Political Question

[Limeoutsider]

If a political canidate (sp) is the only one running in a specific category, and no one votes for them because they're under the impression that the canidate (sp) is going to get the office by default anyway, does that canidate (sp) lose because no one voted for them, or do they win because they were the only one?

 

[kurchatovium]

I think if absolutely no one voted for them which would be unlikely the state or local goverment for that office picks someone to fill the office. In California when Baca was running against Sheriff Block and Block died suddenly you could still vote for Block. If Block had won, the city council of LA would have decided who to have as sheriff.

 

[PBL]

depends. There are those that think that this is a major problem with our current political system (that somone no one really wants can win). There are a couple of alternate voting methods that have been proposed. This is one: Condorcet's Method As you can see the issue is actually quite an old one.

 

[avethibaltus]

The only way this could really happen would be if the candidate didn't vote for himself. Every candidate should get a least one valid vote and could therefore elect himself, in a worst case situation. On the other hand, if his one vote were for some reason to be invalidated then you could get the situation you are describing, although the chances of it happening are extremely low.

 

[milagros317]

almost had unopposed nominee in 2002 Golden Feather Awards

We almost had an unopposed nominee here at TMF in the 2002 Golden Feather Awards.

The category was Best Author/Story Nonfiction for 2002. There were no nominees at all until December 10, when Mistress Zara nominated my story, "Double Trouble" (F/f, F/m, FF/m).

As of December 27, there were no other nominees. I had already made a note to vote for myself on January 1, just so as to be sure that I got one vote. (See, you're not the only one who thinks of the situation of a sole candidate getting no votes.)

On December 28, J-dark was nominated for his reality series--so it was a contested vote after all.

And I wouldn't be telling this story if I had come in second, would I?😀

 

[giggledude]

This is an interesting question, however unlikely the scenario. Some jurisdictions have "None of the Above" as a permanent option on ballots, and would, I think, treat a 0-0 tie the same way they'd treat a tie with, say, 643 votes (a few years ago, the primary for my state representative seat ended 646-640). But then in those jurisdictions no candidate would ever be running completely unopposed.

I read once of a tie vote settled by cutting a deck of cards; if noone bothered to vote then perhaps the trouble of holding or filling the office would be so oppressive that the candidate and whoever would have to designate the office-holder would cut with the loser having to do it.

Good question for this forum, though - it made me think at once of the mayoral campaign of Simon bar Sinister, which culminated in an election in which 2/3 of the votes were discounted. After incapacitating the electorate with tickle feathers, Simon and his assistant Cad didn't think it mattered that Underdog managed to vote, as they could still claim victory 2-1. The revelation that Simon and Cad were never registered adjusted the final tally to 1-0. But really, with no poll workers able to verify who cast any of the votes, who's to say Underdog's vote should have counted?

 

[Limeoutsider]

Re: almost had unopposed nominee in 2002 Golden Feather Awards

We almost had an unopposed nominee here at TMF in the 2002 Golden Feather Awards.

The category was Best Author/Story Nonfiction for 2002. There were no nominees at all until December 10, when Mistress Zara nominated my story, "Double Trouble" (F/f, F/m, FF/m).

As of December 27, there were no other nominees. I had already made a note to vote for myself on January 1, just so as to be sure that I got one vote. (See, you're not the only one who thinks of the situation of a sole candidate getting no votes.)

On December 28, J-dark was nominated for his reality series--so it was a contested vote after all.

And I wouldn't be telling this story if I had come in second, would I?😀

Congradulations, Milagros! And thanks all for your input!