I know I said that in the United States we had only a binary choice, but that really isn’t true. We have a binary choice between Democrats and Republicans because, by and large, those are the only two candidates that you hear about. But they are not the only candidates many people will see on the ballot on Nov. 6, 2012.
Unfortunately, only two of these “other” candidates even comes close to having a chance at capturing enough electoral votes to win residency at the White House. Those are the candidates from the Libertarian Party (whose candidate will appear on the ballots in all 50 states) and the Green Party (whose candidate will not appear on the ballot in all 50 states but will appear on the ballots in enough states that – if they won all those states’ Electoral College votes – the party’s candidate could win the election).
Sidebar here: What is the Electoral College? It is a uniquely American institution that meets every four years after a presidential election. You see, when you vote for president in each state in the November election, you really are not voting for president, but rather a slate of delegates (usually picked by the state party as an honorary position) who pledge themselves to vote at a state meeting of delegates for the candidate that you are voting for on your ballot. Interestingly enough, constitutionally, they are not bound to their pledges, but they rarely break ranks. The purpose of the Electoral College is to force candidates to represent more than a few cities. They have to win states instead. In most cases, the electoral votes in a given state go to the person who gets a plurality – not the majority (major distinction) – of the votes in that state, but not in all cases … there is a huge debate going on if that should be changed and some people want to do away with the Electoral college all together and just go with who wins the most popular votes (not necessarily the majority). In few states, the electoral votes are apportioned in proportion of the percentage the candidate took in the statewide ballot, and in at least one state (if memory serves me correct) the candidate who get the most vote in a congressional district gets that delegate and the one who gets the plurality of votes in the state gets two delegates (Note: the number of delegates a state has is equal to the number of its Congressional representatives plus two for its senators). The District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam and American Samoa (I think) all get one vote each. If it wasn’t for the Electoral College, candidates would be decided by the few megalopolises in the US and everybody else could just stay home. As it is, you can win just 10 states and capture the White House, but it usually takes more because those 10 often don’t go for the same candidate. Anyway, however you count electoral votes, the winning candidate has to get at least 270 electoral votes, or the election is thrown to the House of Representatives. (Which would be a big mess and I don’t think has happened since 1800 when it took like 103 ballots in the House to decide Thomas Jefferson beat Aaron Burr). Also, it means that the winning candidate may not get the most popular votes (see 2000) or definitely not a majority of votes … in fact, the winning candidate rarely gets 50 percent of the vote and, in my lifetime has gotten as low as only 40 percent of the popular vote. So much for today’s civics lesson. If you already knew all this, go to the head of the class.
Ok, for the Libertarians (remember he will appear in all 50 states), their candidate is a guy named Gary Johnson, a former governor of New Mexico; and their vice-presidential nominee is Jim Gray, retired state court judge, from California.
The Green Party (who will not appear on the ballot in all 50 states but will be in states with more than 300 electoral votes) offers as their presidential candidate Jill Stein, medical doctor from Massachusetts, and their vice-presidential nominee is Cheri Honkala of Pennsylvania.
Of course, Ron Paul and his supporters might try again to mount an independent or write-in campaign, but that probably would be worse than futile.
Now, the point of all this is illustrate that, yes, if you are eligible to vote in the presidential election in November, you most likely do have a choice to vote for someone other than President Obama or Mr. Romney. Only, if you just watch TV or listen to the radio, you probably won’t know this. In addition, if you only read the major on-line news sources, you probably will not hear much about the two “other” party candidates.
Unfortunately, this is a decision each of those media dissemination outlets will make and it will be not to cover the “minor” party candidates. Since both candidates are relatively unknown to the mass of American voters, they will remain so. I doubt Mr. Johnson or Dr. Stein will appear in any, if any, presidential debates. So the choice made not to cover them, because they won’t get very many votes, becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. But that is politics in America and the GOP and Dems like it like that.
So, in the end, an awful lot of voters will troop to the polls with heavy hearts … and vote for the candidate they think a) might win and b) represents the lesser of all the evil choices offered.
Not a cheery notion, but it the way politics and the art of the compromise are played out in America.
References:
http://news.yahoo.com/mass-doctor-wins-green-partys-presidential-nod-214514799.html
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/05/06/us-usa-libertarians-idUSBRE8440BZ20120506
http://news.yahoo.com/ron-pauls-delegate-insurgency-ends-nebraska-221812268--abc-news-politics.html
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/05/06/us-usa-libertarians-idUSBRE8440BZ20120506
Ok, I have been politic and at least tried to let some people know how the process really is supposed to work.
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