Sad that the DNC doesn’t even deny that pro-life folk aren’t welcome in the party. Huge mistake. Orthodox Christians might be a minority, but we are a large enough minority that we can turn national and state elections.

@marmanold Given the differences in other pro-child policies between the parties (like cheap healthcare during pregnancy and after birth for both the child and the mother), is the Dem's position on abortion a total deal breaker? The parties are pretty symmetrical on that front; pro-choice folk are not particularly welcome in today's Republican party. As for the American Solidarity Party, how is a vote for a candidate who cannot win in an election decided by plurality* voting different from not voting at all or leaving the ballot line blank?

* I'd actually love an electoral system that made voting for third parties meaningful, but we don't currently have one.

@Bruce Depending on the state voting third party can be strategic. If, in a strong red state like mine, moderate and progressive Christians voted ASP, the election results wouldn’t change, but ASP would get ballot access and a stronger voice in state politics. DNC & GOP would have to, European style, negotiate with the ASP to get a plurality in many close districts.

Just think of the dynamics if ASP held even just 5% in a district. ASP wouldn’t have to run a candidate, but if the DNC or GOP candidate compromised and took on some ASP policies that 5% could make a difference in wining or losing the election.

@marmanold What you said plus a little. Abortion rates have been going down and are currently lower than they were before Roe v. Wade in 1973. But that has been largely the result of work on the culture, and I like to think that agencies offering real alternatives to women are a major part of that (since I was on the board of one of those for almost 30 years).

I wouldn’t be surprised, with the Democrats very aggressive position, if rates went up, but the long trend is downward and largely unrelated to politics.

@marmanold New York State has fusion voting and, even so, the third parties have a difficult time influencing the major parties. The problem is that an election winner doesn’t need to get to 50%, they just need to get more votes than anyone else. The 5% from the ASP isn’t a big deal.

One solution is ranked choice voting. In which you could mark your first choice as ASP and your second choice as either Dem or GOP. That actually gives the mainstream parties an incentive to court ASP voters, because they’ll need their second choice votes to get to 50% + 1. Maine has implemented this for state wide elections and NYC will start using it for local elections in 2021.

(Even better would be proportional representation with multimember districts. Then even voters for smaller parties can get their candidates into the legislature. I have a crazy idea about fixing the Senate this way and getting the millions of Republicans in California Senators to represent their interests. And if the ASP got to 20% in a state, they’d have a Senator too).

@marmanold Got word yesterday that my write-in vote for ASP will be counted in my home state (ASP is an official write-in party). In 2016, it probably was discarded.

@Bruce Abolsutely. Ranked choice is the way to go. I hope more states adopt it.

@ReaderJohn Ignorant as I am, I didn't know until today that anyone needed to qualify for a write-in: I thought all write-ins for ASP or for Minnie Mouse would be dutifully tabulated and reported. Silly me. If I vote at all it will be for ASP.

@JMaxB I am pretty sure the law varies by state. I don't think my state is obliged to count write-ins who haven't satisfied some paperwork requirements.

If you’re in New York, as I think I recall, its status is “paperwork submitted” but not cleared.

@ReaderJohn Yes I live in upstate NY and yes, there's some sort of paperwork requirement to be counted as a write-in. This is most likely going to be the strangest, and maybe most consequential, election in US history. I don't mean the consequences of that this or that candidate winning, but that we're close to seeing the wheels fall off the system. Interesting times.