Ticket Splitting Law and Legal Definition
Ticket splitting is the tendency of voters in the U.S. to cast votes simultaneously for the candidates based upon their appeal to the voter, regardless of the party affiliation. This widespread practice indicates the weakness of party, the importance of personal appeals in American electoral politics and the effects of federalism. It also helps to explain the prevalence of divided government, where one party controls the executive and another legislature. Ticket splitters do not vote for all of one party’s candidates, instead they split their votes among different political parties in the same election. For example: a ticket splitter may vote for a Democrat for president and a Republican for senator.
