This year, Reason celebrates 20 years of disclosing our votes. Since 2004, we have been asking—though not requiring—Reason staffers to explain who they’re voting for and why in presidential election years. Believe me when I tell you we don’t do this for our own health. We typically take a beating from every direction for the balance of our votes, or lack thereof. But we think it’s important for the people who read, watch, and listen to Reason to know where our writers, editors, and producers are coming from. Who we vote for is a highly imperfect measure of our biases, but it’s one we’re happy to share in the spirit of transparency. This election—and every election—we urge other publications to follow our lead.
Traditionally, this survey yields a high percentage of Libertarian Party (L.P.) voters and nonvoters, and that remains true in 2024. This year we have 12 Chase Oliver voters (many of whom have horribly mean things to say about the L.P.), six nonvoters, three Kamala Harris voters (many of whom have horribly mean things to say about Harris), one Nikki Haley write-in, one Kennedy write-in (the Fox News host, not RFK Jr.), and two undecideds (one 50/50 Trump/Oliver and one 50/50 Trump/nobody). In general, the tone of the forum is bleak and discouraged, in keeping with the mood of the American public.
Reason is published by a 501(c)(3) nonprofit and therefore doesn’t endorse particular candidates. But we also don’t think one party or person ever fully embodies the things that are important to us, including individual liberty, free markets, and the rule of law. We know there is life outside of politics, and we look forward to returning to it once the election is over.
Now for some legalese: Nothing in what follows should be construed as an official endorsement of any candidate or cause. These are the personal views of individual participants and not the institutional views of Reason or Reason Foundation. But then, you knew that. —Katherine Mangu-Ward
Check out our past voting surveys from 2004, 2006, 2008, 2012, 2016, and 2020.
César Báez
Assistant Producer
Who will get your vote in the 2024 presidential election? If I were eligible to vote, I wouldn’t choose any major-party candidate. Donald Trump’s refusal to accept the 2020 election result is a huge red flag for me, as I fled Venezuela in part because the dictator, Nicolás Maduro, refused to acknowledge the election results and transfer power. But I also couldn’t support Kamala Harris. Her stance on price controls mirrors the disastrous policies that led to food shortages and starvation in Venezuela. Plus, the harshest crackdown on asylum rights occurred when she was vice president. Despite granting Temporary Protected Status to Venezuelans, deportation flights resumed, sending dissidents back to jail in Venezuela. I’ve never had the right to vote in free elections, but even here, I wouldn’t cast a vote supporting the “lesser evil.”
What past vote do you most regret? This was not a vote, but in 2016, I believed Donald Trump was the best option, mainly because of what I thought was his foreign policy approach: less nonsense intervention worldwide but maximum pressure against autocratic regimes. At the end of his presidency, he praised autocrats like Kim Jong Un, Vladimir Putin, and Nicolás Maduro.
Apart from the presidency, what is the most important race or ballot initiative being decided this fall? Arizona’s Proposition 314 criminalizes undocumented immigrants, equating drug traffickers with refugees. It is likely to pass due to anti-immigrant sentiment. Still, this proposition redundantly bans crimes covered by federal law and risks promoting racial profiling against Latinos by state and local police.
Ronald Bailey
Science Correspondent
Who will get your vote in the 2024 presidential election? Back in 2008, I stated that “the Republicans must be punished and punished hard.” They must be punished even harder in 2024! Given how the polls are running in Virginia, I will vote Libertarian: Chase Oliver/Mike ter Maat.
What past vote do you most regret? So many options! Certainly, George McGovern in 1972. Our country would have been in a much better place socially and economically had Mitt Romney won in 2012, so I feel some regret for my vote for Gary Johnson.
Apart from the presidency, what is the most important race or ballot initiative being decided this fall? Party primaries consistently throw up unhinged dimwits as candidates. So I am all in on ranked choice voting initiatives that are appearing in five states and D.C. Our city is also considering the adoption of ranked choice voting.
Billy Binion
Reporter
Who will get your vote in the 2024 presidential election? Whether or not I’ll be eligible to vote is unclear, as I’m a new D.C. resident without an immediate path to establishing residency. (The last time I registered to vote I was living in Los Angeles, and there is a 0 percent chance I will be going through the hoopla to vote absentee.) But if the stars align, I’ll vote for Chase Oliver. Despite having some policy differences with him, I cannot bring myself to vote for Donald Trump or Kamala Harris, neither of whom comes close to representing my values. D.C. also sways heavily Democratic, so the least I can do—the only thing I can do?—with my vote is to send a message that someone here would appreciate more choices.
What past vote do you most regret? Unless the unthinkable happened and my one singular vote swayed the course of history, I feel it unwise to spend emotional energy over past ballots I’ve cast. If I had to pick one, I suppose it would be the first election I voted in, which happened in my early college days when I was still sometimes regurgitating my parents’ beliefs as my own. (I don’t even remember who was on that ballot, so, again, I am spending approximately no emotional energy on this.)
Apart from the presidency, what is the most important race or ballot initiative being decided this fall? I’ll be interested to see how ranked choice voting fares in D.C. Viva ranked choice voting.
Eric Boehm
Reporter
Who will get your vote in the 2024 presidential election? If I vote, it will be for Chase Oliver. Donald Trump is utterly unfit for the office. Kamala Harris is unprepared and unprincipled. Oliver at least has the right values, and he represents the best of what the Libertarian Party could be.
What past vote do you most regret? No single vote is worth enough to be regretted.
Apart from the presidency, what is the most important race or ballot initiative being decided this fall? I’ll be closely watching the ballot initiatives in several Western states (Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, and Nevada) that would do away with partisan primaries in some future elections in favor of top-four or top-five systems. That’s an imperfect reform, but it would limit the power of the lunatic fringe in both parties and allow for more robust political competition.
Christian Britschgi
Reporter
Who will get your vote in the 2024 presidential election? No one. Donald Trump and Kamala Harris offer slightly different flavors of the same big-government, big-spending, protectionist, interventionist agenda that’s anathema to the libertarian direction I’d like to see the country go. Additionally, Trump’s call for deporting millions of people and Harris’ limitless support for abortion demonstrate a fundamental, disqualifying lack of respect for individual dignity and freedom. Chase Oliver is running for president on the Libertarian Party ticket, much to the chagrin of the Libertarian Party. I wish him well but feel no particular obligation to vote for him. If there were a gun to my head, I’d cast a ballot for Harris given that Trump attempted to steal the last election. That’s really something that can’t (or at least shouldn’t) be tolerated. But, since this is America, there is no gun to my head forcing me to vote, and therefore I won’t.
What past vote do you most regret? I’ve voted twice in my life. Once for a random assortment of Boise City Council candidates in 2011 and once for Gary Johnson in 2012. Of those, I don’t regret my vote for Gary.
Apart from the presidency, what is the most important race or ballot initiative being decided this fall? Proposition 33 in California would repeal state-level limitations on local rent control laws. Local governments are already drafting ruinous rent control policies to take effect if it passes—something recent polling suggests is within the realm of possibility.
In recent years, California has made halting progress toward liberalizing a restrictive land use regime that’s responsible for making the Golden State the epicenter of America’s housing cost and homelessness crises.
Giving local governments carte blanche to regulate rents would destroy that progress and then some. Rent control has been a disaster everywhere it’s been tried. It reduces the supply and quality of rental housing and makes cities more expensive and hostile to newcomers.
California has the largest population and largest economy of any state in the country. Despite itself, it continues to produce and sustain innovative, dynamic industries that are building our bright, techno-optimist future.
Regardless of where in the country you live, you should want to see a California that’s growing, prosperous, and relatively free. A victory for Proposition 33 would be a huge step back for the state, and therefore, the country.
Elizabeth Nolan Brown
Senior Editor
Who will get your vote in the 2024 presidential election? Chase Oliver. The Libertarian Party may be a hot mess, but it’s still the hot mess closest to my heart. And I was happy to see Oliver get the party’s nomination. It’s a lovely rebuke to the folks who think libertarians are or should be largely culturally conservative.
What past vote do you most regret? I’ve only voted in two past presidential elections—in 2008 (for Barack Obama) and in 2020 (for Jo Jorgensen)—and I don’t really regret either. There are plenty of things to criticize about the Obama presidency, but I still think it was preferable to a John McCain presidency. Also, to quote Eric Boehm from last election cycle: “I can’t imagine thinking a single vote is valuable enough to spend time regretting.”
Apart from the presidency, what is the most important race or ballot initiative being decided this fall? I’ll be closely watching the abortion initiatives on state ballots. Since the Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade, state ballot initiatives concerning abortion have been big—and, so far, the pro-choice position has come out on top in every state where they have been tried, including in places like Kansas and Ohio. It will be interesting to see if this persists this year, especially in states like Florida, Missouri, and South Dakota.
Emma Camp
Assistant Editor
Who will get your vote in the 2024 presidential election? Chase Oliver. I had originally planned not to vote for anyone. But I was pleasantly surprised when Oliver won the Libertarian Party nomination despite the state of the current L.P. leadership, which seems attached less to advancing liberty than to owning the libs.
I live in profoundly blue D.C., which frees me from any feeble notion that my vote could impact the presidential election, and therefore from any feeling of obligation to vote for anyone other than the candidate who best aligns with my values. Of the options, Oliver comes closest to meeting my small-l libertarian priorities.
If I lived in a swing state, I would cast an extremely unenthusiastic vote for Kamala Harris. While I have successfully resisted becoming coconut-pilled, I do sincerely hope Harris wins because Donald Trump is an aspiring authoritarian maniac.
What past vote do you most regret? I thankfully haven’t cast enough ballots in tight enough races to think any of my votes are worth regretting.
Apart from the presidency, what is the most important race or ballot initiative being decided this fall? I’ll be closely watching the ranked choice voting ballot measures in Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, and Oregon, and voting in favor of it in D.C. Surprise, surprise, a third-party voter likes ranked choice voting.
C.J. Ciaramella
Criminal Justice Reporter
Who will get your vote in the 2024 presidential election? In 2020 I broke my 16-year streak of not voting in presidential elections because I thought Donald Trump was actually unfit for office by whatever standard you wanted to use: mentally, emotionally, ethically. It turns out I was 100 percent correct, because then he tried to steal the election and ginned up a mob of his fans to storm the Capitol building.
I would prefer to return to not voting, but Republicans insisted on rewarding Trump for his behavior by nominating him again. I will once more vote for the candidate with the best chance of beating him, Kamala Harris, because Trump doesn’t deserve to hold office and I find him personally detestable.
What past vote do you most regret? Because of my long streak of not voting, I’m unburdened by what has been.
Apart from the presidency, what is the most important race or ballot initiative being decided this fall? The most important elections are for your local sheriff and prosecutor offices, whose policies are far more likely to directly impact your community than whoever is sitting in the Oval Office.
Bekah Congdon
Deputy Managing Editor
Who will get your vote in the 2024 presidential election?
Despite the best efforts of the Libertarian Party’s loathsome leadership—embracing bigotry, antisemitism, and very-onlineism—the delegates managed to nominate a smart, well-rounded, empathetic candidate in Chase Oliver. He has earned my vote. There was a remote chance I might have voted Democrat for the first time this year, but Kamala Harris has made no meaningful shift in her rhetoric or plans regarding Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza. She has failed to earn my vote.
What past vote do you most regret? I’ve learned not to hold shame for decisions I made when I was young and indoctrinated. That said, my first eligible vote was in 2008, and I knew as soon as I left the polling place that I regretted voting for John McCain. (By 2012, I was writing in Ron Paul.)
Apart from the presidency, what is the most important race or ballot initiative being decided this fall? Unfortunately, no one but the president can meaningfully affect foreign policy, but we need more people at every level of government who oppose American-funded genocide and endless war, and who do not believe that civilians in one country are more worthy of life than civilians in another country.
Natalie Dowzicky
Managing Editor, video and podcast
Who will get your vote in the 2024 presidential election? Even though Pennsylvania has offered me as many mail-in ballots as my heart desires, this is my first presidential election as a registered voter in Virginia. I guess it’s exciting that my vote matters even less than it did before? With that in mind, I’m choosing to vote for the least worst option: Kamala Harris. We agree on very little, but I’m fairly certain that America can’t withstand another four years of Donald Trump. (And there’s no telling what he would do in 2028.) I hope you know that this vote brings me absolutely no joy.
What past vote do you most regret? I don’t regret any of my previous votes. I try to live with “no ragrets” as the cool kids say these days.
Apart from the presidency, what is the most important race or ballot initiative being decided this fall? The 10 ballot measures in various states having to do with abortion are what I’m keeping my eyes on. Voters in Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Maryland, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New York, Nevada, and South Dakota will decide whether or not their respective states should enshrine a right to abortion in their constitutions. Personally, I don’t want the state making any decisions about my body, but we’ll see what happens.
Nick Gillespie
Editor at Large
Who will get your vote in the 2024 presidential election? I will write in a vote for Chase Oliver, the Libertarian Party nominee (he is not on the official ballot in New York, where I live). He is not simply the best candidate running in 2024—and the only one talking at all about reducing the size, spending, and scope of the federal government—but he is one of the most consistent and thoughtful people the L.P. has ever run. He always explains and defends his positions from the starting point that individuals should have more control over the most important decisions in their lives. Critics who accuse him of being pro–COVID lockdown, pro–vaccine mandate, or pro–gender reassignment surgery for minors are either wholly ignorant of or willfully misreading his clearly stated positions on these issues. He has laid out rationales for sunsetting old-age entitlements, reining in the military-industrial complex, and maximizing expression and lifestyle freedom that are philosophically sound, pragmatic, and persuasive. It’s a damn shame that he is not receiving full support from not only his own party but from many people who insist that, no really, they are libertarian. Except when it comes to voting for someone in favor of free trade, increasing legal immigration, halving defense spending, defending the Second Amendment, and legalizing drugs.
What past vote do you most regret? Walter Mondale in 1984. It was the first presidential election in which I could vote and I was drawn to his explicit promise to reduce the deficit and, I guess, his legendary “Norwegian charisma” that led him to lose 49 states out of 50. I don’t regret that he lost so badly (and deservedly, really). But there was a perfectly good L.P. candidate, David Bergland, I could have thrown away my vote on.
Apart from the presidency, what is the most important race or ballot initiative being decided this fall? In Arizona, voters will get to choose between Proposition 140 (the Single Primary for All Candidates and Possible RCV General Election Initiative) and Proposition 133 (the Require Partisan Primaries and Prohibit Primaries Where Candidates Compete Regardless of Party Affiliation Amendment). The former would prohibit partisan primaries and mandate that the top finishers move on to the general election. The latter would require partisan primaries and prohibit open ballots where the top few move on to the general election. I strongly support the latter; parties play a powerful function by vetting candidates, refining their platforms, and providing clear alternatives to voters. As can be seen from California’s experience with a system in which the top two vote-getters in a so-called jungle primary move on to the general election, such a system effectively freezes out third parties and merely consolidates or deepens the status quo. The L.P., the party that comes closest to consistently reflecting my political positions, is in dreary shape at the national level and in most states, but it and other minor parties have no real role to play in a single-primary system in which only the top two or three candidates move on to a general election.
Fiona Harrigan
Associate Editor
Who will get your vote in the 2024 presidential election? No one. I’m not interested in regretting my vote, and the best way to ensure that is not to vote.
What past vote do you most regret? I’ve only voted in one election cycle. I don’t especially regret the choices I made then, but I regret thinking they were so important.
Apart from the presidency, what is the most important race or ballot initiative being decided this fall? Arizona Proposition 314—which, among other things, would make it a state crime for noncitizens to enter Arizona outside an official port of entry and allow state and local law enforcement to arrest people for unlawful border crossings. Beyond casting a punitive eye on undocumented communities and individuals, the measure would raise taxpayer costs and broaden police powers, shielding law enforcement from civil lawsuits should they violate someone’s rights. Those are concerning things—and if the measure passes, Arizona will join a growing list of states that accept those things for questionable payoff.
Joe Lancaster
Assistant Editor
Who will get your vote in the 2024 presidential election?
Neither major party’s candidate gets me particularly excited, and I expect each would pursue policies that I will oppose. But since I find myself once again in a swing state, I feel compelled to choose one or the other. Wrongheaded and potentially unconstitutional policymaking can be prevented by Congress and the judiciary; on the other hand, the mechanism for dealing with a candidate who spreads racist lies about immigrants and minority groups is the ballot box. As such, I will vote for Kamala Harris.
What past vote do you most regret? In my first election, a couple of local incumbents ran unopposed for reelection—people I had met in person and found too slick and politician-y for my taste. Perhaps foreshadowing my future career path, I regret that I voted for them anyway and didn’t either leave those spots blank or just write in “Batman” and “Robin.”
Apart from the presidency, what is the most important race or ballot initiative being decided this fall? Voters in four states and Washington, D.C., will decide whether to adopt ranked choice voting for future elections. Instead of the traditional system, in which the winner is whoever has the most votes (in some cases, even without a majority), ranked choice would allow voters to rank the entire list of candidates in order of preference. With so much partisan rancor and little chance of third parties finding a foothold in a winner-take-all system, ranked choice could potentially shake up our stodgy political institutions and offer palatable alternatives.
Katherine Mangu-Ward
Editor in Chief
Who will get your vote in the 2024 presidential election? I never vote, for all the reasons outlined in this classic Reason cover story.
What past vote do you most regret? I remain foggy on whether I voted in 1998, the first year I was eligible. I definitely registered, because I still have a tattered paper card indicating my polling place. If I voted, I regret it.
Apart from the presidency, what is the most important race or ballot initiative being decided this fall? It looks like 16 cities in Oregon are considering bans on psilocybin mushrooms, which were legalized statewide in 2020 by Measure 109. I’d hate to see legal psychedelics lose ground, especially as part of a drug recriminalization backlash largely unrelated to innocent fungi.
Robert W. Poole Jr.
Former Reason Editor in Chief and Director of Transportation Policy, Reason Foundation
Who will get your vote in the 2024 presidential election? Because Florida is not a swing state this year, I am spared the horrible choice between two unsuitable candidates—both protectionists, both with loony tax ideas, and both ignoring out-of-control peacetime federal spending and the looming national debt disaster. In a number of previous presidential elections, I’ve voted for the Libertarian candidate. Not this time: I cannot vote for a defense-policy isolationist who mimics Neville Chamberlain’s response to Hitler’s invasion of other countries. I will write in a qualified candidate, Nikki Haley.
What past vote do you most regret? I most regret having voted to reelect Trump in 2020 as the lesser evil. The invasion of the Capitol building showed me how wrong that vote was.
Apart from the presidency, what is the most important race or ballot initiative being decided this fall? The most important ballot measures this year concern abortion. Because the GOP in recent years has gone overboard in support of abortion bans, the opportunity for pro-choice voters to overturn extreme bans may shift some candidate races in favor of left-wing Democrats.
Jason Russell
Managing Editor, Reason magazine
Who will get your vote in the 2024 presidential election? Chase Oliver. The odds of my lone vote being the decisive vote in my state, and Virginia being the decisive state in the presidential election, are infinitesimally small. Even if I lived in Pennsylvania or some other swing state, I’d feel the same way about my single vote. Regardless of my preference between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, I have no qualms whatsoever about voting for the candidate whom I am closest to ideologically.
What past vote do you most regret? In 2012, I left the presidential portion of my ballot blank. I was a college student in New York but registered to vote in my home state of Michigan. I would have voted for Gary Johnson, but Michigan was one of two states to not list him on the ballot (though I now see Michigan would have accepted a write-in vote for him). Even though I felt more ideologically aligned with Mitt Romney and was strongly rooting for him over President Barack Obama, I decided I was too worried about Romney possibly invading Iran. Come 2016, with Trump getting the Republican nomination, I regretted holding Romney to such a high standard and wished I had cast my first presidential vote for my home state’s native son.
Apart from the presidency, what is the most important race or ballot initiative being decided this fall? I’m keeping an eye on Amendment 2 in Kentucky, which would allow the state Legislature to distribute education tax dollars outside the traditional K-12 system. The state constitution’s version of the Blaine Amendment is so strict that a 2022 law funding public charter schools was deemed unconstitutional—so Kentucky remains one of the few states without charter schools, which are increasingly shown to be a great option for students. Amendment 2 would allow the Legislature to fund students “outside the system of common schools,” so education savings accounts and other kinds of educational freedom would be on the table as well.
Robby Soave
Senior Editor
Who will get your vote in the 2024 presidential election?
The best thing one can say about Kamala Harris is that she has renounced several of the bad policy ideas of…Kamala Harris, circa 2019. Even so, that’s not much of an endorsement. Moreover, her selection of Tim Walz—a big government liberal and COVID-19 tyrant—is disqualifying for the entire ticket.
Donald Trump is an improvement over Joe Biden on some issues—Trump doesn’t want to ban TikTok, at least for the moment—but many of the current administration’s worst economic ideas (i.e., tariffs) would be continued or even expanded under Trump. It’s also hard to take seriously the idea that Trump will somehow succeed in reducing the vast federal bureaucracy during his second term after he manifestly failed to do so during his first. Never forget that Trump gave Anthony Fauci a presidential commendation. Thus, the choice is clear: I will be voting for Chase Oliver.
What past vote do you most regret? I regret nothing. I voted for Jo Jorgensen and Gary Johnson in previous election cycles and would do so again.
Apart from the presidency, what is the most important race or ballot initiative being decided this fall? While I expect the presidential election to be extremely close, my hunch is that Harris will ultimately win. Given that outcome, it becomes vital that Republicans either retain control of the House of Representatives or recapture the Senate. The House map is dicey, but there are several hotly contested Senate races—in Montana, West Virginia, Ohio, Wisconsin, and Michigan—where Republicans could prevail. I hope they do. Divided government is liberty’s best friend.
Peter Suderman
Features Editor
Who will get your vote in the 2024 presidential election? No one.
What past vote do you most regret? I’ve only voted once, for George W. Bush in 2004. Look how that turned out!
Apart from the presidency, what is the most important race or ballot initiative being decided this fall? Florida’s Amendment 3, which has flaws, but would legalize recreational pot in the Sunshine State.
Jacob Sullum
Senior Editor
Who will get your vote in the 2024 presidential election? Chase Oliver. Despite his inability to distinguish between “genocide” and a defensive war with disturbingly high civilian casualties (also a terrible thing that kills innocent people, but qualitatively different in terms of motive and intent), he represents a refreshing contrast to the muddled thinking and authoritarian tendencies of all the other candidates.
What past vote do you most regret? In grade school, I voted for myself in the nail-bitingly close election of a class president. I had previously agreed with my friend Larry that I would vote for him and he would vote for me, because we somehow had the impression that voting for yourself was unseemly. After our teacher told all of us that such squeamishness was inappropriate, I signaled to Larry that we should abandon our arrangement and vote for ourselves. But he did not understand my gesture and voted for me as originally planned. I was elected by one vote, our teacher said that was fine despite the misunderstanding, and I still feel bad about it.
Apart from the presidency, what do you think is the most important race or ballot initiative being decided this fall? I’m not sure it gets top billing, but it will be interesting to see what happens with the marijuana legalization initiative in Florida, which Donald Trump has endorsed and Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) vigorously opposes. As a constitutional amendment, the measure needs support from at least 60 percent of voters to pass, and polls suggest the outcome will be close. If voters in a previously purple but increasingly red state like Florida favor toleration of recreational use by the requisite margin, it will be a sign that the conservative backlash against legalization is fizzling, reinforcing the significance of a presidential race featuring two major-party candidates who have both turned against pot prohibition.
J.D. Tuccille
Contributing Editor
Who will get your vote in the 2024 presidential election? In 2020, Donald Trump was a thuggish agent of chaos and Joe Biden promised—bullshit though it was—to be a moderate uniter. Trump is still a thin-skinned narcissist heading a cult of personality. But Democrats met Republican authoritarianism with “hold my beer” totalitarian intolerance for dissent. I’m torn between a principled vote for Chase Oliver, who is a better candidate than the moldering corpse of the L.P. deserves, or joining my wife who fears the left’s antisemitism in voting for Trump. Oliver is a capable advocate for liberty representing a collapsing organization, while Trump, scumbag though he is, could be less bad than the empty vessel for the control freaks around her that is Kamala Harris.
What past vote do you most regret? I regret no vote so much as I already regret this year’s vote.
Apart from the presidency, what is the most important race or ballot initiative being decided this fall? Arizona has a true libertarian, Clint Bolick, on its state Supreme Court. Bolick is up for a retention election this year, which will decide whether he holds his seat. I’m enthusiastically voting for him.
Jesse Walker
Books Editor
Who will get your vote in the 2024 presidential election? Chase Oliver.
What past vote do you most regret? I have a double regret from the year I became eligible to vote. I started 1988 as a leftist, albeit with increasingly strong libertarian inclinations; I ended it as a libertarian, though with some vestigial left-wing sympathies. If I had voted for the guy I was rooting for in the primaries and for the candidate I liked best in November—Jesse Jackson and Ron Paul, respectively—that would have summed up the journey pretty well. Instead I skipped the primaries and then cast a lesser-evil vote for…Dukakis? Well, at least it wasn’t Bush.
Apart from the presidency, what is the most important race or ballot initiative being decided this fall? They say the most important races are the ones in your backyard, and those are certainly the only ones where your ballot might make a difference. So for me I guess it’s one of these: I’m voting to impose term limits on the planning board, to give the county an independent inspector general, to expand the size of the county council so as to shrink the size of the members’ districts, and, as usual, to reject all the bond questions and to eject all the sitting judges.
Zach Weissmueller
Senior Producer
Who will get your vote in the 2024 presidential election?
For the first time since I was eligible, I will not be voting in the presidential election. They finally broke me. The isidewith.com quiz tells me that I am aligned on policy five times more closely with Trump than with Harris. I desperately want him to follow through on freeing Ross Ulbricht. And yet, I can’t vote for somebody who leveraged unproven voter fraud claims to attempt a self-coup, suggested the “termination” of aspects of the Constitution, and picked a vice president who’s suggested ignoring court rulings. Rule of law is a nonnegotiable principle. Harris announcing as one of her first policies price controls to tackle inflation is a deal-killer. I cannot vote this kind of economic illiteracy into the White House, nor support the Democrats’ agenda to pack—er, “reform“—the Supreme Court. I like Chase Oliver and especially appreciate his commitment to ending foreign aid and slashing the debt, two areas where Ds and Rs are severely lacking. But the Libertarian Party doesn’t even want me to vote for him. My nonvote conveys a rejection of the broken process and party machinery that led to a third Trump nomination, a last-minute Harris switcheroo, and increasingly marginal Libertarian Party presidential candidates.
What past vote do you most regret? In 2020, I wrote that “I just hope I don’t regret my first lesser-of-two-evils vote this year” after voting Biden. Surprise: I do regret it. In light of Biden’s unconstitutional OSHA workplace vaccine mandate and the inflationary spending, I wish I had abstained.
Apart from the presidency, what do you think is the most important race or ballot initiative being decided this fall? There are six statewide ranked choice voting ballot initiatives—four to enact, one to repeal, and one to prohibit—as well as one in D.C. and numerous similar local ballot initiatives. If ranked choice voting could pick up momentum this election cycle, it could initiate a serious and much-needed structural change in U.S. elections. Multicandidate elections with runoffs tend toward more moderate and centrist candidates, but in some cases can also open up possibilities for libertarians, as recently happened in Argentina. This kind of fundamental change in how we vote may be the only way, long term, that our increasingly unhinged national politics might course-correct.
Matt Welch
Editor at Large
Who will get your vote in the 2024 presidential election?
Almost certainly Kennedy. Not Robert F., but our beloved Fox broadcaster pal and Reason contributor, Lisa Kennedy Montgomery. Very nice lady. There are only two names on my ballot, because the state of New York is so brutally effective at suppressing political competition, so I will have to write in somebody. Though there is a wee small chance I may yet throw a futile bone at Libertarian Party candidate Chase Oliver, who I certainly like more than the rest of his 2024 competitors (and some L.P. nominees of elections past). Party leaders at both the state and national levels have been working actively to alienate voters like me, so it feels almost unsporting to not give them the W. New York hasn’t cracked 41 percent for a Republican since “Kokomo” hit No. 1, so my vote will not affect the desultory major-party race. I genuinely, if not quite equally, disdain not just Donald Trump and Kamala Harris, but their dishonest running mates as well. Great country; lousy politics.
What past vote do you most regret? I explained my Michael Dukakis regret last time around, so let’s add a second: In 2008, having just moved to the District of Columbia, I neglected to get my voter registration sorted in time, thus depriving Dave Chappelle or Bob Barr or whoever of my crucial write-in vote. More importantly, it robbed me of one of my greatest civic pleasures: sending Katherine Mangu-Ward a selfie of me with an “I voted” sticker.
Apart from the presidency, what is the most important race or ballot initiative being decided this fall? Question 3 in Massachusetts is the latest blue-state attempt to saddle the innovative 21st century gig economy with hoary 20th century labor models, in this case allowing ride-share drivers to unionize, instead of retaining their current status as independent contractors. As Reason Foundation’s Marc Scribner and Baruch Feigenbaum conclude, “Due to driver voting eligibility requirements, the part-time nature of the work for the vast majority of gig workers, and high driver turnover, one practical implication is that a minority of drivers may be able to force the majority of drivers into work arrangements they may not favor.” Not great, Bob!
Liz Wolfe
Associate Editor
Who will get your vote in the 2024 presidential election?
I am currently a legitimately undecided voter. I may do the dirtiest deed and vote for Donald Trump. It brings me no pleasure to report this, and I imagine the screenshots of this answer will be circulated by the online ne’er-do-wells to (rightly?) shame me for years to come. Stolen election claims and a refusal to put the kibosh on the democracy-subverting activities of January 6 disturb me, as do tariffs, but I am more optimistic about the economic conditions that will arise as a result of a Trump administration and I was pleased with his Supreme Court picks during his first term. Price controls, court packing, and massive amounts of government spending, which I expect to accompany a Harris presidency, will simply not work for me. I do not think the Libertarian candidate has done a very good job of putting himself out there, nor do I believe the Libertarian Party is a viable force in American politics. I am angry that my choices are between a descent into populism ushered in by the right or a descent into populism ushered in by the left. If I do not vote for Trump, I will simply not vote and instead do a cold plunge in the ocean, which will cleanse me of my disgust and calm my weary soul.
What past vote do you most regret? If I pull the lever for my compatriot from Queens, this will probably be the vote I regret the most. Conveniently, I live in New York, so it doesn’t matter. I will sleep soundly regardless, lulled to dreamland by an ever-increasing sense of nihilism.
Apart from the presidency, what is the most important race or ballot initiative being decided this fall? Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Maryland, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New York, and South Dakota are all voting on measures that would expand or protect abortion access. Quite a few of these measures don’t just protect abortion early in a pregnancy, but until viability (around 24 weeks) or even later in cases where a doctor deems the health of the mother to be at risk. Other measures—such as Colorado’s—would force private insurers to cover the procedure. It’s likely that voters will move in the direction of expanding and protecting abortion access—as they frequently have when offered the choice after Dobbs—but for consistent life ethic types like myself, that’s not cause for celebration.
Justin Zuckerman
Producer
Who will get your vote in the 2024 presidential election? I plan to write in Chase Oliver. His platform is the closest to representing my views. And I’m registered in D.C. so it doesn’t matter anyway.
What past vote do you most regret? I don’t think I’ve ever voted in the majority, so no regrets here!
Apart from the presidency, what is the most important race or ballot initiative being decided this fall? I’ll be watching Question 5 in Massachusetts, which asks voters to phase out the “tip credit” for restaurant servers. I’m currently finishing a documentary for Reason on the effects of tip credit elimination here in Washington, D.C., which has so far led to reduced restaurant employment and increased food prices.
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