Our local newspaper just featured a story about our county’s bellwether status.  For those who don’t know: that means we’ve predicted who will be elected president since the year 1888—with two exceptions.  Now, they say that’s going to change if we go for Trump.  That doesn’t really bother me so much as the rest of the article. The author says that 41% of both republicans and democrats vote straight tickets. This leaves only a small amount of unpredictable votes. It boggles the mind.  Why would you vote  straight ticket in a small city?

Voting is different in a big city metropolis.  I was first eligible to vote when I moved to Chicago after college.  I’m sure I voted straight ticket because I didn’t know any of the people on the ballot.  I was just voting for the party of my parents.  Honestly, I didn’t give it a whole lot of thought. Year later, I moved to Miami and voted the same way. I had never met any of the candidates and their names meant nothing to me  Again, the safe bet was to vote straight ticket.

Now, I’ve lived in this county where I vote for the past 50 years.  I have known, met, or , interacted with  almost  every local candidate.  I can’t imagine voting against a person I admire or respect based on their political affiliations.  Conversely, why would I vote for someone I don’t like, just because they belong to the party of my choice?

We  voted  early this year, on the second day the polls opened.  It was a little more crowded than usual , but no lines at all.  We got right in. When the poll worker came to instruct  me , she opened to the first page, stopped, and looked at me.  It was obvious she expected someone my age to vote straight ticket, which would make the whole process a whole lot easier.  When I told her I wanted to split my ticket, she seemed  nonplussed.  But she did her job, and told me to turn the page.  Then she left me to my private decisions.

There’s nothing difficult about splitting your ticket.  In fact, it’s a lot more interesting. In the rare cases where you don’t know all the  candidates for a given office,  you can always fall back on the party of your choice.  And when I see my favored candidate  walking down the street, it gives  me a warm feeling.  Even if I don’t identify as a member of their party,  I still believe he/she will do the best job.   And I’m glad I didn’t vote straight ticket.