Even before President Joe Biden’s long-speculated withdrawal from the 2024 presidential race, allies of former President Donald Trump floated the possibility of suing to block Democrats from having anyone other than Biden on the ballot in November.
But election administration and legal experts said the timing of Biden’s exit on Sunday makes it unlikely that any Republican ballot access challenges will succeed, with some calling the idea “ridiculous” and “frivolous.” Democrats are on safe legal ground as they identify a new standard-bearer, they say, because the party hasn’t officially chosen its nominee. That typically occurs with a vote of delegates at the party’s convention.
“It’s ridiculous for people to talk about ‘replacing Biden.’ He hasn’t been nominated yet,” said Richard Winger, a leading expert on state ballot access laws and the longtime editor of the “Ballot Access News” newsletter.
In 13 states the deadline for petitions for specific independent candidates has already passed. But, in at least 20 states the rules clearly allow Democrats and Republicans to do whatever, whenever.
If RCV magically appeared then the Green Party would be winning this one with AOC. Most aren’t as stupid as we think. They only lack practical alternatives. I believe harm reduction would be a second choice for so, so many.
But, RCV isn’t going to magically appear; Even if a politician wanted to, none can save us from the system; And, harm reduction simply isn’t good enough anymore. The only way we progress is by doing much, much more than voting.
AOC and the squad have shown that Progressives can win on the Democratic ticket. Voters just need to turn out in the primaries to get their candidates nominated.
Is that what happened to the Sanders campaign, twice? Are you certain there’s not a SCOTUS ruling where the DNC admits their tactics?
Bernie received fewer votes in the primaries but succeeded in motivating more progressives to run and now we have the Squad. Just because he didn’t win the nomination doesn’t mean he didn’t have any success at all. Change takes time and consistent effort.
Keep that head in the sand where you feel safe.
I’m out here voting in the major party primaries to get better candidates. You’re voting for for a party that has never won a single electoral vote (no 3rd party has won a single electoral vote since Wallace in 1968) and expecting that to somehow convince the actual winners to change the rules in your parties favor then blaming the Democratic party for the Republican party winning. Pretty sure it’s not my head in the sand.
I’m out here educating others about choices they could make.
No, I’m not.
You’re out here making assumptions about me and believing everyone else is too stupid to choose for themselves. It doesn’t even register for you that the rules unfairly limit choices because they favor your choice. Fuck everyone else: You got yours.
It’s just like the fascists you’re running from. Well done.
And I’m pointing out the historical and statistical futility of either voting 3rd party or not voting as a means to break away from the current Democratic/Republican stranglehold.
That’s fair, I did infer from your post advocating for ACO as a Green party candidate that you were voting for Green party. My bad. You did just clearly say you’re not voting. Which, like, how do you expect to achieve your goals then? What’s your concrete plan of action to win by not participating?
No, I’m saying voting 3rd party or not voting isn’t going to unseat the current Democratic/Republican parties and to run those progressive candidates in the Democratic primaries as a more effective means to the desired end.
Bernie was on the primary ballot, I voted for him, he lost. They didn’t favor my choice. My choice lost. I did not “get mine.” That doesn’t mean I didn’t have a choice. I’m not saying the DNC did no wrong. But he did, in fact, receive fewer votes. And the only things that limit my possible choices are who has actually declared/registered to run on the primary and my willingness to register to vote and actually turn up to vote.
I want RCV to be a reality so that 3rd party candidates will be viable. But I can acknowledge the reality that I won’t get RCV by voting third party or by not voting. I will only get it by electing representatives who will fight for it in my stated government, and 3rd party candidates just haven’t been able to win any state/local elections where I live. So I’m voting in the primaries of the two parties who have a statistical chance of winning to get there. And I need more people to do the same in order to “get mine”.
Most importantly, I appreciate that you’re asking questions that appear to be in good faith. Neither of those is the status quo. So, I’ll give you good answers.
You’ve assumed that winning is the only outcome of value. Five percent of the GE in this cycle puts the platform on every ballot in the next. That choice would be outside the influence of party primary and from a party more loyal to the platform than even Sanders.
That exerts a fuck ton of pressure on Democratic Party platform for at least four years. I couldn’t care less which party serves the ideological choice We the People deserve. I like Green today because they’ve been more loyal to the platform than even Sanders and they’re already engaged with local ballot access.
But, this reasoning only works well in deep red states. Everywhere else voters need to worry much more about short term harm reduction. I even did the math for what proportion of deep red state Democratic voters would need to reason this out to get 5% of the GE. It’s definitely possible.
Literally, neolibs just need to trust other neolibs to not be so stupid as to fuck up something so simple it can be responsibly communicated in three paragraphs.
I advocate and practice the means that have been historically, statistically, psychologically proven, in order of decreasing importance: rebellion, riot, strike, boycott, protest, and voting.
Why? What did the DNC do to favor his opponents?
Anyone I’ve asked to read the ruling that then did so no longer votes in the major party primaries. You seem reasonable. Please, read it for yourself.
Succinctly, I want more to think along a longer scale of time than the next five years.
More importantly, individuals may represent the same ideology but be in very different situations making very different choices. For example, I think a wise leftist in a red state probably best represents leftist ideology by voting Green POTUS this cycle. But, the same wise leftist in a purple state probably best represents leftist ideology in shorter term harm reduction with a Democratic POTUS vote. Said simply, our loyalty isn’t party, but to each other.
How does you not voting make your case any better? It’s even less effective than voting third party.
The SCOTUS case brought by the Sanders campaign had a ruling that stated the private parties can do whatever they want in their primaries, without regard for fairness or wants of the participants. SCOTUS recommend that if one doesn’t agree with that then they shouldn’t participate. I agree with them.
It also doesn’t matter whom they nominate. The platform and outcomes aren’t changed by the puppet politician, only by the corporate donors writing the legislation. I don’t care who figureheads either major party.
I also don’t care who figureheads the Green Party. The platform and ballot access is their value. If they scale then pressure is exerted on Democrats. If they scale a lot then a solid candidate will jump ship from Democrats.
My dichotomous vote for President also wouldn’t matter. My deep red state will cast all of their electoral votes for Trump. I’ve decided to vote Green POTUS in the general in small hope others also reason out where such is possible and why 5% of the GE vote is quite powerful for the cause, regardless of party affiliation. There’s one other local election where I’ll vote because I believe a viewpoint that I don’t agree with should be voiced for others’ benefit.
There’s much more powerful avenues of change than voting. I spend most of my time on what history says will work.
AOC showed a progressive can win in an area that was +45% for Biden in 2020. I don’t know how many conclusions you can draw about a national run from that.
She wins because she represents the people in her district well and understands them on an intrinsic level. She is them.
That’s precisely the point I’m making. Remember this is in the context of Derpy saying the Greens and AOC would win nationally if there were RCV.
How do you propose achieving RCV without taking over the 2 major parties through their primaries? Honest question. Voting for 3rd parties in the general isn’t achieving that goal. Not voting only tells the majors parties and incumbents you don’t have an opinion they have to listen to because one of them will still win without it. You’re never going to get a watershed shift to the left by focusing only on the presidential race with a third party. Bernie’s Democratic party primary campaigns did more for the left than 3rd parties have done in the last 50 years (no 3rd party presidential candidate since Wallace in 68 has received a single electoral vote) by getting more progressives to run in Democratic primaries.
I was only commenting on the idea that with RCV, AOC and the Greens would win the Presidency this year. I think RCV is a good idea. I don’t know how to achieve it. The nice thing about it is that states and municipalities that adopt it don’t put themselves at any kind of disadvantage, so it doesn’t have to happen all at once.
👍I would absolutely love if we had RCV nationwide. Also compulsory voting, mail-in ballot as standard nationwide, a mandatory “none of the above” option for every elected office, and a requirement that an actual majority of eligible voters is required to win the race (which should be possible through the combination of RCV and compulsory voting). But that takes either a Constitutional amendment or a coordinated and prolonged effort within each state to take over the legislatures.
Wow it’s too bad I only mentioned AOC and nobody else …
We have progressives from multiple states now than we did 10 years ago, and their success should motivate more progressives in more states to run in their local primaries. Change takes time and consistent effort. Primary turnout sucks so we get what was chosen for us by a few if we don’t show up.