Voting for Foley

By now the entire world knows that Former Congressman Mark Foley sent sexually explicit email and instant messages to former Congressional pages. When he knew he was about to be exposed, he resigned and checked himself into rehab.

His once-promising career is over. His reputation is destroyed. He may even face criminal charges – although the criminal liability is murky at best. Few people, if any at all, would say his fate is unearned.

Foley’s congressional seat is now vacant. Although Foley has resigned and has no intention of staying in next month’s election, his name will remain on the ballot. The GOP has selected State Representative Joe Negron to run in Foley’s stead, but in order to vote for Negron, citizens of the 16th District will have to perforate the butterfly ballot next to Foley’s name instead.

Those of you paying attention will recall this ballot issue coming up eariler this year with the resignation of Tom DeLay. The election laws of Texas and Florida, and presumably other states as well, prevent candidates from taking thier names off the ballots even when they have completely withdrawn from the race weeks or even months before.

Historically, there may have been logistical reasons for this, modern electoral technology ought to allow much greater leeway for replacements in the new century. Substituting candidates ought to be possible until the last few weeks or even days prior to the campaign. Not only can we do this, we should do it. When a candidate drops out of the race, voters lose the opportunity to make a choice. In effect, they are deprived of their right to vote. When a substitute candidate steps up to replace his departed colleague, voters again have a real choice. But if they want to choose the new candidate instead of his opponent, and the new candidate’s name isn’t on the ballot, they again lose that right to select the person they deem best fit for office. Of course, many will rememeber the “secret” that voting for the drop-out will count as a vote for their new choice, but all too many won’t. They will come to vote for a particular candidate, not see his name on the ballot, and either vote for the wrong person or not at all. And if the dropout’s name is clouded by scandal, many voters will change their choices in the polling place even though if they had the right information about who was running they would vote their true preference.

We expect our voters to be informed about the ballots they cast. But that standard should be limited to name, party, issues, and other qualifications of the candidate. It’s unfair to make voters for Joe Negron first remember, overcome their revulsion, and then punch the ballot (or the touchscreen…) for Mark Foley, a known sexual predator. Voters shouldn’t be expected to navigate a secret code or overcome their disgust for a placeholder in order to vote their true preference. Current ballot laws require this, and in so doing, devlaue our votes and erode our democracy.