MAJOR! As in, this post is! Major, that is! H-Chad is making no sense because she is busy jumping for JOY and referring to herself in the third person! Wu HUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!


:clap: :clap: :clap: :good: :good: :wub: :lol: :alien: :dance: :dance: :dance:

I have called my county's Supervisor of Elections office several times to find out if I will be able to write in a candidate's name for president in the November election. Previously, you could only choose from a list of write-in candidates who had gotten themselves onto the ballot, you couldn't just write in anyone. But now we are changing voting technologies and even though the previous person I spoke to (who wasn't sure and said I had to call back once so-and-so returned from vakay) thought you could NOT do it, it turns out, YES "it will be a paper ballot, you can write someone in".

I said, "Are you sure? I know there is a paper ballot TRAIL, but I thought the vote was still cast in a machine, or even if it is a paper ballot, I thought you could only choose from certain "official" write-in candidates or something. "No, you can write anyone in".

YOU CAN WRITE ANYONE IN!

Now, I know, I know, no way will Gore win the presidency via a write-in campaign. But I can't tell you how RELIEVED and glad I am that I won't have to make the awful choice between not voting or voting for Obama. I am writing in Gore!!!!!!!! That way, I have actively participated in the election process...albiet admittedly probably only in the sense of handing it to McCain, so I still need to think about this, but as of now, I'm pretty set on:

I'm writing in Gore!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

God, it will feel good. And, considering the last seven years and how the next four will probably be, that momentary satisfaction might be the highlight of that entire time span, so I'm going for it.

In fact, I might try to organize a write-in campaign for Al Gore in Florida. How GREAT, how poetic, would it be if Florida went for Gore in a write-in campaign in 2008?

God, that would just make my lifetime.

...Of course, I'd prefer a brokered convention scenario in which he becomes an actual candidate with an actual excellent shot at winning the presidency, but in the immortal words of Mick Jagger, you can't always get what you want.

But if you try sometimes, you just might find, you just might find: you can write in Al Gore!

:Y:

P.S. I just called again to get clarity on something and found out, just to clarify:

If you want to write in a candidate in Florida, under the new optical scanning system that uses a paper ballot, you can write in anyone you want. However, if the candidate is not a "qualified candidate", meaning they didn't file the paperwork and yada yada yada, your vote won't register specifically for, for example, "Al Gore". However, it will "count", in the sense of it counts as a vote. It will go in there for "Other". In other words, you are voting. It is not an "undervote" wherein you voted for every other race and/or question on the ballot except president. No, you voted and basically stated to anyone who truly cares to listen, as well as to those who don't, that you want someone "other" than the choices available to you.

I'm afraid, at this point, that is what I am going to do (although if McCain starts freaking me out enough, I may "come home" to Obama in November). But at least I don't have to not vote at all. The thought of not voting is abhorrent to me. And the thought of voting for anyone other than a Democrat is almost as horrifying to me. Al Gore is a Democrat. I'm voting for him. It will go down in the recordbooks as a vote for "Other". I'm cool with that. Or as cool as I can be, considering that I can't bring myself to vote for either of the candidates on the ballot in this important election year.

:Y:

edited to add: And just think how cool it will be if "Other" gets a significant enough chunk of the Florida vote to warrant mention and discussion on the network news. That might be as much satisfaction and participation in the process as a Florida Democrat will get this year (hell, this decade). Other! For the stolen election of 2000, I say it. For Howard Dean taking away our delegates, I say it. For the choice between Obama and McCain, I shout it from the rooftops! Other! Of course, I'll write "Al Gore". But it'll go down as "Other".

So be it. If that is all the power I have to make my will as a voter known, then so frickin' be it.

I'm writing in Al Gore. (Again, unless McCain starts truly freaking me out...in which case I may have to go with practicality and realism versus making a statement and idealism).

HC,

Don't think of it as voting for Obama but as voting against McCain and another 4 years of Bush policies. If Obama is the nominee (and most likely will be) he will need every vote in an important swing state like Florida.

Good point indeed. That's why I'm still thinking about it. It is not a "final answer",
Regis! But I'm just happy and relieved to find out that, no matter what, I won't have to simply not vote at all. Either I'll vote for the nominee or I'll vote for "Al Gore" which will translate to "Other", but I will vote. You actually write in the name, but unless the name is a "qualified candidate" (oh, the irony of Al Gore not being categorized as a "qualified" candidate when he is the most qualified presidential candidate EVER), he or she will be lumped into "Other". It is just surprisingly comforting to me to learn that, no matter what, I will have that option. I won't just have to throw my hands up and not vote at all.

Now it becomes a personal and moral battle between the momentary DEEP satisfaction of casting my vote for Al Gore, versus putting the country first to the point that I realize the import of, basically, throwing my vote away, and thus opt instead to vote AGAINST another four years of repugism, which is what my vote for Obama would be, as I'm certainly not for Obama. Again, it all hinges on McCain, basically: is he going to impress me with continuing to emphasize his commitment to climate change policy, or is he going to start showing his frighteningly repug side and drive me right into Obama's dismissive arms?

Only time will tell.

Yeah, what James said. :D

I've always felt that write-in votes in the primaries were acceptable because a Dem. will win the primary regardless of write-ins. But write-in votes in the general election only help throw the election to the other party, which we definitely don't want to do. :wacko:

It would just be the ultimate cruel twist of fate if John McCain wins Florida and the White House as a result of a significant number of write-in votes for Al Gore.

Good thing that is not going to happen. :!:

Usually, I would strongly agree with you, Earth-M. And, God knows the depth of my feelings when I say this: I do NOT want to be the Nader voter of 2008, so to speak, ya know? I mean, GOD, if enough of us vote for someone who ends up in "Other", it could tip FL for McCain just as surely as if we had voted "McCain". I'm keenly aware of this. I take my vote very seriously.

But to be very honest, I'm personally not sure that four years of McCain at this point (after eight devastating years of shrub have already worked their nightmarish magic on our country, world and planet) would be worse than four years of Obama, especially considering that McCain would almost DEFINITELY be a one-term prez (after two terms of shrub and THEN a term of McCain? Fuggedaboutit, even us Dems couldn't screw up the next election badly enough to lose) and then we could sport a whole new field of candidates and do this thing up right in 2012...assuming the planet survives until then, which it has just as good of a chance of doing under McCain as under Obama, because the ONE thing McCain is really relatively (compared to Clinton and Obama) good on is global warming. As repugs go, he rocks on that one issue and that is my BIG issue. If Romney, for example, had the nomination, I would vote for Obama. No question about it. But should I vote for a candidate who concerns and offends me when they are up against one who really won't make things much worse around here and who in four years would have to step aside for AL GORE (yes, I like it here in DENIAL *LOL*) or some other Democrat?

The ONLY argument that makes me think: Edna, come to your yellow dog Democrat senses already is this: The war, the war: don't forget the war. I don't want a hundred more years in Iraq or even 100 more MINUTES in Iraq. I don't want that blood for oil on my conscience. Right now, it isn't on me. If I vote in any sort of way that tilts things to McCain, though...then it IS on me from then on. All the dead kids. That is really what our votes carry inside them this time around: do we vote to save kids from dying in a POINTLESS war or do we vote to bring them home?

So this is very tough for me. Everything in me wants to write in Al Gore. But this is beyond what I want. This is even beyond my concerns and fears about Obama (is he an antisemite/anti-Israel, is he too inexperienced, is he as phony and empty as I think he is?). This is do I want the blood of kids on my hands over enriching Halliburton?

*sigh*...no pressure!

Again, I have to say, point well taken.

I'm so confused!

Deer in headlights, OUT!

P.S. Whoa. I just have to report to y'all that I just felt SICK after thinking about this all.

This whole 2008 election (really, more accurately, this whole period between the 2000 election and the 2008 election) has now LITERALLY made me sick. I'm talking ...not well.

I feel like the weight of the world is on my vote! And yet, paradoxically, at the same time, I have this "It doesn't matter what I do" feeling. I don't want McCain, I don't want Obama, it feels like my party doesn't want me...I mean, the whole thing is WEIRD, disconnected and surreal.

This was supposed to be our year, babies! This was supposed to be a triumphant, satisfying, hope-restoring time for Democrats. Well, maybe some are feeling that way right now, but I'm not.

I'm just trying to figure out a way to cast a vote in November that I can live with or at least that doesn't make me physically sick. So far, none of the options seems to fit the bill. For a brief moment there, voting Gore seemed the path to relieve all my angst. But now that I think it out to the logical conclusion (100 years, 100 years, 100 years...someone get that soundbyte out of my brain!)...Florida goes red, the long national nightmare continues, 100 more years...

:wacko:

Hangingchad, there's still 6 months until the general election. Maybe something will change between now and then. I'd love for it to be Gore as nominee but yeah, that's probably not going to happen.

But maybe during this time, and once we have a Democratic nominee, the focus will be more on the issues and will bring better clarity as to who would be the best person to vote for. :Y:

I'm with you on all this, HC. Whatever/whenever/however/whoever it takes to get Gore in the White House! I don't visit this site to campaign for someone else or even a particular party. Gore's the man I want to be my President no matter what party he belongs to. I hope I live to see it some day.

All I can say to that is be VERY careful about this line of thinking, and I speak from experience. Back before the 2000 election, my thinking was that I wanted Bush to win the Rep. nomination over McCain because he'd be a slam-dunk for Gore to beat (little did I know :rolleyes: ). Then, when the most horrible thing that could have happened did indeed happen, and Bush was installed in the White House, I consoled myself by saying, well, how bad could it be? I mean, the person in the White House doesn't have THAT much influence over the direction of the country. I mean, we have checks and we have balances, we have ways of mitigating the effects of a bad president. WRONG! :!:

Four years of McCain would be MUCH worse than four years of Obama, regardless of what you think of him. Also, I think it's foolish to assume that McCain would be a one-term president. I thought the same thing of Bush.

I think you need to rethink this, girl!

:read:

I am so confusigated.

Hopefully, between now and November, I will have some sort of epiphany/moment of clarity.

I didn't know that, EM. I actually wanted McCain to win because there was that TEXASS arrogance about Bush and I felt that there would be some rigging going on if he got the nomination. Texas was so good a rigging other things, I figured the same thing might happen in election. Unfortunatley it did. :angry: :angry: :( :(