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View Full Version : Were Ron Paul's Votes Undercounted?



disorderlyvision
08-10-2009, 08:43 AM
http://libertarianpeacenik.blogspot.com/2009/08/were-ron-pauls-votes-undercounted.html


Independent Political Report says that:

The Federal Election Commission has released its "2008 presidential popular vote summary for all candidates listed on at least one state ballot." The results:

# Barack Obama (Democrat) 69,498,516 [52.93%]
# John McCain (Republican) 59,948,323 [45.65%]
# Ralph Nader (Independent, Peace and Freedom) 739,034 [0.56%]
# Bob Barr (Libertarian) 523,715 [0.40%]
# Chuck Baldwin (Constitution/Reform/U.S. Taxpayers) 199,750 [0.15%]
# Cynthia McKinney (Green, Independent, Mountain) 161,797 [0.12%]
# Write-In (Miscellaneous) 112,597 [0.09%]
# Alan Keyes (America’s Independent) 47,746 [0.04%]
# Ron Paul (Constitution, Louisiana Taxpayers) 42,426 [0.03%]
# Gloria La Riva (Socialism and Liberation) 6,818 [0.01%]
# Brian Moore (Liberty Union, Socialist) 6,538
# None of These Candidates [Nevada only] 6,267
# Róger Calero (Socialist Workers) 5,151
# Richard Duncan (Independent) 3,905
# James Harris (Socialist Workers) 2,424
# Charles Jay (Boston Tea Party/Independent) 2,422
# John Joseph Polachek (New) 1,149
# Frank Edward McEnulty (Unaffiliated) 829
# Jeffrey J. Wamboldt (Independent) 764
# Thomas Robert Stevens (Objectivist) 755
# Gene C. Amondson (Prohibition) 653
# Jeffrey “Jeff” Boss (Vote Here) 639
# George Phillies (Libertarian) 531
# Ted Weill (Reform) 481
# Jonathan E. Allen (Heartquake ‘08) 480
# Bradford Lyttle (U.S. Pacifist) 110

However, it seems from this the FEC only counted Ron Paul’s votes from states where he was on the ballot (Montana and Louisiana).

The FEC appears not to have included Paul-s write-in votes -- 17,006 officially certified write-in votes from California alone!

Paul insisted that he was not a candidate for president, yet his support is so strong, it seems he pulled nearly 60,000 votes just by not running.

Imagine if Paul had run, and was on every state's ballot!
demolama
08-10-2009, 08:46 AM
If you weren't a registered write in .... states didn't count them... I voted for him in MD, knowing full well it would not be counted but was better than voting for the other bozos on the ballot
kahless
08-10-2009, 09:32 AM
After it was clear there was no chance on him even coming close to winning the Republican nomination he should have used the 5 million to run as a Libertarian. I would have voted for him if he did but he did not and figured a write in vote would not be counted so it was either sit home or vote for Barr.

The New Hampshire primary is where his votes really mattered and were grossly under counted.
Kraig
08-10-2009, 09:36 AM
After it was clear there was no chance on him even coming close to winning the Republican nomination he should have used the 5 million to run as a Libertarian. I would have voted for him if he did but he did not and figured a write in vote would not be counted so it was either sit home or vote for Barr.

The New Hampshire primary is where his votes really mattered and were grossly under counted.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think he would have been able to get on enough states ballots by that time to even have a chance at victory.
disorderlyvision
08-10-2009, 09:40 AM
to get into the republican primary he signed a contract that prevented him from running third party
kahless
08-10-2009, 09:54 AM
Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think he would have been able to get on enough states ballots by that time to even have a chance at victory.

Looks like 3 states were problematic.
http://www.lp.org/ballot-access

If disorderlyvision is correct about a contract that prevented him from running third party I believe that could have been nullified or simply ignored. For example on grounds of the illegal tactics used by the party-RNC against Ron in the primaries. (this is why I have grown to truly hate the Republican Party for these tactics against real Conservatives-Libertarians as oppossed to the dam neocons. But I am sticking around in hopes it can be reformed from within).

btw - as I write this there is nothing more aggravating than seeing an Ad for that big government Neocon at the bottom of this page. "Free Newt!", that is the last thing I want to do.
KCIndy
08-10-2009, 10:11 AM
If you weren't a registered write in .... states didn't count them... I voted for him in MD, knowing full well it would not be counted but was better than voting for the other bozos on the ballot

Indiana's ballot was similar - I couldn't write in a Ron Paul vote because he was not a registered or "qualified" write-in candidate... :( .... I ended up voting for Baldwin since Ron Paul endorsed him. (I didn't 'vote blind' - I did do some research on Baldwin's positions and figured that since I was in about 80-90 percent agreement, I could stomach a vote for him easier than a vote for most of the others....)

I doubt if Dr. Paul will run in '12, sadly, but I'm going to start researching the methodology of getting a candidate "qualified" as a write-in on Indiana's ballot just in case a similar situation comes up in the future.