should we elimiate ballots?

[MaC]

we could just write the candidate's name on a piece of paper, and those with the highest count wins.  I hear it used to be done like this...

[dazzleman]

That was back in the days when they had 6 weeks to count the votes....

[KEmperor]

What happens when people who have horrible handwriting cast a ballot and it's questionable as to who they were voting for?  Especially if two candidates in the race have similar names?

[Alcon]

During my project to compile precinct results for counties around the U.S., I have noticed that among the few counties that count individual write-ins, about 70% of the write-ins are:

GEORGE BASH
JOHN F. CAREY
RAPHL NADER
GEORGE T. BUSH

And this with the candidate name already elsewhere on the ballot.  These people were dumb enough to take the time to check "write-in" and then spell the name incorrectly.

Let's stick with this.

[MaC]

GEORGE BASH
JOHN F. CAREY
RAPHL NADER
GEORGE T. BUSH

eh, if people do this, like the first the vote will go to George Bash and not George Bush.  If they've not been blind and living under a rock in the last 4 months, they should have the common sense to spell their names correctly.  Stupidity should discredit a vote in this case.

[Alcon]

GEORGE BASH
JOHN F. CAREY
RAPHL NADER
GEORGE T. BUSH

eh, if people do this, like the first the vote will go to George Bash and not George Bush.  If they've not been blind and living under a rock in the last 4 months, they should have the common sense to spell their names correctly.  Stupidity should discredit a vote in this case.

What if it's semi-readable?

[MaC]

GEORGE BASH
JOHN F. CAREY
RAPHL NADER
GEORGE T. BUSH

eh, if people do this, like the first the vote will go to George Bash and not George Bush.  If they've not been blind and living under a rock in the last 4 months, they should have the common sense to spell their names correctly.  Stupidity should discredit a vote in this case.

What if it's semi-readable?

If they can make it out fine, if they can't don't bother.  People will usually have strong feelings about who they're voting for, so they'll print it out clearly.  Those who don't have strong feelings may not write so clearly, but if they'll vote isn't counted, they probably wouldn't care anyways.

[Alcon]

GEORGE BASH
JOHN F. CAREY
RAPHL NADER
GEORGE T. BUSH

eh, if people do this, like the first the vote will go to George Bash and not George Bush.  If they've not been blind and living under a rock in the last 4 months, they should have the common sense to spell their names correctly.  Stupidity should discredit a vote in this case.

What if it's semi-readable?

If they can make it out fine, if they can't don't bother.  People will usually have strong feelings about who they're voting for, so they'll print it out clearly.  Those who don't have strong feelings may not write so clearly, but if they'll vote isn't counted, they probably wouldn't care anyways.

What about the elderly and those with diseases such as Parkinson's?

[minionofmidas]

What happens when people who have horrible handwriting cast a ballot and it's questionable as to who they were voting for?  Especially if two candidates in the race have similar names?

The person who appointed the count supervisor wins.

[MaC]

GEORGE BASH
JOHN F. CAREY
RAPHL NADER
GEORGE T. BUSH

eh, if people do this, like the first the vote will go to George Bash and not George Bush.  If they've not been blind and living under a rock in the last 4 months, they should have the common sense to spell their names correctly.  Stupidity should discredit a vote in this case.

What if it's semi-readable?

If they can make it out fine, if they can't don't bother.  People will usually have strong feelings about who they're voting for, so they'll print it out clearly.  Those who don't have strong feelings may not write so clearly, but if they'll vote isn't counted, they probably wouldn't care anyways.

What about the elderly and those with diseases such as Parkinson's?

They could have access to a typing machine or have a worker at the polls help them.

[Fmr. Gov. NickG]

GEORGE BASH
JOHN F. CAREY
RAPHL NADER
GEORGE T. BUSH

eh, if people do this, like the first the vote will go to George Bash and not George Bush.  If they've not been blind and living under a rock in the last 4 months, they should have the common sense to spell their names correctly.  Stupidity should discredit a vote in this case.

This would be obviously unfair to candidates with foreign or difficult to spell last names.  I'll bet at least 20% of people would spell some names wrong, making it virtually impossible for these candidates to win.

[CheeseWhiz]

Why?

[MaC]

Why?

If your as libertarian as I hope you are, you should know that we have many stuggles in getting on the ballots in every state.  Once the resources are used for getting on every ballot are used, we hardly have any money to spend on ads.  However the Democratic and Republican candidates for President get free access plus something like $75 mil from the government to help with campaigns.  Heck even if we have problems, like Alcon points out, it's better than my taxpayer money going to finance John Kerry and George Bush.

[jimrtex]

This would be obviously unfair to candidates with foreign or difficult to spell last names.  I'll bet at least 20% of people would spell some names wrong, making it virtually impossible for these candidates to win.

They could change their name.  They are probably already at a disadvantage because of their name if it is too foreign sounding.

[Erc]

Zbigniew Brzhinski for President!

...or however you spell his name...

[jimrtex]

Zbigniew Brzhinski

You need to keep your cat off your keyboard

[MaC]

major party candidates never choose candidates with hard to pronounce names anyways because of how simple minded people can be.  It's really an unfair bias, but look at the names, how hard is it to pronounce Bush, Gore, Kerry, Clinton, Dole?  I mean even if Dennis Kucinich was a sane person with an ideology that didn't make opebo look like a moderate, he'd still loose beacuse his people wouldn't want a president who's name they have trouble pronouncing.

[Alcon]

major party candidates never choose candidates with hard to pronounce names anyways because of how simple minded people can be.  It's really an unfair bias, but look at the names, how hard is it to pronounce Bush, Gore, Kerry, Clinton, Dole?  I mean even if Dennis Kucinich was a sane person with an ideology that didn't make opebo look like a moderate, he'd still loose beacuse his people wouldn't want a president who's name they have trouble pronouncing.

Kweisi Mfume?

[Jake]

Why?

If your as libertarian as I hope you are, you should know that we have many stuggles in getting on the ballots in every state.  Once the resources are used for getting on every ballot are used, we hardly have any money to spend on ads.  However the Democratic and Republican candidates for President get free access plus something like $75 mil from the government to help with campaigns.  Heck even if we have problems, like Alcon points out, it's better than my taxpayer money going to finance John Kerry and George Bush.

When the Libertarians win automatic ballot access, the can get on the ballots for free also.

[Fmr. Gov. NickG]

A name doesn't even have to be foreign or hard to pronounce to be hard to spell.  For instance, I could never remember how to spell the name of last Governor of Maryland, Parris Glendening (how many R's and how many N's?), even after he was in office for eight years.  I'll be the majority of Marylanders would get it wrong.  You are suggesting that a vote for Parris Glendenning shouldn't count?

[MaC]

Why?

If your as libertarian as I hope you are, you should know that we have many stuggles in getting on the ballots in every state.  Once the resources are used for getting on every ballot are used, we hardly have any money to spend on ads.  However the Democratic and Republican candidates for President get free access plus something like $75 mil from the government to help with campaigns.  Heck even if we have problems, like Alcon points out, it's better than my taxpayer money going to finance John Kerry and George Bush.

When the Libertarians win automatic ballot access, the can get on the ballots for free also.

be much easier if you guys didn't hold us back.  What are you afriad of extra competition? Afraid we might appeal to more people, if they knew more about us?

[Alcon]

Why?

If your as libertarian as I hope you are, you should know that we have many stuggles in getting on the ballots in every state.  Once the resources are used for getting on every ballot are used, we hardly have any money to spend on ads.  However the Democratic and Republican candidates for President get free access plus something like $75 mil from the government to help with campaigns.  Heck even if we have problems, like Alcon points out, it's better than my taxpayer money going to finance John Kerry and George Bush.

When the Libertarians win automatic ballot access, the can get on the ballots for free also.

be much easier if you guys didn't hold us back.  What are you afriad of extra competition? Afraid we might appeal to more people, if they knew more about us?

Absolutely shaking in fear. 

[Gabu]

I see absolutely no reason to do this other than for self-serving Libertarian purposes due to their being mad at the fact that they have to work to get on the ballot.  No, I think that this would hurt a heck of a lot more than it would help.  If you think we have troubles now with everyone claiming that this vote should be counted, no it shouldn't, yes it should, blah blah blah, consider the fact that an "X" in a circle or whatever is a nevertheless whole lot easier to decipher than someone's handwriting.

[MaC]

Why?

If your as libertarian as I hope you are, you should know that we have many stuggles in getting on the ballots in every state.  Once the resources are used for getting on every ballot are used, we hardly have any money to spend on ads.  However the Democratic and Republican candidates for President get free access plus something like $75 mil from the government to help with campaigns.  Heck even if we have problems, like Alcon points out, it's better than my taxpayer money going to finance John Kerry and George Bush.

When the Libertarians win automatic ballot access, the can get on the ballots for free also.

be much easier if you guys didn't hold us back.  What are you afriad of extra competition? Afraid we might appeal to more people, if they knew more about us?

Absolutely shaking in fear. 

Bwahahahaha!  Teh LP shall rise again!

[Fmr. Gov. NickG]

OK, ballot access is one of the least of the Libertarians' worries.  They seem to be on the ballot absolutely everywhere.  Yet, the never get more than 1% of the vote.  After 30 years, putting candidates on the ballot in what seems like every presidential, senatorial, and congressional race, it's 1% of the vote.  And you come up with every possible excuse for why didn't do better, and always claim that you'll win some race next time.

Guess what....next time you are going to get 1% of the vote, no matter what the ballot rules are.

Why?  First of all, your strategy sucks.  Quit trying to field candidates in every race, when most of those candidate are unknown, poorly funded, and many of them are really crazy.  Find a couple of quality candidates, fund them well, and let's see how they do.  Why don't you try to win one single congressional seat before you try to win them all?

But you probably couldn't even succeed at this because people just don't like your platform.  Even if you had the resources to communicate your message, you are not going to convince people that roads and schools and social security should be privatized. 

As a socialist, I know what it is like to have political views that are extremely unpopular.  Yet I don't delude myself into thinking that everyone would eventually agree with me if only we got some socialists on the ballot, or we were well funded, or we could get into the debates.  95% percent of people just don't like what I stand for, and they don't like what you stand for either, and it is probably going to take generations to change that.   And remaining a goofy fringe party that runs wackos in every race isn't helping your guys to move the ball.