Wasting a Vote

Today I am going to tilt at another windmill.  I am going to ask people to not vote straight ticket, because by doing so you could be wasting a vote.  Don't believe me?  Read on.

Since I am a candidate, I received a sample ballot in the mail a couple of days ago.  My ballot will have four straight ticket options this year... Republican Party, Democratic Party, Libertarian Party and New Independent Party Iowa.  On my specific ballot, the ONLY party that has a candidate for each office is the Democratic Party.  The Republicans are sitting out two races, and the Libertarians and NIPI have more unrepresented offices.  Now, for the sake of argument, let's pretend that I'm a dyed-in-the-wool Republican, who would rather chew off my own nose than vote for a Democrat.  (Forget about the logistical problems with chewing off my own nose, focus on my point.)

Intuitively, one would think that it would be okay for me to vote straight ticket Republican, but that assumption is incorrect.  Due to the fact that there are two races on my ballot without Republican candidates, my vote for those two offices would not be cast at all, and those votes wasted.  I could have voted for the third party candidate to offset that pesky Democrat vote, or written a vote as a protest.  But I waived my right to do so by voting straight ticket.

With this in mind, I ask you, dear voter, to not vote straight ticket.  If your party is fully represented, and you end up manually selecting your candidate in each race, okay.  But please, don't risk throwing away your vote by running straight ticket.

Note:  I am not writing this post as a candidate.  I am in a three-way race, against a Democrat and a Republican.  Whether or not potential voters in my district vote straight ticket, the outcome is unlikely to be significantly different for me.