The right to vote in the US

It would seem odd that a country which is so proud of its democratic process and wants to impose that on "dictatorial" nations that it has no affirmative right to vote. I want to remind you of the characteristics of both a republic and a democracy before you start on the "republic not a democracy" bullshit:

1. A political system for choosing and replacing the government through free and fair elections;
2. The active participation of the people, as citizens, in politics and civic life;
3. Protection of the human rights of all citizens, and
4. A rule of law, in which the laws and procedures apply equally to all citizens.

There is NO difference between the two in modern political thought: well short of republics not having aristocracy.

Anyway, there is no affirmative right to vote. There are amendments to the U.S. Constitution that prohibit discrimination based on race (15th), sex (19th) and age (26th), but that's kind of meaningless if everybody is excluded.

On the other hand, a right to vote is a cornerstone in international law, Significant international treaties, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and regional agreements such as the American Convention on Human Rights, enshrine citizens' claim to universal and equal suffrage. The most important of these documents is The Universal Declaration of Human Rights.


The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted unanimously by the United Nations General Assembly in 1948. It recognises the integral role that transparent and open elections play in ensuring the fundamental right to participatory government. Article 21 states that:

Everyone has the right to take part in the government of his/her country, directly or through freely chosen representatives. Everyone has the right of equal access to public service in his country. The will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of government; this will shall be expressed in periodic and genuine elections which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and shall be held by secret ballot or by equivalent free voting procedures.

The problem here is that US law hasn't caught up with the rest of the world, despite the US having been signatory to some of these agreements, which means they would be constitutional law under Article VI.

Perhaps the situation would be different in the US if there was recognition for this right.

MISOGYNISTS FOR JILL STEIN

That sounds pretty dumb doesn't it, but that is sort of what happened if you listen to the Clinton supporters.  They liked playing the woman card in both 2008 and 2016.

Remember "Obama Bros"?  And there is talk that the Barack Obama was a Kenyan Muslim began with somebody from Clinton's campaign back in 2008.

Given that the ad hominem attack is the sign somebody is losing the debate, we could indeed say Clinton lost before she even started running.

BUT

People need to ponder the significance of this picture since it pretty much sums up what is wrong with politics in the US.

While Hillary's running wasn't the main reason I voted Green, it was one small factor in that decision.

And it reflected that the current state of US politics is broken.  Hillary was the symptom, not the disease.

ANYONE who isn't aware of this and discussing what the real problem is can't really make an accurate statement about what went wrong.  So, they are going to say silly things like "misogyny caused Clinton the election", "Jill Stein and the Greens caused Hillary the election", or "Russians stole the election".

Even if all those reasons are total BULLSHIT.

The Fact is Hillary Clinton won the popular vote with 65,853,516 (48.5% votes) to Trump's 62,984,825 (46.4% votes), but lost in the electoral college by receiving 232 (43.1%) of the electoral votes to Trump's 306 (56.8%) votes.

That means the only thing which made Donald Trump president was the electoral college, an institution created by the US Constitution (Article II, Section 1, Clauses 2-4). 


I'm not sure who or where this was posted in a newsgroup, but it sums up the thinking of the Jill Stein voters:

So let play something out, if we vote for Jill Stein (which we will) and she gets enough electoral votes that it keeps either Hillary or Donald from receiving enough electoral votes to grab the nomination, then Congress will vote from the top three to be the next president. We all know how much both parties hate Donald and that they are to corrupt to vote for Jill. So who does that leave? So in all actuality a vote for Jill isn't a vote for trump. And if we get enough people to vote for her we will get a third party. If everyone voting fear because they are scared of Trump voted for Jill she would win hands down. Here is the true argument we should be telling the fear voters. And if no one gets enough electoral votes, we will then see in full view that it is rigged by the fact both parties will vote for her. So in the least a vote for Jill is a vote for Hillary, at most a vote for Jill is a vote for Jill. Either way we would at the least have a third party nationally recognized from now on. Lets push this talking point. I think it might sway the scared people into voting their conscience knowing Donald won't get the presidency.

I know that my reasons for voting for the Green Party relate to a broken system: and not anything else.

See also:
Why Electoral College wins are bigger than popular vote ones | Pew Research Center

Wasting votes

I find it odd that people who claim to be liberal and believe in democracy would demonise people who vote third parties.  Especially since that is pretty anti-democratic and authoritarian behaviour to persecute people based on their political leanings.

One of the allegations is that somehow I "wasted my vote". Now, let's look at the result of the 2016 election.

Not the big 306 "votes" for Trump or the 232 "votes" for Clinton, but the real numbers representing the popular vote.

The Fact is Hillary Clinton won the popular vote with 65,853,516 (48.5% votes) to Trump's 62,984,825 (46.4% votes), but lost in the electoral college by receiving 232 (43.1%) of the electoral votes to Trump's 306 (56.8%) votes.


The fact is that the Electoral College is really where votes count, not the popular vote. But there is distortion even when the popular vote sort of aligns with the Electoral College results.

The problem is the anti-democratic Electoral College is not being discussed with all sorts of other silly theories being bandied about.

But, the bottom line is that Hillary Clinton won the popular vote by nearly 3 million.

Maybe my one vote might have changed the result, but the fact is that is not likely given the nature of the Electoral College.

I should have mentioned that one of the many attractive points about the Green Party is that it was talking about meaningful election reform.  They were also talking about how the duopoly has hijacked the elections. This hijacking is so bad that the League of Women Voters withdrew its sponsorship of the presidential debates in 1988 because the demands of the two campaign organizations would perpetrate a fraud on the American voter.

But neither party is discussing the real result of the election, which is that Clinton won.

Personally, I know how I felt in 2000 when Gore won the popular vote only to be stripped of the victory by the US Supreme Court stopping the recounts

I don't regret the way I voted and would still do it again knowing the outcome.  In fact, I feel sorry for the people who appear to not realise that the loss was in the Electoral College, not the popular vote.

I think the people who voted for Clinton are the ones who wasted their votes this time.  And they will keep wasting them until real election reform becomes an issue. 

And one of the most important reforms is getting rid of the Electoral College.

Armed Voter Intimidation in Wisconsin?

If you wonder why I prefer the UK to the US.  Yesterday's referendum was carried out in a peaceful manner, despite strong sentiments on both sides.

On the other hand, it seems that in the US some people feel that they have a right to prevent people from voting.  I believe there are federal laws which prevent this sort of activity, but still:

In Wisconsin, it is a Class I felony to use or threaten to use force, violence, or restraint to compel a person to vote or not vote in an election. It is also a felony to impede or prevent someone’s ability to vote in an election, to bribe voters, or to coerce someone to vote for a particular candidate or ballot measure.

Voter intimidation is also illegal under federal law. The Voting Rights Act and the National Voter Registration Act make it a crime for election officials to attempt to “intimidate, threaten, or coerce” anyone from voting or attempting to vote, or registering to vote.

Call the police immediately if you see these people.

In fact, contact and file a report with the DoJ's Civil Rights Division:

• www.justice.gov/crt/about/vot/misc/contact.php

And

• Wisconsin's Government Accountability Board (in charge of elections)

The facebook page has been mirrored.

"Law abiding gun owners", my arse.

The more I see of you, the more I am convinced that the US needs strong gun regulations.  The pro-gun side is the best argument for strong gun control.

See also:
Legal Protections Against Voter Intimidation in Wisconsin.pdf
Government Accountability Board | STATE OF WISCONSIN
Voter Intimidation Complaints | Government Accountability Board