“I’m unequivocal and unwavering in my commitment to Israel’s defense and its ability to defend itself, and that’s not gonna change,” said Harris, recounting the horrors of the Hamas-led October 7 attack. “Israel had a right, has a right to defend itself.”
So genuine question what does this mean for the protestors come election day. Is there only choice to vote Democrat or Republican? Can they vote for an independent? How would it work?
They have a choice of staying home and not vote
Vote independent of course, I’d propose you should vote for Claudia de la Cruz from PSL if you live in the states where they’re on the ballot, and probably either Green or write in/don’t vote if they aren’t.
Canadian here so voting may be a little problematic :).
This is for an independent president, yes? Can you vote for an independent member of congress?
Oh lol I also am outside of the US so I don’t vote (except I’m voting for Trump by not voting for Kamala, as I’ve been told very often)
There are quite a lot of independent representatives and a handful of independent senators, though for what it’s worth there are still some congresspeople and senators in the Democratic Party that aren’t as disgusting as Harris herself. Many were successfully primaried by AIPAC sponsored candidates this election so they’ll have to run as independents, however.
They can:
How much not voting or protest voting impacts the actual results kinda depends upon the district and state. However, even in a seemingly secure district or state, enough people protest-voting could actually have a negative impact in that particular election (though I find that fairly unlikely). I vote in a rural district that supports trump. Since he’s objectively worse in basically every way and has indicated that he’s willing to let Netanyahu’s government do whatever they want, I feel it unethical to do anything but vote against trump which, given what I wrote above, basically leaves Harris. If I know that trump will be worse, and I know that doing anything other than voting for Harris in my district helps cement trump, then I must vote for Harris or I’m just helping trump.
We are here because nearly everywhere uses first-past-the-post and voter turnout isn’t great, particularly by voters in local and regional elections. I vote as progressively as I can in local elections and advocate for ranked choice or rated voting wherever possible. People in power tend to hate ranked choice voting or similar because it removes what almost always just becomes a two-party fight which often leads to tactical voting rather than properly representing people. The state in which I vote also has a huge gerrymandering problem, but that’s another story.
They can vote for anyone on the ballot in their state, or in states that support it, write in a name of their choosing.
It would essentially be a protest vote, telling the big 2: “you might have got this vote if you’d had a better stance on Israel.”
Protest votes are also a terrible idea.
Not only is this not the only issue in the world, but even just on this issue, with both (actual) options being bad, it’s still the case that one side is orders of magnitude worse than the other.
Just want to make the point that this was the exact logic we had to stick with the grand malfeasance which was candidate Biden.
So no. Wrong. False.
It’s election season brother you’ll never outbark them blue dogs. I do appreciate it even so
Idk mang. I’m pretty fucking loud.
If I had the option to vote for someone else in the primary (not counting brain worm or antivax, but even they had dropped out by then) then I would have.
My options were Biden or not vote in the primary. I wasn’t happy about that, but I still would have chosen him over Trump in the general election of course.
Not voting or voting protest in Nov would still help Trump. That’s just how the math works.
They work towards passing state level electoral reform in their respective states so they are free to vote for who best represents them. All while secure in the knowledge that their vote would still be counted against the republicans.
It is possibly to late for this election without a general strike. But possible it remains. In fact, Alaska and Maine have already done away with First-past-the-post voting.
Democrats believe in democracy right? If so, why do the vast majority of blue states continue to use First Past the Post voting?
Tell any blue conservative that you are considering voting 3rd party and they will show that they understand the mathematical flaws of our voting system. Yet they do nothing to fix the issue between elections. Curious.