I think it is pretty much common knowledge that you can leave blanks. And in the case of Republicans I think the last thing they want to do is say you can leave it blank and then Trump shits all Twitter making it even worse for everyone.

But Democrats seem to only care about presidential races and ignore the mid-terms so this strategy would hurt them too but for different reasons.

Why should voters need such instructions, particularly from the media.

If anybody should educate the public about something like leaving blanks on the ballot, it would be Board of Elections. The goal of a political candidate is to get elected and stay elected.

When I vote, if I don’t know anything about a candidate (for example, local candidate for town politics), I’ll vote with my party but I won’t typically leave anything blank.

What’s the point?

I’m actively trying to be an informed voter and I can’t find any information on school board member nominees, Judge nominees, or even most of the people on the list for Senate!

We’re 13 days away from the state primary, and I’ve seen two names on signs for school board members, and they are a married couple. None of these people even have Twitter profiles or Facebook pages.

Honestly, that makes me want to not vote for any of them. It’s 2016. If you can’t figure out how to post your plans for the school board on Facebook or Twitter, you have no place making decisions for a modern school board.

I definitely have argued with people who think if you leave a blank they throw the whole ballot out. Not everyone knows. I assume the majority do know, but every vote counts, so we want everyone to know.

@Seek Valid point. That’s not always the case though, but when it is, it’s frustrating, ridiculous, and disappointing.

I think the point of telling people that they can leave any spot they choose blank is to encourage people to vote.

@JLeslie makes a great point, IMO, by pointing out that Jeb Bush said he will not be voting. Instead, he should be clearly stating that he looks forward to casting his vote for the republicans on his ballot and, therefor, will be skipping the presidential race.
Not only is it more intelligent and informed, it gets exactly to his point. Hopefully this presidential cycle is a fluke and both parties will have a acceptable candidate to run in 4 years.

^^Thank you for understanding. I don’t care if people disagree with me, I like to hear all thoughts on the matter, but it’s nice that someone didn’t think I was being ridiculous.

Jeb is a perfect example. I was shocked he said he wouldn’t be voting. Maybe he said he wouldn’t be voting for President? I’d have to look at the video to see how specific he was. No matter what he said, I think most people interpreted it as he wont be voting at all, that he won’t be showing up to vote.

In fact, @JLeslie Bush said he could vote for neither Trump or Clinton.

But I agree that they could be working harder for the candidates that are not President.
And Jeb is a national figure. He doesn’t need to confine himself to Florida.

^^I have to watch the video again in his interview with Nicollle Wallace. One of them said they are going to “sit it out” or she used those words about a different election, I don’t trust my memory on it, I have to watch it again.

I know a friend of mine didn’t bother to vote when McCain was running, because of Palin. She, my friend, didn’t go to the polls at all that year.