write-in candidate : https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Write-in_candidate
Introduction
Although the impetus of this post is largely informed by my experience in the most recent presidential election, I sincerely hope to abstract this conversation away from political debate or from the particulars of Donald Trump. To the extent such matters are discussed, I hope that discussion of them is limited only to specifically adding value to the principle I'm putting forth.
As an additional caveat, I should say that one of my biggest concerns in posting this is that I will simply encounter an echo chamber. My suspicion is that my views are likely held by most of reddit. But posting this is at least in part an attempt at catharsis: I've had these conversations in real life with so many people, and I inevitably run into what I perceive to be cognitive dissonance in the person I'm speaking with. There are at least a few nuances to the argument I'm putting forth that may strike at least somewhat of a nerve with the reddit community, so here goes.
My View
I believe that in a US presidential election, a candidate's likelihood of winning shouldn't be a factor in whether you should vote for him/her. For example, in the 2016 election, I spoke with a number of conservative friends who voted for Donald Trump and chose not to vote for a third party candidate because the third party candidate did not have a chance of winning. They strongly disliked Trump, and justified their decision as "voting for the lesser of two evils." I don't understand this decision, and I view it as entirely irrational.
The only reason put forth by defenders of the "lesser of two evils" argument is that to vote for a third party candidate is to waste a vote. In other words, voting for a candidate with a chance of winning would not be wasting a vote. It's not clear to me what it means to "waste a vote." I've come up with a few explanations:
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Wasting a vote means you have lost the opportunity to affect the election. This seems like the most likely meaning of "wasting a vote."
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Wasting a vote means you have lost the opportunity to identify with a winning team.
The "Affect the Election" Argument
The problem with the "affect the election" argument is that it implies that a vote for a different candidate would affect the outcome of the election. It won't. And this is the point in the argument where I tend to run into the highest degree of cognitive dissonance, when I say the following: your vote in a US presidential election has, statistically spe
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*This question presumes no major changes to the format of testing for LII/LIII in the next two years.
This seems like an interesting predicament. If they allow this, then obviously a quicker turnaround might be ideal for those who don’t pass in Dec. Not to mention, the curriculum would be the same. I could see them being hesitant because of the advantage this provides.
That said, the alternative seems much worse. If they do not allow this, Candidates would have to wait another 1.5 years to write again!
I’m not sure if anyone has discussed this, and I am hoping they will clarify in the update they are set to provide in May.
Happy Studying
I know nothing of Elizabeth but I know this sub is pretty anti-Lena.
For the sake of argument let's say the Dems nominate Biden as their candidate. In November, however, the masses ignore everything and a historic write-in campaign has Bernie with more votes than Trump or Biden. Does he still become president?
[MI] So the title pretty much sums up the situation, but I'll go more into detail. My boyfriend and I live in the same precinct, 3 slots available for Democratic precinct delegate with no one running on the ballot. My friend ran in a different precinct with 4 slots available and 2 candidates on the ballot. All 3 of us filed a notice to run as a write-in at the Board of Elections.
While I was able to look up online at election results, I saw there were 11 votes for precinct delegate write-ins in my precinct, and in my friend's precinct there were 7. Doing the math and knowing my boyfriend and I got at least 3 votes each, even if 1 or more other people ran in my precinct my boyfriend and I must have won at least 2 of the 3 slots. We didn't hear anything or get anything in the mail, so I tried calling the Board of Elections and after getting transferred a few times to no one who knew the answer, someone at Campaign Finance was supposed to ask her Assistant Director but I never heard back.
My friend did her own calling and tried calling Lansing as well, I'm not sure who she got in touch with but essentially the person said that's why they encourage people to get on the ballot because otherwise the write-in votes are usually not counted. My friend asked if it was someone's job to do this and the person said yes, but it's typically not done. The machine was able to count write-in votes (which is how I could find the numbers online), however when it comes to the actual tallying of who got the votes as a write-in, that part doesn't really happen.
They said we needed to get a hold of the Democratic chair of the party in our area and if we wished to file a complaint to do so at the Board of Elections.
I feel like this is absurd and a form of disenfranchisement. This can't be legal, can it? I plan on filing a complaint with the Board of Elections as well as contacting the Democratic Chair--are there any other steps I should take or any advice on how to navigate this situation?
I was thinking like 5 or so for the presidential election. What do you think?
