“None of the Above” Ballot Option Considered in NH

If you have been reading my articles with any regularity (I don’t blame you if you haven’t), you know that I am no fan of the two-party system. A while back, I proposed a fairly simple ballot measure that I think would break the two-party system.

It involved allowing each voter to vote yes or no on every candidate, with every “no” canceling out a “yes.” The candidate with the most affirmatives would win. This would mean that, in theory, every candidate could receive more negatives than affirmatives and the primaries would then generate new candidates.

More importantly, it would mean that even someone who felt disenfranchised by a lack of good candidates would still have a voice in elections—a negative one.

A new ballot initiative in New Hampshire is a movement in that direction, though no one thinks it will pass. This new initiative allows for a vote of “none of the above” if the voter doesn’t like any of the options he has been given. I think this is a step in the right direction.

Currently, Nevada is the only state that includes “none of the above” as an option on the ballot. This has led to some strange situations. For instance, Sen. Dean Heller defeated Democratic challenger Shelley Berkley by about 12,000 votes in 2012. But 45,000 votes had been cast for “none of the above.”

According to the sponsor of the bill, Charles Weed:

Real choice means people have to be able to withhold their consent. You can’t do that with silly write-ins. Mickey Mouse is not as good as “none of the above.”

I agree. For too long, voters have been held in slavery by the manipulative specter of “electability.” This has allowed the two-party system to largely hijack American democracy. The voters have little power. We are merely voting for the least undesirable of the available options, all of which have been pre-vetted by an oligarchy of political elitists and corporate lobbyists. It’s time to start fighting for measures that will give voters a real choice.

31 responses

  1. It’s a given that you people aren’t the “sharpest knives in the drawer” but I really must ask… What’s the difference between checking one person’s name on a ballot or voting yes or no for a candidate? Likewise, not voting for either candidate in a race (by leaving the ballot blank) is the same thing as voting for “none of the above”.

    What I find interesting is this site vehemently apposes ANYTHING that they believe is “socialist” (granted most don’t understand the meaning of the word) & yet the GOP backed farm bill passed & has $100 BILLION of PURE socialism being doled out to the biggest welfare queens in our country FARMERS!!! The farm bill creates even MORE crop insurance and shallow loss programs that would virtually guarantee farmers profits every year regardless of farm income, crop prices, or ANY other factors! Farm payments and unlimited crop insurance subsidies reduce producers’ business risks, increase returns to scale, increase agribusiness income, encourage farm sizes to increase, and consolidate production in fewer hands. They also encourage excessive risk-taking by insulating agribusinesses and passing the risks to taxpayers. and NOT a PEEP on this site over this outrage!

    • Won’t talk about farmers Bob, I have not study what they receive money wise, so not an area I know, but I like to have food in the market place to purchase to eat. 🙂

      A none vote would not be the same as a vote no against a candidate. So, example of a pool of 2 million total voters. You might have 1 million votes for the Democrate, 900,000 for the Republican and 100,000 for the independent. However, on the No side the democrat received 1 million no votes, the another 960,000 million no votes for the Republican and the independent 40,000 no votes. In this case the Independent would win with 60,000 votes.

      Though interesting, this system would scare me because someone might receive less no votes because the people did not know he was a candidate (may not on all ballots – did not get needed signatures in every state ), or they did not bother voting no because they did not think he had a chance to win. This method would be easier for the independent to win, but at the same time it would make it easier for the Nazi party, green party, or some other party we’d both agree was way to extreme to be in office, win.

      Cool idea, just see many problems… in a sense everyone would have multiple votes. One positive vote and several negative votes. Currently the people in this country have a hard time with one positive vote, adding more voting options I think will confuse them and we see some extreme political leaders in office.

      • Farmers milk the taxpayers OVER $100 BILLION a year!!!! We ALL like to have food to eat but are you suggesting that we should socialize business’s that produce the “things we like”? The idea of making voting more confusing to some people then it already is makes no sense at all

          • The cost of Obamacare is unclear at this point. The amount of $$ taxpayers are going to pay farmers is at minimum $1 TRILLION over the next 10 years! Farmers are essentially on welfare and costing the taxpayer $100 billion year! I’m get SICK when I invariably hear that farmers feed the the country and that somehow they deserve all the welfare that they get because they feed us.The argument is bull shit, and farmers know what bull shit is.

          • Bob…..If you are sick of hearing farmers and food……think about how sick you will be eating that Bull Shit you speak of! By the way….$7oo Billion taken from medicare for Obamacare…. and Billions will be spent!

          • NOBODY has ANY idea if Obamacare will cost $ billions OR save $ billions. The jury is STILL out. What we do know is the ONLY business in the country where the government will insure that you not only don’t fail but guarantee your profits at record levels!!! “Shallow loss” programs are a luxury that would be the envy of any other industry. They are market- and trade-distorting entitlement programs designed to make Washington responsible for ensuring profits of well-off agricultural businesses. Shallow loss programs are designed to sit on top of crop insurance, a highly subsidized program that already covers crop revenue losses of as little as 15 percent. These programs ensure that farm businesses receive taxpayer checks if their income dips as little as ten percent or even five percent, not the catastrophic losses from flooding and droughts that made headlines in 2012. And this “loss” isn’t just in crops, it is also if commodity prices drop. No other industry would dare ask for a free cash guarantee during a year with projected record profits of $128 billion!. As if that wasn’t bad enough, in addition to transferring farm business risks onto the backs of taxpayers, shallow loss programs also create numerous unintended consequences. Since there are no strings attached to these programs, farmers are encouraged to plant crops on acres that are more likely to have crop failures, like native grassland, wetlands, and highly erodible farmland. It gets even worse…The farm bill also creates new profit margin insurance policies within crop insurance. nearly all farmers would be able to ensure hefty profit margins with taxpayer dollars. In addition to traditional revenue- or yield-based insurance policies, producers could also enroll in either an individual or area-based profit margin insurance policy and then receive payouts if revenue failed to exceed expenses.The government would ensure that EVERY farmer is treated the same and stays in business regardless of whether or not his land is conserved, best management practices are used, input costs are minimized, fields are located in areas with a competitive advantage, etc. Producers would be incentivized to discontinue other less costly and/or smarter risk management strategies since risks would instead shift onto taxpayers.

          • Poor sad lonely little scumbag liberal homo TROLL, BloBBie. Spewing, spouting and venting to an empty blog.

            That is REALLY SAD and SICK. BloBBie is soo lonely and wrought with the mental illness of his antisocial disorder he’s back to posting to himself while in complete denial of his addiction issues.

            BoB, a gay man, finally deciding he could no longer hide his sexual deviation from his parents, went over to their house, and found his mother in the kitchen cooking dinner.
            He sat down at the kitchen table, let out a big sigh, and said, “Mom, I have something to tell you: I’m gay.” His mother made no reply or gave any response, and the guy was about to repeat it to make sure she’d heard him, when she turned away from the pot she was stirring and said calmly, “You’re gay — doesn’t that mean you put other men’s penises in your mouth?” The guy said nervously, “Uh, yeah, Mom, that’s right.”
            His mother went back to stirring the pot, then suddenly whirled around, whacked him over the head with her spoon and said, “Don’t you EVER complain about my cooking again!”

          • I never said I agree with the Farm Bill which I don’t. I just find it hypocritical that you never seem to have a problem with all the other industries and groups the Feds subsidize. You do know also that the majority of the Farm Bill goes to Food Stamps, right Boob?

          • Food stamps are getting an $8 billion cut, crop insurance is getting a $8 billion increase. Behold the power of lobbying and campaign contributions. Congress is literally stealing from the poor and giving to the rich.

          • BS as usual from you. Food stamp cut is 1 percent requiring the states to ferret out fraud. It is the fraudsters stealing from the poor. You misrepresent everything.

          • Uncllear? You are a funny guy Boob. Look at Medicare and Medicaid and use whatever multiplier you wish. It should just collapse but slime ball politicians won’ allow that. They will pour money down that sinkhole forever. It is and always will be a failure but Obama’ ego is too big to admit it. He is a failure

          • Pay no attention to the sad lonely little scumbag liberal homo TROLL, BloBBie. Addiction to this conservative blog, glued here due to his homoerotic shame envious of people with traditional values and obsessed with farm subsidies.

            Isn’t it ironic how someone as obsessed as our little homo TROLL, Blob who ACTUALY believes everything his god and master obamao says would think anybody cares what he THINKS or SPEWS??

          • Libs like Boob all think they are better and smarter than the rest of us mere mortals. They cannot comprehend that their pronouncements do not dazzle us with their brilliance.

        • No, not saying anything on the Farmer subject. Until I’ve had time to read up on the subject, it best not to comment.

          So, I think we can agree on keeping voting simple for all to easily understand…

        • Government milks us yearly of Billions….with promises to continue to do so! Farmers at lest are putting all types of foods on the mafket and our tables……..All the while , Government continues to gake in the form of more Taxes! LETS TAKE THE FARMERS EVERY TIME.

          • You obviously like socialism. When the government steps in & ensures that a business (farming) hefty profit margins with taxpayer dollars it isn’t capitalism

    • It’s a given that you are a dick Boob. “You people” sounds kind of bigoted to me. Why are you a hateful bigot Boob?

    • Old Mcbobild had a farm eyeyo and on this farm he had some faggots eyeyo and a dyke dyke here and a dyke dyke there a dyke dyke dyke dyke everywhere old McBobald had a farm eyeyo!!!

    • Btw, sorry bob but apposes is not a real word it is opposes turn off auto correct so you can get your words spelled right.

    • NO, leaving the ballot vacant is NOT the same as voting none of the above. Leaving the ballot blank implies you don’t can. Voting none of the above puts you on record as OPPOSING all candidates on the ballot. I would go one step further and allow NO ONE, as an option. That would be voting to leave the office vacant, as opposed to finding someone else to fill the office.

      Note: If you actually asked those posting here, I suspect I am nowhere near the only one that opposes not only the most recent farm bill, but the very idea of a farm bill.

  2. Well I think one of the problems with the primaries…..is that sometimes there is a good candidate….but by the time it gets to the later primaries some of the candidates in the early primaries drop do the people in the later primaries don’t get an opportunity to vote for who they felt were good…

    So one solution would be to have one national primary day…rather then spreading it out for 5 or 6 months

  3. I have a other suggestion. Can we make NO ONE, an option. This differs from None of the Above in that you would be voting to leave the office vacant, not merely to replace everyone on the ballot.

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