Hey Rikki And Ringo, guess what!Originally Posted by rikki
Hey Rikki And Ringo, guess what!
"If God manifested Himself to us here He would do so in the form of a spray can advertised onTV." ~ PKD
Despite what's claimed on that website, a binding voter consent "none-of-the-above" (or NOTA) ballot option would actually cause a tightening of party rules, limiting ballot access and likely a strengthening of the incumbency effect as well. As described on the website, a plurality of NOTA votes would result in a rejection of all candidates for that office and would require a new election with new candidates. Gaming it out, the results aren't what's suggested at all.
Picture a race where an incumbent is running unopposed in his own primary, and several candidates are running for nomination in the opposing party's primary. In an open primary state like Tennessee, the incumbent could quietly encourage his supporters to cross over and vote NOTA in the opposing party's primary. Of course, the non-incumbent party's candidates can't afford the luxury of asking their supporters to cross over to vote NOTA in the incumbent's primary, as they need every vote they can get in their own contested primary election. So the non-incumbent party's primary then ends up with a NOTA plurality, requiring some sort of rushed election to come up with an alternate nominee. Of course, the same shenanigans can be repeated in the re-do, still denying them a candidate, or at minimum, the process leaves them with a candidate who has no time to campaign against the incumbent before the general election. Particularly in an area where one party has some degree of dominance, an incumbent candidate can encourage this, with little fear that there would be enough blow-back to risk a NOTA defeat in the general election. So in this scenario, the incumbent simply uses NOTA to crush opposition.
The only remedy to that would be to close the primaries, requiring party registration in advance of the election. This would not only lock out the opposing party's shenanigans, but would also greatly reduce the likelihood that NOTA would have any effect in any primary election, which only strengthens major parties, not weakens them.
Yes, my reaction to that "for a new election" add-on was similar to yours. It's a bad idea, not necessary and a significant complication. Simply getting NOTA votes counted and published is a much simpler and easier idea.
Hearing voices inside my head in Burma-Shaving rhymes
Bat guano loco:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/s...0,805928.story
Joe Arpaio wades ass deep into the paranoia pen - "Ahm ur dingleberry"
Lincoln Fight Club...
Listen online: KEXP 90.3 Seattle - Kexp.org
"Republicans in East Tennessee live in a government compound of national and state forests, land grant universities, nuclear research labs, and TVA lakes and dams, while pretending to be coonskin cappers guarding the mountain passes to stop socialism." - (Commenter from Oregon discussing the Tennessee Governors contest in the NYT) (hat tip to Hank IV)
As if there was any doubt of Rush's hatefulness.
How can anyone of sane mind listen to this shit and take it seriously?"So Miss Fluke, and the rest of you Feminazis, here's the deal. If we are going to pay for your contraceptives, and thus pay for you to have sex, we want something for it. We want you post the videos online so we can all watch."
“Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.”
― Leo Tolstoy
Wrath, greed, sloth and pride, mostly. Saying that they are not sane gives them a pass that they do not deserve.
greg johnson fretting today in his KNS column that tennessee has leaned too far to the social conservative right (unelectable santorum). Ironic and gratifying
Last edited by t3p; 03-02-2012 at 01:59 PM.
"i tell this truth to you/ not out of spite or anger/ but simply 'cause it's true"
Some crazy Santorum supporter sent a private email to Greg Johnson and me today complaining about the treatment her man got in each of our columns today. It was a bit surreal.
did you tell her to try a google search for his last name?
"It isn't necessary to imagine the world ending in fire or ice. There are two other possibilities: one is paperwork, and the other is nostalgia."
No, frankly, I'm not as taken by that as some are. I think to do so would be somewhat like, Limbaugh calling people names for no reason. Just my opinion.
I told her to support him if she wants, but to be honest about what he's saying. And that I know people of faith who live their convictions on public life workout disrespecting others, and that I found it to be a much more respectable approach than the one taken by Santorum.
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