, but typically, when a person registers to vote they are given the option of affiliating with a political party, and if they do so they are then eligible to vote in the primary election for that party.
I care about the Senate nomination. I care about the Congressional and Gubernatorial races, but those are uncontested primaries. To a lesser extent, I care about the races for state comptroller (because the incumbent is a truly horrible man) and attorney general. I care slightly about the Maryland House of Delegates and the State Senate. And then, of course, there were a number of down-ballot races on the ballot that I knew nothing about at all. Judges, the sheriff, the county clerk, the city attorney, et cetera.
I did a little independent reading about the Senate and attorney general candidates. I went with the local alternative newsweekly's endorsement in the comptroller's race, given that my only real preference, based on general newspaper reading, was "NOT the incumbent." For the State Senate and House of Delegates, I went with Equality Maryland's endorsements. And for the races lower on the ballot, I mostly left the ballot lines blank.
It made me curious: how do you all make decisions about the minor races on the ballot? Do you research everything? Do you follow someone's advice? Do you pick people at random? For the purposes of the following poll, use your own definition of "down-ballot races" - I'm not going to try to stipulate where the cut-off lies between major and minor races. And, as always, feel free to elaborate in comments.
[Poll #819245]
[1] For non-U.S. readers, primary elections are how the members of U.S. political parties decide which candidates will represent their party in the general election. Different states have different systems, but typically, when a person registers to vote they are given the option of affiliating with a political party, and if they do so they are then eligible to vote in the primary election for that party.
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no subject
Date: 2006-09-12 04:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-09-12 04:54 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-09-12 04:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-09-12 05:55 pm (UTC)I tend not to vote in the judicial races and some other local ones, though I do generally vote in the city council and state office races. I'm lucky enough to live in state and federal districts that have incumbants who share my views, so I generally vote for them. City council around here is pretty touchy, so I do follow that closely and vote for city council members.
no subject
Date: 2006-09-12 04:58 pm (UTC)I also don't vote "straight" party ticket - ie, I'll possibly vary it in the "higher" races before I get that far - but if all else fails I'll vote Dem even if I've never heard of the person.
no subject
Date: 2006-09-12 05:02 pm (UTC)Also, I tend to support candidates who abide by the endorsement process (endorsements come from a variety of local conventions prior to the primary; I've been a delegate), and not those who do not abide by the endorsing process unless they are the endorsee.
no subject
Date: 2006-09-12 05:09 pm (UTC)Here in San Francisco we frequently have many State down ballot issues, and as many as 10 to 30 -local- down ballot issues, so doing homework for an election is time consuming.
Oh, we pay a lot of attention to who is sponsoring and supporting issues.
no subject
Date: 2006-09-12 05:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-09-12 05:18 pm (UTC)And by "I copy them," I mean, "Someone I know does lots of research (usually, this is my mother), and we talk about it, and argue a little, and then we both vote, often for different people."
Once, I voted a straight party ticket, with the lever and everything, and then I felt guilty because I had no idea who I'd just voted for in some of the down ballot races, and so I don't do that anymore.
no subject
Date: 2006-09-12 05:21 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-09-12 05:18 pm (UTC)If there's no incumbent, or more than one challenger, I'll hopefully have a better reason to vote one way or the other; I may make a semi-random choice based on name/address (as a vague proxy for socioeconomic standing which would affect views in office) or just leave it blank.
no subject
Date: 2006-09-12 05:45 pm (UTC)Anon
no subject
Date: 2006-09-12 05:56 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-09-12 10:54 pm (UTC)Hee! Good point. I should've included an option like, "I go by the endorsements of an organization or political action group I oppose, and vote the other way." Because that's often a very sensible way of doing things.
no subject
Date: 2006-09-12 07:08 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-09-12 07:20 pm (UTC)I live in a small town, where I'm as likely as not to actually know the candidates. County clerk used to live next door, for example, and our current governor (former congressperson, mayor, and city council member) lives in the next block.
MD Senate
Date: 2006-09-12 07:32 pm (UTC)B
Re: MD Senate
Date: 2006-09-12 08:20 pm (UTC)Re: MD Senate
Date: 2006-09-12 08:24 pm (UTC)Does anyone else in the running even stand a chance?
B
Re: MD Senate
Date: 2006-09-12 10:52 pm (UTC)I'm part of Zogby's Internet polling pool, and they've never even really asked about anyone but Cardin, Mfume, and (recently) Josh Rales. Not any of the rest of them. But I had never even heard of Rales until Zogby asked about him, and neither had Michael.
Re: MD Senate
Date: 2006-09-12 11:04 pm (UTC)B
Re: MD Senate
Date: 2006-09-13 10:09 pm (UTC)Re: MD Senate
Date: 2006-09-13 10:08 pm (UTC)(Cardin has been declared the winner, the news says.)
Mfume is acceptable, but I think Cardin is clearly more competent.
What I haven't seen mentioned here is how Baltimore and Montgomery County screwed up the elections so many people didn't get to vote. Baltimore forgot to send the electrical cords for some of the machines and got a court-ordered extra hour to vote. Montgomery didn't send the voter cards so there was, in some places, almost three hours before the machines could be used. There weren't enough paper ballots in several polling places and people were voting on scraps of paper and the line was so long many people had to leave. In addition, 20 techs quit that morning so they had to have other staff set up the machines. The judge ordered them an extra hour, too, but it still wasn't enough for everybody to vote who wanted to.
Re: MD Senate
Date: 2006-09-13 10:10 pm (UTC)Avi Rubin wrote about the debacle.
B
Re: MD Senate
Date: 2006-09-13 11:19 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-09-12 08:05 pm (UTC)If, after that, I still have no idea, I generally go with the incumbent on the principle that they're doing a good enough job that I don't otherwise care.
Of course, most of the down-ballot offices around here tend to have no challengers. In particular, I can't recall the last time there was an actual contest for a School Committee seat. That's particularly ironic when one considers the annual spectacle of the Usual Suspects parading to the microphones at the Annual Town Meeting, bemoaning how high taxes are and how much money the School Committee spends. (None of said Usual Suspects, I hasten to add, actually serve on said School Comittee.)
no subject
Date: 2006-09-12 10:17 pm (UTC)If I don't feel like I have enough info, I leave it blank.
no subject
Date: 2006-09-12 10:51 pm (UTC)In general elections for state and national positions, unless and until a candidate can be shown to be totally unfit, I'm voting Democratic.
no subject
Date: 2006-09-13 10:14 pm (UTC)Our last council election here in Manassas, all but two candidates made illegal immigrants and education their priorities. Even though I knew those two would also talk about illegal immigrants, I voted for them because they didn't put it on their pamphlets. They lost, of course.
Manassas is under investigation by the feds for racial bigotry and there are a lot of people who would like that damn law back in force.
Also...
Date: 2006-09-12 10:58 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-09-13 12:05 am (UTC)Note that my "down-ballot races" are judges (some of our lower courts are elected) and the internal to the political party stuff, including "male district leader" and "female district leader" (and yes, those are the official names of the positions, and there's one of each for each district).
My paternal grandmother's approach, for a long time, was to call my father and ask for advice; he knew about the races in her district as well as the borough-, city-, and state-wide races. (I'm not sure how much of that was being involved in local politics, and how much was making a point of checking into it for his mother.)
no subject
Date: 2006-09-13 05:08 am (UTC)We also don't have your culture of voting for each and every public office. We vote for national, regional (county) and local government, and any issues up for public vote. (There's a separate EU election.)
I go with party loyalty, and pick our party's ballots straight from the box. If I know any of the people, I might check them, or if I want a woman, someone from the North (in national or EU elections), someone from my part of the city (in local elections) or someone with a low-income job.
For my first election, I split my vote, and voted for three different parties. I had done a whole lot of reading on local and regional issues.
no subject
Date: 2006-09-13 10:19 pm (UTC)Since there's no party affiliation, people are only allowed to vote/caucus in one of the parties. There's ways to do both, but I think a lot of people are honorable.