The State Election Commission is warning South Carolina voters that an email making its way around the state is wrong. The email warns people planning to vote for Obama that they have to vote for him first and then push the button to vote for a straight Democratic ticket. The email says if they don’t do it that way, their vote for president won’t count.
Chris Whitmire, spokesman for the State Election Commission, says that’s not true. On the state’s current voting machines, when a voter pushes the button to vote a straight party ticket, all the candidates for that party are included. There’s also a review screen at the end of the ballot that a voter sees before pushing the “vote” button, and that screen shows all the candidates the voter cast a ballot for.
He says the email is based on old, outdated information. Under the state's previous voting systems, either punch cards or optical scans, a voter did have to vote for a presidential candidate separately and then vote straight party ticket. But with the current voting machines, hitting "straight ticket" includes all of that party's candidates.
There is one thing you need to be careful of, though, Whitmire says. "When you vote straight party, there are likely other offices on your ballot that are non-partisan, and straight party's not going to select a candidate for a non-partisan office." That may include local school board candidates or members of a local water district.
This is not the only chain email that’s false that’s making its way around the state concerning Barack Obama. One makes numerous claims, including that Obama is a Muslim and that he refuses to say the Pledge of Allegiance. Another compares the tax plans of Obama and McCain and claims that “your taxes would double” under the Obama plan. Independent groups like Factcheck.org and snopes.com have checked all the claims and found them to be false, and give supporting information on their websites.
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