CDR: Re: California bars free speech of those cutting deals on votes

[Ken Brown]

The voters will be able to suss it out without a website.

In the last UK general election about a couple of million voters very
precisely voted either for whichever of the Labour (who won overall) or
Liberal (came 3rd) candidates was most likely to beat the Conservatives
(who were thereby hammered by the 1st-past-the post system). The
Liberals (as usual) were bleating about having a chance to get into
power, but in practice (as usual) they were used as a protest vote by
those who couldn't bring themselves to vote Tory.

The same has, I suspect, been true of 3rd parties in the USA. You can't
judge their strength by their vote because many of their votes because
they are nearly always a vote *against* whoever seems most likely to get
in. And because genuine supporters, knowing their preferred candidate
won't get in, may pragmatically vote for the contender they consider
least damaging. As Tim pointed out the other day. We're not doing this
for fun. If there is a chance of getting someone in who will do less
real damage, vote for them. In the absence of revolution, amelioration
at least ameliorates.

But on the bright side - even without websites or any other visible
vote-trading, enough people knew who to vote for to get the Tories out.
The electorate *were* paying attention. In Brighton (my home town) all 3
seats went Labour because people knew they were the strongest non-Tory
party (even Hove which had long had a reputation as one of the most
conservative places in the country) - the Liberal vote hardly existed.
In Lewes, only 8 miles away, enough people voted Liberal to get the
Tories out & the Labour vote collapsed. 

Of course most oy you Americans probably won't think that electing a
Labour government is a good idea - but that isn't the immediate point.
The pleasantly surprising thing is that so many people were aware of the
numbers and cast their vote accordingly. They *weren't* just listening
to the TV or the parties.  They thought about it and cast their vote
intelligently in what they saw to be their own interests (in this case
revenge on the party of Margaret Thatcher, easily the most hated British
politician of the 20th century).

Ken

Tim May wrote:
> 
> California has "shut down"--through a threatening letter--a site
> which matches up folks who are willing to say they'll vote for Nader
> in states where Gore is sure to win if other folks who had hoped to
> vote for Nader will instead vote for Gore in order to help him in
> swing states.
> 
> (Sounds complicated. But it's really simple. "I'll scratch your back
> if you scratch mine." No money is changing hands, no actual "ballots"
> are being traded.)
> 
> The Web site doing this is/was: http://www.voteswap2000.com/
> 
> The article on California's actions is:
> http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20001031/wr/campaign_traders_dc_1.html
> 
> BTW, I just "expressed my preference" at the site:
> http://Winchell.com/NaderTrader/default.asp
> 
> No doubt I am even now more of a speech criminal. I wonder if a raid
> is imminent.
> 
> --Tim May
> --
> ---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:----
> Timothy C. May              | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money,
> ComSec 3DES:   831-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero
> W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA  | knowledge, reputations, information markets,
> "Cyphernomicon"             | black markets, collapse of governments.