Swap your safe state vote for a Kerry vote in Ohio

[quaoar]

The idea is this: You live in a safe red or blue state. You agree to cast a vote for Nader or the Green Party. You are paired with a Nader or Green voter in a Battleground state who agrees to vote for Kerry.

http://www.votepair.org/

How it Works
When our pairing service launches on September 20, 2004, strategic voters will enter their state and voting preference. They will then be told whether they are voting in a swing state, where the race is close, or a secure state, where wide margins of victory are predicted for either Bush or Kerry.

Kerry supporters in secure states can then pledge to vote for Nader or Cobb, while Nader or Cobb supporters from swing states can pledge to vote for Kerry. Voters who pledge on the site will be paired with another participant via email.

In this way, a Nader or Cobb supporter in a swing state can communicate with their votepair partner (a Kerry supporter in a secure state) about strategic voting in the upcoming election. Pairing will facilitate dialogue and provide an opportunity for partners to make sure that their pairing partner is pledging in good faith.

[whalerider55]

1. do i remember...

that in 2000 or 2002 some website offering this option was shut down because of the legal issues around the appearence of vote-swapping?

whalerider55

[carpetbagger]

13. There was never a serious legal challenge.

It was pure intimidation by the republican California Secretary of State.

[mopinko]

2. no, no, no, no

first of all, there are no safe states with these crooks around. every vote counts. secondly, a kerry landslide is an essential part of send not just gw packing, but sending the entire wacko wing scurrying for their holes. get over it. we don't need nader.

[Blecht]

3. Fuck this

I can't see doing this at all. There's no such thing as a "safe state."

People who get involved in this are just asking for trouble.

[whalerider55]

blecht, trust me

Massachusetts is a safe Kerry state.

Whalerider55
Newburyport, Massachusetts

[Kathy in Cambridge]

26. I'll trade my Mass vote with no worries

Kerry will probably get 65-70% of the vote here,

[LisaL]

7. Unless you are in Texas.

LOL.

[quaoar]

4. Here's a story about it

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/special_packages/election2004/9707857.htm?1c

Group looks to minimize Nader's role

By PAUL NUSSBAUM
Philadelphia Inquirer

PHILADELPHIA - Pssst! Want your vote to count? In Ohio? Or Florida?

You can now arrange to trade votes with a voter in another state, under a plan created by activists who don't want Ralph Nader to siphon off votes from John Kerry in vital swing states.

On Monday, a group called VotePair.org will start hooking up Kerry voters in "safe" Democratic or Republican states with third-party voters in hotly contested states. The goal: to get would-be third-party voters to vote for Kerry in swing states, in exchange for Kerry voters' voting for Nader or Green Party candidate David Cobb in secure states.

That way, they figure, third-party candidates would get as many popular votes as otherwise, while Kerry would maximize his votes in states where they matter most. For instance, a voter in "safe" New Jersey could agree to vote for Nader, in exchange for a voter in "swing" Ohio agreeing to vote for Kerry.

[LisaL]

5. There is no such thing as safe state.

Unless it's a pure red state, where Kerry has no chance of being elected, I wouldn't advocate swapping your vote with anyone.

[blm]

6. With BBV all the states are battleground states. We have to swamp them

EVERYWHERE.

Any Green at THIS stage of Bush's term who still wants to play trade their vote is probably too dumb or too untrustworthy to be depended on to fulfill their side of the bargain.

[LisaL]

9. Exactly.

You will vote for Nader like an idiot, and they will vote for Nader.
How are you going to check that they actually voted for Kerry?

[whalerider55]

10. point of clarification...

worth noting is that there is a clear and aromatic split between greens who insist on running national candidates, and greens who believe that the party should be fielding candidates on the most local of levels- city council, school boards, etc. until they get the experience to claim a seat at the table.

there is a group of local greens who have organized a very active nationwide Greens for Kerry group.

so how about painting a little less broadly with the brush.

whalerider55

[TrueAmerican]

8. Sorry, can't trust a Nader voter

They are loser who would stop at nothing.

[ProudToBeLiberal]

11. I would strongly disagree

Many of my friends are nader supporters and I still trust them no matter there political affiliation

[TrueAmerican]

18. Well, they are easily duped

Their judgement is bad. Not as bad as a Bush voter.

[IIgnoreNobody]

12. No safe states.

I don't trust the corporate media to tell me how my state is going to vote in the future.

[whalerider55]

14. oh, and BTW

Nader isn't running as a green this year; they wouldn't have him. he has actually never been a member of the green party.

he does have the endorsement of Perot's old party, the one that the rethugs stole from him.

remember perot? he helped take out Bush I.

life is complicated. it is possible to be a green, to believe green ideals, and vote solidly democratic this year. i agree, that any green who does differently is fooling themselves.

whalerider55

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

15. While we still have secret ballots there is no way to verify people

holding up their end of the "deal", hence the scheme is invalid even if it WERE a good idea. Which it's not.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

16. Also, if we can make a 90 percent Kerry win in a "safe" state, we should.

To make shrubya's repudiation that much more complete.

[mbali]

19. Kerry needs every single popular vote we can give him . . .

Not only does he need to win the popular vote overwhelmingly in order to ensure his mandate, the last thing he needs is to win the Electoral College but lose the popular vote.

[Zynx]

17. Fuck that. I'm not going to contribute to their vote totals.

I know I am in one of the battleground states as it is, but even if I lived in DC, I wouldn't do it.

[creeksneakers2]

20. I remember freepers bragging

about the people they cheated this way in 2,000.

If any Nader voter genuinely cares at all about what Bush has done and is planning to do to this country, he shouldn't vote for Nader at all, trade or no trade.

[cindyw]

21. Hell, no, no, no, no, no! There is no safe state. Name one.

Every state is close. We here in Ca are not safe. We have the gropernator and he will bring in more votes than anyone is expecting.

[Tweed]

27. IL, NY, NM, CA, VT, MA, HI, RI, CT, DC, WA

I don't like the idea of swaping votes over the internet. But those are safe states. If Kerry can't win those, we are screwed and might as well give up.

[quaoar]

28. Alabama, Mississippi, Utah, Wyoming, etc.

All states that Kerry won't carry.

[Cronus Protagonist]

32. Why do you want to shift votes away from Kerry? This is DU, not FR.

"If Kerry can't win those, we are screwed and might as well give up."

Let's say the vote swapping is wildly successful. Just for the sake of the argument. Kerry will lose safe states and Bush will win there, and for what? A protest vote in another state where Bush wins?

Fuck that shit. I'm surprised anyone would propose this on DU - it seems there are better places for such a losing proposition.

Why don't you propose that Bush voters in safe states cast a vote for Buchanan? Could it be because that would shift the vote towards Kerry, like this plan shifts votes towards Bush?

On Edit: my comments are more posed towards quaoar than you

[peacetalksforall]

22. Very dangerous...don't get mucked up by a rovian

who're ya gonna trust?

[seabeyond]

23. nothing personal and i am nice, but...........i dont trust nadar and by

extension, nadar supporters. sorry. as much as sounds like a deal, nadar hasnt shown any signs of integrity morality or honesty in the last 6 months

[Carolinian]

24. I wouldn't trust this scheme for a second.

[JI7]

25. HAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHHAHAHAHHA

[Moonbeam_Starlight]

29. No

I want all the political pundits and GOP operatives to see just HOW many unhappy Texans there are.

Gore got 39% of Texas in 2000. I want Kerry to get 49% or more. Honestly, it wouldn't surprise me. Dems have been kicked five ways to Sunday here in the last four years and I'm ready to do some kicking back.

In other words, I came to kick ass and chew bubble gum and I'm all out of bubble gum.

[Cronus Protagonist]

30. Another Nader trick to throw the election to Bush

How many times will the voters fall for it?

http://brainbuttons.com/home.asp?stashid=13

[noamnety]

31. Don't be a moran!

Nader voters will be outnumbered 100 to 1 on that site by republicans. You'll vote for Nader, they'll vote for Bush.

I'm not saying that's the intent of the site, it might be or it might not be. But that's the reality of what's gonna happen - it'll be freeped.