West Virginia lawmakers are considering a bill that would end straight-ticket voting, and it’s about time. We’re one of just 11 states left that still allows voters to make one mark that delivers votes for every candidate belonging to that party.
Straight party voting is a legacy from the early days of elections when the political parties, not the government, printed the ballots. Party bosses rounded up voters and gave them ballots with the candidates already selected.
The United States didn’t move to a secret ballot—called the Australian ballot—until the late 1800s. It was only then that most voters got to see all the candidates running for office.
Straight-ticket voting remained as a way for parties to generate the most votes for all their candidates. However, one by one, states have abandoned the antiquated practice.
The elimination of straight-ticket voting requires voters to think about each candidate they want to select. Voters may still choose all candidates of a particular party, but they have to mark each one individually.
Years ago it was difficult to know something about each race. Today that information is easily accessible. The decline of party dominance and surge of independent voters mean the electorate can research individual candidates and make informed choices from president down to county surveyor.
Sen. Charlie Trump (R-Morgan) is one of the five sponsors of the bill eliminating straight-ticket voting. “It’s not unreasonable to expect that voters should actually look through the ballot and consider the candidates for both parties, all the parties, for each office,” Trump told me last week on Metronews “Talkline.”
Historically, West Virginia Democrats have been reluctant to tamper with straight party voting, and for good reason. Their registration dominance and strong top-of-the-ticket candidates produced a lot of down ballot votes… and victories.
For example, in the 2006 general election 67 percent of the straight-ticket votes were Democratic ballots compared with just 33 percent for Republicans. However, that trend has now flipped. Unofficial figures from the Secretary of State’s office show that in the 2014 election 56 percent of the straight-ticket ballots were Republican, while the Democrats had just 42 percent. The other two percent were Libertarian and Mountain Party.
Republicans may be tempted to hang on to the straight-ticket option because of the new found advantage, but that would be a mistake. The GOP has been trying for years to make the change, so they should not let political expediency overrule good government.
Political parties remain important in our election process, but more and more we hear citizens say, “I vote for the person, not the party.” West Virginia should codify that concept by eliminating the outdated concept of straight-ticket voting and encouraging voters to make informed decisions about each race on the ballot.