Straight-party voting doesn’t cut it

For a lot of you, standing in line to vote this year was probably a real pain, but for me it was a privilege. In my entire voting life (even when I was holding on to dad’s pants leg behind the curtain) I don’t know that there has ever been a line at my precinct. To see so many people coming out on a less than perfect day to make their voices heard was a real thrill.

As I took my turn at the spinning wheel, I met my most favorite political foe. Now I’m not talking about any one candidate, Governor Griswald isn’t up ’til next year so I’ll have to wait for that. No, I’m talking about that great insult to our intelligence at the top of every ballot cast in the commonwealth: the straight ballot button.

Each election cycle this one little box greets us with the chance to let one choice define our entire political persona. No need to go down ballot, just one button will cast your vote and solve your woes. But it’s time we realize that it doesn’t do either.

This year was a great example of what a full ballot looks like. In Lexington and many other parts of Kentucky there were races of all stripes on the ticket. Judicial races which will largely decide how the law is applied to each of us, city races where the everyday issues are addressed. The races that determined who would be doing the real governing of our society were up for grabs but the ol’ straight ticket forgets about those because they’re all nonpartisan races.

That’s by design. I don’t know who to credit, but a careful mind somewhere knew that when we’re electing people who actually have the biggest impacts on our lives we need to take the time to look at the race and make a choice between two people instead of two parties.

But that button doesn’t choose at all. It swears an allegiance to a platform that’s filled with holes. Holes that may not be there on purpose but holes that leave far too many in our society hopelessly broken. Holes that are leaving the mentally ill wandering our streets destitute and dangerous, holes that are growing the divide between not just Republican and Democrat but also rural and urban, holes that have gotten so big that we can’t even be sure that our kids will make it home that evening, or that our tomorrows will be better than our yesterdays.

These are just some of the issues of our time, issues which demand that we find consensus and come together to solve. But don’t look for that in a 60-second sound bite. To hear them tell it, there’s a simple, easy answer to everything. There isn’t and those platform votes that the straight ballot casts are only furthering solutions that are insultingly undemanding and that don’t begin to address the problem at the community level.

So while some may believe that pushing that straight ballot makes your voice heard where it matters, it doesn’t. It won’t make your voice heard for the next mayor whose job it is to showcase your town and decide how much of your money we should invest to attract new growth (you know, how those “good” jobs are really created.) It won’t cast a vote in the races to decide how we’re going to uphold the laws the people in the “big races” make. It won’t even cast your vote in the race to decide who will sit on the board that decides things like what we’re going to do to make sure are kids are safe in the classroom.

I love my party, and I know a lot of you do too, but that button is a blight upon society and has no place as we craft a better country, a better commonwealth, and better community. For years I’ve wanted rid of it. So that all those little ones holding on to our pants legs will know one day that every race and every person on that ballot matters, I think it’s time to let it go.