Have you ever regretted your vote?

[darklordoftech]

My father regrets voting for Carter in 1976.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Hollande 2012 in the first round. I would still have voted for him in the runoff of course, but he neither needed nor deserved my vote in the first round.

[MarkD]

Yes, in 1988 (my first general election vote) and 2000.

In 1986, the Supreme Court handed down Bowers v. Hardwick, upholding a Georgia law that banned "sodomy." At that time, I had been out and involved in the gay community's activism - marching in Gay Pride Parade, and so on - and I was on the community's bandwagon that the Court rendered a terrible decision that ought to be overturned ASAP. So in November 1988, I voted for Michael Dukakis, just because I wanted to overturn Bowers. My thought process there was that if a conservative member of the Supreme Court - who had supported the majority decision in Bowers - were to leave the Court anytime between Jan. 1989 and Dec. 1992, then President Dukakis could appoint a liberal to the Court to replace the conservative, turning the Court just liberal enough to overturn Bowers (if some gay man gets arrested for "sodomy" again).

It was a stupid decision, and I regretted it the next year, 1989. I joined the Republican Party, recognizing that Dukakis had much more liberal views than I did, and I also learned, by 1990, that Bowers had been correctly decided and that it should not be overturned.

I spent the 1990's actively supporting the GOP with my votes and with monetary contributions. And I clung to the concept that the GOP would appoint better Supreme Court Justices than Democrats. I clung to the idea that the GOP appointees to the Court would interpret the Constitution according to "the original meaning," and that Democratic appointees, like Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer, would not do so.

In early 2000, my biggest hope for getting the GOP nomination was Orrin Hatch, but that did not pan out. He came in last place in the Iowa caucus and dropped out. So I drearily, unenthusiastically, voted for GWB in the primary that year instead. Then I voted a straight Republican ticket that November. Then within a few weeks after that vote, I ended up regretting that I had voted for GWB (in both the primary and general), because I heard that GWB was going to ask the federal courts for an injunction to stop the Florida recounts, and among his three notions for why he was entitled to get an injunction was that the recounts were unconstitutional, violating the Due Process Clause and the Equal Protection Clause. I did a facepalm (figuratively) and I knew, at that moment, that GWB deserved to be denied that injunction, because the constitutional argument had no merit. And I knew that, if GWB was the ultimate winner of the FL recount and sworn in as President on Jan. 20, 2001, I would not vote for his reelection in 2004. Bush the Younger had no clue what it meant to interpret the Constitution objectively and according to the document's original intent.

[Senator Incitatus]

Not really. Silly thing to care about, voting.

[Sir Mohamed]

Nah, no regrets. All liberal, all the time.

[Xing]

Even when I haven’t been happy with the person I voted for, the person I voted against has never failed to prove that they’re worse.

[President of the great nation of 🏳️‍⚧️]

NC-SEN Dem primary, 2020.

[Illiniwek]

I voted for Gary Johnson in 2012, and I really wish I could say that I voted for Obama.

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

Nope

[dead0man]

nah, because I never vote for a lesser evil

[TDAS04]

Yes, I voted for Mike Rounds in 2006.

[VPH]

Not regret, but there are a few votes I probably would have changed with hindsight.

[Since I'm the mad scientist proclaimed by myself]

In Pima County's 2020 democratic primary, the main guy running, Chris Nanos, had lost in 2016 due to allegations of corruption. So I voted for the other guy without really researching things properly. Turns out the other guy was a scumbag who probably abused his daughter.

[Santander]

Yes, I've regretted wasting the time to vote at all.

[LAKISYLVANIA]

nah, because I never vote for a lesser evil

In that case one probably never has to vote.

[jaichind]

Probably McCain 2008.  I was going to vote Libertarian just like in 2004.  My DW really hated Obama and asked me to vote for McCain even though I detested McCain and disliked him almost as much as Obama.  I voted for McCain as requested by my DW but felt ill afterward.

[OBD]

Didn’t actually vote but the closest thing was Buehler in 2018. I probably wouldn’t support him again but I’m not too hung up on it (as it wouldn’t have mattered anyway and Kate Brown hasn’t exactly been outstanding).

[Ferguson97]

I wouldn't exactly call it a "regret" but I voted Sanders in 2016 and would vote Clinton if given the chance again since I'm more ideologically aligned with her now. I still like them both though.

[dead0man]

nah, because I never vote for a lesser evil

In that case one probably never has to vote.

in an "every politician is 'evil' to someone" kind of way, sure.  Not from my, individual perspective though.

[Dr. MB]

I wouldn't exactly call it a "regret" but I voted Sanders in 2016 and would vote Clinton if given the chance again since I'm more ideologically aligned with her now. I still like them both though.

Even with hindsight knowing she lost?

[beaver2.0]

I should have voted for Evan McMullen in 2016.  Also when I voted for Amy Klobuchar in 2020 it was before she dropped out so I would change that if I voted again.

[Brother Jonathan]

The only vote I really regret is my vote for Bolduc in the 2020 Senate primary as a protest vote, which I only really regret because he has stuck around and now might throw the chances of unseating Hassan.

[progressive85]

Yes.  I voted for Ryan C. for Class Fish Feeder in the First Grade. 

I should have voted for Ryan B. instead.  (Even though he farted in my Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles lunchbox.)

[West_Midlander]

I had regretted my vote for Tillis in 2020 and for Paul Newby tbh but I don't regret either anymore.

[Cokeland Saxton]

I regret voting for Braun in 2018