North and South Carolina! A straight ticket vote on your ballot does not include a vote for Pres.

[lonestarnot]

In North Carolina (and South Carolina also) the “straight party”
vote does NOT include President. According to the first “Featured”
article ballots in North Carolina have the following words: “A
Straight Party vote is a vote for all candidates of that party in
partisan offices. Individual partisan office selections are not
necessary if you select a Straight Party below.” What the ballot doesn’t
tell you is that this does not include President. How many thousand of
voters will vote straight-party but not for President in North and South
Carolina?

VOTE YOUR CHOICE, DON'T USE THE STRAIGHT TICKET VOTE!

[lonestarnot]

1. KICK

[kick-ass-bob]

2. We know.

It's been this way for at least the last 2 presidential elections.

Here's what the ballot looks like (this one is mine):

http://www.sboe.state.nc.us/Sampleballots/2008General/8GWAKE12.pdf

[catgirl]

4. But do NEW voters know?

I doubt it. What a silly ballot. It should include the pres. on a straight ticket option,
or it should be eliminated altogether.

[melm00se]

one would presume

that the voter would actually read the ballot.

[Bill McBlueState]

15. sure,

but that doesn't mean that misleading ballots are a-okay. It's like any written information -- do you want to be confusing and hope your reader can sort it out, or do you want to be as clear as possible?

[melm00se]

18. this will be my 3rd presidential election

in NC and it has always been perfectly clear to me that a straight party does not include the presidential ticket. As has been pointed out in other spots in this thread this is nothing new.

[catgirl]

3. That is ridiculous!

Obama needs to put out a commercial in NC with this information.

[kick-ass-bob]

6. It does say that President is not in straight party vote (in NC)

check the ballot above.

[lonestarnot]

7. Imagine you are standing in line waiting to vote after having worked all day. You're tired and you

have never voted before. I hope poll workers inform on this also.

[kick-ass-bob]

9. In my experience, they have.

Please note, I'm not trying to defend the ballot, but it is not new.

I think the reason they did this was because much of this state votes straight ticket Dem, except for President - in the past.

The ballot lists the Pres race before the straight party part, so one shouldn't miss it, especially with instruction from poll workers.

My personal opinion is that Straight party should be removed completely.

[lonestarnot]

14. Good!

[snappyturtle]

5. Why don't we have uniform voting nationwide? We've been learning

about so many differences, e.g. voting registration varies from state to state. Some states have same day registration; others, voting registration has a deadline prior to voting. This practice in NC and SC seems downright deceitful to me.

[TechBear_Seattle]

11. Because of the Constitution

Article I, Section 8 gives a detailed list of what Congress can do. Article I, Section 9 gives a detailed list of what Congress cannot do. Article I, Section 10 gives a detailed list of what the States cannot do. The 10th Amendment says: The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.

Since Article I, Section 8 does not explicitly give Congress the power to establish a uniform system of voting in national elections, and because Article I, Section 10 does not prohibit states from establishing their own system of voting, the 10th Amendment says that only the states and the people, not Congress, may establish a system of voting.

At best, Congress can pass legislation that establishes a "model law," basically a suggested form of voting. Each state legislature would then have to independently pass this model law, and can make whatever modifications they wish. A number of "national" laws have been passed this way, including laws dealing with notaries public and state securities registration.

Congress can also pass model laws with teeth. Did you know that there are no federal laws establishing a national speed limit or a national drinking age? What really happened was that Congress passed a model law in conjunction with another law that made passing the model law a requirement for receiving federal highway monies. If a state did not lower their speed limit to 55 MPH and raise their drinking age to 21, the state would receive none of the millions of dollars the federal government makes available for highway construction and maintenance. What would you suggest that Congress use to blackmail the states into passing a "federal" voting law?

[Toucano]

17. Very well said.

Thank you.

[snappyturtle]

19. Well, you answered my question, thank you. You also answered the one

posed to me....another "model law". I have lived in four different states and each is different in regard to voting procedures. If we all fly the same national flag why can't our voting systems be the same....they are not because our 'representatives' choose not to remedy the situation.

[liberal N proud]

8. Why do these morons have to resort to dirty little tricks

These things seem so small when you look at them individually but put it all together and it all amounts to voter disenfranchisement

[marions ghost]

10. No excuse for this

What justification could there possibly be except to eliminate voters who are not 'in the know?'

:mad:

NC needs to get rid of this.

[progressoid]

12. WHAT THE ???

That's crazy.

[SIMPLYB1980]

13. We know, but thanks for the reminder.

http://www.ncvoterinfo.org/earlyvoting.html

Make sure to check your registration as well people.

http://maps.google.com/maps/mpl?moduleurl=http://maps.google.com/mapfiles/mapplets/elections/2008/us-voter-info/us-voter-info.xml&utm_campaign=en&utm_medium=ha&utm_source=en-ha-na-us-sk-mp&utm_term=presidential%20voting

[VWolf]

16. WTF?

Why even have a "straight ticket" option? How much time does it really save? IMHO all it does is eliminate critical thinking.

[Qutzupalotl]

20. Please also post this in the NC and SC state forums.

The more exposure, the better.

[Wilms]

21. k&r n/t