Voting in unopposed races

[muon2]

We just completed our local elections in IL. In many cases there were no contests for the positions. One woman came up to me as she left the campaign, mad that there was no choice for her to make for her city officials. Yet, four years ago people complained that the contested race was divisive and the community should stop fighting. An unopposed race is generally a sign that the local community is satisfied enough to not support a challenge.

About 20% of the voters left the unopposed races blank, and less than 1% wrote in unqualified names.

How do you feel about races with unopposed candidates?

[dazzleman]

I think it's bad when candidates run unopposed, generally.
Sometimes a candidate (usually an incumbent) is so popular that nobody will run against him/her.  I guess that's OK, so long as it's a measure of how the election would have turned out anyway.

If a person I like is running unopposed, I vote for that person.  If I don't like that person, I simply don't vote for him/her.  I've never done a write-in, and I think I have the power to demand another candidate, or anything like that.  I think that if a lot of people fail to vote for the unopposed candidate, a message will be sent.

[David S]

If I want the candidate I vote for him. If I don't want him I write in Mickey Mouse.

Edit: Wouldn't it be interesting if Mickey won!!

[John Dibble]

Usually I don't vote unless there's a candidate I support.

[phk]

Usually I don't vote unless there's a candidate I support.

[angus]

Ha!  you must have voted in the GOP primary in california in 2004.  It was cute.  Please choose a candidate for US president from among the following choices:

 ______ George W. Bush




um, okay.  where's the punchline. 

yeah, I voted for the bastard, what's it to you punk?

anyway, it does feel kinda silly.

[Nym90]

If I like the candidate, I vote for them, if not, I don't. I basically use approval voting in this case.

[angus]

If I like the candidate, I vote for them, if not, I don't. I basically use approval voting in this case.

exactly my philosopy.  guess if we'd both voted in the CA GOP primary and no one else did, then Bush would have won it 1 to 0, eh? 

[muon2]

If I want the candidate I vote for him. If I don't want him I write in Mickey Mouse.

Edit: Wouldn't it be interesting if Mickey won!!

In IL Mickey can't win. To be a legitimate write-in, the candidate must register with the election authority at least seven days in advance. It's a simple form one fills out and signs, but it stops Mickey every time.

[muon2]

I think it's bad when candidates run unopposed, generally.
Sometimes a candidate (usually an incumbent) is so popular that nobody will run against him/her.  I guess that's OK, so long as it's a measure of how the election would have turned out anyway.

If a person I like is running unopposed, I vote for that person.  If I don't like that person, I simply don't vote for him/her.  I've never done a write-in, and I think I have the power to demand another candidate, or anything like that.  I think that if a lot of people fail to vote for the unopposed candidate, a message will be sent.

I hope that's the way most people who don't vote feel. However, I've run into a surprising number of people who don't vote in an unopposed race, period. I try to explain that it's not the candidate's fault that there is no opponent. To get on the ballot one has to get petitions signed, and in a local race everyone's requirements are equal.

[Nym90]

If I like the candidate, I vote for them, if not, I don't. I basically use approval voting in this case.

exactly my philosopy. guess if we'd both voted in the CA GOP primary and no one else did, then Bush would have won it 1 to 0, eh?

Indeed.

[bullmoose88]

I wrote in a name on the 2004 PA GOP Primary for President.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

Write-in’s do occassionally win, altho usually it’s because an unexpected withdrawl of a candidate from a race (from death or less serious reasons) has left a party divided on who should be its candidate with no opportinity to resolve it in the primary.  That’s what happened in 1954 when Strom Thurmond won a Senate seat as a write-in.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

Sometimes primaries are unopposed. If I like the person, I'll still vote for them.

[TeePee4Prez]

I'd usually vote for the unopposed candidate even if a Republican if I thought he was doing a decent job and I approved of them somewhat.  Example:  I would have likely voted for Dennis O'Brien or John Taylor in 2004 just because I think they are doing a decent job even though they are Republicans.  If John Perzel, PA House Speaker, were unopposed however, I would have wrote in a candidate.

[angus]

I wrote in a name on the 2004 PA GOP Primary for President.

I wrote in once as well.  In about '02 I think there was a particularly foul mudslinging race in the CA assembly in which Repbulican Guy Houston and Democrat Donna Gerber were trying to outdo each other.  See who could go the lowest.   I was polled repeatedly.  On phone and in person.  By both camps.  Nasty race that was.  It was the first and only time I left it blank.  Technically, I didn't leave it blank.  I wrote in Aflred E. Neuman.  They were just too unbecoming for me to have to pick one.  Made the Lazio/Clinton race look like a lovefest.  I just can't do that "lesser of two evils" schtick, but generally I can force myself to stomach one of the two, or find a third.  In that case, there were only two, and  they really are both too mean-spirited to win my vote.  And I told the pollsters just that in call after call.  We started getting about 3 pieces of mail per day from each campaign.  All sorts of irrelevant statistics and mudslinging.  And the stuff from Houston was never about Houston, it was about Gerber.  And vice-verca.

[J. J.]

I've written in and I've not voted for unopposed candidates, especially in local elections.

[muon2]

I've written in and I've not voted for unopposed candidates, especially in local elections.

So have I, but I find unusual is the number of people who will not vote for an unopposed candidate at anytime on a matter of principle.