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Remember my “too many choices” problem? I solved it. [1]

['Greg Dworkin', 'Chloris Creator']

Date: 2026-05-22  

Readers may recall my diary of May 7, 2026, “I just got this in the mail. What the heck am I supposed to do?” where I bemoaned the conundrum I faced on the California Primary ballot (for this coming June 2) of having too many candidates to choose from. Of course, it was trivial to eliminate all non-Democrats, but this was still staring me in the face:

Twenty-four Democrats on the ballot. Yes, yes, many of them, if not all but two or three, were vanity candidates, and it’s not that I’m incapable of doing some basic backgrounding on them but I still felt overwhelmed. “Let the polls be your guide” was good advice that I was offered in the comments, yet still I couldn’t shake that disturbing sensation…

*****

So, my ballot has sat on my coffee table now for a few weeks, unmarked until just a couple of days ago. Then I had a simple idea. If for each office there was more than one Democrat then I just pick the first one listed. They’re put on the ballot by random order anyway. So, I’m effectively voting by pulling names out of a hat.

If that seems irresponsible to you, I do beg your pardon. At least I was voting party line. As for whether this was wise, I ask you: do you actually trust any candidate to be some sort of “best possible choice, unequivocally”, and how would you decide? If you don’t personally know the candidate then all you have to go on is what their campaign says, and whatever track record you may find of them. From what I’ve seen, several of the top “serious” candidates were every bit as good as any other of them. In the end, isn’t your choice unavoidably subjective after all? If you’re trying to choose your senior high school graduating class valedictorian and there’s two in the running and they’ve both got 5.0 GPA and Advanced Placement and multiple school awards and clubs etc., isn’t it just a popularity contest in the final analysis? Doesn’t it just come down to who you like best, not necessarily who is the best suited for the job? Is that necessarily any better than choosing at random among assumed equally qualified candidates?

(If it’s any consolation, come November I won’t be so cavalier. Since that election will decide who becomes California governor I’ll be much more discriminating. Even if my only “choice” is a billionaire Democrat. If my only choice is a billionaire Democrat I suppose I’ll just hold my nose.)

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2026/5/22/800042384/community/remember-this-problem-i-solved-it/

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