Ticket-Splitting Your Way Back to Influence

Suppose you are a discerning voter on your November 5th ballot and feel that politicians from both parties have had their heads in the political sand for far too long. In that case, consider ticket-splitting your vote in 2024, which can offer you several potential benefits.

Note: Ticket-splitting is when a voter selects candidates from different parties for different offices on the same ballot, such as voting for a major party candidate for president and then an independent candidate for the United States Senate.

The benefits include:

Issue-Based Voting: Voters here can choose candidates who better or best represent their views on specific issues rather than adhering strictly to what party lines dictate. ?This allows the issue-based voter to support candidates whose policies align more with their priorities, regardless of party affiliation.

Balanced Government: By voting for candidates from different parties, voters can contribute to and help secure a more balanced government. ?This can help prevent any party from having too much power, encouraging compromise and bipartisan cooperation. We have seen this before when one party controls the United States Senate, and another party controls the U.S. House of Representatives.

Candidate Quality: Some voters may prefer the qualities or qualifications of individual candidates over their party affiliation. Splitting the ticket allows voters to support the individuals they believe are best suited for each position.

Strategic Voting: In some cases, voters may choose to split their ticket to influence the overall outcome of the election, such as weakening a dominant party or supporting a divided government, especially in this era of hyper-partisan politics.

Expression of Independent Thinking: Splitting the ticket can also be a valuable way for voters to express their independence and signal that they are not strictly loyal to any single party but instead make decisions based on the merits of each candidate or issue.

There are better ways to elect responsive elected officials who will work for you rather than their chosen political party than voting a straight-ticket ballot.? Straight-ticket voting certainly has not worked well so far, and remember, several of our more influential Founding Fathers did not want political parties in the first place.

If you want change in Washington or your state capital, now is the time to consider how you vote and express your political needs.

Ticket-splitting might give you back some of that power the political parties have taken from you.