From: mece3d@jane.uh.edu (Chris Struble)
Subject: It's time for the Turkey Ballot, folks!
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41    
Keywords: none of the above
Organization: University of Houston
Date: Wed, 15 Apr 1992 19:09:00 GMT

This is an article which appeared in the 1992 Outreach Issue of 
Republican Liberty, a magazine for libertarians in the Republican Party.
The article appears to have been written late last year. I have added
some comments in [brackets]. Comments are welcome.


"Time for the Turkey Ballot"   By John McClaughry (State Sen., R-VT)

  The people of Louisiana have just gone through an agonizing election
campaign, concluded with what for most people appears to have been a 
truly dismaying choice. It seems that either "Anybody but Duke" or 
"Anybody but Edwards" would have won a sizeable majority by the day of
the vote [or "Anybody but Bush" and "Anybody but Clinton" in the recent
presidential primaries].

  The wretched choice in Louisiana requires a rethinking of the state
[national] election laws. The voters do not have to face future elections
in which their best choice is the lesser of two evils - which after all
is still an evil. They can ask their legislators to approve the turkey 
ballot.

  The "turkey ballot", so called because it gives the voters the chance
to reject all turkeys, is very simple. There is an option on the ballot
for "None of the Above" [this exists in some primaries, but not in
general elections, I believe].

  If a plurality of voters marks the box for "None of the Above", all
the candidates for that office are rejected. Depending on how the 
state's constitution reads, the office is then filled by special elec-
tions, election by the legislature or by other means. The most common
case would be a special election.

  A NOTA [none of the above] statute could provide that the party 
committees nominate a candidate for special election, or that all
candidates file and run as independents, or whatever the legislature
thinks the most sense [or new elections, only the bums who were
rejected in the first round can't run in them].

  The turkey ballot has been in effect in Nevada since 1976, but with
a crippling difference: it is advisory only. If "None of the Above"
prevails, the candidate with the greatest number of votes is none-
theless nominated or elected.

  In 1976, NOTA won the Republican primary for Congress against two
live candidates, with 46 percent of the vote cast. Unfortunately the 
voters, despite their obvious preference, were still stuck with a 
turkey. 

  Interestingly, Poland [that wellspring of Democracy :-) ] has a 
creditable version of the turkey ballot. There, a candidate must 
garner 50% of the votes to be elected. In 1989, 33 of the 35 top 
(Communist) government officials running unopposed were in effect
defeated by nobody. Among them was the prime minister, who was so
embarassed he chose not to run again in the ensuing second round
elections [how many of our politicians would take the hint?].

  So far the turkey ballot has not been adopted anywhere except 
Nevada, although it has been introduced in Iowa and Vermont. The
reason is simple. Politicians absolutely hate it. It is always 
embarrassing to be defeated in an eletion by one's opponent, but
it is positively humiliating to be defeated by nobody.

  But the voting public loves the idea, by margins of close to 3:1 
[about as many people as support term limits]. They are sick of 
politicians generally, but they especially hate having to choose to
confer offices of public trust on candidates whose only redeeming 
grace is that they are lesss awful than the alternatives. The turkey 
ballot gives them an alternative they can unashamedly vote for. Isn't
it time they had that choice?

[seems that this would be a good complement to term limits. Honk
if you agree.]

Reprinted without permission from
Republican Liberty
Republican Liberty Caucus
1717 Apalachee Parkway, Suite 434
Tallahassee, FL 32301

------------------------------------------------------------------------
|  Christian Struble	   |  To shield people from the consequences   |
|  Mechanical Engineering  |  of their own folly is to fill the	       | 
|  University of Houston   |  world with fools  		       |	
|  mece3d@jetson.uh.edu	   |    	Herbert Spencer		       |	
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