In 2000, many Democrats said that Ralph Nader took votes from Al Gore in Florida making it easier for George W. Bush to become president.
In 2010, Tony Sutton, chair of the Republican Party in Minnesota, said that Tom Horner, Independence Party candidate took votes from Tom Emmer, allowing Mark Dayton to become governor of Minnesota.
Maybe both complaints are misdirected.
In either case, have they considered that many of the people who voted for the "minor" candidate might not have even voted if they hadn't had a third choice?
In the 2010 Minnesota governor case, has anyone considered that Mark Dayton might have "taken votes" from Tom Horner? Maybe many voters would have voted for Tom Horner, but they didn't want to "throw their votes away" and allow Tom Emmer to become governor. So, maybe they voted for Mark Dayton because they thought he was a better choice than Tom Emmer.
Unless we interview in depth every single voter, we'll never really know their motivations. It really is presumptuous to assume to know the intent of unknown voters.
Showing posts with label Tom Horner. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tom Horner. Show all posts
Friday, December 10, 2010
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Vote for Dayton, Emmer, Horner, or nobody; but VOTE!
I left the following comment on a Star Tribune editorial, "This November, the choice is not either/or".
Whatever you do in November, vote one of four ways according to what you believe, not what the polls say. Remember 1998 when the poll rankings were Humphrey, Coleman, and Ventura. The election rankings were Ventura, Coleman, and Humphrey.
Four ways, what fourth way? The fourth way is to not be a stay-away. If you don't like any of the three candidates, vote anyway with a blank ballot. If you leave a blank ballot for governor your vote is counted. If you stay away, your vote is not counted.
If everybody who stayed away in 1980 and many other elections had cast a blank ballot, the winner would have come in second to none-of-the-above. There would not be any trumpeting about a landslide with less than 30 percent of the eligible voters casting a vote for the "winner". When this happens, we are all losers.
Whatever you do in November, vote one of four ways according to what you believe, not what the polls say. Remember 1998 when the poll rankings were Humphrey, Coleman, and Ventura. The election rankings were Ventura, Coleman, and Humphrey.
Four ways, what fourth way? The fourth way is to not be a stay-away. If you don't like any of the three candidates, vote anyway with a blank ballot. If you leave a blank ballot for governor your vote is counted. If you stay away, your vote is not counted.
If everybody who stayed away in 1980 and many other elections had cast a blank ballot, the winner would have come in second to none-of-the-above. There would not be any trumpeting about a landslide with less than 30 percent of the eligible voters casting a vote for the "winner". When this happens, we are all losers.
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