I thought I should lead with the fact that, though I made an awful mistake, at least I learned a very valuable lesson. That lesson is to consider the heart of the candidate more than any negative press that candidate might be getting. More below the whirl of indecision.
It was the 1980 election. I watched the conventions on TV but also followed the various stories about the candidates in the newspaper. A newspaper was printed on paper with ink and I used to read it through because there was no internet to distract my attention. I read George H.W. Bush's remarks about supply side economics being "voodoo economics" since the process which caused the money to "trickle" back down seems mysterious and magical. I read about the Bert Lance "affair" only later learning that Lance was acquitted of wrongdoing.
As Wikipedia notes, since the scandal came so soon after Watergate, it cast a pall over the Carter Administration. I was in a quandary. If Nixon was nearly impeached for his part in Watergate, could I vote for a president who had (apparent) corruption in his administration? I was really wracked by indecision, a truly undecided voter that year. Finally I came to the conclusion that I should hold the Carter Administration to the same high standards as the Nixon Administration. I decided I must vote for Ronald Reagan.
When Lance was cleared and Reagan began his administration by removing the solar panels from the White House roof, it dawned on me that I'd been wrong. I comfort myself to this day that I stood in a long line near an Army post with other military dependents and service members most, if not all, of whom were also voting for Reagan. My one vote couldn't have changed the course of the election.
But my lesson was to look into the heart of each candidate, incumbent or not, to see how they make their decisions. Of course I have no special powers to do that, but by following the actions of the candidates it is possible to see if their actions meet with my personal values. Never again will I be sucked in by ginned up scandals or imagined flaws of a candidate.
My determination has gotten me through, George H.W. Bush's lip reading lesson, Al Gore's "woodenness," John Kerry's "Swiftboating" and much more. I will not lose my way again.