USA

Campaign

A nobleman selfserving and arrogant on one side
The alternative a rich merchant corrupted and as vile
From a dish of juicy apples and a couple of big overripe ones too
Why elect to have the least rotten of them two?

Sun Ch'ing - Warring States period Master.

Endorsement for the 2004 Presidential Election

According to our Politician Endorsement Policy, we have come to the following conclusion for the US 2004 Presidential Election:

We invite all American citizens to vote for Libertarian Party nominee Michael Badnarik.
People who were already planning to vote for him may let him know that you have an aditional reason to support him.
People who were not going to vote for him and who decide to do so now, shall

let him know what gained him one more vote.
let the candidate you were planning to vote for beforehand know what made you change your mind.

People who still do not want to vote for Badnarik and will vote Bush, Kerry, Nader, Cobb or any other candidate instead, may let that candidate know (via their campaign headquarters, for example) that you would have preferred them to support Condorcet and Approval.

Michael Badnarik has publicly stated his preference for Approval voting. This is not a usual part of the Libertarian Party platform, nor does M. Badnarik very actively campaign for Approval voting. We shall not blame him for that, because it is true that Approval voting advocates have not been very organized so far (which this web site is trying to remedy) and have not voiced their preferences strongly enough.

We hope to get better organized in future election cycles so that our endorsement will have a stronger effect, and candidates start to actively support Condorcet voting.

Note that we do not support Instant Runoff Voting.

Articles

Nader vs. Dean debate: a very interesting perspective on the role of third parties
Cobb vs. Badnarik debate: the voting method connection
The beginning of the campaign trail, a chat session: a chat I had before I published my endorsement for the 2004 Presidential Election. The reaction and questions of my chat partners are interesting.

Candidates known to support Condorcet or/and Approval

Jeffry R. Fisher: He has a page outlining his platform on electoral reform. He is a would be Congress candidate, looking for support.
Michael Badnarik: He publicly stated his preference for Approval voting. This is not part of the platform of the Libertarian Party he represents in the Presidential election but may be so in the future if voters show a strong support for it.

US Parties

US Elections

Voting methods

If you even doubt that a duopoly exists in the USA, look at these graphs . It is obvious that the Democrats and the Republicans have been dominating the US political scene since 1856. Plurality voting has left little space for debate with other point of views.

Americans for Approval voting Americans for Approval voting is a political action organization dedicated to the passage of legislation that mandates Approval Voting for all single winner public elections in the United States.
There is a section named What's in it for me?, where they explain what Republicans, Democrats, Third Parties etc would gain from Approval Voting. Nice touch! This is the sister site of Citizens for Approval Voting

General sites

Politics 1 Founded in 1997, Politics1 is published as a non-partisan public service to promote fully informed decision-making by the American electorate.

Presidency2004: Ballot Access Use this page to track which Presidential candidates have qualified for ballot spots in the various states.

Project Vote Smart Thousands of candidates and elected officials. Who works for you? Who is seeking your vote? Project Vote Smart, a citizen's organization, has developed a Voter's Self-Defense system to provide you with the necessary tools to self-govern effectively: abundant, accurate, unbiased and relevant information. As a national library of factual information, Project Vote Smart covers your candidates and elected officials in five basic categories: biographical information, issue positions, voting records, campaign finances and interest group ratings. What would you like to know?
What I find the most interesting is their National Political Awareness Test, a form with a series of questions asked to each candidates on a variety of issues. We have to get a question about Condorcet and Approval Voting on this form. The site is a bit akward to navigate though. I'm never quite sure how to find the candidates' answers of the survey.

US-Election.org From September 1st to November 2, 2004 any adult in the world will have a chance to express his opinion about the candidates for President of the United States by registering and voting on this Website.
Citizens of the world, before you vote in the US eletion, read the introduction provided on each candidate. View the results per region in the world and per country by clicking on the map.

Electoral Vote Predictor 2004 The Electoral Vote Predictor 2004 tracks the electoral vote (EV) state by state. In 2000, Al Gore won the popular vote by over half a million votes but George Bush won the electoral vote by 5 votes and became president. Thus watching the electoral vote is more important than watching the national polls. This website is dedicated to tracking the electoral vote by examining the state-by-state polls. As new state polls are released, the maps, spreadsheets, tables, graphs, and movies will be updated. In the maps, the white states are essentially tossups and are subject to rapid fluctuations. The magic number needed to be elected is 270.

Election Projection 2004 Edition Projecting the upcoming elections and commenting on things along the way...
This site is similar to the one above, but with a much less neutral, much more pro-Bush slant...

Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections This site is a treasure chest full of information, easy to navigate and clearly presented. The Atlas is a free internet resource providing results of U.S. Presidential Elections to the world community. Data is collected from many official sources and presented here in one convenient location. Election Information: menu directs the browser to election information including: historical details (such as election dates, electoral votes by state, the electoral college, etc.), Presidential Election Law from the U.S. Constitution and United States Code, Articles, and a description of the election process. Election Results: link directs the browser to detailed national results for the major and minor candidates for U.S. President in the general (November) presidential elections from 1789 through 2000. Individual year pages include candidates, parties, popular and electoral vote totals, maps, charts, and voter turnout (1932-2000). Also, additional menus provide hyperlinks to state results pages for the Presidential Elections from 1892 through 2000. County-level maps and data are available for the elections from 1960 through 2000. The 2000 pages also include the results maps for President by U.S. Congressional District.

Other issues

Open Debates Open Debates works to ensure that the presidential debates serve the American people first. Currently, the presidential debates are secretly controlled by the major parties, through the private bipartisan corporation called the Commission on Presidential Debates, resulting in the stultification of format, the exclusion of popular candidates, and the avoidance of pressing national issues. Open Debates is launching simultaneous campaigns to inform the public, the news media and policy makers about the fundamental problems with the bipartisan Commission on Presidential Debates. It is also promoting an alternative presidential debate sponsor - the nonpartisan Citizens' Debate Commission - comprised of national civic leaders committed to maximizing voter education.
I like the section Your Role. It is a very clear, graphic statement of what people can do. Maybe I should do something similar here...

Expression

Forum Discussion

Ralph Nader Back On The Florida Ballot The Florida State Supreme court has ruled in favor of 3rd party candidate Ralph Nader. He is now back on the ballot, and just in time since absentee ballots were to be mailed out. This is certainly a victory for those of us who believe that the country is better off when alternative political voices aren't suppressed.
A Slashdot discussion where users discuss the merits of third parties.
It's quite amazing to witness the soul searching struggle of the American people, as they are facing a moral choice between voting for the lesser of two evils and short term benefits on one side, and voting for real change via a third party and long term reform on the other side. As we know here, and as has often been posted in Slashdot comments, only a change of voting system would put an end to this kind of pointless struggle: choosing between ideals and pragmatism when casting a ballot.
Of interest are the following posts: The 2 parties offer us messiahs, not presidents, Push for a truly democratic voting system, Vote for what you want -- but consider pairing, Vote Third Party Dammit, the only "wasted vote" is the one cast out of ignorance, approval voting, duopoly troubles
And the best sig of the thread has to be this one: Think for yourself, destroy your television.

Blogs

MyDD.com MyDD.com is a mostly political blog.. The bloggers, Jerome Armstrong and Chris Bowers, with guest blogs by Matt Stoller, provide their own analysis and commentary on campaigns, elections, and world affairs.

Atrios political blog Atrios is the pseudonym of Duncan Black, a 32 year old recovering economist living in Center City Philadelphia. This blog has been online since April, 2002, and currently gets an average of over 100,000 visits per day.

Act Blue A pro-Democratic Party online clearing house for grassroots actions. ActBlue is a Federal PAC dedicated to helping you support the Democratic candidates and progressive causes of your choosing.
(By the way, I am looking for similar, but pro-Republican or pro-Whatever Party sites!)

What's new...

25 sep 2004: Just about everything on this page.