Voters in this small city decided overwhelmingly last year to do away with the party affiliation of candidates in local elections, but the Obama administration recently overruled the electorate and decided that equal rights for black voters cannot be achieved without the
Democratic Party....

Justice Department spokesman Alejandro Miyar denied that the decision was intended to help the Democratic Party. He said the ruling was based on "what the facts are in a particular jurisdiction" and how it affects blacks' ability to elect the candidates they favor...

The measure appeared to have broad support among both white and black voters, as it won a majority in seven of the city's nine black-majority voting precincts and both of its white-majority precincts.

"Removing the partisan cue in municipal elections will, in all likelihood, eliminate the single factor that allows black candidates to be elected to office," Loretta King, who at the time was the acting head of the Justice Department's civil rights division, wrote in a letter to the city.

Ms. King wrote that voters in Kinston vote more along racial than party lines and without the potential for voting a straight Democratic ticket, "the limited remaining support from white voters for a black Democratic candidate will diminish even more."

Ms. King's letter in the Kinston case states that because of the low turnout black voters must be "viewed as a minority for analytical purposes," and that "minority turnout is relevant" to determining whether the Justice Department should be allowed a change to election protocol

I don't understand how it would lead to disenfranchisement. All that would happen is that voters would not be able to lazily vote down a party line without actually knowing who they are voting for. Voting would require more time and energy, and fewer clueless people would be at the polls.

That was my argument as well. Simply provide a list of names running for each office. If people don't know anything about those individuals (even basic facts like their political party affiliation), then they shouldn't be voting in those particular races.

If anything, it would create major problems for the two-party monopoly in American politics. Can't have that... An informed electorate voting their conscience instead of yanking a straight-party ticket handle? Dear lord, no!

I don't understand how it would lead to disenfranchisement. All that would happen is that voters would not be able to lazily vote down a party line without actually knowing who they are voting for. Voting would require more time and energy, and fewer clueless people would be at the polls.

One could just do a quick Google search right before you go to vote and see who the Democrat or Republican is? Ultimately then your idea would not be changing too much, a lot of people would maybe have to ask someone or do a quick search but ultimately they would still be just about as clueless about the person they are voting for.

One could just do a quick Google search right before you go to vote and see who the Democrat or Republican is? Ultimately then your idea would not be changing too much, a lot of people would maybe have to ask someone or do a quick search but ultimately they would still be just about as clueless about the person they are voting for.

I honestly don't believe most of the apathetic people would take the time to find out the party affiliation of many, let alone all candidates running in an election. No doubt the RNC and DNC would provide an easy printout page on their website to reference, but I don't think a lot of people would even expend that much effort.

Perhaps I'm overly cynical, but I get the distinct feeling that a large percentage of the small percentage of people who vote in the US do so only as an excuse to get some time out of work.

The department ruled that white voters in Kinston will vote for blacks only if they are Democrats and that therefore the city cannot get rid of party affiliations for local elections because that would violate black voters' right to elect the candidates they want.

That's pretty messed up if this is true... I always try to at least watch something from each candidate or read something that they wrote before voting for them, or at least read some sort of summary about some of their beliefs. I guess I'm just too German?

The city is 2/3 black. They can elect whoever they want without the help of party denominations. This is total bull, and the morons in the Justice Department that pushed this forward should all be publicly executed.

I think its great to remove the party affiliation from before the candidates name on the ballots. An inability to vote for a canadate without the little letter before their name is truly pathetic beyond word.s

As for the racial issue, its obviously racism. If white voters voted for candidates because there were white, Jessie Jackson would kill them all. But it seems to be okay when minorities vote for skin color instead of a candidate's beliefs. It be the left's polarization on reason if anything.

Yeah, this is how much voters are paying attention: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GqAiarOhC2U

That video is totally ridiculous. They act as if black voters are the only ones who are clueless. You could go to practically any white neighborhood in America and get the exact same results. And the conclusion they reach is completely unsubstantiated by the interviews, as there could be any number of reasons why the residents of Harlem supported Obama in 2008. Couldn't you have found a better source to illustrate your point?

I imagine there were a few people who voted for Mccain rather than Obama because the latter was more white, but I'm not seeing the corpses.

Every accommodation should be made for the people who want to vote but are ill equipped to make informed decisions, because we all pay the consequences if their ignorance goes unaddressed. To that end, I not only favor including party affiliation, but also including short summaries of each candidate's positions on key issues, so that no one will cast a vote without knowing precisely which policies they are endorsing.

You've got unelected officials blatantly violating the Constitution, along with any semblance of morals and common sense.

Seems warranted to me.

i don't think our system works when everyone's decisions is given equal weight while many vote blindly.

Bingo. This is the single worst point of failure in a representative Republic. I've said it before and I'll say it again: I'd rather lose every vote I participate in to an informed voter pool disagreeing with me at every turn than to win half the time because of ignorant fools blindly voting without a clue in the world what the Hell they're voting for.

Frankly, if there were a reliable method to disqualify people from voting in a race where they're unfamiliar with the major candidates, I'd be all in favor of it.

Personally i think that we shouldn't cater to stupid voters and in fact we should have a test in order for a person to be legally able to vote as i don't think our system works when everyone's decisions is given equal weight while many vote blindly.

the Obama administration recently overruled the electorate and decided that...

That would be unconstitutional but I agree with the sentiment.

I don't know about you guys, but i would rather the misinformed or uninformed voter not vote at all than blindly vote according to a party affiliation.

Remove the simplicity and make voters think again. I will never understand why this country tries to coddle the lazy and ignorant so much.

In this day and age, if you are unable to find basic fundamental information about what you are voting on, then really you should not even be voting. You are already disconnected from the society and your voting contribution is invalidated by your ignorance.

We need more intelligence at the poll booth, not less.

Personally i think that we shouldn't cater to stupid voters and in fact we should have a test in order for a person to be legally able to vote as i don't think our system works when everyone's decisions is given equal weight while many vote blindly.

Good thing you're not a lawmaker. For a second, I thought Merrie Melodies had taken over your body.

Yeah, my joke completely nullifies the fact that the administration has done something completely Unconstitutional and immoral.

Rigggght.

I didn't take it as a joke, that was my mistake.

The last time we had voting tests was in the Jim Crow South, and it was a disaster. Minorities and poor whites were entirely excluded from the electoral process, and predictably their interests were completely overlooked. A lot of the oppression in that day can be directly linked to the fact that the people being oppressed had no power over the government, and thus the government had no reason to respect their rights as there were no consequences for violating them. The entire situation was a powder keg waiting to explode. Disillusionment among the masses towards the political process grew exponentially over time, and eventually produced a revolutionary fervor that would have ruined the South without federal intervention. Trust me, our current system in which everyone gets a vote is far better than the alternative.

I disagree with this entirely, better to be free with ignorance than go down that slippery slope... you start with some simple tests and next thing you know they put things on there that only true geniuses could know, it would disenfranchise many people who are supposed to be represented. Even if people are total idiots they are still the ones who are to decide how things should work as they are the people... you want to change that then try to get people more educated, don't try to force them to not be able to vote and leave the problems in society there, instead solve the problems rather than try to find some "easy" way out of solving such problems.

Seems pretty ridiculous, but to be fair every other district in the country puts the party affiliations on, and it doesn't seem right that one place has a different voting protocol to everywhere else.

Economic Left/Right: -4.38
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -6.82

Not anything New Inca said, just the most convenient sig line to grab.

How about we make every candidate take a standardized political quiz like the above and then we include that next to their name on each ballot?

Oh, here local elections are still done to a national template and the format of the voting papers is the same everywhere. If that's not true in America then there really is no reason to force that on this town.