I have, a couple of times in the last 4 decades, voted straight ticket. Usually though, there is a candidate or two in my party who I do not want to vote for.
I will never vote a straight ticket since I see straight ticket voting being for lazy people that don't really do their research on a person but vote based on some label that means nothing other than its a label
I can't normally so as we do not always have a candidate for every office, in which case I typically side republican.
The good thing about being involved with a 3rd party is that most of the time I know the candidates personally or at least have met them face to face before.
This is why I try to actually research the candidates before election day so I can avoid situations where all I know about a candidate is their party affiliation.
In some states, they prevent independents from voting a straight ticket. Only, members of a party may vote that party's straight ticket. This is the US, more than 50 different election laws, all of them constantly changing.
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The good thing about being involved with a 3rd party is that most of the time I know the candidates personally or at least have met them face to face before.