Disappointed with the LP nomination of Bob Barr and unsold on conservative Constitution Party nominee Chuck Baldwin, many “r3VOLutionaries” have talked about casting write-in votes for Ron Paul in November. But will such votes even be counted? It’s unlikely. Here is a chart, brought to our attention by Liberty Maven, detailing state-by-state write-in rules.
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And don’t get me wrong — I am still considering a vote for Baldwin even though I harshly disagree with him on the issues outlined above. He may be the least-bad choice.
There is one issue where they are in diametric, 100% opposition: Free trade. Ron Paul is 100% for it, Chuck Baldwin is 100% against it. I’d say that’s a pretty big difference!
Secondly, on the Fed: Ron Paul is for free-market money; he’s from the Austrian school. Chuck Baldwin seems to be for government-money, and from the conspiracy-theorist school.
Thirdly, it’s about demeanor. Ron Paul openly supports “gay marriage” when done privately as a contract between two consenting adults (see his Google interview). Chuck Baldwin is not so “open-minded.”
One last thing: Overall governing philosophy… Ron Paul is a libertarian — he’s against laws forbidding gambling, drug use, pornography, and prostitution. Although Chuck Baldwin is against federal laws prohibiting these things, his party platform calls for their prohibition at the state level. And presidents appoint a lot of judges, etc.
So yeah… There’s a lot of issues on which they disagree, but #1 is the most important.
I do not know why a Paul supporter would not vote for Baldwin. Can anyone tell me of an issue that they differ on?
@G.E. Sure: http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/subscribe-to-comments/ I have used this for awhile, it’s good.
The chart that this blog entry links to is wrong to say that presidential candidates can’t file as write-ins in the general election, if they ran in a presidential primary in that state. Those laws can’t apply to presidential candidates because the true candidates in November are the candidates for presidential elector, and THEY didn’t run in the presidential primaries. Also we have many precedents from those states that the “sore loser” laws aren’t applied to president. John Anderson was on the ballot in all 50 states in November 1980 as an independent (or as the nominee of a minor party), and he ran in most Republican presidential primaries in 1980. Lyndon LaRouche and David Duke have added to the list of precedents that generally, sore loser laws don’t apply to president.
And it would settle my dilemma on whether to be even more pissed at RP for diverting a massive amount of the movement’s energy into a sinkhole.
BTW, here’s a plugin for comment subscribing:
http://txfx.net/code/wordpress/subscribe-to-comments/
I haven’t used it, though…just found it in a search.
Maybe Paul will register as a write-in candidate. That would settle my dilemma as to who to vote for.
The fact that the Ron Paul revolutionaries continue to put the energy toward Paul’s campaign makes me wonder if they get what the revolution is all about in the first place. I hear a lot of people talking like “it’s Ron Paul or it’s no one”. Foolish. Writing in RP in the general election, rather than supporting one of the many other outlets of revolution (LP, CP, GP, Nader, etc.), would be taking the “rEVOLution” to a silly extreme.
Hopefully Ron Paul will take this matter by the horns and tell his supporters to do something smart with their time and energy. If he won’t endorse someone specific, perhaps he can at least un-endorse the Ron Paul write-in concept. (Not that I’m counting on Paul to do the best thing for third parties in this election. I’m assuming the opposite at this point.)
George – Alot of Paul’s followers are Republicans who have probably never even heard of Libertarianism before. They cling to him because he’s all they know.
My parents, long time Republicans, are finally seeing the light due to Paul. What ever damage you think he’s doing, theres been ALOT of good from it too.
George – Thanks for the suggestion. I’ll look into it. Could you possibly save me time by providing a link?
btw you guys need that wordpress plugin subscribe to comments, so i can get emails when new comments are posted to a given thread.
Ron Paul is sorta of a Libertarian, and you would think a Libertarian’s followers would be independent free-thinkers who wouldn’t create a cult of personality. But they have done that.
The more time passes, the more I see the damage Ron Paul’s candidacy is doing and the more I regret donating to his campaign.
I think you’re talking to a brick wall. A lot of those supporters are still plotting to “hijack” state-level GOP conventions to stack delegates, oblivious to the rules binding those delegates to McCain for at least the first round (which is the only round that matters).
Translation: Writing-in Ron Paul is a pretty stupid idea.
I’m glad someone put this into chart form. I don’t see anywhere to e-mail M Foster with updates though, California is definitely rule 1.