Green politicians from across Europe on Friday called on U.S. Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein to withdraw from the race for the White House and endorse Democrat Kamala Harris instead.
“We are clear that Kamala Harris is the only candidate who can block Donald Trump and his anti-democratic, authoritarian policies from the White House,” Green parties from countries including Germany, France, Denmark, Italy, the Netherlands, Ireland, Estonia, Belgium, Spain, Poland and Ukraine said in a statement, which was shared with POLITICO ahead of publication
If Stein is fantastically successful, beyond her wildest dreams, and got 15% of the vote she will win zero electors (the intermediaries that then make the official vote for president). They’re awarded winner take all for each state, and there’s no conceivable way she reaches a plurality anywhere. But if she takes those 15% disproportionately from people who would have otherwise voted for Harris, she could very much make it so Trump wins a plurality and gets all the electors for a state. The structure of the first-past-the-post system always devolves into two parties being viable, and any third parties can only practically influence the outcome in the votes they take away.
Some states are proportional for pres. (Maine Nebraska)
They aren’t proportional. They’re winner take all but at the district level as opposed to the state level.
districts tend to be proportional but whatever, at that distinction its immaterial to the discussion.
No they don’t. Just having smaller units you take-all in doesn’t make something proportional. Proportionality means that minority vote totals result in a proportional number of seats, but getting 25% everywhere still gets you zero seats. Jill Stein, in her maximum success, will not win a single district.
fair enough like i said its immaterial to the discussion. the point was some states do give up partial electors.
No, the point was Stein has 0 chance of getting electors because they’re all winner-take-all contests.
That’s not a bad point. We consider what Maine and Nebraska have implemented as proportional, but it isn’t truly. It’s a better system than WTA, but it still essentially nullifies a significant number of votes.