The 2020 General Election grows even closer. Are you registered to vote? If not, you can go to Vote.org or Vote.gov to get the information you need to register and get your ballot. It doesn’t matter which state you live in - those sites will direct you to the information you need for your state. Don’t wait!

Introduction

I’ve been making these posts about the 2020 Elections in an effort to help people research their candidates and to take downballot elections seriously. Most of my posts are Minnesota-centric as I am a resident of Minnesota; however, I am aware that each state has their own electoral system. That means that not every state will have all of the same candidates - in fact, as I alluded to on my post about the Minnesota Presidential Election, there are only three candidates on all 51 [Note 1] ballots this year: Biden/Harris (Democrat), Trump/Pence (Republican), and Jorgensen/Cohen (Libertarian). This means that parties can have multiple people running for president or vice-president, have people running as a political statement, or have people run as a spoiler vote. 

The United States uses a winner-take-all, first-past-the-post electoral system. That means if a simple majority of voters in a state vote for one person, even if the majority of the populace voted against that candidate, that person gets the electoral votes allotted to that state. And once a candidate reaches 270 votes, they’ve won the election, even if they lost the popular vote [Note 2]. This creates a scenario where people have to vote tactically - that is, casting a vote for someone close to their views but stands a chance of winning instead of casting a vote for someone who is aligned with their views and has no chance of winning. 

As the United States has a de facto two-party system, it is next-to-impossible for a third party to get into a federal office - and if they do somehow make it in, they have to work closely with one of the two major parties to get anywhere. The Democrats and Republicans have won every presidential election since 1852 and have controlled congress since 1856 - in fact, the one Libertarian currently in Congress, Representative Justin Amash, was voted into his position as a Republican before he switched party affiliation. Third party candidates are much more likely to be elected to state and local offices, which are just as important as federal offices but are not given as much recognition.

The Third Party Vote

At the federal level, a third party vote is a vote against one’s own interests. There is a common misconception that third party votes represent dissent in the popular vote. It is said by those who believe in it that their votes let congress, the parties, and the media know that there are voters who do not approve of the candidates that were selected by the major parties. Though this is a lovely sentiment, this is a falsehood.

A third party vote does send a message, though - it sends a message to other people. It says that one is so comfortable with the status quo that they can use their vote philosophically instead of practically. It says that a person is so comfortable with the status quo that they don’t care about who gets into office, because they have deniability (well, I didn’t vote for the person in office, though I didn’t vote for their opposition either). It says that they are so comfortable with the status quo that they can survive when basic human rights are systematically stripped away from others while they are safe from prosecution.

The third party vote has not represented dissent in the popular vote during the lifetime of the modern political system - our political system is set up to ignore such dissent. Congress and the parties ignore third party votes, and we can look to the 1912, 1948, 1968, 1992, and 2000 elections to see this in action. Each of those elections had strong third party candidates (Theodore Roosevelt, Progressive; Strom Thurmond, Dixiecrat; George Wallace, American Independent; H. Ross Perot, Independent; and Ralph Nader, Green); however, the winning candidates essentially did the opposite of what their political rivals would have done in office. If there is a message being sent, it is not being received by congress, the president, or the parties.

As for the media, think about when third parties are discussed - during major elections. The media ignores third parties the rest of the year, just as everyone else does. If third parties were serious about making a change and representing dissent in the popular vote, they would recognize that change does not start from the top and work its way down, but rather starts from the bottom and works its way up. Civic actions would happen all year, every year; third party candidates would run for neighborhood and local offices; third party candidates would support legislation that changes the electoral system in a way to help break the two-party system that we’re stuck in.

We Don’t Have One Election System

We don’t have one single election system federally. We have 51 different election systems - or 56, depending on one’s point of view. Every state + DC gets to run elections in their own way, and the 5 permanently populated US Territories (American Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands) get to participate in the primary elections. But this means that not all states will have the same candidates running for the offices of president and vice president. In fact, as I’ve mentioned before, the only parties who have reached 50+DC ballot access this year are the Democrats, Republicans, and Libertarians.

Michigan has a very decentralized electoral system, while five states (Colorado, Hawaii, Oregon, Utah, and Washington) hold elections almost entirely by mail. Each state’s election system has grown organically, as times changed and administering an election became an increasingly complex task. This has many implications, including having different rules for who can get on the from state to state. Let’s look at some of the presidential ballots outside of Minnesota.

Some Other Ballots

Because the Democrats, Republicans, and Libertarians are on all 51 ballots this year, I will not be listing their names as we look at state ballots in this section.

California

In my post about the presidential election, I noted that Kanye West is running for President in Minnesota, and that he knows that he is a spoiler vote. I also mentioned that the West/Tidball ticket is not on the California ballot - rather, the De La Fuente/West ticket is on the ballot under the American Independent Party [Note 3] - the party of George Wallace. Now, Rocky De La Fuente is a member of the Alliance Party and Kanye West is a member of the Birthday Party [Note 4], but the Alliance Party is an alliance.

Here’s who is on the ballot:

Roque "Rocky" De La Fuente Guerra and Kanye Omari West - American Independent
Howie Hawkins and Angela Nicole Walker - Green
Gloria La Riva and Sunil Freeman - Peace and Freedom

All names on the Minnesota ballot, though La Riva/Freeman are listed as Socialism And Liberation instead of Peace and Freedom. 6 contenders in California to 9 in Minnesota.

Alaska

I had noted that Hawkins/Walker aren’t on the ballot in Alaska, as the Greens chose to go with Ventura/McKinney instead, even though Ventura said that he would not be running for president. After poking around on the Alaska Division of Elections website for a bit, I found their general candidate list and a sample federal ballot.

Brock Pierce and Karla Ballard - Petition (Independent)
Don Blankenship and William Mohr - Constitution
Roque "Rocky" De La Fuente and Darcy G. Richardson - Alliance
James G."Jesse Ventura" Janos and Cynthia McKinney - Green

Well, we see some names that were missing in California but were present in Minnesota, and we see some new names. But the third party field is getting spread pretty thin.

Michigan

I was talking to a friend of mine who lives in Michigan, and we were comparing notes on who is running there and who is running here. I got to see some political parties on the Michigan ballot that I don’t remember ever seeing on past Minnesota ballots.

Don Blankenship and William Mohr - US Taxpayers
Howie Hawkins and Angela Walker - Green
Rocky De La Fuente and Darcy Richardson - Natural Law

Oregon

I was also comparing notes with a friend in Oregon about candidates and which ones are running this year. Our ballots looked very different. Though I couldn’t find a sample ballot for Oregon, I could access candidate filings through the Secretary of State website: 

Howie Hawkins and Angela Walker - Pacific Green
Dario Hunter and Dawn Neptune Adams - Progressive

Not Voting

The United States has a low voter turnout - in 2016, nearly 56% of the Voting Age Population cast ballots. However, Voting Age Population does not mean voter eligibility - voter suppression is widespread in the United States and it is not getting any better. Furthermore, citizens of US Territories are not eligible to vote in the General Election. I keep these facts in mind whenever people say that there were more people who didn’t vote than there were people who voted for one candidate or the other, because it is very possible that those people could not vote. Now, if someone didn’t vote because they couldn’t be bothered to, or because they wanted to send a message to Washington, then I would view them as I would view someone who voted third party; I would view them as someone who doesn’t care enough about those who have to struggle to survive. But if they didn’t vote because of disenfranchisement, then I’d be much more understanding.

However, I will not blame who wins and who loses an election on the people who did not vote. That will be reserved for the people who did vote, because they clearly had voter access, did not get turned away, and either voted for the party fueled by hate or voted philosophically instead of practically. It is not the fault of the people who have lost access to the voting booth.

Conclusion

There’s a misconception that third party votes send a message to Washington. They don’t. Voting third party sends a message to the disenfranchised and the marginalized. They say that while we are voting for survival, you are voting symbolically. They send the message that you don’t care enough about the lives of those of us who have to struggle just to survive because things suit you so well. But we are voting for survival. Because the United States uses first-past-the-post instead of ranked choice voting, most of us don’t have the luxury of voting third party. As third party votes siphon votes away from major party candidates who have similar views, we have to be strategic with our votes.

Remember, not every state has the same presidential ballot - each state chooses who will be on the ballot in their own way. Different states can have different people running for office from the same party. Different states can have the same people running for different offices.

How a person votes is a reflection of their political view. A person’s political view says who they are as a person - what their values are, if they consider other people human or not, if they are okay with people being treated as second-class citizens or not.

Remember, if you want viable third party candidates, that has to start locally. Change how your municipality does elections and work your way up from there. Get your city to do the Alternative Vote, where you can rank your voting choices, and get your local legislatures to change over to the Single Transferable Vote. Demand that your city council, county commissioners, and state legislatures follow through with this. Make your state's executive branch use the Alternative Vote system. Make it so that you can rank your choices. So even if your #1 candidate doesn't get chosen, your #2 may still get in. But don’t expect to make a statement by voting third party at the federal level and then ignoring it the rest of the year, because then you are saying that you don’t actually care.

Notes

1) All 50 States + D.C.

2) This has happened five times to date:

A: In 1824, Andrew Jackson won the popular vote but John Quincy Adams won the vote in the House of Representatives due to a lack of electoral votes.

B: In 1876, Samuel J. Tilden won the popular vote but Rutherford B. Hayes got the electoral votes through the Compromise of 1877.

C: In 1888, Grover Cleveland won the popular vote but Benjamin Harrison won due to the electoral college.

D: In 2000, Al Gore won the popular vote but George W. Bush got the electoral votes after the Supreme Court made a ruling on Florida recounts.

E) In 2016, Hillary Clinton won the popular vote but Donald Trump won due to the electoral college.

3) Their website is horrible to look at - they are an extreme right-wing group who makes the Republicans look moderate. Also, their website says that they endorse Trump/Pence, even though that’s not reflected on the ballot.

4) Oh my fucking god, why.

I write these posts in an effort to help people find out about political candidates and become more informed about who they are choosing to represent them. I would appreciate it if you would share these posts to aid others in learning about their candidates. Together, we can build a better tomorrow.

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