Cornell West et al

I’ve printed out my sample ballot for Nov 5 2024.

At the beginning are listed nine candidates for President/Vice-President of the United States.  I don’t think this is especially unusual.  In addition to the usual Democrat and Republican are the usual others as Libertarian, Green, Socialist and others, including “write in”.

Rarely does some maverick do well outside the traditional two-party dominance.  John Anderson, Ross Perot, George Wallace, Gene McCarthy are some who come to mind who made a significant splash, and a few others.  In our complex country it is impractical at minimum for a minor party or candidate to be much more than a source of votes for the opposing major party.

This year, assorted minor candidates like Cornell West are on the ballot.  I mention Cornell specifically since he was the headline in a recent newspaper article about the topic of the impact of fringe candidates on the ultimate outcome.  You can read it here: 2024 Pres election minor parties.  Personally, I probably would agree with most of West’s general philosophy.  But my guess is Cornell’s vote total will be very small…and not benefit the candidate who likely will be the strongest progressive candidate this election.  Some of the other nine on the Minnesota ballot for President: Jill Stein, Robert Kennedy Jr.  None of the other minor candidates are names I have ever heard.

This seems to be a good time to dust off the most notorious Presidential election in my memory: the Bush/Gore contest in 2000, ultimately won at the U.S. Supreme Court based on approximately 580 votes in Florida.

All I want to do here is to recall the really bare basics of the Fall of 2000.  The link includes my short letter to relatives and friends in late October 2000, and the actual vote totals for Florida and Minnesota in the 2000 elections: Presidential election florida 2000 Nader.

If you’re tempted to go for a minor candidate, think two or three times before justifying a vote for someone who will not win.  You can’t undo a thrown away vote, which includes not voting at all, or voting, as I heard one woman say recently, voting for yourself.

The stakes are too high to throw away a vote November 5.