Reader Poll: How should Pennsylvania list candidates on the ballot?

ballotOne of the most important positions a candidate can hold in an election with multiple candidates is the top of the ballot.  

Each year candidates pull a number on the ballot, hoping to be in the top slot.  But some are calling for different ways to list candidates on the ballot, including randomizing the candidates on each ballot.

So we put the question to you, should Pennsylvania list candidates by ballot position, or list candidates randomly on each ballot?

How should Pennsylvania list candidates on the ballot?


  • List candidates randomly on each ballot (56%)
  • List by drawn ballot position (44%)

Total Voters: 433

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6 Responses

  1. I like the coffee-can approach. Clearly, the technology tail is wagging the democracy dog, and it needs to stop, before the dog dies. I worked two polling places (in Havertown), each of which contains about 1200 register voters (80% of whom reliably show up in presidential years)–comparable in scale to a student government election in a moderate-sized high school. There is no physical or administrative reason these two precincts (very well run by a split ticket of D and R judges of elections and volunteers), and thousand more like them, could not have been handled, better, and with no great delay, with hand-counted paper ballots (with–ready for this? carbon copies for the voters, like a receipt, so you have an independent, auditable, paper record. Accountability! Shocking suggestion, I know). Scan them into a database or counter if you want. Take these xxx,000 right-sized precincts out of the expensive high-tech equation; right-size some needlessly large ones; and focus our limited tech and $ on places where it’s absolutely necessary (and I’m not convinced you would have very many, if any). It’s a solvable problem.

  2. Why not list them by money raised in campaign funds? Let’s be honest; that’s largely how we elect them. That also is probably a good indication of how many conflicts of interest they will have after being elected, but we support that in PA By still electing judges rather than appointing qualified people.

  3. @Alex Bret

    Multiple political science studies would beg to differ with your naivete. And in such crowded, low-information races such as Philly judicial races, ballot placement has proven to not only be influential but almost universally decide the election. How do you think so many later-corrupt judges end up getting on the bench in the first place? It’d be better if the order were randomized in every single county for statewides and randomized in each municipality for county level races and below.

  4. Listing doesn’t matters. All it matters is the way they works. All the voters demand from the candidates is the work progress. The actively they’ll perform in their societies, they will gain more trust among them. Assignment Writing Services UK

  5. How about in order of the number of signatures a candidate obtains. Nothing random about that.

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  • Will tonight's U.S. Senate debate affect your decision?


    • No. I've already decided on how to cast my vote. (81%)
    • Yes. Anxious to hear from both candidates (19%)

    Total Voters: 27

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