Texas republicans tried to get all libertarian candidates removed from the ballot

[Tom Paine 1949]

“Instead of choosing just one candidate, why not allow voters to rank all the contestants in order of preference? Ranked choice voting would not only eliminate the spoiler effect, but it would reduce strategic voting and jumpstart America’s transition away from the two-party system….

“Less than two years after my introduction to RCV, I now find myself living and working in Washington, D.C., the epicenter of American politics. During my time here, I haven’t met a single person who doesn’t want to talk politics. My fellow Washingtonians reference ‘The Hill’ in casual conversation and follow every last congressperson on Twitter. And yet, many of them have either never heard of RCV or don’t quite understand how it works.

“So if some of the most politically-attuned Americans don’t know the basics of ranked choice voting, what does that mean for our movement?

“It means we have a lot of work ahead of us, and it starts with you!

“First, take two minutes to watch this ranked choice voting video and master your own summarization of the process. Ranked choice voting isn’t difficult, but explaining any new concept takes practice….”

What is ranked choice voting? - FairVote

FairVote is a nonpartisan organization seeking better elections for all. We research and advance voting reforms that make democracy more functional and representative for every American.

www.fairvote.org

 

[Billy000]

Lets face it. The Democratic party is washed up, they are so obviously funded by Anti American groups (China. Soros) pushing anti-American agendas. I can guarantee 99% of us don't want the defunding of the police, trans rights phoney anti white anti cop hate groups like BLM given this level of gravitas. The democratic party has to face the heat, after 2 unnecessary impeachments of Trump. 2024 is coming. There will be hell to pay.

You guys talk about “defund the police” like you actually know what it means. You hear this slogan and then make up your own explanation of what it means without actually doing any basic research. It’s so ridiculous.

Defund the police does not mean get rid of police by draining the funding. It has to do with cutting police programs that do more harm than good and using that funding for separate causes.

Admittedly, it was a stupid slogan. The advocates forgot how emotional and lazy Americans are about basic research into what leftwing causes are. Liberals only shot themselves in the foot on that one.

 

[Billy000]

Thank Goodness. Its about time the right used left wing tactics.

You’re just making shit up to justify republicans doing this. It’s so stupid.

 

[flacaltenn]

--- Libertarians are the only RINOs here ---

Mike Bordes: Free staters and Libertarians are the only RINOs here – The Laconia Daily Sun | Prometheism Transhumanism Post Humanism

www.euvolution.com

Libertarians (BIG L Libertarians) are NOT REPUBLICANS AT ALL. They are COMPLETELY independent of being just "button pushers" for the way that McConnell or McCarthy WANT them to vote. They have a MIND of their own on issues and STICK to principles that Republicans just pay lip service to. Important shit like Civil Liberties (which are fading away) KILLING the Patriot Act spying on citizens. They are FISCALLY the worst nightmare for folks who like BIGGER more MUSCULAR govt like Dems and Repubs.

 

[flacaltenn]

Another reason we need RANKED CHOICE VOTING in every state and for as many political positions as possible. It is the easiest way to drill holes in the two party monopoly that leads to endless deadlock, extremism, and unresponsive politicians:

www.fairvote.org

Ranked choice voting is the WORST possible solution for ending the 2 party duopoly. Because the Libertarian or other 3rd party isn't gonna win on the 1st round in a FREE FOR ALL- ALL HANDS ON DECK primary. If the top 3 or 4 go on to the general -- they only have to had gotten 25 or 30% of the vote. After all the "rankings" but they had to beat maybe 6 or 8 other people in the FIRST round of ranking to survive. And that splits all the 3rd party candidates AGAINST one another.

 

[MaryL]

You guys talk about “defund the police” like you actually know what it means. You hear this slogan and then make up your own explanation of what it means without actually doing any basic research. It’s so ridiculous.

Defund the police does not mean get rid of police by draining the funding. It has to do with cutting police programs that do more harm than good and using that funding for separate causes.

Admittedly, it was a stupid slogan. The advocates forgot how emotional and lazy Americans are about basic research into what leftwing causes are. Liberals only shot themselves in the foot on that one.

You guys talk about “defund the police” like you actually know what it means. You hear this slogan and then make up your own explanation of what it means without actually doing any basic research. It’s so ridiculous.

Defund the police does not mean get rid of police by draining the funding. It has to do with cutting police programs that do more harm than good and using that funding for separate causes.

Admittedly, it was a stupid slogan. The advocates forgot how emotional and lazy Americans are about basic research into what leftwing causes are. Liberals only shot themselves in the foot on that one.

Do tell. I think we need to hyperfund the police. I am seeing the serge in homicides and blacks murdering each other as a result of this absurd self wounding anti police rhetoric of the Democrats/left/whatever they call themselves. End this now.

 

[Billy000]

Do tell. I think we need to hyperfund the police. I am seeing the serge in homicides and blacks murdering each other as a result of this absurd self wounding anti police rhetoric of the Democrats/left/whatever they call themselves. End this now.

Just throwing money at a problem does not fix it. You have to figure out the root causes of issues.

 

[Death-Ninja]

The courts quickly shut them down.

Why did they do this? Obviously to corner the conservative vote. Still think republicans care about democracy? No. All they care about is winning.

Republican effort to remove Libertarians from November ballot rejected by Texas Supreme Court

On Aug. 8, a group of Republican candidates asked the Supreme Court to remove 23 Libertarian opponents from the ballot, saying they did not meet eligibility requirements. The Republicans included Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and others in congressional and state legislative races.

www.texastribune.org

“On Aug. 8, a group of Republican candidates asked the Supreme Court to remove 23 Libertarians from the ballot, saying they did not meet eligibility requirements. The Republicans included Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and others in congressional and state legislative races.

State law requires Libertarian candidates to pay filing fees or gather petition signatures, the amount of each depending on the office sought. The Libertarian Party has been challenging that law in federal court, arguing it is unfair because the fees do not go toward their nomination process like they do for Democrats and Republicans.

Republicans also tried and failed to kick a group of Libertarian candidates off the ballot in 2020. In that case, the state Supreme Court said the GOP waited until after the deadline to challenge candidate eligibility. This time, the Republicans filed their challenge before that deadline but apparently still did not satisfy the court’s preference to deal with election challenges as soon as the alleged issues arise.”

We hate democracy, only fascist scum want democracy, democracy is evil, democracy is slavery to the mob, death to democracy, the only good democrats are dead fascists!

 

[Tom Paine 1949]

I think I understand your concern, flacaltenn . But I don’t think you understand that Ranked Choice Voting is different than “Open Primary” voting and can be practiced as well in Florida which has closed primaries as in Texas.

RCV can be tailored in many different ways. It is not a panacea of course. It can’t guarantee that the best, most farsighted, or most competent candidate will always be elected. Only an intelligent electorate and a wider more qualified selection of non-partisan candidates can do that.

We are talking about a reform that professional politicians in the DNC and RNC and state parties have mostly opposed because they fear it will weaken the two party monopoly and many of their now almost unchallengeable sinecure positions. Ranked Choice Voting should encourage new parties to emerge and respected independents to contest more elections.

 

[Rigby5]

Do tell. I think we need to hyperfund the police. I am seeing the serge in homicides and blacks murdering each other as a result of this absurd self wounding anti police rhetoric of the Democrats/left/whatever they call themselves. End this now.

I disagree.
I believe all crime is unnatural, and is caused by inequality, corruption, etc.
For example, right now almost all crime is caused by the war on drugs conducted by police.
It entices black market cash, just like Prohibition did.

 

[Rigby5]

I don’t think you understand that Ranked Choice Voting is different than “Open Primary” voting and can be practiced as well in Florida which has closed primaries as in Texas.

RCV can be tailored in many different ways. It is not a panacea of course. It can’t guarantee that the best, most farsighted, or most competent candidate will always be elected. Only an intelligent electorate and a wider selection of non-partisan candidates can do that.

We are talking about a reform that professional politicians in the DNC and RNC and state parties have opposed because they fear it will weaken their privileged and often almost unchallengeable positions, and encourage new parties to emerge and independents to contest more elections.

Yes, ranked choice reduces party corruption, saves money, and allows for more choice and better results.

 

[MaryL]

Just throwing money at a problem does not fix it. You have to figure out the root causes of issues.

Well, damn . No. Police aren't the problem. Instead, it's bad politicians and bad actors in the media, that use such things as their whipping boy. We need to DEFUND BAD Politicians, see where their funding comes from. End them. No serious person in their right mind wants to defund the police.

 

[Rigby5]

Ranked choice voting is the WORST possible solution for ending the 2 party duopoly. Because the Libertarian or other 3rd party isn't gonna win on the 1st round in a FREE FOR ALL- ALL HANDS ON DECK primary. If the top 3 or 4 go on to the general -- they only have to had gotten 25 or 30% of the vote. After all the "rankings" but they had to beat maybe 6 or 8 other people in the FIRST round of ranking to survive. And that splits all the 3rd party candidates AGAINST one another.

Totally and completely wrong.
There is ONLY one round in "ranked choice".
In fact, that is the whole point.
So you totally do not get it.

The point of "ranked choice" is that there is only one round, and you essentially get to vote for who you like, as well as against who you do not like.
So there is no need for any run offs.

The point of "ranked choice" is that candidates that republicans would also vote for, like Bernie Sanders, would not get tripped up on the democratic party primary, like he did.

 

[Rigby5]

Well, damn . No. Police aren't the problem. Instead, it's bad politicians and bad actors in the media, that use such things as their whipping boy. We need to DEFUND BAD Politicians, see where their funding comes from. End them. No serious person in their right mind wants to defund the police.

Wrong.
Police essentially did not exist until around 1900, and we did much better before then.
We essentially have an evil police state now, we should not.
We should never have had Prohibition, the War on Drugs, mandatory sentences, asset forfeiture, etc., which are all totally and completely illegal.

 

[cnm]

"The Libertarian Party of Texas is thrilled with this outcome," Whitney Bilyeu, who chairs the Texas Libertarian Party, said in a statement. "As we did last time, we resisted this haphazard attempt by Republicans to limit voter choice and obstruct free and fair elections."​

Republican effort to remove Libertarians from November ballot rejected by Texas Supreme Court

On Aug. 8, a group of Republican candidates asked the Supreme Court to remove 23 Libertarian opponents from the ballot, saying they did not meet eligibility requirements. The Republicans included Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and others in congressional and state legislative races.

www.texastribune.org

​

I thought political party membership went against the very notion of libertarianism.

How can individual liberty be attained following the wishes of a group?

Unless they are merely members of a party so they could vote to disestablish it, of course.

 

[flacaltenn]

Totally and completely wrong.
There is ONLY one round in "ranked choice".
In fact, that is the whole point.
So you totally do not get it.

The point of "ranked choice" is that there is only one round, and you essentially get to vote for who you like, as well as against who you do not like.
So there is no need for any run offs.

The point of "ranked choice" is that candidates that republicans would also vote for, like Bernie Sanders, would not get tripped up on the democratic party primary, like he did.

BY DEFINITION RCVoting is to allow for MULTIPLE ROUNDS if ONE candidate does not get a MAJORITY in the 1st round,. And in a packed primary with 6 or 8 candidates from ALL PARTIES together -- ONE candidate is NOT GONNA WIN on the 1st round. Get your definitions STRAIGHT.

Ranked-choice voting (RCV)

Ballotpedia: The Encyclopedia of American Politics

ballotpedia.org

A ranked-choice voting system (RCV) is an electoral system in which voters rank candidates by preference on their ballots. If a candidate wins a majority of first-preference votes, he or she is declared the winner. If no candidate wins a majority of first-preference votes, the candidate with the fewest first-preference votes is eliminated. First-preference votes cast for the failed candidate are eliminated, lifting the second-preference choices indicated on those ballots. A new tally is conducted to determine whether any candidate has won a majority of the adjusted votes. The process is repeated until a candidate wins an outright majority.[1][2]

See the sections below for additional information on the following topics

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The worst part of this is -- votes are TOSSED OUT between rounds. So those ELIMINATED aren't USED to determine "what the majority thinks". That preference ITERATION could end up ELIMINATING a large FRACTION of the people voting from the calculation of what a MAJORITY is.

 

[Tom Paine 1949]

First, the voting occurs only ONCE. In a computerized system, the ranked choices tabulation can be done at lightning speed. Of course if there is human counting of paper ballots the rounds of counting take a bit longer, but the vote is cast only once, so it is an efficient as well as more democratic system.

As for flacaltenn ’s comment …

The worst part of this is -- votes are TOSSED OUT between rounds. So those ELIMINATED aren't USED to determine "what the majority thinks". That preference ITERATION could end up ELIMINATING a large FRACTION of the people voting from the calculation of what a MAJORITY is.

This is a silly criticism. All votes are counted, at least once. If a voter “bullet votes” for only one candidate, and provides no second or third choices, then of course if his first choice doesn‘t make it through to a progressive run off he/she is out of luck (paper ballots are not “thrown away”). That voter is simply choosing to say “this is the only candidate I will accept and I have no second choice” … as we all are forced to do in our present “first past the post” system.

With our present system there are often candidates elected without winning a MAJORITY of all votes. Of course if there are only one or two candidates running, then an RCV vote system will change nothing. RCV provides for the fullest, fairest and most democrat voting method when more than 2 candidates compete for one position. In doing so it also undercuts the two party monopoly system.

 

[White 6]

Libertarians (BIG L Libertarians) are NOT REPUBLICANS AT ALL. They are COMPLETELY independent of being just "button pushers" for the way that McConnell or McCarthy WANT them to vote. They have a MIND of their own on issues and STICK to principles that Republicans just pay lip service to. Important shit like Civil Liberties (which are fading away) KILLING the Patriot Act spying on citizens. They are FISCALLY the worst nightmare for folks who like BIGGER more MUSCULAR govt like Dems and Repubs.

Sounds like we need more of them.

 

[LuckyDuck]

The courts quickly shut them down.

Why did they do this? Obviously to corner the conservative vote. Still think republicans care about democracy? No. All they care about is winning.

Republican effort to remove Libertarians from November ballot rejected by Texas Supreme Court

On Aug. 8, a group of Republican candidates asked the Supreme Court to remove 23 Libertarian opponents from the ballot, saying they did not meet eligibility requirements. The Republicans included Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and others in congressional and state legislative races.

www.texastribune.org

“On Aug. 8, a group of Republican candidates asked the Supreme Court to remove 23 Libertarians from the ballot, saying they did not meet eligibility requirements. The Republicans included Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and others in congressional and state legislative races.

State law requires Libertarian candidates to pay filing fees or gather petition signatures, the amount of each depending on the office sought. The Libertarian Party has been challenging that law in federal court, arguing it is unfair because the fees do not go toward their nomination process like they do for Democrats and Republicans.

Republicans also tried and failed to kick a group of Libertarian candidates off the ballot in 2020. In that case, the state Supreme Court said the GOP waited until after the deadline to challenge candidate eligibility. This time, the Republicans filed their challenge before that deadline but apparently still did not satisfy the court’s preference to deal with election challenges as soon as the alleged issues arise.”

And Democrats want Republicans off the ballots, trying all sorts of smear tactics against their Republican opponents. Politics in general is evil. Our founding fathers didn't anticipate political parties.

 

[BrokeLoser]

The courts quickly shut them down.

Why did they do this? Obviously to corner the conservative vote. Still think republicans care about democracy? No. All they care about is winning.

Republican effort to remove Libertarians from November ballot rejected by Texas Supreme Court

On Aug. 8, a group of Republican candidates asked the Supreme Court to remove 23 Libertarian opponents from the ballot, saying they did not meet eligibility requirements. The Republicans included Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and others in congressional and state legislative races.

www.texastribune.org

“On Aug. 8, a group of Republican candidates asked the Supreme Court to remove 23 Libertarians from the ballot, saying they did not meet eligibility requirements. The Republicans included Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and others in congressional and state legislative races.

State law requires Libertarian candidates to pay filing fees or gather petition signatures, the amount of each depending on the office sought. The Libertarian Party has been challenging that law in federal court, arguing it is unfair because the fees do not go toward their nomination process like they do for Democrats and Republicans.

Republicans also tried and failed to kick a group of Libertarian candidates off the ballot in 2020. In that case, the state Supreme Court said the GOP waited until after the deadline to challenge candidate eligibility. This time, the Republicans filed their challenge before that deadline but apparently still did not satisfy the court’s preference to deal with election challenges as soon as the alleged issues arise.”

There are no real Libertarians anymore…they are all Libs… examples on this board are everywhere…. Look no further than Golfing Gator Kondor3 and dblack for proof.