Straight party ballot does NOT include presidential race.

[ncgrits]

Hey folks, I'm not sure if it's always the case . . . but I just got my Democratic Voter Guide in the mail today. And noticed that the "straight party" option will NOT include a vote for president. So stay alert and tell all your friends!

I'm volunteering as a greeter for the Democrats during early voting in Hillsborough, and I'm going to make a point of alerting people that they've got to vote for president, 'cause checking straight party won't do it.


ncgrits

[BelleCarolinaPeridot]

1. I just saw that today.

But it looks like you can make the vote for your choice of President before you vote for a straight ticket.

http://www.co.guilford.nc.us/elections_cms/docs/Misc%20Documents/CompositeBallot08.pdf

[Tarheel_Dem]

2. Thanks for sharing that. It's great to get a preview. I got an email from

my boss on Friday, asking me to consider voting for a friend for Supreme Court (Democrat), and the email said the straight ticket doesn't include judges either.

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

4. that is because judicial contests are "non partisan"

which isn't working out so well.

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

3. straight ticket voting dangers in NC:

2004 vote count smoother, still some problems
By THOMAS HARGROVE
Scripps Howard News Service
December 22, 2004



...The worst rates of undervoting for president this year occurred in New Mexico with 97.5 percent of ballots counting, Idaho with 97.6 percent counting, and North Carolina with 97.7 percent.

...But Gary Bartlett, executive director of the North Carolina Board of Elections, did not defend the high undervote or suggest voters are ignoring the presidential race. "I was hoping we would improve over what happened in 2000. But this shows a law in our state that needs to be reviewed and probably be changed," Bartlett said.

Both North Carolina and South Carolina historically suffer unusually high undervotes in presidential elections because, by state law, voters who mark the "straight-party-ticket voting" option must also vote separately for president. Every four years, tens of thousands of voters in both states apparently forget to do this.

Full election data is not yet available from South Carolina, but in North Carolina this year 58,223 ballots failed to register a presidential vote.

http://www.knoxstudio.com/shns/story.cfm?pk=MISCOUNT-FINAL-12-22-04&cat=AN