I wonder why we don't have a "voting for no one" option on our ballots.

[Baitball Blogger]

Seriously, the way that computers are used to scan your choices, and in places where there is no paper trail, what would it take to write a program that stole choices from selections which the voter left blank?

In this crooked place I live there was a short stint where I was rubbing elbows with the next layer of shills and one of the shills offered me a job. They said, a company needs someone to complete employee opinion surveys. The employees don't always fill them out completely.

This was before the Al Gore--Bush election. Here I was thinking the questions were like, "How do you feel about green walls in the work environment?" My answer was, sure I can be creative. She gave me a strange look and I never heard from her again. After the Gore-Bush fiasco, I remembered that conversation and I figured out that there could have been some serious questions on that questionnaire, and that the idea was not to be creative, but to stick to a specific vote to get a specific outcome.

Well, the person became a Commissioner, and I became the reluctant community activist.

I'm telling you all, shit goes on around here, and we need to stop making it easy for them to abuse the system because that's what they live for. Right now I'm thinking of voting for Franklin Perez, a Libertarian, just because I'm sure he won't win and I think the other two choices are ethically challenged and better connected.

[dogknob]

1. We have Diane Harkey (R) for Assembly...

...running in Orange County's newly gerrymandered 73rd district.

On my sample ballot, her entire message was about how she is going to prevent the Bullet Train from being built in California.

It will take an act of God to prevent her from winning, but I wanted to vote, so I voted for a science teacher.

[Baitball Blogger]

4. Where Repubicans are in control of the Elections, I would

recommend selecting the one that is least likely to win, rather than to leave the option open.

[treestar]

2. No one might win

I did a write-in once. There was no one running for the office but a Republican. So I just wrote in dear old Dad's name.

[Baitball Blogger]

5. That works too.

[southernyankeebelle]

14. I wrote in Mickey Mouse. I also called the congressman and told him I voted for Mickey.

I wanted him to know I thought Mickey could do a better job then he. By the way he lost to a teabagger. I just couldn't vote for a blue dog dem. Just couldn't do it.

[Baitball Blogger]

16. Looks like the teabagger's time in the sun is beginning to sunet.

[southernyankeebelle]

18. I dunno. It might take another cycle. They are just repackaging themselves.

[Baitball Blogger]

19. Each repackaging seems to take them one level down further into the scumpool.

[southernyankeebelle]

20. Maybe so but they decided not to do the townhall route where they were all talking crazy.

[Baitball Blogger]

21. Kind of funny, actually.

[Egalitarian Thug]

3. Because "no one" would win the majority of elections. n/t

[Baitball Blogger]

7. That would make a statment, wouldn't it?

Maybe that's the next act of civil disobedience?

[Egalitarian Thug]

11. That's why they won't let it happen. They know that, given an alternative, few of them would

be employed tomorrow. The inside game requires insiders to keep it going and the chance that a bunch of outsiders might get in and expose their graft and corruption, is pretty terrifying to them.

[Baitball Blogger]

12. We now have the internet.

We will get momentum as soon as there is agreement between Republican and Democratic voters on where the weakness lie. I sincerely believe that the Republicans have unethical leadership and that many Republican are just guilty of stupidly believing the sound bites. Once we expose the crookedness they're dealing with, maybe they will be part of the change we're all waiting for?

[randome]

13. They're starting to revolt against their Tea Party bullies now.

We may see more momentum in that direction after the election.

[Baitball Blogger]

15. That's what I'm talking about.

[Egalitarian Thug]

17. I think you're right, I'm just not confident in the time frame.

Every great leap forward in human communication has sparked massive fundamental changes throughout the cultures that develop them and those around them. The written word, the printing press, the telegraph and telephone, and now the internet. But when you look closely at those innovations you find a fairly consistent period of violence and turmoil as the declining power structure fights to maintain its position, and that can drag on for a long time.

I don't think our pseudo-Democracy will survive this one, but I hope I'm wrong.

[randome]

6. Paging MrNobody!

Your un-influence is needed in this thread!

[Baitball Blogger]

8. Absolutely. Vote for the one that can do the least harm.

[MoonRiver]

9. My husband once wrote in our dog's name.

I was amazed that he actually stood in line to send the message, 'a pox on both your houses.'

[Baitball Blogger]

10. He was doing more than sending a message.

He was protecting his vote.

[rollin74]

22. we have a "none of these candidates" option in Nevada

"none of these candidates" usually receives about 1-2% percent of the vote

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/None_of_These_Candidates

[Baitball Blogger]

23. It's a very good idea.

Keep in mind, I'm not saying not to vote if you have a good Dem candidate. I'm just saying that when you're dealing with bad choices, as we have in Seminole County where few Dems run, mark the "none of these candidates" or fill in the blank with some name so you don't leave that option open. I'm sure that it's already occurred to someone to figure out a way to put an app together to harvest votes that are left open.