In nine states, voters can press one button to select candidates all from the same party. It’s called one-touch straight-party voting, and Rep. Charlie Dent, R-Pa., wants it to stop.
Dent told the Washington Examiner this is an idea that’s past its time, and that both parties should support eliminating a feature that encourages brazen partisanship. A new bill sponsored by Dent does just that.
The nine states are Alabama, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas and Utah. Congress, Dent said, should do what other states have already done on their own, but be careful to avoid over-reaching into state business. Both old, lever-based machines and newer push-button machines allow straight-party voting.
“Four states have done away with this … they’ve done away with it in the last two years,” Dent said. “My legislation only focuses on federal elections. Election law is principally a function of state government.”
Yet Dent says he supports efforts to institute this proposal for state elections. He just doesn’t want Congress to force states’ hands.
“My preference would be that my state move in this direction and pass a bill to do this for all elections in the state,” Dent said. “I realize I can’t compel the state to eliminate single-touch, straight-party voting in state elections.”
Though Dent said he and others have been working on this proposal for federal elections for years, the timing of it could raise some eyebrows. Members of both parties are concerned about how unconventional, nontraditional presidential nominees like Donald Trump, Ted Cruz or Bernie Sanders could affect races down-ballot.
A mechanism like this, which allows voters to automatically vote against a party if they there are vociferously opposed to a certain nominee, no doubt intensifies such worries.
Dent also points out that ballot questions can’t be voted “Democrat” or “Republican.” Therefore, when voters vote one-touch, they often leave those questions blank, undermining the point of the democratic process.
“If you ask me, ‘Why [eliminate this kind of voting]?’ I say, oftentimes down-ballot candidates and ballot questions get the short end of the stick with one-touch, straight-ticket voting,” Dent said.
“In [his district], if you got to vote … one of the first screens you’ll see is ‘push the button to vote straight ticket,’ you never get to see the names of the candidates on the ballot.”
Dent’s bill then “would require, at least for federal elections, that you’d actually have to touch the button of the candidate you choose to vote for.”
Dent is clear, though, that he is not trying to ban manual straight-party voting. If his bill passed, a voter “could still vote straight party,” Dent said.
“You’d actually get to take a look at the names and vote for them.”
Dent said members he has spoken with have been receptive. And although he has not spoken to the White House about the legislation, he is optimistic.
“I don’t know why they would object,” Dent said.
