Sellouts to the Left. Sellouts to the Right.


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KarlBob wrote:
thejeff wrote:
thegreenteagamer wrote:
We DO need to switch to a parliamentary system, so we can actually have more viable third parties.

I wouldn't object, though those systems have their own drawbacks.

Not going to happen though. Massive constitutional changes with no real constituency pushing it.

Adopting something like IRV would be more possible. I think it could even be done on a state by state basis.

I doubt it would actually have a large affect though. We'd see that the two major parties really do have majority support.

IRV?

Instant Runoff Voting.

Rank candidates in your order of preference. The candidate with the lowest number of 1st rank votes is eliminated and all those voters now move to their second ranked choice. Lets you vote for minor parties without worrying much about spoiler effects.


thejeff wrote:
KarlBob wrote:
thejeff wrote:
thegreenteagamer wrote:
We DO need to switch to a parliamentary system, so we can actually have more viable third parties.

I wouldn't object, though those systems have their own drawbacks.

Not going to happen though. Massive constitutional changes with no real constituency pushing it.

Adopting something like IRV would be more possible. I think it could even be done on a state by state basis.

I doubt it would actually have a large affect though. We'd see that the two major parties really do have majority support.

IRV?

Instant Runoff Voting.

Rank candidates in your order of preference. The candidate with the lowest number of 1st rank votes is eliminated and all those voters now move to their second ranked choice. Lets you vote for minor parties without worrying much about spoiler effects.

Except it doesn't. Arrow's theorem, and all that. All IRV does is move the spoiler effects around.


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thegreenteagamer wrote:
thejeff wrote:
Most of the unregistered just don't bother.

And may they continue not to.

I'm sorry, but I just don't understand the purpose behind the "get out and vote" initiative,

The purpose is that the get-out-and-vote initiatives individually target specific types of voters with specific issues that make them more likely to vote the way the person behind the initiative wants to.


It's official!
‘Secretary Clinton Is A Different Person Than Donald Trump,’ Says Bernie Sanders In Ringing Endorsement


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Orfamay Quest wrote:
thegreenteagamer wrote:
thejeff wrote:
Most of the unregistered just don't bother.

And may they continue not to.

I'm sorry, but I just don't understand the purpose behind the "get out and vote" initiative,

The purpose is that the get-out-and-vote initiatives individually target specific types of voters with specific issues that make them more likely to vote the way the person behind the initiative wants to.

There are also broader demographics patterns in which groups now vote more often. And there are patterns in which directions their votes trend. Broadly speaking young and poor and minority groups vote less then older, more well off, white groups. (In the US, of course.) Those groups also tend to vote Democratic.

Even increasing turnout across the board would be good for Democrats, since Republicans leave less votes behind already.


Orfamay Quest wrote:
Whether you have 10,000 electors or 500,000, as long as the winner is the person with the most votes, third parties will simply split the vote and more or less a loss not only for themselves but for the party from whom they split the most votes. This is well enough understood in political science to have a name ("Duverger's Law," which see).

Oh hey, look...I learned something new today. Thank you. :)


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MMCJawa wrote:
Politics are largely a matter of compromise, so Sanders endorsing Hillary is just another compromise.

Functional politics are definitely a matter of compromise. Of course, when one believes that all government is bad, there is no incentive to compromise. Dysfunction is good, because it proves you were "right."

Dark Archive

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problems with first pass the post


MeriDoc- wrote:
thegreenteagamer wrote:
Pillbug Toenibbler wrote:
The way the system is set up, yes, only two parties have a realistic shot at getting one of their candidates (and political platforms) elected. By design, we don't have a coalition government, which has its own strengths and weaknesses.
Abraham Lincoln was third party at the time. The Republicans ousted the Whigs, why not Libertarian take out Republicans?
Time and numbers, 3rd parties get a sum of <2% of the vote. There is no current trend showing a change there.

Johnson is already up to 11% by himself in polls. Considering the time it's been since he won the libertarian nomination and the fact that he's third party, that's considerably impressive, and definitely a trend change. That's not even counting Stein.


But is it a change? Or is it indicative of how shitty the field is this election.

Liberty's Edge

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I don't consider this Bernie selling out. It's unfortunate but I think he's just making the best of a terrible situation.

I wish he'd won the democratic nomination. His plans might have all been pipe dreams but he made me believe the system could be repaired. He made me want to vote. If my choices are status quo and slightly worse status quo, I'll just be abstaining from voting altogether.


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captain yesterday wrote:
But is it a change? Or is it indicative of how s*@!ty the field is this election.

It could be both. I know people on both sides of the spectrum who are voting for him - Republicans for his fiscal stances, Democrats for his social stances. It's not mathematically impossible for him to win if he actually got enough news coverage. 15% will get him to the debates.

More than half of all voters are independent. More than half of all voters have expressed a disdain for both Trump and Clinton. If those same people voted for Johnson and he won, you can bet even if he got booted in the next four years third parties would get more press coverage, offering more of a choice in the future.

Even if he loses, if he steals enough votes from Trump, the Libertarian party will get more of a foothold in the general Republican arena, as social conservative issues are put on the backburner in favor of a "leave it the frick alone" policy set (similarly how Ross Perot changed Republican outlook to more fiscal and Nader stole enough votes to push the Democrats to more environmental), and sane politicians like Rand Paul will get more spotlight over looney toons like Trump and Cruz in the future.

Sounds win-win to me.

Dark Archive

thegreenteagamer wrote:
captain yesterday wrote:
But is it a change? Or is it indicative of how s*@!ty the field is this election.

It could be both. I know people on both sides of the spectrum who are voting for him - Republicans for his fiscal stances, Democrats for his social stances. It's not mathematically impossible for him to win if he actually got enough news coverage. 15% will get him to the debates.

More than half of all voters are independent. More than half of all voters have expressed a disdain for both Trump and Clinton. If those same people voted for Johnson and he won, you can bet even if he got booted in the next four years third parties would get more press coverage, offering more of a choice in the future.

Even if he loses, if he steals enough votes from Trump, the Libertarian party will get more of a foothold in the general Republican arena, as social conservative issues are put on the backburner in favor of a "leave it the frick alone" policy set, and sane politicians like Rand Paul will get more spotlight over looney toons like Trump and Cruz in the future.

Sounds win-win to me.

And if he ends up stealing more votes from Hilary?


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Damn, gotta find where my wife put Fear and Loathing on The Campaign Trail '72.

Seems like the perfect summer reading this year. :-)


Kevin Mack wrote:
thegreenteagamer wrote:
captain yesterday wrote:
But is it a change? Or is it indicative of how s*@!ty the field is this election.

It could be both. I know people on both sides of the spectrum who are voting for him - Republicans for his fiscal stances, Democrats for his social stances. It's not mathematically impossible for him to win if he actually got enough news coverage. 15% will get him to the debates.

More than half of all voters are independent. More than half of all voters have expressed a disdain for both Trump and Clinton. If those same people voted for Johnson and he won, you can bet even if he got booted in the next four years third parties would get more press coverage, offering more of a choice in the future.

Even if he loses, if he steals enough votes from Trump, the Libertarian party will get more of a foothold in the general Republican arena, as social conservative issues are put on the backburner in favor of a "leave it the frick alone" policy set, and sane politicians like Rand Paul will get more spotlight over looney toons like Trump and Cruz in the future.

Sounds win-win to me.

And if he ends up stealing more votes from Hilary?

Then the Democrats will shift their emphasis on social and try to spend a bit less money for once.

Anyway, given that Johnson and Weld are former Republicans, the odds are they'd steal considerably more votes from Trump.


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Fergie wrote:
thejeff wrote:
I don't really see any signs of The People seeing the system is illegitimate,... more

I would turn it around and say, "I don't really see any signs of The People seeing the system as legitimate."

Based on approval ratings for the legislative branch that have been hovering in the 10-20% range for years now. And the two most hated candidates in history competing for president. I can't remember the last time I talked to someone about politics who didn't use words like "dysfunctional, broken, and corrupt." There might have been a time when people only felt that way about the opposition, but that is now how seemingly everyone feels about their own Party (if they still affiliate with one).

Yet they continue to vote the same people back into office. An incumbent running rarely has difficulty retaining their seat.

"Those low approval ratings? Those are for all those other legislators, our guy is one of the good ones." says enough of the voters that nothing changes. After all, how often do you hear "earmarks" demonized, yet voters praise a legislator's ability to bring federal funds back to their district. There's no consistency.

The system isn't illegitimate, people just don't use it.


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thejeff wrote:
Third parties are marginalized in this country because we use a first past the post electoral system, not a proportional one.

This bears repeating.

Again, and again, and again.

The electoral system itself is essentially hostile to the concept of choices beyond "either-or." That's both a feature and a bug.

Dark Archive

thegreenteagamer wrote:
Kevin Mack wrote:
thegreenteagamer wrote:
captain yesterday wrote:
But is it a change? Or is it indicative of how s*@!ty the field is this election.

It could be both. I know people on both sides of the spectrum who are voting for him - Republicans for his fiscal stances, Democrats for his social stances. It's not mathematically impossible for him to win if he actually got enough news coverage. 15% will get him to the debates.

More than half of all voters are independent. More than half of all voters have expressed a disdain for both Trump and Clinton. If those same people voted for Johnson and he won, you can bet even if he got booted in the next four years third parties would get more press coverage, offering more of a choice in the future.

Even if he loses, if he steals enough votes from Trump, the Libertarian party will get more of a foothold in the general Republican arena, as social conservative issues are put on the backburner in favor of a "leave it the frick alone" policy set, and sane politicians like Rand Paul will get more spotlight over looney toons like Trump and Cruz in the future.

Sounds win-win to me.

And if he ends up stealing more votes from Hilary?
Then the Democrats will shift their emphasis on social and try to spend a bit less money for once.

Dosent really work that way in the current system which is the problem the system itself needs changed but the people who could change it have a vested intrest in keeping it that way.


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thegreenteagamer wrote:
Kevin Mack wrote:
thegreenteagamer wrote:
captain yesterday wrote:
But is it a change? Or is it indicative of how s*@!ty the field is this election.

It could be both. I know people on both sides of the spectrum who are voting for him - Republicans for his fiscal stances, Democrats for his social stances. It's not mathematically impossible for him to win if he actually got enough news coverage. 15% will get him to the debates.

More than half of all voters are independent. More than half of all voters have expressed a disdain for both Trump and Clinton. If those same people voted for Johnson and he won, you can bet even if he got booted in the next four years third parties would get more press coverage, offering more of a choice in the future.

Even if he loses, if he steals enough votes from Trump, the Libertarian party will get more of a foothold in the general Republican arena, as social conservative issues are put on the backburner in favor of a "leave it the frick alone" policy set, and sane politicians like Rand Paul will get more spotlight over looney toons like Trump and Cruz in the future.

Sounds win-win to me.

And if he ends up stealing more votes from Hilary?
Then the Democrats will shift their emphasis on social and try to spend a bit less money for once.

Hahahahahahahahaha... wait... You're being serious.


thejeff wrote:

I've long liked the idea of IRV.

Still, there are districts where there isn't even a 2nd major party candidate running. Generally, that's where I'd expect 3rd parties to be able to challenge. Sure, they'll be at a disadvantage due to lack of national exposure and funding and all, but that's going to be true of any minor party regardless of your system. The major party controlling the area won't be happy about it, but they...

Yes, but in most of those areas, the 2nd party isn't running because the vast majority of voters prefer the 1st party. A 3rd party isn't likely to be able to win without a lot of money.

thegreenteagamer wrote:
Johnson is already up to 11% by himself in polls. Considering the time it's been since he won the libertarian nomination and the fact that he's third party, that's considerably impressive, and definitely a trend change. That's not even counting Stein.

Oh, it's not necessarily a trend change. Even if the libertarians won by a landslide, it would still settle down to a two party system within a few election cycles. It's built into the system.


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Feral wrote:
If my choices are status quo and slightly worse status quo, I'll just be abstaining from voting altogether.

Please consider casting a ballot even if you leave the presidential election options empty. While I am short-term pragmatic with my vote (especially in this election) and feel strongly I need to prevent one of the candidates from winning, I respect people who demand that politicians earn their vote. But casting a blank ballot is an actually measurable way of indicating disapproval of all candidates rather than the apathy that people assume is the motivation (or lack thereof) behind not voting.


Berinor wrote:
Feral wrote:
If my choices are status quo and slightly worse status quo, I'll just be abstaining from voting altogether.
Please consider casting a ballot even if you leave the presidential election options empty. While I am short-term pragmatic with my vote (especially in this election) and feel strongly I need to prevent one of the candidates from winning, I respect people who demand that politicians earn their vote. But casting a blank ballot is an actually measurable way of indicating disapproval of all candidates rather than the apathy that people assume is the motivation (or lack thereof) behind not voting.

It can also get your ballot discarded, depending on local vote tallying rules.


If I'm unsure of who to vote for, I write myself in. :-)


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Kazuka wrote:
Berinor wrote:
Feral wrote:
If my choices are status quo and slightly worse status quo, I'll just be abstaining from voting altogether.
Please consider casting a ballot even if you leave the presidential election options empty. While I am short-term pragmatic with my vote (especially in this election) and feel strongly I need to prevent one of the candidates from winning, I respect people who demand that politicians earn their vote. But casting a blank ballot is an actually measurable way of indicating disapproval of all candidates rather than the apathy that people assume is the motivation (or lack thereof) behind not voting.
It can also get your ballot discarded, depending on local vote tallying rules.

The point is that they keep records of who votes and, while it's unlikely to get that much attention, a discrepancy between number of voters and number of votes in a given race says more than missing voters.

That way there's at least data to differentiate from apathy. Also, it means it's no longer reasonable to dismiss your complaints as just laziness.


Kazuka wrote:
I say we should all write-in Satan. Lesser evils just are not doing the job anymore.

But Trump is the Anti-Christ anyway so a vote for him is a vote for Satan


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captain yesterday wrote:
If I'm unsure of who to vote for, I write myself in. :-)

And to continue that thread, in Wisconsin, unless you're a registered write-in they will consider that the same as a non-vote. Probably doesn't matter in the grand scheme but worth being aware of.


Berinor wrote:
Kazuka wrote:
Berinor wrote:
Feral wrote:
If my choices are status quo and slightly worse status quo, I'll just be abstaining from voting altogether.
Please consider casting a ballot even if you leave the presidential election options empty. While I am short-term pragmatic with my vote (especially in this election) and feel strongly I need to prevent one of the candidates from winning, I respect people who demand that politicians earn their vote. But casting a blank ballot is an actually measurable way of indicating disapproval of all candidates rather than the apathy that people assume is the motivation (or lack thereof) behind not voting.
It can also get your ballot discarded, depending on local vote tallying rules.

The point is that they keep records of who votes and, while it's unlikely to get that much attention, a discrepancy between number of voters and number of votes in a given race says more than missing voters.

That way there's at least data to differentiate from apathy. Also, it means it's no longer reasonable to dismiss your complaints as just laziness.

The discrepancy depends on how they count the missing voters. If it's simply people who never submitted a ballot, a discrepancy would exist. But if it's people who never submitted a proper ballot, then your blank ballot automatically gets you cast as one of the missing voters.

It also, in their eyes, potentially marks you as too lazy to fill in a ballot, thus going right back to apathy and right back to dismissing your complaints as laziness. After all, you didn't actually put in the effort to vote legitimately.


thegreenteagamer wrote:
captain yesterday wrote:
But is it a change? Or is it indicative of how s*@!ty the field is this election.

It could be both. I know people on both sides of the spectrum who are voting for him - Republicans for his fiscal stances, Democrats for his social stances. It's not mathematically impossible for him to win if he actually got enough news coverage. 15% will get him to the debates.

More than half of all voters are independent. More than half of all voters have expressed a disdain for both Trump and Clinton. If those same people voted for Johnson and he won, you can bet even if he got booted in the next four years third parties would get more press coverage, offering more of a choice in the future.

Even if he loses, if he steals enough votes from Trump, the Libertarian party will get more of a foothold in the general Republican arena, as social conservative issues are put on the backburner in favor of a "leave it the frick alone" policy set (similarly how Ross Perot changed Republican outlook to more fiscal and Nader stole enough votes to push the Democrats to more environmental), and sane politicians like Rand Paul will get more spotlight over looney toons like Trump and Cruz in the future.

Sounds win-win to me.

Or, he'll be treated like Nader was back in 2000 - He's the spoiler. It's the Libertarian's fault Trump lost. Full on effort to get the defectors back in line.

Bullshit then, bullshit now. But it's in the interest of the party.

Might not be actually. Establishment Republicans want to take back control from the monster they've created, so how they try to handle such a case is going to be different from how the Democrats handled the very establishment Gore loss. OTOH, the establishment Republicans hate the Ron Paul faction as much as the Cruz side, if not quite as much as the Trump insurgency.

As for actually winning, it's not mathematically impossible no matter what, as long as he manages to get onto the ballot in enough states. It's practically impossible. But who knows. Maybe the Johnson ticket will win. They're both basically non-socially conservative Republicans - former Governors. Maybe they'll bring back all the voters that have given up on the Republican party and wind up with a new major party that's basically the old Republican party.

Practically speaking, it's vanishingly unlikely. You have to assume that all the people with disdain for both Clinton and Trump will first stay that way and second actually like Johnson. That includes plenty of people who would never vote for someone who wants to kill Social Security and socialists like our goblin here and probably some on the right who think Trump's not Christian enough or something.

Nader:
And really, the idea that Nader pushed the Democrat on the environment is silly. They've long been better on the environment and have only gotten incrementally more so. If anything Gore's efforts, once he was out of politics were far more influential.


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Kazuka wrote:
Berinor wrote:
Kazuka wrote:
Berinor wrote:
Feral wrote:
If my choices are status quo and slightly worse status quo, I'll just be abstaining from voting altogether.
Please consider casting a ballot even if you leave the presidential election options empty. While I am short-term pragmatic with my vote (especially in this election) and feel strongly I need to prevent one of the candidates from winning, I respect people who demand that politicians earn their vote. But casting a blank ballot is an actually measurable way of indicating disapproval of all candidates rather than the apathy that people assume is the motivation (or lack thereof) behind not voting.
It can also get your ballot discarded, depending on local vote tallying rules.

The point is that they keep records of who votes and, while it's unlikely to get that much attention, a discrepancy between number of voters and number of votes in a given race says more than missing voters.

That way there's at least data to differentiate from apathy. Also, it means it's no longer reasonable to dismiss your complaints as just laziness.

The discrepancy depends on how they count the missing voters. If it's simply people who never submitted a ballot, a discrepancy would exist. But if it's people who never submitted a proper ballot, then your blank ballot automatically gets you cast as one of the missing voters.

It also, in their eyes, potentially marks you as too lazy to fill in a ballot, thus going right back to apathy and right back to dismissing your complaints as laziness. After all, you didn't actually put in the effort to vote legitimately.

Fair. If there's a better way to provide that feedback when there's no "no confidence" option I welcome it. Until then, I will continue to advocate for getting out and casting a ballot, even if your conscience or gag reflex prevents you from voting for any candidate on the ballot.

And they do record which voters came to the polling place to cast a ballot. I feel that "voted with invalid ballot" is closer to proper protest than "didn't even sign in". If candidates' data scientists can't tell the difference, that's on them.


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Berinor wrote:
captain yesterday wrote:
If I'm unsure of who to vote for, I write myself in. :-)
And to continue that thread, in Wisconsin, unless you're a registered write-in they will consider that the same as a non-vote. Probably doesn't matter in the grand scheme but worth being aware of.

I know. :-)


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Philo Pharynx wrote:
thejeff wrote:

I've long liked the idea of IRV.

Still, there are districts where there isn't even a 2nd major party candidate running. Generally, that's where I'd expect 3rd parties to be able to challenge. Sure, they'll be at a disadvantage due to lack of national exposure and funding and all, but that's going to be true of any minor party regardless of your system. The major party controlling the area won't be happy about it, but they...

Yes, but in most of those areas, the 2nd party isn't running because the vast majority of voters prefer the 1st party. A 3rd party isn't likely to be able to win without a lot of money.

No one is likely to win without money. Though "a lot of money" for a House race isn't that much really.

Generally the reason one party controls a district is that the district is either so conservative or so liberal the other party can't succeed. That in itself leaves a vulnerability for an even more conservative or liberal candidate. The extreme liberal district that a Republican can't win in might be winnable by a Green. Some conservative districts Democrats don't bother with might be winnable by a Libertarian. Or some extreme social conservative party.

Kind of like what the Tea Party did, by primarying out moderate Republicans in conservative districts, but doing it in the general, not the primary.

I still think the Tea Party model is the way to change parties. I mean, they've basically done what all the third party advocates have been wanting, but they've done it by taking over the Republican Party from the inside. A similar effort on the left, inspired by Sanders' run but starting on a more grassroots level to primary the more corporate Dems and replace them with more Sanders style candidates, has a far better chance of changing things than any quixotic third party presidential run. It's harder work and it'll take longer, but we've seen the effects on the other side.

Of course, I'd want it to be far less toxic and crazy and no such group would have the corporate funding and backing the (co-opted) Tea Party candidates got, but then the same applies to any third party run.


Kazuka wrote:
Berinor wrote:
Feral wrote:
If my choices are status quo and slightly worse status quo, I'll just be abstaining from voting altogether.
Please consider casting a ballot even if you leave the presidential election options empty. While I am short-term pragmatic with my vote (especially in this election) and feel strongly I need to prevent one of the candidates from winning, I respect people who demand that politicians earn their vote. But casting a blank ballot is an actually measurable way of indicating disapproval of all candidates rather than the apathy that people assume is the motivation (or lack thereof) behind not voting.
It can also get your ballot discarded, depending on local vote tallying rules.

Is that really true, anywhere in the US?

I know plenty of people vote the top line and ignore the smaller, local races. Their votes are still counted. I'm pretty sure they don't discard the whole ballot for leaving a spot blank, even if it's the top spot.

How they actually tally it for that race, I don't know.

Paizo Employee Chief Technical Officer

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Locking this until somebody from the community team can deal with it properly.

Lantern Lodge Customer Service Manager

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Hi folks,

I'd like to commend the majority of the participants in this thread for your civil discussion on what can often be a highly divisive subject and one that people can get really passionate and heated over.

I have removed a couple posts and replies to them and I'd like to make a couple quick notes before I reopen the thread:

Keep meta-commentary how you think the thread will go to yourself. Adding "I wonder how long until the inevitable flame war locks this up. Worth it," to the very first post invites the conversation to go downhill.

Political threads on paizo.com can and do go just fine, especially when we all come to the thread in good faith, looking for discussion or debate rather than an argument.

If you really and truly believe that a thread you are about to post is going to end in flames or locking, then you need to rewrite your post, or post it somewhere other than paizo.com.

The paizo.com and gamer community draws people from so many different backgrounds and beliefs and a very diverse set of opinions is par for the course. Remain polite, take deep breathes and step away from the thread if you feel you are getting fighty about something, flag if needed and move on.

Labeling an entire political party as "rednecks" is inappropriate. There is no need for name-calling when having a discussion.
You need to make your point without wishing real-life people dead.

I debated leaving this thread locked due to the inflammatory natures of the first post, but the community has done a bang up job of keeping the ongoing discussion on topic and in a manner that encourages calm, respectful discussion, so I'm going to go ahead and leave it open for now.

Additionally, if you feel like something has not been removed that should be, you can contact community@paizo.com. Thanks!

Spoiler:
In the immortal words of Daniel Tiger:
Find a way to play together
And find a way to share with each other
Playing is great
Playing together is so much better
Find a way to play together

Each one of us brings our own special gifts
And makes us who we are
And when we play together the time we spend is better
And more exciting by far


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Kudos for the Mister Rogers quoting. :-)


thegreenteagamer wrote:

First Carson and Rubio sell out and back Trump, now Bernie has gotten behind the Clinton machine.

I think a lot of us are tired of the options before us.

Just gonna leave this right here....
Meanwhile, Johnson isn't bowing down.

All he needs is 15% to make the general debates, and I think America is ready for a third party option.

The last time a third party (at the time) candidate won was Abraham Lincoln, the consistently-rated-best-by-historians president in American History. You don't always have to choose between two piles of crap.

I wonder how long until the inevitable flame war locks this up. Worth it.

Lincoln wasn't exactly a "third party" candidate, at least not the way we think of them today. The Republicans had absorbed the Free Soil Party, and were dominant in Congress before the election of 1860.

Franklin Pierce a Northern Democrat, was a Southern sympathizer. His stance split the Democratic Party into two factions, each of which would nominate their own candidate in the 1860 election, and gave the Republicans control of of both houses Congress. At this point all Buchanan wanted was to safely exit the White House so he declined to seek re-election. There were three third parties also created at this time, t he Constitutional Union Party (remnants of the Whigs who were no longer a major party) , the Liberty Union Party, and the People's Party. The Constitutional Union got 12 percent of the vote.

Steven Douglass was the candidate of the Northern Democrats while James Beckenridge was the standard bearer of the Southern Democrats. In a sesne everyone BUT Lincoln was a "third party" candidate.


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Berinor wrote:
Kazuka wrote:
Berinor wrote:
Kazuka wrote:
Berinor wrote:
Feral wrote:
If my choices are status quo and slightly worse status quo, I'll just be abstaining from voting altogether.
Please consider casting a ballot even if you leave the presidential election options empty. While I am short-term pragmatic with my vote (especially in this election) and feel strongly I need to prevent one of the candidates from winning, I respect people who demand that politicians earn their vote. But casting a blank ballot is an actually measurable way of indicating disapproval of all candidates rather than the apathy that people assume is the motivation (or lack thereof) behind not voting.
It can also get your ballot discarded, depending on local vote tallying rules.

The point is that they keep records of who votes and, while it's unlikely to get that much attention, a discrepancy between number of voters and number of votes in a given race says more than missing voters.

That way there's at least data to differentiate from apathy. Also, it means it's no longer reasonable to dismiss your complaints as just laziness.

The discrepancy depends on how they count the missing voters. If it's simply people who never submitted a ballot, a discrepancy would exist. But if it's people who never submitted a proper ballot, then your blank ballot automatically gets you cast as one of the missing voters.

It also, in their eyes, potentially marks you as too lazy to fill in a ballot, thus going right back to apathy and right back to dismissing your complaints as laziness. After all, you didn't actually put in the effort to vote legitimately.

Fair. If there's a better way to provide that feedback when there's no "no confidence" option I welcome it. Until then, I will continue to advocate for getting out and casting a ballot, even if your conscience or gag reflex prevents you from voting for any candidate on the ballot.

And they do record which voters came to...

I hope one is found. Blank ballots are really not treated as anything other than a citizen just choosing not to vote.

The recording of voters is simply to prevent people from voting twice.

thejeff wrote:
Kazuka wrote:
Berinor wrote:
Feral wrote:
If my choices are status quo and slightly worse status quo, I'll just be abstaining from voting altogether.
Please consider casting a ballot even if you leave the presidential election options empty. While I am short-term pragmatic with my vote (especially in this election) and feel strongly I need to prevent one of the candidates from winning, I respect people who demand that politicians earn their vote. But casting a blank ballot is an actually measurable way of indicating disapproval of all candidates rather than the apathy that people assume is the motivation (or lack thereof) behind not voting.
It can also get your ballot discarded, depending on local vote tallying rules.

Is that really true, anywhere in the US?

I know plenty of people vote the top line and ignore the smaller, local races. Their votes are still counted. I'm pretty sure they don't discard the whole ballot for leaving a spot blank, even if it's the top spot.

How they actually tally it for that race, I don't know.

It's true everywhere. A completely blank ballot is simply discarded because it contains no usable voter data. And most are even more strict. They do vary if you skip an issue, though.

Indiana will record an undervote if you skip an issue, but at the same time limits what you make mark a ballot with and where you may mark it; marking it in an not-allowed spot by accident can have the ballot discarded. California simply doesn't count ballots for skipped questions, but also has limitations on who you may vote for.


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Kazuka wrote:

It's true everywhere. A completely blank ballot is simply discarded because it contains no usable voter data. And most are even more strict. They do vary if you skip an issue, though.

Indiana will record an undervote if you skip an issue, but at the same time limits what you make mark a ballot with and where you may mark it; marking it in an not-allowed spot by accident can have the ballot discarded. California simply doesn't count ballots for skipped questions, but also has limitations on who you may vote for.

Fair enough. It seemed like you were claiming that leaving the Presidential line blank would get your entire ballot, including your votes for other candidates, discarded. That doesn't happen anywhere. That really boils down to "If you don't vote, your vote won't be counted."

As for the other issues, sure most states limit how and where you mark the ballot. You can't just scrawl "Trump" on it in orange crayon and expect it to be counted. Indiana apparently uses Scantron machines to read the ballots - Fill in the little circles with a pen and it'll work just fine. Up until a few cycles back, we had the old lever voting machines - you didn't get to write anything at all. It's a not a big deal. Really.

As for California's law, the limitation is "must have officially declared themselves a candidate". If that ever affects the outcome, let me know and I'll worry about it. The country as a whole actually has limits on who you can vote for too: For example the presidential candidate must be at least 35 years old and a natural born citizen. The horror. The horror.


thejeff wrote:
Kazuka wrote:

It's true everywhere. A completely blank ballot is simply discarded because it contains no usable voter data. And most are even more strict. They do vary if you skip an issue, though.

Indiana will record an undervote if you skip an issue, but at the same time limits what you make mark a ballot with and where you may mark it; marking it in an not-allowed spot by accident can have the ballot discarded. California simply doesn't count ballots for skipped questions, but also has limitations on who you may vote for.

Fair enough. It seemed like you were claiming that leaving the Presidential line blank would get your entire ballot, including your votes for other candidates, discarded. That doesn't happen anywhere. That really boils down to "If you don't vote, your vote won't be counted."

As for the other issues, sure most states limit how and where you mark the ballot. You can't just scrawl "Trump" on it in orange crayon and expect it to be counted. Indiana apparently uses Scantron machines to read the ballots - Fill in the little circles with a pen and it'll work just fine. Up until a few cycles back, we had the old lever voting machines - you didn't get to write anything at all. It's a not a big deal. Really.

As for California's law, the limitation is "must have officially declared themselves a candidate". If that ever affects the outcome, let me know and I'll worry about it. The country as a whole actually has limits on who you can vote for too: For example the presidential candidate must be at least 35 years old and a natural born citizen. The horror. The horror.

I may be taking "blank ballot" a little too literally. Sadly, I know people who have submitted completely blank ballots.

They technically don't have to be natural-born, but I doubt we're going to find someone that's around 230 years old and willing to lead the nation :p

The California one is that they not only have to declare themselves, but it has to be written. Which brings up an interesting question about what happens if California rejects this form from someone.

But, in any case, if you pick someone as a write-in and they haven't submitted that form, your vote simply doesn't count. One of the many interesting ways they've come up with to negate votes. Remember the hanging chads?


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Kazuka wrote:

The California one is that they not only have to declare themselves, but it has to be written. Which brings up an interesting question about what happens if California rejects this form from someone.

But, in any case, if you pick someone as a write-in and they haven't submitted that form, your vote simply doesn't count. One of the many interesting ways they've come up with to negate votes. Remember the hanging chads?

Sure. They're negating votes like captain yesterday's for himself. So what. Who cares?

Find me a case where it matters and we'll talk. If we see a case, even in a local election where someone would have won, but they hadn't bothered to fill in the form, then it's worth addressing. Or if they win, but somehow they'd rejected the form.

And there are practical reasons too. If by some miracle John Smith wins on a write in vote, which of the dozen John Smiths who show up at the town hall the next day gets the job? The one who declared himself a write in candidate and filled out the proper form, otherwise how would you know?


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So I'm not going to be Comptroller of Pasadena... :-(>

But, what'll I do with all these business cards...


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Berinor wrote:
Feral wrote:
If my choices are status quo and slightly worse status quo, I'll just be abstaining from voting altogether.
Please consider casting a ballot even if you leave the presidential election options empty. While I am short-term pragmatic with my vote (especially in this election) and feel strongly I need to prevent one of the candidates from winning, I respect people who demand that politicians earn their vote. But casting a blank ballot is an actually measurable way of indicating disapproval of all candidates rather than the apathy that people assume is the motivation (or lack thereof) behind not voting.

I would also like you to please consider voting. While I would personally prefer you to vote against Trump being elected, even a vote for the Libertarian PotUS/VPotUS ticket (assuming they are on your state's ballot) can be a good thing in the long run. I may be wrong, but I think if they get a minimum percentage of the popular vote, they become eligible for federal election funding. If they hit a different percentage, they are supposed to be included in the national PotUS/VPotUS debates. I'm opposed to most all of the Libertarian Party's platform positions, but I'd rather see them become a viable major party that represents the many disaffected Republicans (and some Democrats) than to see those voters give up on the process entirely.

And while I have the soapbox, even if you can't bring yourself to pull the lever for any PotUS/VPotUS ticket, please consider voting for all the downticket races, measures, and amendments. These people and decisions will directly affect your life, your family's life, and those of your friends and communities. Research what you can, and as a minimum, maybe you can help cull the least qualified/most batsh!t people from office. It's all important, from your county commissioners to schoolboard officials to the local mosquito control. Remember too that most future state and federal candidates will get their starts in these local races. Maybe you can't decide on the best candidate, but I find (in Florida anyway) I can usually vote against the least qualified/most batsh!t people.

Edit: If a mail-in ballot is an option in your area, please consider it. Then you can sit at home, looking up candidates and measures/amendments up on the Internet at your leisure, all while consuming your favorite beverage. Plus the postage is far cheaper than than driving to the polling place, and you don't have to wait in line.


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Who took my soapbox? Great! Now I can say goodbye to being on the Sioux Falls school board.


Fergie wrote:

It's official!

‘Secretary Clinton Is A Different Person Than Donald Trump,’ Says Bernie Sanders In Ringing Endorsement

It's a pretty important distinction to make. Not setting fire to important infrastructure or relationships in a fit of irritation is pretty vital to remaining a functioning nation.

That it is a real possibility from one (or more, if you count libertarians) candidates is absolutely vital to point out to people.

Especially if they feel The Cause(s) was/were somehow betrayed by giving it airtime for 12 months, which was really the best that could be expected.


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And to think, it was two days from retirement.


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thejeff wrote:

Theoretically, in small enough districts, especially if they were designed in a non-gerrymandered fashion, you could wind up with a national third party having a majority in some districts. It wouldn't be likely to have much effect on a national scale. A few Reps in Congress at best.

I'm actually surprised we don't see more of this in those House seats that are already so far to one side or the other that the real contest is the primary.

It seems to happen more in elections for local offices, even when those localities are essentially the same as a legislative district. It's still quite rare, though.

The first election I ever voted in was a special election for a vacated county board seat (the election was less than a week after my 18th birthday, so I was quite excited about it). There were two serious candidates in that election: a Democrat and a Green Party candidate.
On the flip side, that same county very rarely elects independent/3rd party candidates to the state legislature or U.S. House. Even though the same constituency that elects Green Party candidates to local offices could elect a Green to represent them in state or federal government, they don't. I don't know why. In the end, though, there isn't really a functional difference in policy between a primary election between two candidates running in the Democratic party and a "general election" between a Democrat and a Green.

It happens a lot more in the UK. In solidly right-wing districts, UKIP can sometimes challenge the Conservative party for seats, while in left-heavy districts Labor gets challenges from Green and SNP candidates. Why doesn't the same thing happen in the U.S. House? It may well simply be that Americans are more closely aligned with our major parties than the Brits are with their major parties.


Arturius Fischer wrote:

MMCJawa: The Republican Party has effectively been nuked from orbit. Now the question is: Are they the survivors of the fallout who will try to rebuild a functioning society with the numbers they have left? Or are they the radioactive mutants who will mindlessly swarm the one they failed to take down before in a bid for vengeance?

There are pretty large swaths of the country that always go Red. So even if the Republicans lose the next presidential election, and lose some seats in the Senate and such, there will be still a pretty big base for them to build upon. So "nuked from orbit" is not at all what I would consider the state of the country. But they are reaching a point where they may now longer be competitive in enough states to win the presidency, and where many traditional battleground states are going to shift to being locked down as Blue states.

The Republicans can definitely still salvage themselves with some rebranding and strong leadership. But the current party leadership seems to still be in shock from Trump getting the nod and other events, while the latter might prove difficult with the amount of control the Tea Party still has on Republican politics.

Also, on a different tangent related to this thread. Something else to consider is that, even if by miracle a third party candidate got elected, how easily would they get anything done? Likely the third party candidate would either need to already be very close politically to one of the major parties, or need a significant number of house and senate positions to also go to his party. It's hard for me to look at say, the libertarian platform, and see positions that are not likely to annoy both the Dems and the Republicans.


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137ben wrote:

Why doesn't the same thing happen in the U.S. House? It may well simply be that Americans are more closely aligned with our major parties than the Brits are with their major parties.

You take that back! THEMS FIGHTIN WORDS!


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I say! Now he's mocking both of us!


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Hwhat? I can't unnerstant a dangol' thing that man's speakin, with his accent! Can't ya speak proper English, like an American?!

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