‘Straight-ticket’ voting at risk in Missouri

[scratchtasia]

‘Straight-ticket’ voting at risk in Missouri
Missouri Senate Republicans say proposal is punitive

JEFFERSON CITY — Hundreds of thousands of Missouri voters would no longer be able to pick all their candidates by choosing one political party on the ballot under a Republican-backed proposal.

That prospect became closer to reality Tuesday night after Senate Republicans said they would follow through on a threat to repeal "straight-ticket" voting. Republicans said they were punishing Senate Democrats who used a filibuster to delay passage of a bill that would require voters to present photo identification at the polls. . . .

Some Democrats say the move to repeal straight-ticketing voting — and to require photo IDs — is a Republican effort to tilt the U.S. Senate election in November in favor of incumbent Jim Talent, a Republican. State Auditor Claire McCaskill, a Democrat, is challenging Talent in what is viewed nationally as a tight race. . . .

Lawmakers from both parties have expended much effort on the voter ID bill. Republicans have said the bill will help reduce voter fraud by requiring Missourians to present a photo ID--something most already do almost daily. Democrats have called the bill an attempt to disenfranchise the more than 170,000 voters who do not have state-issued photo IDs--many of them elderly, handicapped or minorities.

The Kansas City Star has the full article.

Looks like things are pretty contentious in Jefferson City. I'm glad the Democrats are putting up a fight on the voter ID bill.

[KyuzoGator]

1. As long as each candidate's party is shown, does it really matter?

We've never had a straight-ticket option here in Florida.

[dysfunctional press]

3. it makes it harder to campaign and to vote.

we used to have straight-ticket voting here in illinois, but the republicans in the state legislature outlawed in in 1997, after one of their guys lost because of it in 1996.

it used to be a lot easier for Dems(and repugs) to campaign by just saying "punch 10" (or whatever ballot number the straight-ticket option had), and that's all voters who wanted to vote by party had to do- boom- one punch and your voting is over. now, you have to go through sometimes dozens of individual races and offices, it can be confusing and aggravating...and it also increases the error rate of the balloting.

http://www.prospect.org/web/page.ww?section=root&name=ViewPrint&articleId=4644

In 2000 it was 6.3 percent. What made the difference was a 1997 law passed by the Republican state legislature. For one thing, the law banned straight-ticket voting, a practice followed by many minority voters. In 1996 Cook County voters could just punch a straight Democratic ticket with one stroke; in 2000 they had to make hundreds of individual choices. That was probably the cause of the increase in error rate, which occurred primarily in those minority precincts where voters were more likely to vote a straight ticket.

The law also forbade Cook County from using the error-correction technology it had purchased for the punch-card system after the 1996 election. If Cook County had used this technology, and if straight-ticket voting had been permitted, the county's error rate would very likely have been lower than the national average of 2.6 percent, even with a punch-card system. The Republicans claimed they were trying to prevent Cook County voters from holding an advantage over voters who had punch-card systems, but their real aim was to squelch the minority vote in Chicago. And they succeeded...

[jwirr]

5. If you can cross party lines in a primary you can influence

the other parties chance of winning by supporting the weakest candidate. Straight party primaries are the only way to decide who your members will support in the general election.

[acmavm]

2. Who do those f**kwits think they are to punish ANYBODY??? Or to be

as arrogant as to mess with the way citizens cast their votes?

Lie, cheat, rob, steal, and kill. It's the republican way.

[SheilaT]

4. My husband has told me

that in Chicago in the 70's, the ONLY way to vote was to initially choose a straight ticket (either R or D) and only after pulling that lever could you go through and change the vote in any race you preferred the other candidate.

The kind of straight-ticket voting apparently referred to in the original post does not strike me as a good thing. And if you don't want to vote for all the races, don't bother. Most people don't.

Requiring picture ID is something else entirely, and I think is outrageous and should not be happening. We already make it extraordinarily difficult to vote in this country, and it's getting harder and harder all the time.