#independent candidates

[deadpresidents]

What do you think about RFK Jr possibly making Aaron Rodgers his VP?

It just amazes me that RFK Jr. thinks that his best options for running mates are two of the only public figures in America who might be considered even more goofy conspiracy theorists than he is -- Aaron Rodgers and Jesse Ventura.

Aaron Rodgers is so thin-skinned and whiny that he can't even do Pat McAfee's podcast regularly without bitching about what somebody said about him. Imagine someone like that running for office? Oh wait...we've been dealing with that since 2015 and this country actually elected that guy President in 2016.

I don't think Rodgers will be the choice. If he was, he'd basically have to quit the NFL and I think he still wants to play. He's 40 years old and missed all of last season with an injury, so he couldn't take another season off just to lose a race as running mate to a fellow conspiracy theorist on a third-party ticket.

If I had to bet, I think RFK Jr. is just trying to throw people off the scent and he's going to pick Tulsi Gabbard. Honestly, Ventura would probably be his best bet -- he's a former Governor who is almost certainly the most successful third-party candidate in American history. And Ventura would be much better on the campaign trail than Rodgers or Gabbard (or RFK Jr., really). But any of those tickets might as well call themselves the Wack Pack party.

Has anybody mentioned yet that this 2024 election cycle is going to be a fucking drag? Calling this country's political scene a "shitshow" is unfair to both shit and shows. Whomever this third-party ticket's nominees are should show up at their campaign rallies in a clown car.

#2024 Election #Shitshow at the Fuck Factory #2024 #Politics #Robert F. Kennedy Jr. #RFK Jr. #Aaron Rodgers #Jesse Ventura #Tulsi Gabbard #Clown car #Third-party Candidates #Independent Candidates #Presidential Election #2024 Presidential Election #Conspiracy Theorists #Shoot me please

[axvoter]

Index to the Blatantly Partisan Party Reviews, 2023 NSW state edition

Saturday 25 March is election day in NSW, and it's going to be a fascinating and most likely close contest. As well as the major parties, there is a veritable constellation of micro-parties, independent groups, and solo independents running in the election.

I’ve written my blog entries to demystify these micro-parties and indies. I'm sorry I did not post these until the final days of the election; life got in the way. I do not review Labor, Liberal/National, Greens, or One Nation, as I assume anyone reading this blog already has views on them. All entries are written from a left-wing perspective sympathetic to democratic socialism and green politics, so calibrate according to your own predilections. I make no pretension to false objectivity—that’s why these are blatantly partisan party reviews.

When you go to vote, you will receive two ballot papers. One will be a very large ballot for the Legislative Council (the upper house). This is elected at large by the entire state: a candidate requires ~4.55% to win a seat. But the Legislative Council is the house of review; government is formed in the Legislative Assembly (the lower house). It contains 93 seats, and the number of candidates—both party-affiliated and independent—varies significantly between electorates.

On the small ballot for the Legislative Assembly, you must vote 1 for your preferred candidate and then distribute as many or as few additional preferences as you want. Your vote will be more powerful if you distribute as many preferences as possible. Do not skip or repeat a number. If your preferred candidate is not elected, your vote transfers at full value to your second preference, and so on. You might receive a how-to-vote card from party campaigners: this is a suggestion only and you can fill out your preferences in any order you like.

On the large ballot for the Legislative Council, you can either vote above the line or below the line. Whichever way you vote, you control your preferences—NSW does not have a dodgy system to harvest voter preferences like in Victoria.

Every grouping that has registered at least 15 candidates receives a square above the line; if the square is unlabelled, it is because the group does not have formal party registration. Groups with 2–14 candidates receive their own column but no square above the line; you can only vote for them below the line. Solo independents appear in the furthest right column and can only be voted for below the line.

For most voters, voting above the line will suffice: after you vote 1 for your preferred group, you can distribute as many or as few preferences as you like. You accept the order of candidates registered within each individual group, but you control the order of the groups. You will be able to express preferences for any party/grouping likely to win a seat; it is well nigh impossible for candidates who can only be voted for below the line to win a seat.

You should vote below the line if the following apply to you: a) you want to reorder candidates within a group and/or mix and match candidates across groups, b) you want to vote for ungrouped independents or a group of independents without enough candidates to receive a square above the line, or c) you are a completist like me who wants to indicate a preference for everyone. You MUST give at least 15 preference. Be warned that if you want to preference all the way, it will take a while—it took me over 20 minutes at the 2019 election.

In both cases, the further you preference, the more powerful your vote will be. Distribute as many preferences as you feel you can distribute in an informed manner.

This entry includes links to my reviews of each micro-party. There are 8 groups of independents or unregistered parties. These are noted below by their group letter on the ballot. The format is "party name (rough ideology / recommended preference)". A good preference is a party with few or no significant flaws for the left-wing voter; a decent preference indicates a generally positive platform or a single-issue party with a good but limited objective; a middling preference is a mix of positive and negative qualities; a weak or no preference is mainly negative and either you should give them a poor preference or let your vote exhaust—as noted above, your vote is most powerful if you preference as far as possible.

Animal Justice Party (animal rights / middling to decent preference)

Australia One / Riccardo Bosi—Group U (conspiracy theorists who are a threat to public safety / lowest possible preference)

Call to Freedom / Milan Maksimovic—Group E (Christian fundamentalism / weak or no preference)

Christians for Community / Milton Caine—Group T (Christian fundamentalism / weak or no preference)

Elizabeth Farrelly Independents (centre-left NIMBY / middling preference)

Family First / Lyle Shelton—Group A (Christian fundamentalism and conspiracism / weak or no preference)

Group P—Danny Lim (anti-racism personality / middling to decent preference)

Indigenous–Aboriginal Party of Australia (Indigenous rights / good preference)

Informed Medical Options Party (uninformed anti-vaxxers / weak or no preference)

Legalise Cannabis Party (single issue / decent preference)

Liberal Democratic Party (far-right libertarian cookers / weak or no preference)

Public Education Party (single issue / decent preference)

Revive Australia Party / Silvana Nile—Group G (Christian fundamentalism / weak or no preference)

Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party (fans of gun violence / weak or no preference)

Socialist Alliance (socialism / good preference)

Socialist Equality Party / Oscar Grenfell—Group K (socialism but for crackpots / weak or no preference)

Sustainable Australia—Stop Overdevelopment/Corruption (anti-immigration NIMBYs / weak or no preference)

United Australia Party / Craig Kelly—Group B (covid conspiracists in a policy-free space of grievance / weak or no preference)

Ungrouped independents (mix of ideologies and recommendations)

Happy voting and enjoy your democracy sausage!

#auspol #NSWvotes #NSWvotes2023 #NSW #Election 2023 #NSW election #politics #political parties #independent politics #political candidates #election candidates #independent candidates #elections are great #shame most candidates aren't great #weak or no preference #middling preference #decent preference #good preference

[sgreffenius]

I guess it's time to run again. I ran the first time a while back, but I can't remember which year. I know it had to be before 2016, because I would never want to run against Clinton, Biden, or Trump. Who knows, though, if James Comey had not schemed with Hillary and Christopher Steele to get the Donald elected, I might have been president. You can't tell about these things.

Now Never Trumpers say Anybody But Biden, and Let's Go Brandon means Make America Great Again. There's never been a better time to elect an independent candidate. Too many voters and politicos think of independents as spoilers, not because they actually are, but because that's how they get you to vote for one of their candidates. You could say that the winner of any election spoils every other candidate's chance to win, but no one knows the winner until after the election.

So I figure my chances are as good as anyone else's. I have ambition, money, name recognition, speaking skills, a desire to serve, a vision for my country, and other qualities our two presumptive candidates do not have.

Let's take two qualities that you do not often see anymore: honesty and integrity. Honesty means people trust you because you speak the truth. Integrity means people trust you because you value what is right, whether it advances your own interests or not. You cannot be a leader if people don't trust you.

How many people believe Donald Trump possesses these qualities? Case closed.

Now think back to the first important speech Joe Biden gave after the election in November 2020. It was not his inaugural address. It was the one he delivered about a week after the election, when returns from a few close states confirmed that he had won. You will remember his emphasis on the theme of unity, and the foundation of unity, communal trust. He promised he would lead the entire country to restore broken bonds of community in our nation. His main goal, he said, would be to rebuild our nation so we could work together again.

I remember thinking as I listened, "Well we'll see. I'll believe it when I see it." He can launch the future as he sees fit. Who am I to second-guess his intentions when he still has two months before he becomes the nation's leader?

How long did it take after Inauguration Day to discover that Uncle Joe was just another grifter in aviator sunglasses? He did not pretend to remember what he said in November, but set to work on a presidential agenda even more divisive than his predecessor's. Many said, "We have just elected Bernie Sanders," but at least Bernie would have told us the truth in November. Bernie's words after the election, and his actions the following spring, would not have exposed him as a fraud. Uncle Joe made a point of lying, and did not seem to care.

So that's why I want to run. The country needs a good leader. It also needs a candidate who can spoil both major parties in the same election. You could say Trump tried to do that in 2016, but he spoiled only one party, his own. Meanwhile, try as they might, Democrats' five-year effort to spoil their party failed, as Biden's victory attests. Yet most people do not trust the Democratic party, either. Thus our need for a leader who does not answer to either tribe.

I appreciate your support, and next year, your votes.

#2024 election #biden #trump #independent candidates

[progressivegraffiti]

“According to Politico, former Bernie Sanders presidential campaign manager Jeff Weaver threatened the Democratic Party with Independent progressive candidates in 2024. (Yes!)“

#independent candidates #progressive independents #2024 elections #Jeff Weaver

[itstacharya]

बालेन ७ हजार भन्दा बढी मतले अगाडी

काठमाडौं महानगरपालिकामा मेयर पदका स्वतन्त्र उम्मेदवार बालेन्द्र शाह (बालेन) ७ हजार भन्दा बढी मतले अगाडी छन्

काठमाडौं महानगरपालिकामा मेयर पदका स्वतन्त्र उम्मेदवार बालेन्द्र शाह (बालेन) ७ हजार भन्दा बढी मतले अगाडी छन्। उनको मत १५ हजार नाघेको छ । आज बिहानको ताजा परिणाम अनुसार शाहले १५ हजार ४०२ मत पाएका हुन् । उनी नेकपा एमालेका उम्मेदवार केशव स्थापित भन्दा ७ हजार ११४ मतले र नेपाली कांग्रेसकी उम्मेदवार सिर्जना सिंहभन्दा ८ हजार ११२ मत अन्तरले अगाडि छन् । स्थापितले ८ हजार २८८ र सिंहले ७ हजार २९० मत पाएका…

View On WordPress

#Balen #independent candidates #Kathmandu Mayor #winniner

[allelitewrestlings]

Willow Nightingale at NJPW Strong Independence Day, July 4, 2023 — photo by @kemurist on twitter

#willow nightingale #wrestlingedit #aewedit #njpwedit #aew #aew x njpw #njpw #njpw strong #* #candids #ours: edits #maker: r #event: independence day 2023

[gothicprep]

trump is 77 years old, running for president, embroiled in multiple legal battles, and a card-carrying mcdonald's shill. my gut is telling me he's on the verge of a cardiac episode tbh. whether it be fatal or not, apollo didn't relay that one to me.

#independent of trump and biden – it would be such a fiasco if a leading candidate just dropped dead during an election year #if the current trend of geriatric nominees continues then we'll probably see this happen in the next few decades

[bonefall]

Hey OP, what’s a centrist? And I don’t think I’ve ever heard of a centrist party before I thought the States only had Democrats and Republicans. Or at least those are the only two parties that get into office. I’ve heard Canada has a Green Party but I’m not sure.

There's two major parties, but generally Americans don't tie themselves to the party line. In theory we vote for the party more aligned with our interests, in PRACTICE we vote against the worst option.

Some Americans think of themselves as Democrat or Republican, and it's good for describing broad trends, BUT we're better understood on a specific level as liberal, progressive, socialist, conservative, libertarian, centrist, etc.

Centrists are self-explanatory. They're in the center, they claim to like some stuff on the left and some stuff on the right, not wanting to "take a side." They're getting rarer as politics polarizes, though.

(And usually they don't pick a side because they're just kinda committed to the aesthetic of "rationality." They often have a need to feel like the smartest person in the room while being woefully uninformed about the topic at hand, or worse, act all condescending that people care about something that deeply affects them.)

#Even if you are signed up with a party a lot of people won't describe themselves with party terms #Like for example some states don't let independents vote in a party's candidate picking election #So if you want to vote in that you have to register with that party #(These are called closed primaries) #Bone babble

[supreme-leader-stoat]

Aggressive tribalism and doubling down on a broken system aside, it's always struck me as a bit arrogant that the "vote blue no matter who" crowd attributes every non-vote/third-party vote to someone who would otherwise support the Dem's chosen candidate but got cold feet at the last minute. My guy, you keep banging on that "lesser of two evils" drum all you want, but I don't think you're gonna like the outcome if you ever successfully convince a lot of the people who voted third party in 2020.

#on a related note it's kind of funny how leading up to the election it was ''EVERY VOTE NOT FOR BIDEN IS A VOTE FOR TRUMP'' #but I saw comparatively little vitriol from the right toward third parties and independents after the election #different sorts of arrogance I guess #one side was convinced their candidate was unelectable but that they could browbeat people into supporting him anyway #the other that their candidate was too big to fail and so the only possible explanation was that the whole thing was rigged

[syntaxaero]

can "democratic" us of americans not vote for the old man whos doing jack shit in the office when theres literally another democratic candidate that wants to pass ubi throught congress. like idk man

#theres of course the independent candidates too #but man i really dont want biden to be up against trump again theyre both gonna make things worse

[axvoter]

Blatantly Partisan Party Reviews (Victoria 2022): My Cheat Sheet to the Parties

There are plenty of parties contesting this year’s Victorian state election—indeed, the number of candidates is a state record. Interestingly, this has been achieved despite the fact that about a third of the parties who contested the 2018 election are no longer registered. Ballots will feature a bumper crop of cookers and other assorted micro-parties.

Here is my cheat sheet to summarise the recommendations in my reviews. I write from a left-wing perspective sympathetic to democratic socialism and green politics, and readers of this blog will have noticed that at the end of each entry I give a loose recommendation of what sort of preference I would give to that party. Here are almost all* of this election's parties categorised according to how good a preference I think they deserve. If you have even halfway similar political perspectives to me, I hope this might be useful.

*I do not review Labor, Liberal/National, Greens, or One Nation, on the principle that most people reading this blog have already formed views on those parties.

Before I begin, please remember to vote below the line for the Legislative Council (the larger ballot). If you vote above the line, your vote will be sent on a strange and discomfiting journey through the list of preferences registered by the party for which you vote 1. These preferences are typically determined by backroom deals and never reflect how voters would vote if they had control over preferences.

If you put any numbers other than 1 above the line, they will be ignored. THIS IS OPPOSITE TO THE SENATE SYSTEM: at the federal election in May, you could give preferences above the line and they were respected, but for state elections Victoria uses anti-democratic Group Ticket Voting (the only state to still use this loathsome system) and any preferences you mark beyond 1 will be ignored. The only way to ensure your preferences go exactly where you want them to go is to vote below the line. To cast a valid vote below the line, you must distribute at least 5 preferences, numbering 1–5. You can number as far as you want—and the more you number, the stronger your vote will be.

So, here is how I would categorise the parties. The links below lead to my reviews of each party.

Good preference: a party with a positive overall platform that has few or no significant flaws for the left-wing voter.

Fiona Patten’s Reason Party (left-wing civil libertarian)

Fusion: Science, Pirate, Secular, Climate Emergency (centre-left pragmatist; unregistered party endorsing three independents)

Indigenous–Aboriginal Party of Australia (Indigenous rights; unregistered party endorsing three independents)

Socialist Alliance (socialism; unregistered party endorsing four independents)

Victorian Socialists (socialism)

Decent preference: a single-issue party with a good objective but by definition too limited in their scope to encompass the fullness of parliamentary business.

Legalise Cannabis Victoria (single issue: blaze it)

Middling to decent: a party with a generally positive overall platform but some significant reservations

Animal Justice Party (animal rights)

Transport Matters Party (centre-left taxi industry front)

Weak to middling preference: problematic, but not as bad as what is below

Derryn Hinch’s Justice Party (tough-on-crime centrism)

New Democrats (centre-right)

Weak or no preference: a party with more negatives than positives. In the Legislative Assembly, you must number all squares, and these parties should receive as bad a preference as possible. In the Legislative Council, you should vote below the line and either give this party a poor preference or let your vote exhaust before reaching it. I recommend preferencing fully to maximise the power of your vote, but you may wish to stop rather than express preferences between varying gradations of undesirability.

Angry Victorians Party (covid conspiracists)

Australia One (unregistered covid conspiracists endorsing six independents)

Companions and Pets Party (animal breeding and racing industry front)

Democratic Labour Party (Catholic conservatism)

Family First Victoria (Protestant extreme right)

Freedom Party of Victoria (covid conspiracists)

Health Australia Party (anti-vaxxers who were anti-vax before covid made it the trendy thing for conspiracists)

Independent candidates for the Legislative Council

Liberal Democratic Party (far-right libertarians)

Restore Democracy Sack Dan Andrews (personal grudge and/or preference-harvesting front)

Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party (anti-environmentalist gun nuts)

Sustainable Australia—Stop Overdevelopment/Corruption (anti-immigration NIMBYs)

United Australia Party (covid grievance-mongers floating in a policy-free zone)

Not categorised: general entry for a spectrum of candidates

Independent candidates in the Legislative Assembly

#auspol #springst #vicvotes #vicvotes22 #vicvotes2022 #Victorian election #Melbourne #Victoria #Election 2022 #Victorian politics #Australian politics #political parties #minor parties #micro parties #independent politics #independent candidates #politics #political candidates #good preference #decent preference #middling preference #weak or no preference

[sentimentalslut]

pathetic, thirsty white man begs woman in late twenties for access to nukes

#being a registered independent means I get thirsty texts from every imaginable candidate

[imagone]

someone who’s more into US politics, pls explain to me why americans don’t see 3rd party as an option and would rather vote between trump and genocide joe instead

#us politics #palestine #like all I’m seeing is ‘democrats are the only option’ so y’all have a 2 party system or what’s going on because I’ve seen many independent #candidates and some of them look ok at least

[deadpresidents]

How dangerous is RFK Jr to Biden?

First of all, I think it's important to note that RFK Jr. isn't going to be a threat to anybody unless he gets ballot access in November. I believe he's officially gained ballot access in one state so far and looks to have met the requirements in about eight or nine others. I don't know the exact number today, but that seems to leave at least 40 states that he still has to work to gain access to.

Now, if he works out a deal with the Libertarian Party for their nomination, it would get him very close to getting on the ballot in every state. If he -- and the Libertarian Party -- are smart, they'll figure out a way to work together in order to achieve that. Otherwise there is just no way that he'll make the kind of splash that the media is suggesting. Sure, if he only gets on the ballot in a handful of states that happen to be battleground states, he can certainly play the part of spoiler. But he can't do that as a write-in candidate in states where he isn't officially on the ballot.

But, honestly, I think RFK Jr. would draw more voters away from Trump than Biden. Yes, RFK Jr. was a lifelong Democrat before making this bid for the Presidency as an independent, but his anti-vaccine, conspiracy-fueled worldview is much more aligned with Trump's voters and the MAGA cult. I think it's possible that more people would be willing to vote for RFK Jr. because they see him as a less dangerous, (somewhat) less insane version of Trump than traditional Democratic voters who would be willing to vote for Kennedy because President Biden is old. I believe it would hurt Trump more than it would hurt Biden.

The most important thing to watch for is ballot access, though. If RFK Jr. can't get on the ballot in the majority of the states he's going to be a non-factor. It is not easy to get nationwide ballot access without the support of an established party's nomination -- like the Libertarians -- and it's already almost April. Announcing his running mate this early was a necessity if he's going to run as a true independent because some states require the identity of the ticket in order to get on the ballot in the general election. But unless they partner with the Libertarians, RFK Jr. is going to need to race against the clock to meet the requirements -- which are often different from state-to-state -- for ballot access in as many states as possible.

#2024 Election #Presidential Elections #Politics #Presidential Campaign #Robert F. Kennedy Jr. #Third-Party Presidential Candidates #Independent Presidential Candidates #Presidential Candidates #Ballot Access #President Biden #Joe Biden #Donald Trump #President Trump #Presidency #Presidents #Presidential Election

[seilon]

im Really hoping taemin’s partly doing this to maybe gain more freedom in his concepts and such and what he’s Allowed to show or write or sing in his mvs and albums and all that. but i dont know enough about the new agency he’s bouncing to to say if they’re better or worse on that front

#kibumblabs #i need to know more about. the context #like #after 16 YEARS. it can’t just be sm being Generally Bad there has to be something more Specific that he didn’t/doesn’t vibe with #I don’t know. I don’t know. this is so strange #taemin #shinee #honestly in terms of freedom in concepts and who they’re allowed to Be and all that. kibum is the one I’d REALLY like to see with a better #and more open company. for reasons that are probably obvious #it’s been years and im still kind of rooting for him to be the first Major idol to be openly gay #I mean among other reasons re: creativity that I think he’d be a good candidate for a more free and independent company #but anyway

[party-gilmore]

When the race actually heats up next year* and you can show me a legitimate, viable third party pro-palestine candidate with the genuine potential of drawing not just the leftists but also the centrists away from the democratic voting pool in order to stand up against the historically united republican party

Then absolutely YES i WILL show you my commie ass voting against Genocide Joe

But UNTIL then

I see absolutely no moral high ground in helping to put the Genocide+: Premium Edition! candidate back in office

Trump is going to be worse, y’all realize that, right?

He is going to be worse for, literally, everyone who is not a Gun-Toting Flag-Humping Straight White Fascist American Male.

And that’s just talking AMERICANS, before we even get into his international policies. You think this man is going to be better for Palestine? For Sudan? For any of america’s greedy little interests all of the globe?

I don’t WANT Biden. I am literally begging, please, fucking ANYONE better. I want OUT of this bullshit two party system. I want the ENTIRE fucked up american election system dismantled and rebuilt from the ground up

But until we can actually do that I genuinely don’t understand how Trying To Keep The Largest Amount Of People Safe As Possible is seen as… the selfish decision. That boggles my mind. What point is there to inflicting more suffering on the people of this shit-show country? Who does that help? Who does that serve?

What is the actual alternative?

GENUINELY if somebody’s got a PLAN for the presidential election chime in because honest to god i haven’t fucking seen a single one yet just a lot of “No Joe! No Joe!”

Show us the actual fucking independent alternative with the pull to draw a majority. Cuz right now all the other dems up for primary are fucking yahoos.

Or, you know, actually kick off some shit and tear it all down.

Until then the damage mitigation needs to focus on getting the centrist dems OUT of congress and leftist or progressive independents IN

And none of that will mean SHIT if we get another Repub wave in blocking fucking everything like the LAST time Trump was president and all his MAGA cronies got brave.

#*…which…the fact we haven’t heard anything of the sort by NOW is… #yeah presidential campaigning is NOT started the year OF the election #for an independent candidate to have a CHANCE they gotta start making waves NOW