2.06.2008

What happened to my vote

Nothing, pretty much, if I'm understanding this email from Alexander Goldstein, communications director for the Democratic Party in Massachusetts:

In order for a candidate to receive any delegates based on the primary vote they would have needed to have received 15% of the vote, which John Edwards did not. As a result, he will not be receiving any delegates to the convention from Massachusetts.

I wasn't really expecting anything to happen, so I'm not crushed.

There've been some experiments with "none of the above" ballot choices, and I've been known to advocate voting for yourself - but what's really needed is a ballot option that says "present." What I really want to be able to tell these guys is: I'm here, I'm marking a ballot, but there's nobody on it I really want to vote for.

I get a chance to do that once every six years in Massachusetts - vote for somebody I like - when I vote for Teddy (whose mojo didn't seem to do the trick for Obama here, did it) but other than that I don't remember the last time.

1 comment:

SPIIDERWEB™ said...

I'm with you. Sometimes "present" would be the correct vote. At least when votes are tallied people could get a sense of the unrest.

Would that make a difference? Hardly. But sometimes a symbolic gesture is best.