why do people vote for candidates that have dropped out?

[WalterMitty]

there are always ne'erdowells and weirdos who do this...and there are always dummies that spoil their ballots.

but at one point last night i saw a county in southwest va that was giving f thompson (!) 9-10% of the vote.

hell, f thompson couldnt hardly get 10% when he was actually in the race.

[MODU]

Some of those ballots are absentee votes, for starters.  Secondly, on all of the ballots in VA, it listed everyone who qualified to be on the ballot 2 months ago, which means pretty much everyone was still viable for votes.  Some people casted their votes as protests, others just aren't informed on who is still in the race and who is out.

[Bay Ridge, Bklyn! Born and Bred]

They aren't weirdos at all.  They are people who passionetly believe in their candidate, don't like the other alternatives, and perhaps hope that their candidate can run again at some point in the future.  

[WalterMitty]

now i really feel bad for chris dodd.

dodd only got 900 votes in ct.  'uncommitted' finished with 3 times as many votes.

ouch.

[Angel of Death]

Obligatory link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WA5P5-JDRmQ

[WalterMitty]

after a close examination of the virginia county results, i found these odd returns for f. thompson:

arlington county: 7.32%
falls church city: 4.67%
halifax county: 4.03%

[© tweed]

look at the results for southern AZ Republican

[WalterMitty]

look at the results for southern AZ Republican

pretty amazing, but i believe those results were due to anti-mexican bigotry.

they didnt want to vote for 'john mcamnesty'

[Erc]

look at the results for southern AZ Republican

Which, as I pointed out before, were incorrect.

Thompson didn't break 4% anywhere in AZ.

[WalterMitty]

look at the results for southern AZ Republican

Which, as I pointed out before, were incorrect.

Thompson didn't break 4% anywhere in AZ.

how were they incorrect?

[Gabu]

look at the results for southern AZ Republican

Which, as I pointed out before, were incorrect.

Thompson didn't break 4% anywhere in AZ.

how were they incorrect?

Thompson's percentages were erroneously swapped with Romney's.  Romney was the one who got ~30% in those areas, not Thompson.

[NDN]

now i really feel bad for chris dodd.

dodd only got 900 votes in ct.  'uncommitted' finished with 3 times as many votes.

ouch.

Don't be. He asked his supporters not to vote for him. Repeatedly.

[NDN]

They aren't weirdos at all.  They are people who passionetly believe in their candidate, don't like the other alternatives, and perhaps hope that their candidate can run again at some point in the future. 

Tada!  Precisely.  Hence my future vote for Romney in November.

What if he decides to give Huckabee his delegates to spite McCain? That's a real possibility, given how they really can't stand each other.

[angus]

What if he decides to give Huckabee his delegates to spite McCain?

That's an interesting question.  What are the rules, if any?  If I'm a candidate can I order the delegates that I have been partitioned to vote for some other candidate?  If I suspend or relinquish my candidacy, then it seems that I'm saying, "I want no part of this any longer" and at that point I don't really think I'd have the authority to tell them to vote in any specific manner.  If I'm a delegate, and the candidate to whom I'm pledged suspends, doesn't that make me a free agent?  Or are there some specific party policies requiring my vote to be cast in the manner in which my assigned candidate instructs?

[emailking]

That's an interesting question.  What are the rules, if any?  If I'm a candidate can I order the delegates that I have been partitioned to vote for some other candidate?  If I suspend or relinquish my candidacy, then it seems that I'm saying, "I want no part of this any longer" and at that point I don't really think I'd have the authority to tell them to vote in any specific manner.  If I'm a delegate, and the candidate to whom I'm pledged suspends, doesn't that make me a free agent?  Or are there some specific party policies requiring my vote to be cast in the manner in which my assigned candidate instructs?

The delegates can vote any way that they want to. They can do this even when their candidate is still in the race...it's just breaking the pledge. A candidate can release his delegates from their pledge and encourage them to vote another way, but they still can vote however they choose.

[phk]

It was a symbolic gesture for me to vote for Biden, after he dropped out.

Hope he becomes VP or SoS in a potential Clinton/McCain/Obama admin.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

See the thread on Cimmaron county, Oklahoma for why.

[angus]

That's an interesting question.  What are the rules, if any?  If I'm a candidate can I order the delegates that I have been partitioned to vote for some other candidate?  If I suspend or relinquish my candidacy, then it seems that I'm saying, "I want no part of this any longer" and at that point I don't really think I'd have the authority to tell them to vote in any specific manner.  If I'm a delegate, and the candidate to whom I'm pledged suspends, doesn't that make me a free agent?  Or are there some specific party policies requiring my vote to be cast in the manner in which my assigned candidate instructs?

The delegates can vote any way that they want to. They can do this even when their candidate is still in the race...it's just breaking the pledge. A candidate can release his delegates from their pledge and encourage them to vote another way, but they still can vote however they choose.

Thanks, that all makes sense.  So it's like the Outback Steakhouse motto:  No rules.  Just right.  So what we're talking about is a release-and-encourage situation.  In that situation, which is far removed from the irregularity which would occur if a pledged candidate voted for someone other than an active candidate, it seems that there's no ethical obligation to vote for the candidate endorsed by the candidate to whom the delegate was originally pledged.  Although I imagine that many would, as a matter of courtesy, honor the request.

[John Dibble]

Some do it by voting early and the candidate drops out afterwards.

Some do it because they don't know the candidate has dropped out.

Some people do it for the same reason that they still have Kerry 2004 bumper stickers on their car - they're stubborn to the point of idiocy.

[angus]

they still have Kerry 2004 bumper stickers on their car

...or a McGovern'72 poster in their office, as one of my colleagues does.

It's kinda cool though.  Campy.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Some do it by voting early and the candidate drops out afterwards.

Some do it because they don't know the candidate has dropped out.

Some people do it for the same reason that they still have Kerry 2004 bumper stickers on their car - they're stubborn to the point of idiocy.

And some people do it because they find it impossible to choose between a man who appears to be black and That Clinton Woman.