America Elect and North Carolina

Submitted by GrayNewman on Sat, 02/04/2012 - 10:42pm

I have written in the past about how tough it is for third parties to get on the ballot here in North Carolina here and here. Now there is a group, Americans Elect that is trying to get on the ballot in all fifty states so they can run a "moderate" bi-partisan ticket.

Under the Dome is reporting that they have a long way to go here in NC:

The Wake County Board of Elections reported today it is reviewing more than 22,000 petition signatures. It needs 87,000 verified signatures to qualify to be on the ballot as a new political party

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Can a candidate be listed for multiple parties?

Submitted by Jake Gellar-Goad on Sat, 02/04/2012 - 11:09pm.

I see President Obama, former Governor Johnson, and Congressman Paul are some of the guys doing the best in their all-male first page of "most supported."

What happens if for example Johnson picked up the Libertarian nomination and the Americans Elect nomination, what would the ballot look like?

While I think innovative ways to approach elections and make them better are worth considering, and while I am supportive of the idea of more 3rd party involvement and access, I wonder how fair an online pick would be. Seems like it would skew towards those who can afford computers and internet access, skew away from the ruralist of areas, and skew younger than in person voting. (Not that finding ways to get young people more excited about civic participation is a bad thing). I just hope those are kinds of things they are thinking about.

fusion voting

Submitted by GrayNewman on Sat, 02/04/2012 - 11:35pm.

Fusion voting, once widespread in the US is now only allowed in eight states: Connecticut,Delaware,Idaho,Mississippi,New York,Oregon,South Carolina,and Vermont. With fusion, candidates can be listed on several ballot lines and the votes are combined for a grand total. In the rest of the states, the candidate must choose which line they want to appear.

My impression of America Elect

Submitted by James on Sun, 02/05/2012 - 10:55am.

is similar in some ways to what we're seeing with the moneybags behind Gingrich right now. I understand there are differences ... and the AE experiment will be interesting, at the very least. If only to underscore the entrenched nature of our two party clusterf/ck.

Underscoring Mr. Adelson’s devotion to that larger cause, he was among the conservative political financiers on hand last weekend for the twice-yearly gathering of the billionaire industrialists Charles and David Koch near Palm Springs, Calif., where the Kochs and their like-minded colleagues discussed their efforts to ensure Mr. Obama’s defeat.

The idea that our democracy can be "saved" by a bunch of rich white guys doesn't seem like a winning path forward. Of course, now that I think of it, that's exactly how America came to exist in the first place. Of rich white guys, for rich white guys, by rich white guys.

Same as it ever was.

Do good. Be nice. Have fun.