The Green Party will not be on the ballot in Pennsylvania. The state’s Supreme Court removed the party because of deficiencies in its application. This follows a similar decision a few days ago in Wisconsin. This is good news for Democrats, bad news for Republicans. In 2016, Jill Stein received over one million votes, which tipped key states to Trump.
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court on Thursday blocked the Green Party presidential ticket from state ballots, allowing state and local election officials to resume preparations for Nov. 3 and begin mailing ballots to voters. The court ruled that presidential contender Howie Hawkins and his running mate, Angela Walker, did not qualify for the ballot because the party did not submit signed filing papers in person, as required by state rules.
It’s the second such ruling in a week. On Monday, the Wisconsin Supreme Court found deficiencies in the Green Party’s ballot petition in that state, excluding the party from the ballot. The decision is a blow to the third-party ticket and a win for Democrats, who worried that the Green Party could siphon votes from presidential nominee Joe Biden in the key battleground state.
In Wisconsin, the Green Party effort to get on the ballot was boosted by help from some Republicans and a prominent law firm that does work for the GOP.
In 2016, President Trump won both Wisconsin and Pennsylvania by fewer votes than the Green Party candidate, Jill Stein, collected in each state.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
But renowned rapper Kanye West with his Birthday Party is on the ballot in several states, thanks to the efforts of Republicans who mustered the legal troops in order to undermine support for Biden. West is no Jill Stein, but he has attracted a small following.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/elanagross/2020/08/26/kanye-west-will-now-appear-on-the-presidential-ballot-in-eight-states/#741644db2f02
Kanye supports Trump.
Yes, that’s why West is running. The plan was to divert voters from Biden as to people who might be Kanye fans & wouldn’t have voted for it45 but don’t want to vote for Biden.
Also, wise readers here, there are other conclusions to be drawn, but the bottom line is Kanye helping it45.
Maybe it’s good news for Democrats, but it’s not good news for democracy. What does it say when you think the only way your party can win is to kill off the competition?
In any case, I’m not even sure it’s all that good for Democrats. People who were planning to vote Green aren’t likely to respond to this by voting for the people who kicked their party off the ballot. They’re likely to stay home, write in, or even vote Trump out of spite.
No one’s vote is owed to any party. Our votes are the one tiny bit of influence we have in this “democracy” [sic] and they should only be earned. If a party can’t or won’t do the bare minimum to earn people’s vote, they deserve to lose. Anyone opposing the orange monster should win in a landslide and these nasty techniques shouldn’t be needed. The fact that a few thousand votes could be decisive says a lot.
Incidentally, the Democrats are going after the Libertarians with equal fervor, right? I’m sure their motivation is purely procedural, not political.
Dienne, its an old political trick to run a third-party candidate to split your opponent’s vote.
This is a race between two political parties. Two men.
Biden or Trump.
If you hate both, write in your choice.
I don’t want to be punched by an enemy’s right or left fist. Therefore, I’ll probably be voting for the Green Party in November.
James,
If you are in Mississippi or New York, your vote wont make a difference. If you are in Florida-or another swing state, your third party vote benefits Trump. I assume you know that and don’t care.
James, let’s say a miracle happens and the Green Party wins. The Green party will still have to deal with the Democrats and Republicans in the House and Senate, the Ds and Rs are not going away any time soon. Guess what, the Green Party president will have to bargain and compromise with the other 2 parties to get anything done. It’s called politics in a democracy. Then I guess you will come to hate the Greens for selling out to the 2 main parties. The Green president will have to work with the other 2 parties or be perpetually stymied and obstructed from getting anything done. Mitch McConnell did a good number on obstructing Obama for years.
Don’t Libertarians siphon off votes from the GOP? After all, the GOP has morphed into a far far right wing libertarian death cult with Trump at its head.
dienne77 What’s BAD NEWS is corruption in any case. And running a third party candidate for the purpose of splitting the vote might be legal, but it’s corrupt nevertheless.
My guess is that the judges wrote legal briefs about it anyway. So don’t worry your head about the state of democracy at the hands and wishes of the democrats. Democracy is better off whenever corruption is diminished, as it has been here. Ignoring the root cause of corruption and blaming others for it won’t get us anywhere. CBK
The Democratic Party’s thoroughly corrupt “leadership” is afraid of any perceived ability of voters to opt for a more progressive party, candidate, or agenda.
James Eales Hmmmmm . . . . CBK
“…even vote for Trump out of spite…”
This is why the democrats and real progressives should simply marginalize those voices. There are certainly people who would vote for Trump “out of spite” and that group would include some people on the left as well as white working class racists who believe that any addressing of this country’s long history of racism is an enormous threat to them and they need to show those progressives who “don’t care about them” – like the horrible and evil AOC who those Trump voters demonize as the second coming of Satan.
However, people who would vote for Trump “out of spite” were never going to vote for Biden. They are the ones who despise AOC and Bernie.
This could have been written by Danielle Pletka, an AEI “scholar” who this week wrote a truly laughable op ed in the Washington Post about how she didn’t support Trump in 2016 but the Democrats are forcing her to vote for Trump in 2020 by choosing Biden. Of course, in her case, she is a Jesse Helms worshipper so it’s likely her supposed “non-support” for Trump in 2016 had a lot to do with her concern Trump wouldn’t be right wing and racist enough.
But Pletka says the democrats are “forcing” her to vote for Trump because Biden is a secret Marxist controlled by Bernie Sanders and AOC and the squad!!
The satirical takes on Pletka’s op ed (especially by Alexandra Petri) are hilarious. “I can’t believe you’re forcing me to vote for Trump, which I definitely didn’t already want to do”
Really, I expect to see a “left” version of Pletka’s absurd op ed written by one of the white writers at the Intercept who specializes in pushing only one narrative: “I can’t believe you are forcing me to vote for Trump by only offering me a choice of a Democrat so evil that even 4 more years of Trump is preferable because at least Trump won’t intentionally bomb and murder millions of innocent babies in foreign countries like the evil and murderous Democrats secretly plan to do for certain.”
The Greens I know will most certainly write-in Hawkins & Walker.
You poor thing. You must have endured unspeakable horrors to have developed such perverse, illogical, and demented ideas.
You talkin’ to me, GregB? You talkin’ to me?!
(I’m just kidding–I know you’re not. Yet another misplaced comment, courtesy of the Word Press imps.)
But, seriously, who was that comment directed to?
It is directed To Dienne per the layout of the thread.
Greg, the Electoral College plays a role in this as well. And can you please consider refraining from ad hominem attacks and just stick to issues. You are really great at that, so don’t deviate and attack the person. Attack the issue. You cannot assume what Dienne’s life and upbringing was like by any means based on her political views and values.
Majority voting is not historically and internationally such a way-out-there idea, and majorities are universal and mathematically logical, although they may not always produce the best outcomes. It depends on the circumstances.
Too bad. For whatever reason, the Court isn’t allowing Republicans to play unfair by stacking the deck. I hate to bother Republicans with something new at this point in the election . . . but you might want to try fairness? CBK
Bravo! Pennsylvania needs to show up and vote for a Pennsylvanian that is running for the highest office in the land. If elected, Biden will proudly serve the nation and commonwealth. We cannot afford four more years of the racist, con artist, scoundrel.
Speaking of the Green Party, from insiderNJdotcom, 5-28-20: Chris Hedges announced that he won’t be running for Congress in CD12, after all, after being informed that he is not permitted to run for federal office under FCC rules. Hedges had announced his intentions to run on Wednesday.
The Green Party released the following statement.
Regretfully, Chris Hedges was informed shortly after he made public his decision to run as the Green Party candidate for Congress in the 12th District of New Jersey that under FCC rules he is not permitted to run for federal office. Hedges hosts the Emmy-nominated television show On Contact broadcast nationally on RT America.
“As much as I would like to bring the platform of the Green Party into this Congressional race it makes no sense to give up a media platform with a large following for a Quixotic campaign against the Democratic Party machine,” Hedges said. “I will, therefore, not run for the Greens as a Congressional candidate. I will, as in past elections, do all I can to highlight the progressive programs of the Greens and call out the corporate Democrats for their abject subservience to corporate power, the war machine and the ruling oligarchs.”
https://www.insidernj.com/hedges-ends-short-lived-cd12-green-party-candidacy-prohibited-fcc-rules/
You would think Hedges would have done a little research before announcing a run for office. Hedges doesn’t seem to care if Trump gets another 4 years (or more!).
Is Hedges planning to call out corporate Republicans, too? I do realize that would harm his agenda, which is to really convince voters that the democrats are the evil pro-corporate party that only cares about “identity politics” (code word for “dems don’t care about you working class white folks”) and all Dems must be defeated by anyone who cares about working class folks.
I support the DNC and Biden. You know that. There is plenty of room to criticize both parties, and if you read every one of Hedge’s articles, he has blasted both parties. It’s just that he feels that party who is supposed to offer something way different from the GOP is not doing so.
Don’t get me wrong: Hedges is lugubrious and depressing to read! Blecchhhhh! But he shines a light, and sometimes what we see there is not so pleasant.
Anyone who believes that the democrats aren’t offering anything different than the GOP (and is pushing the false narrative that there is little difference) is either lying or is unwittingly revealing their belief that they don’t think there is any difference between racists and non-racists and respecting the Constitution and trashing it because those issues are so minor to them. Which describes Hedges?
I live in CD 12, I voted for Bonnie M. Watson Coleman (D) because she’s doing a good job and she put that oaf, Louie Gohmert, in his place when he was ranting and raving like the right wing jerk which he is.
Chris Hedges has been voicing anti-Trump rhetoric for years. Hedges cares. Alas, he realizes that today’s struggle is not about left vs. right. It’s about the 1% vs. the rest of us. Both major corporate-sponsored political parties represent Wall Street. Progressives must think beyond a single election cycle.
Voting third party in this crucial election is a meaningless gesture.
Thanks be to all the gods for this. There is too much at stake. Trump cannot be allowed to win a second term.
You assume people who voted for Stein would have voted for Clinton
Would Stein voters have voted for Trump?
Here’s a fun fact:
For Clinton to have won the electoral vote, 88.7% of the Stein voters in Pennsylvania would have to have actually cast a vote for Clinton had Stein not been on the ballot. IE, if just a little over 11% had not voted at all , Clinton would still have lost, (regardless of what happened in Michigan and Wisconsin)
Following is from Jill Stein: Democratic Spoiler or Scapegoat? Five Thirty Eight
https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/jill-stein-democratic-spoiler-or-scapegoat/
Clare Malone (political writer):” we’ve got those Stein/Trump margins in keys states being similar. What would all those would-be Democrats be doing, then, if not voting for Stein? Going to Clinton? Writing in their mother-in-laws?
natesilver (Nate Silver, editor in chief): I don’t really buy it. And the rub is Pennsylvania, which was close but not that close. You have to assume that almost all of Stein’s voters would have gone to Clinton. But both pre-election polls and the national exit poll suggests that a lot of them wouldn’t have voted at all, if they’d been forced to pick between the two major candidates. The breakdown might have been something like 35 percent Clinton, 10 percent Trump and 55 percent wouldn’t vote. That doesn’t wind up netting very many votes for HRC.
micah: But what about this idea that Stein helped keep the anti-Clinton flame on the left — first lit by Sanders — burning?
natesilver: Y’know, I covered the campaign. The 2016 campaign was a friend of mine. And Jill Stein was a pretty bleeping minor story in the 2016 campaign.”
/// End of quotes
People are entitled to their own opinion about whether they think it’s realistic that 88.7% of the Stein voters in PA would have otherwise cast a vote for Clinton.
It is certainly possible , but as Nobel Physicist Richard Feynman once pointed out regarding whether UFOs are actually alien spaceships what matters most is not whether something is possible, but how probable it is.
This link is to a 538 discussion from just a few weeks after the 2016 election! Before anyone had any real data except for their feelings. So it is kind of suspect to use this conversation as evidence.
It is certainly possible that a significant number of voters who went to the polls to vote for Jill Stein would vote for Trump if Stein wasn’t on the ballot because a significant number of Jill Stein voters knew Trump reflected the values they wanted a president to have much more than HRC. It is certainly possible that a significant number of voters who made the effort to come out to vote for Jill Stein would have not made the effort to come out and vote to prevent Trump from appointing 2 or 3 new right wing Supreme Court Justices and uplift the racists and birthers because having right wing Supreme Court Justices with lifetime appointments and racists and birthers empowered to take over this country didn’t motivate Jill Stein voters (since it didn’t bother them at all), but Jill Stein voters were motivated by their hatred of the democrats, which did bother them much more than having right wing Supreme Court Justices and racists empowered.
But frankly, if this is your view of Jill Stein voters, it is a very dark and ugly and insulting view and really does portray Jill Stein voters as incredibly selfish and uncaring of racism, or – you claim – so deluded that they thought that Trump was much closer to the values of Jill Stein than HRC.
To you, the chances of the vast majority of Jill Stein voters have integrity and an ounce of intelligence is as unlikely as UFOs being alien spaceships? I’d say that is quite an insult to Jill Stein voters.
“This link is to a 538 discussion from just a few weeks after the 2016 election! Before anyone had any real data except for their feelings.”
The numbers I used to get the 88.7% were actually the final election tallies, which are slightly different than the ones quoted in that 538 piece. At the time of the piece, it looked like Clinton would have needed 94% of the Stein votes. I am well aware of that fact which is why I used the final results.
But it makes no difference to my argument because I used the final numbers. And it makes no difference to Silvers argument either because as he points out, preelection and exit polls indicated that a much higher percentage of Stein voters than the 11% (Silver said 55%) would probably simply not have voted.
But you are entitled to believe UFOs are alien spaceships.😀
Beam me up, Scotty!
LOL! So now you say that the man who said HRC would “probably” defeat Trump must be believed when that very same man says that Jill Stein voters would “probably” not vote for HRC.
And if I doubt what Nate Silver says is “probably” true, I believe UFO’s are alien spaceships?
So I’m assuming you believe UFOs are alien spaceships? Or, how do you like how our first female President Clinton is handling the pandemic?
Much is said about minor parties. The Electoral College selected Ugh! over Hillary (2016) and Bush 2 over Gore (2000). The EC should be the focus
😮
You’re correct, but here’s how it has to happen:
“Since the nation’s founding, hundreds of proposals to reform or eliminate the Electoral College have aimed to change how Americans elect a president. But since the process is defined in the Constitution, only an amendment can change the system. Passing a constitutional amendment requires a two-thirds majority vote in the House of Representatives and in the Senate plus the approval of three-quarters of the states, or a constitutional convention called by two-thirds of state legislatures (which has never happened).
In March 2020, a Pew Research Center study found that a majority of U.S. adults (58%) were in favor of amending the Constitution so the presidential candidate who receives the most votes nationwide wins, while 40% preferred to keep the current system in which the candidate who receives the most Electoral College votes declares victory.”
Information from Livingfacts.org
Neither side can agree on anything or compromise or understand that their salaries and benefits are paid for with taxpayer dollars….so “We the People” get screwed every time. Until we elect a better House and Senate, we will continue to down this road with the EC.
And here are a few who have jumped ship and no longer support the White House resident. May there be many more.
From Politico.
“Josh Venable, the former chief of staff to Education Secretary Betsy Devos, has joined another former Trump administration official’s group opposing the president.
Venable is lending his name as an adviser to the Republican Political Alliance for Integrity and Reform, a group former Department of Homeland Security official Miles Taylor launched on Thursday of current and former Trump administration officials and other Republican leaders who want to see President Donald Trump defeated in November.
Taylor, who was chief of staff at DHS, and Elizabeth Neumann, another former senior Trump DHS official, started the group, which includes 26 Republicans, including Anthony Scaramucci, who served briefly as White House communications director. A current senior administration official is also part of the group, but Taylor declined to share that person’s name. “
“In 2016, Jill Stein received over one million votes, which tipped key states to Trump.”
Horse manure. Everyone knows it’s the Ruskies who got the tRump elected.
Stein was at Putin’s table with Mike Flynn in December 2015.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/guess-who-came-dinner-flynn-putin-n742696
“at Putin’s table”: such an unearned, diplomatic, benign description for being a Putin political concubine.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/guess-who-came-dinner-flynn-putin-n742696
I might be wrong (have been before –once), but knowing Duane, I’d bet he is well aware of the ” Last Supper” painting and is just stirring the pot with a double Flyntendre
The fact that we are talking about a third party as weak as the Green Party having any influence on the election shows how divided we are. We have allowed a philosophical lack of decency to destroy the middle of American politics by defining the middle as radical. If you suggest a governmental role in any part of life oth r than the national defense or the local police, you are a socialist.
“Self Reflection”
One-way mirror
Little help
For finding error
In oneself
The problem is the two party system which is baked in by the parties and Congress. If the states’ votes were proportional instead of winner take all or if we used Ranked choice voting, then we would have a more fair and effective election and perhaps a better government. Wishful thinking I know. I have written in someone’s name since 1984 including Nader before he even ran. I don’t apologize for “throwing” any election because it is not my fault that my vote does not count.
Ranked choice voting
The choice is clear
The Rank is dear
It has no peer
In voting gear
Could calm the fear
Of Trump next year
So shed no tear
And bring it here!
“Plunk your Magic Twanger, Froggy”
Roll that pseudoscience spoofage. Calm us with the phenomena of clairvoyance.
A symphony of mind reading and precognition, while we wait for the next
superman santa to get us back on our feet…