Obama will be Excluded with Straight Ticket Voting - Facts Analysis

Story:

Please Pay Careful Attention To This! In the event that you are planning to vote democrat on Nov. 6, when you go into the voting booths, Do Not Select The Button “all democrats” first, because Barack Obama will be excluded from the vote. However, if we choose “Barack Obama” first, and then “all democrats”, he will earn our votes. People are not being told this information, because they are trying to use every trick in the book. Tell Everybody You Know This! Please Re-post
This, We Can’t Let Them Get Away With This!!!!!!

Other Versions

Attention To Everyone That’s Voting In The November 2012 Election!! The following information has been verified as being “True” through Snopes.com! If you are planning to vote a “Straight Democratic Ticket” this November, be sure to “Punch President Obama name “First” on the card, the proceed to punch “Straight Democratic Ticket”! If you don’t punch president Obama name first on the ticket, your vote will be voided!!!! Please pass this important information to all your E-Mail friends and familes. I’m sure this information will not be told to you at the polls this coming
November!!!!!! God Bless!

Analysis:

The messages warn about the ‘straight ticket voting’ process in United States of America, claiming that if you do not vote for president Obama first and then vote ‘all democrats’ or ‘straight democrat’, your vote will be voided and Obama will lose your vote. The messages also claim that this is a trick employed, and so everyone should be aware of this. Although there is some fact associated with these messages, these are hoaxes and do not stand valid.

In United States of America, the voting process is different in various States, depending on the type of elections. Some states allow straight ticket voting, also called straight-party voting, where voters can choose single vote button and elect all members for various positions from a single party. Presently, a total of 15 states offer this straight-ticket voting option according to the type of elections. You can read about it in detail from the reference section. On the contrary, there is Split-ticket voting system, where voters can elect candidates from different parties by using various voting buttons. But all this voting process is clearly mentioned to the voters, according to the region of voting. So there is nothing like tricky or misleading the voters while using the voting buttons.

The origin of all these messages goes back to 2008, when North Carolina Democratic Party sent an email to Democrats in North Carolina, warning them that they must select Barack Obama and also select the Straight Democratic ticket for a valid voting. This is because, in North Carolina, Presidential election is separate from all other elections, therefore, if you do not make a choice in the Presidential election, then you will not be casting a vote for Obama. But this holds true only in North Carolina. This email got circulated to people in states other than North Carolina and the rumor spread like wild-fire. And now, years later, in 2012 presidential elections, someone used the same messages to spread the hoax.

Therefore, the voting process in USA polls generally depends on the region of State and is not tricky. The best way to make sure your vote counts is to study a sample ballot well in advance, and at the polling booth, be sure you carefully read the ballot and the voting instructions provided to you. You can learn state-by-state voting and voter registration information from here.