Very few here need to hear this, but---

[Atticus]

---there is NO reason not to vote for EVERY Democrat on this next ballot. NONE!

Makes no difference if you are not deliriously happy with all the names with "D's" after them. Voting is CHOOSING those you believe to be the best candidate from the choices available. If so-and-so is "too far right" or "too far left" for your personal preference----suck it up and, if you must, hold your nose--- but, vote for them because they are Democrats and are therefore better than whatever is running against them.

Leaving a box blank next to a Democrat's name or staying home and not voting at all will be a vote for the MAGA Party. PERIOD!

Back whichever candidate you prefer in the primaries and say what you will on their behalf here but, come general election day, vote for "ours", OK?

[Meadowoak]

1. I vote every D everytime, and haven't missed a vote in 43 years.

[BigmanPigman]

6. Same here...

except I wrote my dog's name in twice for the school board (I was a teacher and knew all of them sucked). For every other election it is straight D for local, state and fed elections.

[AllaN01Bear]

16. i put snoopy in for one r i didnt like . been voting since mid 1976

[Timewas]

15. Also

60 years worth now....It is a privilege and a proud duty.

[sdfernando]

2. Preach it man!

You don’t have to convince me. I’ve. Been a regular DEMOCRATIC voter since I was a 18 (now in my early 60s)

[Silent3]

3. Absolutely. I hate the self-absorbed cry of "they have to EARN my vote!"

Spare me! The voter has a duty to steer their community and their country in the best possible direction from among the available options.

If you don't like the available options, work harder to improve the options in the next election, but don't throw away your chance to tilt the balance in a current election. Your vote for a no-chance third-party or write-in candidate, or choice to stay home, is NOT an effective way to "send a message" that will produce better choices in the next election.

If you're bothered by voting for someone who doesn't agree with you on enough points, then (1) remember the Republican in the race is even further away from what you believe in, and (2) Get the fuck over yourself. Voting shouldn't be viewed as an exercise in self-expression. It's an exercise in doing the best you can to help a collective effort.

[betsuni]

14. The "they have to EARN my vote"/"Vote my conscience" emotional moral purity test brand me-me-me

sold pretty well for awhile.

The "teach them a lesson" by not voting for Democrats thing has been around longer and just as stupid, based on the idea that Democrats couldn't possibly enter public service to help people because everyone's corrupt and everything's about money, let the Republican win, it's fine. Then when it's not fine, accuse Democrats of secretly being happy when Republicans do bad things because they only pretend to be progressive and could magically stop them but choose not to. Ugh.

[electric_blue68]

20. Yeah, some do that way.

[Abigail_Adams]

40. I wish this had been understood

by all those, including some people I know, who "just couldn't" vote for Hillary in 2016. They were sore loser Bernie-ites who bought the conspiracy theory that HRC somehow stole the NY state primary. But staying home was in effect a vote for Trump. There's a much larger cause here, folks!

[ananda]

4. I always do, unless there isn't one.

If there's another choice other than the missing Dem
and it's not Republican, I'll vote for that one
(usually Green).

[Baked Potato]

5. Yep!

[Just A Box Of Rain]

7. I cast my first ballot at 18 in the CA Primary in 1976.

I have never missed an election since. Not a by-year election, not a municipal election. None.

100% voting record.

I have never voted for a Republican in a partisan race in all those years. Not once

There have been times when under CAs new rules when I've had to choose between two Democrats in a General (as when voting for Harris over Sanchez) but always for a Democrat.

Never an unchecked box.

[Rhiannon12866]

8. I always vote a straight ticket, makes it easy to vote.

Especially here in Northeaster New York when local offices are often uncontested Republican.

[ShazzieB]

26. I wish I could vote a straight ticket.

They took that option away in this state a while back, unfortunately. So I have to go through the whole ballot, race by race, and carefully select all the Democrats; which I do, even though it's a pita.

If there's not a Democratic candidate, I leave it blank. Write-in votes aren't going to change anything, and they just make more work for the pollworkers, so there's no point. I might be willing to vote for a Green candidate, if that was the only non GOP option, but I don't recall that ever happening.

When we first moved to this town in 1994, local races frequently did not have a Dem candidate running, and voting in local elections often felt like a waste of time. I'm happy to say that situation has improved greatly.

[Rhiannon12866]

29. Oh, I have to go through the entire ballot, too - race by race - voting on the Democratic line.

And I admit to having voted for a Green candidate a couple of times when otherwise the Republican candidate would have run unopposed as happens in local elections. I know a woman who has run as a Democrat in two of those races in recent years, but she has yet to win. *sigh*

[NullTuples]

9. And don't forget: school boards are listed as non-partisan but they are NOT. Google each name.

Look for keywords / dog-whistle terms while they were campaigning & for prior appearances in the press.

(anyone know how to get that changed? At this point it's clear they should have to declare a party affiliation, as it obviously matters)

[yellowdogintexas]

42. contact the county Democratic office, or your Democratic

Precinct Chair (if you have one).

One more option: Find a local Grass Roots club and attend a meeting. If anyone knows the details, it will be a grass roots club.
Your county party should have a list of any clubs in your county.

The largest clubs in Texas are Texas Democratic Women, Stonewall Democrats and Young Democrats.

I am lucky because even without doing any of the above, one of the candidates for my City Council seat ran for State Legislature in 2020 as a Democrat.

[NullTuples]

49. Yes, also definitely check who has endorsed them!

[unweird]

10. Right On Brother Rat

Let’s get solid!

[gademocrat7]

11. Absolutely

I have always supported and voted for Democratic candidates.

[LostOne4Ever]

12. Last 2 decade+ of voting

Walk in, get ballot, mark straight democratic ticket at the top, vote on the two local election laws, submit ballot.

Vote blue no matter who!

[Beastly Boy]

13. I would add that there is no reason to do the same if you are a Republican.

Because if you don't, you may lose your right to vote for a Republican ever again.

On edit: Then again, many Republicans are not reasonable.

[Abigail_Adams]

41. It depends on the state

If you're registered with one party, you only get that party's ballot, at least in the primaries. I wish anyone could vote for anyone on every ballot.

[Emile]

17. I always vote for a straight blue ticket.

Democratic all the way!

[joshdawg]

18. Been saying this for years.

Thank you!

[Alpeduez21]

19. Fuck your green party protest vote

that's what got us here. Remember what's happening to abortion? You fucking did that.

[NBachers]

25. Nadroids . . . Nadroids . . . Nadroids . . . Nadroids. . .

[BOSSHOG]

33. Thanks for that

Yeah that Green Party vote got them a President huh. I’m all for green but that don’t work when your votes ENABLE NAZIS who DONT GIVE A FUCK ABOUT GREEN. And they don’t give a fuck about supporting babies they force to be born. Just like Catholics with their tax exempt status. Pro life until after birth.

[calimary]

53. This! "Pro-life" til after birth.

“Pro-life” til after birth.

That’s the slogan of the year.

[BOSSHOG]

54. If Catholics were as wonderful as they would have us believe

There would not be one hungry child or one homeless person in this country.

I’m not necessarily picking on Catholics. I was one for many years (groomed involuntarily from birth, thanks Mom and Dad) and I am quite familiar with their ways.

[calimary]

55. Lapsed Catholic here.

If even ONE set of those gold candlesticks at the altar during Mass were sold, the proceeds would buy enough food to feed a small village.

[BOSSHOG]

56. Catholics

Spent more then 4 million in tax exempt dollars last year in Kansas trying to codify their anti abortion belief. A small town in NE KS spent 400K for a new mansion (they call it a rectory) for their priest two years ago. The Catholic bishop helps the gop in theirs efforts to not expand Medicaid in KS. Oh and their anti abortion nonsense went down in flames because “voters didn’t understand the issue.” Tidbits from a state with barely 3 million residents.

[electric_blue68]

21. Have voted for Democrats since my first vote in the first wave (!) of 18 yr olds in '71...

On occasion I've voted on the Working Families Party line. I think they've ?almost or always run the same candidate. I wouldn't vote WF otherwise.

In all these decades I missed one local election, and maaaaybe ?3 primaries at most.

[Scrivener7]

22. My voting life has been much easier these last twenty or so years. Just D all the way.

I had a beef with one Democrat. Didn't matter. No way was I voting for his opponent, or helping his opponent win. I voted for him.

I have a conscience.

In the past there might have been a judge or council member who I grew up with and voted for if they didn't have a D next to their name. No longer.

[dchill]

23. The last time I voted for a Republican was...

...oh yeah - that never happened.

[yellowdogintexas]

43. Twice here, for the same candidate: Senator Howard Baker

an honorable man who was the incumbent. Of course this was back in the 1970s, back when I lived in Tennessee

One year his opponent was a very shady businessman and the next time around his opponent was someone I knew personally and I could not stand her.

He was a very good Senator, too. If you are too young to know details he was an important player in the Watergate hearings.

One year we sent pro choice postcards to his office. The response I received specifically addressed the issue; no generic responses from him.

[dchill]

45. I remember what the President knew, and when he knew it.

I'm 71, but I never lived in Tennessee!

[lame54]

24. I'm glad I don't live in West Virginia

[MayReasonRule]

27. Agreed. There Are No Reasonable Fascists. GOP Is Wholly Fascist

Don't Be Schtupid Be A Smarthy Never Vote For Nat-C Pahrty!!

VOTE

[Buckeye_Democrat]

28. That's what I've done for years because...

... the GOP has demonstrated for decades that their party members must comply to their overall evil-doings, or they're out. So a reasonable-sounding Republican politician (which is rare anyway) can't be trusted to remain that way.

[live love laugh]

30. Saving to modify and send to my friends.

[H2O Man]

31. Recommended.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

32. +1. Of course! Who wouldn't vote for a Dem!???

[gopiscrap]

34. totally agree any republican is nothing but

a shit stain, asswipe scum of the earth racist, selfish, phobic fucker

[Hermit-The-Prog]

35. Tell your friends: The Republican party is the biggest threat to the U.S.

[MiHale]

36. I don't like the color red anywhere...

but my kitchen where the red walls hide the marinara splatters.

Lifelong blue lover.

[CTyankee]

37. Sure. I'd support every Democrat. I'll support every Dem from local to federal level but that person

has to be pro-choice. It's easy for me to say because I have "voted with my feet" by choosing to live in a solid blue state. Some hideous event would have to occur before I would do anything else. I cannot imagine CT going backwards. I will work like hell to keep my state and local level politically pro-choice blue.

[piddyprints]

38. Many times,

there are no Democrats running. I'm in blood red TN. But I still vote. If no Democrat is running, I write in a friend's name. I wish I could make a difference.

[yellowdogintexas]

44. This often happens in Texas. However, state rules make

it very difficult to do a write in. In fact anyone who wants to be on the ballot who did not file by the cutoff date has to go through a process to do it.

I think it was in 2018 that we finally had enough Democrats on the ballot to have a Democratic primary in every county. It may have only been for one or two spots, but it happened

[piddyprints]

46. I don't know what the rules are.

And I have no expectation that my write-in will win. But it will make it so that they can't mark my blank ballot for a Republican. Yes, I'm a bit cynical at this point. I vote by mail on a paper ballot.

Wow! Good for you! I got one Democratic primary ballot last year with absolutely no names on it. Talk about discouraging!

[newdayneeded]

39. 3 lost Supreme Court justice slots

That's about that needs to be said!

[mahina]

47. Ok but hear me out...

requesting a Tulsi Gabbard rule.

If your D is an R in disguise, exempted.

She was never with us, she was pretending the whole time. Some of us knew it, some of us remembered the vile things she had said before running.

Carry on.

Otherwise, 100%.

[Atticus]

48. Agree. Tulsi has never been a Democrat. If she puts "D" after her name it will stand for

"Dumbass", "Despicable" or "Defector".

Carry on.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

50. It still counts toward a chamber majority, to pick a speaker or senate leader

and committee members and chairs.

So, yeah, if there's a "D" next to the name Gabbard or Manchin or Sinema, hold your nose and vote.

[Atticus]

51. Sinema has declared herself NOT a Democrat and Gabbard has been a virtual MAGApublican for over

a year. Manchin has never claimed to be anything other than a Democrat.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

52. Yeah, Sinema (with an "I") would not get my vote.

My ballot will have none of those names anyway. It should be a close race to replace Stabenow here. We have a surplus of good Dems, so the primary vote will require thought.