As an undecided voter

[BumRushDaShow]

I have decided to try to stay out of the fray for now and will observe the policy positions of each of the many amazing candidates being fielded. I am sure I am not alone.

This will be an interesting concept being tried here - almost like a "caucus", so hope it will help with how the discourse goes...

[genxlib]

1. Such a reasonable position

Always reminds me of one of my favorite movies.

[BumRushDaShow]

2. When you show him

I think this instead -



Sorry....

[genxlib]

3. Definitely unmistakable

He will never really be thought of as anything else. But I did love him in Cousin Vinny.

[Stuart G]

6. Please, Please, Please...if you haven't seen Cousin Vinny..watch it..It is a great comedy..

With a truly great cast, incredible story, and beyond incredible ending...You cannot help but enjoy it completely. Please watch Cousin Vinny if you need a pick up. You will NOT be disappointed..

[redstateblues]

27. It's one of my Top Ten flicks of all time!

[demmiblue]

4. I remain open to the concept, but I can also see this further dividing people here.

Hopefully, people will acts like adults (although, 90% of DU already does on a regular basis).

[BumRushDaShow]

5. That might be one outcome

but although I don't know the logistics of doing so at the moment (have to re-read the concept here), I suppose folks can switch "allegiances" to something like "undecided" to basically stay "neutral" and avoid some of the unwanted confrontations. I would assume too that per Skinner's message, the usual rules of the road still apply regarding infractions and the juries can take care of that!

Edit to add that I just found out how to handle the "logistics" of changing "affiliation" from the link at the upper right hand corner of the forum!

[PTWB]

7. The question was phrased ..

“If you had to vote today who would you vote for” - I don’t think undecided should be an option. I am technically undecided though I lean toward Kamala, that could change.

But if I had to vote today she’d get mine.

[BumRushDaShow]

8. I would disagree

I am truly truly undecided. I haven't seen all the vetting of some of the candidates who are running. Two have run for President before (in a primary) but the rest have not.

[PTWB]

9. That's true.

If you were agonizing over the ballot right now, would you just leave it blank?

[BumRushDaShow]

10. You got it!!!

And here is another situation that I have had to deal with over the past almost 40 years of voting - I live in PA and we are a "late" (in relative terms) primary state. So 9 out of 10 times, the candidates that I liked were usually gone by the time we got to vote.

In 2020, PA will have its primary at the end of April (the 28th) so I may really "love" a candidate right now but that person might not survive to reach the primary time for those of us in PA. Other states have their primaries even later. I think this is why California made a decision to move theirs earlier.

[PTWB]

12. Yeah I get you.

I think it’s a poorly designed system. Often, candidates who do not represent a large portion of the party get off to a huge lead based on the primary order - and candidates who are more representative drop out before they even get a chance.

[BumRushDaShow]

13. I like the idea of a single primary day

(like the general election day) where the candidates can have some more time to stump before all the voting takes place. The primary day could be sometime maybe in June when the weather is generally favorable around the country. Having primaries in the dead of winter is a nightmare IMHO.

[Lefta Dissenter]

28. I like that idea, in concept,

But would you then have all 10 or 15 (or howevermany we end up with) candidates on the ballot? How about a “pre-primary” in April to winnow it down to three or four candidates, and then the actual primary in June? I haven’t actually thought this through, so it might be a dumb idea.

[BumRushDaShow]

29. Well... Seems the latest "thing"

which has been tested in both California and Maine, is "ranked choice". There you have (in those cases) "all" the candidates on the list and the one(s) with the largest totals prevail(s). For those states, I believe they had candidates of all parties on the ballot and in this "single primary" suggestion, it could just be all the Democratic candidates.

Doing that might also be an interesting way to automatically select both a Presidential AND a Vice-Presidential nominee - i.e., the #1 & #2 vote-getters. If the #2 declines, you could go down the list to the next highest. That way you could help to keep a lower count candidate's constituency for the ticket because they would have a stake.

Just throwing that out there as an off-the-top-of-my-head thought!

[Lefta Dissenter]

33. It could be interesting

To run some hypotheticals at various points throughout the campaigns - just to see how that would turn out.

And that’s an interesting thought about selecting the VP that way, too. What if you end up with a President and VP who really are incompatible? The dynamics could be intriguing.

Who was the last one to get out before trump got the nomination?

We would have had a Clinton/Sanders ticket.

Those aren’t really fair comparisons, since Trump wouldn’t have won in a ranked choice among all of the republicans, but still fun to speculate.

[BumRushDaShow]

34. "What if you end up with a President and VP who really are incompatible?"

Hate to say it but a large number of "President/Vice President" combinations were "incompatible" - usually with the party very much involved in selecting the running mate and specifically doing so for "expediency" (to pick up a geographic constituency/population demographic).

The important thing would be whether the Presidential nominee is "adult enough" to know (or learn) how to work with that person and any others, including any of their own appointees, and even foreign heads of state, post-election. That should be part of the job requirement.

All you have to do is take a look historically, at who was VP to whom, and that will tell you right away that the vast majority did NOT have an Obama-Biden relationship/vibe, and were in fact, often distant from each other. However they basically performed their jobs and stayed in their lanes.

[Cha]

25. I agree with your disagreement!

We get to participate, too.. even though we don't have a candidate yet.

It's way too early for me. I can realize how many already have their choice but not everybody is there yet.

[BumRushDaShow]

26. Mahalo Cha!

I believe there are debates coming up this summer so at that point I will probably start paying a bit more attention.

[Stuart G]

11. One last point about:.Cousin Vinny, while watching it, your mind goes to something besides elections

This film is a great escape from the worry and fretting about the election which is 20 months away. How can you go wrong with a great comedy..
....Now, another one, most have not seen, is named, "Some Like it Hot"
That is also a great one. It also has an ending the last 2 minutes..no I won't give it away, but you will never forget the end of this one.

[BumRushDaShow]

14. I have seen pieces and parts of it

and haven't seen "Some Like it Hot" - but actually FINALLY rewatched "Godfather II" a couple days ago (after 20-some years as the last time I had seen it in a marathon airing). I recorded from AMC's latest marathon (had seen the original in a drive-in back in '72... ). I & III are shown all the time but II is hard to get (for free that is). I guess because it's 3 hours long uncut.

[JustAnotherGen]

15. Me too - Can't really engage

Until next May anyways. NJ has a very late primary so there won't be as many candidates by then.

[BumRushDaShow]

16. Yup - My primary here in PA is April 28th

so I expect a whole pile will be gone via a couple "Super Tuesdays" before I get chance to vote!

[JustAnotherGen]

17. And - your voting machines must be replaced by the 2020 election

Just flashed on NJ 12 news. Excellent news!

[BumRushDaShow]

18. Thanks for the heads-up! LOL

All the other counties around Philly are either testing or have selected machines. Here? Apparently just got voted for today!

February 20, 2019
Philly City Commissioners make contentious choice for new voting machines

By Adam Hermann
PhillyVoice Staff

Voting machine inspector Mike Brown works at the polling location in the dining room of The Gold Standard Cafe on Baltimore Ave. in West Philadelphia, Tuesday, May 15, 2018.

Philadelphia’s City Commissioners voted Wednesday in favor of a new voting machines system, which feature bar code readers and printed ballots.

The machines, called the ExpressVote XL, are manufactured by Election Systems & Software. They operated by a voter first using a touchscreen to make his or her selections.

The machine then prints a completed paper ballot with both a bar code and plain text showing the voter's selections. That bar code is then read by a scanner, which records the votes, according to Philly.com.

https://www.phillyvoice.com/philly-new-voting-machines-paper-ballot-city-commissioners/

Link to tweet

TEXT

Philadelphia City Commissioners @PhillyVotes

Philadelphia meet the @essvote ExpressVote XL the new voting system approved this morning for the November 2019 Election. The new system is:
✅ auditable
✅ voter-verifiable
✅ paper ballot
✅ more resilient
✅ follows security experts’ recommendations#PhillyVotes #VerifytheVote
3:29 PM - Feb 20, 2019

It's going to be crazy this year (and next).

[liberaltrucker]

19. As will I for now

Having said that, I know of a couple I WON'T support
in the primary, but I'll vote for our nominee whomever
he/she is.

[BumRushDaShow]

20. I think that is the key

to make sure we vote in the general election for the Democratic nominee when the time comes!

[allgood33]

21. You speak for me right now. Thanks for critical thinking. nt

[BumRushDaShow]

22. Hopefully more people will really consider what all of them have to offer

The one sad thing though is that since we all don't vote on the same one day for the primaries, many of the candidates might end up dropping out before the later states even get to choose.

[JHB]

23. I'll just note that it's not fair to yourself to...

...call yourself an "undecided voter" nearly a year prior to the first primary/caucuses taking place.

Being undecided from among a wide Democratic field at this point is eminently reasonable.

That's a whole different animal than the "undecided voters" who typically draw media attention: still up in the air long after the candidates have been chosen and after months of being able to evaluate them. The people who don't pay attention and/or are lazy cynics that they either don't bother to pay attention to anything or cop out and curse "both sides". Or who actually have already decided, but they want attention.

Thus the difference: Reasonable, vs. "Why, I oughtta smack your ass!"

BRDS, don't berate yourself like that!

[BumRushDaShow]

24. Well the folks who you are talking about

wouldn't be considered "undecided voters" to me. They are more "disengaged voters". They may claim to be "undecided" but they have actually made a decision. I.e., they have "decided" NOT to "decide" and I expect they won't bother to vote either.... IMHO.

[MustLoveBeagles]

30. That's what I'm doing as well

There are so many good candidates I just can't choose right now.

[BumRushDaShow]

31. There are also some who have been "rumored" who haven't declared yet either

so who knows who else may bubble up!!!

[MustLoveBeagles]

32. This is true

[TomSlick]

35. I think we're in a good place - spoiled for choice.

I'll decide right before I vote in the primary. I'll check the polls and check my gut and vote for the candidate I think most likely to beat Trump and by the widest margin.

[BumRushDaShow]

36. One of my issues is that here in PA, we don't vote in the primary until April 28

and by then, I expect many of these candidates will have dropped out.

In the past I have vested my interest and money for candidates who never made it to my primary ballot. It literally becomes "survival of the fittest" (popularity-wise and money-wise) in that case!

[TomSlick]

37. Your ahead of me. Arkansas doesn't vote until May 19 - at least as of now.

The Arkansas General Assembly seems to change the primary date at every session and (God help us) the General Assembly is currently in session.

[BumRushDaShow]

38. Jersey is a May one too

according to JustAnotherGen.

PA rotates April/May each year so this year it will be May 21st and next year April 28... 2021 will be May-something, 2022 will be April-something, and so on....

I wish we just had one primary day and call it! In fact, even without that, I wish we had early voting too but alas....