Posted on 11/11/2006 8:19:55 AM PST by Graybeard58
PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- Sen. Lincoln Chafee said his knees buckled when he walked into his polling place Tuesday morning and saw that voters were given a prominently displayed option of casting votes along a straight-party line.
"It was so easy to just go against the Republicans and fill in that Democrat. It was so easy," Chafee said Thursday in a post-mortem dissection of his loss to Democrat Sheldon Whitehouse.
Voters in Rhode Island did exactly that on Tuesday, filling in Democrats in large numbers and sweeping the Republican Chafee from office as part of a fierce backlash that uprooted GOP incumbents across the country.
Rhode Island is in the minority of states where voters can select candidates entirely from the same party with just a single mark or punch on their ballots. The straight party option is available in just over a dozen states, largely in the south and the Midwest.
"I don't know that there's a good or a bad or a right or a wrong," said Kathleen Dolan, a political science professor at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee who is originally from Rhode Island. "It depends on your perspective."
Though political parties may favor the option as a way to entrench their power in states where they dominate, critics say it can discourage thoughtful voting by allowing citizens to cast purely partisan votes without deciding on individual races or for individual candidates.
"Every voter ought to look at each race that he or she is voting for," said Richard Winger, editor of Ballot Access News, a California-based publication. "It just takes away from thinking."
The Rhode Island Board of Elections says 61,000 voters cast a straight-party ballot for the Democrats by connecting an arrow at the top of their ballot. The number of straight-party ballots for Republican candidates was more than 18,300, according to the elections board.
Republican Gov. Don Carcieri was the lone member of his party elected to state office, and even he survived a closer-than-expected fight.
The option is a carry-over from lever machines the state used until a decade ago.
"The law was written to ensure that the equipment would allow for the same kind of straight-party voting," said Peter Kerwin, a spokesman for the secretary of state's office.
But the number of states with the option has been declining.
Missouri eliminated straight-ticket voting this year, and Illinois abolished it in the late 1990s. The Kentucky secretary of state proposed getting rid of the option this year, but the idea stalled in the state legislature.
"It's something that we're going to continue to push for," said Les Fugate, a spokesman for the office. "It's not going away."
David Kimball, a political science professor at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, said party-line voting tends to be more convenient for voters and yields more residual votes in races located farther down on the ballot -- which typically receive less attention and publicity.
On the other hand, he added, voters may think they're done after casting a straight-party vote and then fail to mark their preferences on ballot initiatives.
"Of course, it's a political hotball," said Megan Mullin, an assistant political science professor at Temple University in Philadelphia,
She said she doubted Chafee's loss could be attributed simply to party-line voting, especially since the race got so much publicity and because a Republican governor was able to win re-election.
The typical casualty of straight-party voting would be a lesser-known candidate whose race is listed lower on the ballot.
"Is it possible that Chafee lost a few votes because of the party vote? Absolutely," Mullin said, but later added, "I find it hard to believe that the effect of the party ballot was enough to take the Senate seat away from Lincoln Chafee."
Excuses, excuses...You're a loser, Lincoln.
He lost because the New Hampshire voters could see he was a weakling with no principles. Better to vote for a dog - at least you know which way the dog is going to jump. Same thing with Kean.
It couldn't possibly have been him! :-)
Well, of course. Right and wrong ALWAYS depend on your perspective. !!!</sarcasm>
Indiana went from 7 (R)- 2 (D) to 4(R)- 5(D)
The media has helped pave the way for Bayh with this years campaigning, also
Answer: absolutely nothing
About the only good thing to come out of this mess is that bleeping jerk is GONE!!
Lincoln, walk over to the Reflecting Pool to see who is to blame. It's close to the other Lincoln who was a real Republican.
When libs lose, they blame everybody else but yourself.
Repubs lose, then try to find out why they lost and move on.
Ain't it the truth! Notice how there are absolutely no tales of widespread dis-em-enfranchisement? No cold and rain only in the dim precincts? And also unlike 2004, no reports of people seeking treatment for post-election stress disorder? Guess the moonbats are the only one weak enough to need that kind of pick me up when they lose.
Rush touched on this the other day too.
wah! Nobody likes a traitor not even the traitorees.
what an a-hole....Ann Coulter was so right....they shot the wrong Lincoln!!!
be a man...stand up and say one lib/dem lsot to another lib/dem!!!!!
Lincoln Chafee is a LOSER. I hope he goes over to the RATS.
It is hard to believe that John Chaffee raised this little turd.
A bunch of "blind party loyality over country" people have been on FR cheerleading for everyone to vote "straight ticket Republican" regardless of who the candidate is. It's that kind of thinking that got us Jeffords and almost got Senator Chafee re-elected so he could caucus with the Dems. By blindly voting for ANY "R", all they're doing is using GOP money to electing liberals who with carry out the Democrats agenda.
I voted 90% Republican last week, but I did so because the INDIVIDUAL candiate in EACH race who happened to be better was the Republican. 90% of the time, the Republican IS better, but voters should be educated and informed to know where their candidates stand in every office to determine that.
I have no respect for people who blindly punch "D" or "R" on the ballot and do not give a crap whether the person for each office is honest, qualified, conservative, etc. Straight party voting gives us lying corrupt scumbags like Jim Jeffords (R), George Ryan (R), Robert Toricelli (D), Alan Heveri (D), etc. How did they win? Their voters didn't even notice they were running -- all they cared was whether they had a "D" or "R" next to their name.
the voters , my fellow citizens, are stupid, most of them...stupid or ignorant of lazy thinkers.....
there has got to be billionaires out there who think conservatively ...why are they not buying up and managing more of the media, newspapers included...
Wow. How Dumb-o-crat of him. Call the waaaambulance.
On second thought, *do* let the door hit ya on the way out, Suzy Chafee.
RINOs like him are why we're looking at a bleak 2 years.
spend more time and money backing candidates that you approve of before the general election....
the political scene is a sad state of affairs, but electing Rats, who are clannish and support each other to a fault, who never throw anyone under the bus... you vote for a Rat congressman, you are voting for Rat judges and rat appointees.... the old Rat party wasn't like that ...I suppose there was time when they really did speak for the little people.....
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