About those undervotes
Not much.
Total ballots, according to the N.C. State Board of Elections:
4,293,645
Total votes cast for president, including certified write-ins:
4,248,285
Undervote:
45,360, or just under 1.1 percent.
And the New York Times was in such a fret that our answer to the infamous Florida butterfly ballot would heave the whole national election into turmoil. Somehow, most of us did manage to comprehend that a presidential vote had to be cast separate from a straight-party vote.
Considering all the straight-party voting, I'd say a 1.1 percent undervote wasn't so bad. Some of that could have been people writing in Mickey Mouse or other noncertified write-in candidates. Some could have been people who simply didn't want to choose anyone on the ballot. Some could have been mistakes by voters, but on the whole poll workers did a great job making sure everyone understood how to vote properly.
There was more undervoting the further down the ballot you went:
1.9 percent in the U.S. Senate race
6.8 percent in the state auditor's race
28.9 percent in the Supreme Court race
33.8 percent in the Arrowood-Hunter Court of Appeals race.
Even a perfect ballot can't make voters care.
Comments (6)
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I spent a few hours yesterday fielding calls for a voter hotline.
I took several calls from people who learned after-the-fact that their straight-party votes didn't include a presidential vote. Why they had not gotten the message beforehand, I don't know. But they didn't.
You're right that 1.1 percent isn't much of an under vote in the grand scheme of things. The upset voters I talked to yesterday would surely tell you different though.
The State Board of Elections needs to reexamine its ballot -- particularly with straight-party voting in mind. There's no reason to cause confusion like that.
Posted on November 5, 2008 3:39 PM
I agree, JJ. The legislature should change the ballot to either link the presidential vote to straight-party voting or do away with straight-party voting.
The current setup was devised in the 1960s for the politically motivated purpose of making it slightly less convenient for some people to vote as they'd like. I'm sorry if it did confuse some people. Fortunately, very few.
Now, I wonder how many people voted straight party not realizing they could cross over and vote for individual candidates of the other party.
Posted on November 5, 2008 4:04 PM
The following is from the Audit Bureau of Circulation. These are the most recent figures for the News and Record circulation.
Greensboro News & Record daily circulation
October 2007: 82,578
October 2008: 77,587
Loss of 4,991 which averages to 96 subscribers every week
6% drop
Sunday circulation
October 2007: 103,448
October 2008: 97,177
Loss of 6,271, which averages 120 subscribers every week
6% drop
Posted on November 5, 2008 4:05 PM
Ben, are you saying that 4,991 N&R subscribers "undervoted" in the sense that they dropped their subscriptions without realizing that they were doing so? What does this have to do with the topic under discussion?
Anyway, I agree that poll workers (in early voting at the courthouse, at least) did a great job explaining the ballot to *everyone* when I early-voted on Monday, October 20th. But it makes sense to include the President in the straight-party voting in the future, hopefully before 2012.
Posted on November 5, 2008 5:15 PM
28.9 percent in the Supreme Court race Didn't show up to vote at the top of the ballot. *Doug
Naw Doug! 06 all over again, it was amazing watching the white Republican Candiate getting those Obama voters into his camp in 32 counties in northeast North Carolina with the help of the Diebo voting machines.
Posted on November 5, 2008 7:25 PM
Had an odd experience.
Being an Indy voter (actually NC calls us UNAs)
I was faced with a dilemma.
But I digress.
I pushed the button for a straight party vote for Republican (ughh). The Machine registered straight Democrat (double ughh). I corrected per machine instructions.
I completed voting, and thought no more of it- until I had a chance discussion with a friend, who experienced the same thing.
Anyone else out there get in a tussle with a biased machine?
Posted on November 6, 2008 6:48 AM