{"id":11590,"date":"2012-07-09T15:50:03","date_gmt":"2012-07-09T19:50:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/news\/?p=11590"},"modified":"2012-07-10T00:22:24","modified_gmt":"2012-07-10T04:22:24","slug":"what-if-you-could-vote-none-of-the-above","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2012\/07\/what-if-you-could-vote-none-of-the-above","title":{"rendered":"What if you could vote “None of the Above?”"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cWhat if we add another \u2018party\u2019 to the ballot: \u2018None of the Above\u2019 alongside \u2018Republican\u2019 and \u2018Democrat\u2019?\u201d asks political observer Deb Fitz<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Indeed, could it work? It\u2019s already the law in Nevada, Spain and Ukraine. It was tried in Russia \u2013 targeting abuse by power-brokers. For decades the Communist Party had controlled the ballot \u2013 making sure only their candidates appeared. For decades, they proclaimed to the world that the Soviet people had free elections \u2013 but voters could either approve the Party choice or leave their ballot blank.<\/p>\n

In Iran\u2019s most recent elections, the mullahs who run the country disqualified any candidate who threatened their reign. Thus, ballot choices included no reformers, no dissidents, no moderates.<\/p>\n

When democracy came to Russia after the fall of the Soviet Union, voters targeted the party\u2019s central control. They demanded the right to reject official candidates. Steven Lee Myers of the New York Times<\/a><\/em> called the \u201cNone of the Above\u201d ballot choice \u201cthe ultimate protest vote.\u201d<\/p>\n

Writing from the city of Ulyanovsk, Myers reported: \u201cHere in this faded industrial city on the Volga, \u2018Against All\u2019 won. Twice. In the December parliamentary election, voters of District 181 threw out not only the incumbent, a retired general, but the rest of the pack as well.<\/p>\n

In the subsequent election, \u201cAgainst all,\u201d won again.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn December, two other parliamentary districts, in Sverdlovsk and St. Petersburg, voted \u2018against all,\u2019\u201d reported Myers. \u201cUlyanovsk refused again to send anyone to Parliament. \u2018Against all\u2019 also won five of six runoffs for the regional legislature.<\/p>\n

\u201cUlyanovsk’s obstinacy has embarrassed local election officials,\u201d noted Myers, \u201cnot to mention the spurned candidates, many of them prominent public figures. They included Vadim I. Orlov, the incumbent; the former Communist governor of the region; the chief doctor of the city children’s hospital; and a handful of businessmen.\u201d<\/p>\n

Could \u201cNone of the Above\u201d work here?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\u201cI’ve been watching what is going on in Washington and I’m really disappointed,\u201d writes Fritz. \u201cI was so hoping that \u2018change\u2019 meant a real commitment to ethics and morality. I hoped that The People’s agenda might finally have some meaning. But it’s business as usual in Washington — back room deals making in exchange for votes or backing. With big business and big unions calling the shots, the will of The People hasn’t got a chance.\u201d<\/p>\n

If \u201cNone of the Above\u201d were on the ballot alongside \u201cMitt Romney\u201d and \u201cBarack Obama,\u201d writes Fritz,\u201cat last we would have an effective way to show our dissatisfaction.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile polls show that only eight percent of Americans approve of the way Congress is doing its job, our politicians don\u2019t seem to be getting the message. With my proposed constitutional amendment they would \u2026 loud and clear!\u201d<\/p>\n

None of the above <\/em>— the idea comes before state legislators from time. It is predictably opposed by both the Republican and Democratic parties.<\/p>\n

When it has gone to a vote in a number of states, including California, it has been vehemently opposed by the establishment and voted down. In November 2002, Oregon\u2019s proposed Measure 21 would have required \u201cNone of the Above\u201d to be an option when voting for state and local judges. It lost 526,450 to 668,256.<\/p>\n

When Nevada voters passed it, a last-minute change neutered the option\u2019s effect \u2013 it\u2019s not binding. Although \u201cNone of the Above\u201d appears on Nevada ballots, it cannot trigger a new election. The candidate with the most votes takes office even if \u201cNone of the above\u201d wins.<\/p>\n

In 1996, the Wall Street Journal<\/a><\/em> endorsed the concept: \u201cOregon Republicans wish there was something they could do about Representative Wes Cooley, a freshman who is in hot water over allegations he misled people about his military record and the date of his marriage.<\/p>\n

\u201cThree of his staffers have resigned, and it looks as if a Democrat could win the seat this fall. Cooley won the GOP primary last month because he was unopposed, but he received only 23,000 votes while 31,000 voters wrote in someone else or kept their ballots blank.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s as if the second-place finisher at this year’s Olympic Games was awarded the gold medal. It’s time to consider giving voters a binding \u2018None of the Above\u2019 line on ballots.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Journal<\/em> noted how useful the option would be \u201cin many cases where an elected official lands in trouble but has no effective opposition. Representative Mel Reynolds of Illinois was indicted on sex charges in mid-1994, but he won reelection with 98 percent of the vote because he had no opponent.<\/p>\n

\u201cNone of the Above,\u201d wrote the Journal<\/em>\u2019s editorial staff, would also be useful when both major parties offer unacceptable candidates, such as the 1991 Louisiana governor’s race between convicted felon Edwin Edwards and Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe mechanics behind \u2018None of the Above\u2019 would be simple,\u201d noted the Journal.<\/em> \u201cIf a plurality of votes are cast for \u2018None of the Above,\u2019 the candidates who lost to it would be disqualified from a special election held.\u201d<\/p>\n

Iran\u2019s mullahs hate the idea. So do America\u2019s political kingmakers. Russia\u2019s power-brokers got it appealed in 2006.<\/p>\n

Even so, \u201ca \u2018None of the Above\u2019 line on the ballot,\u201d writes Ralph Nader<\/a>, \u201cis a proper and long overdue expansion of voting choice at a time when citizens are staying away from the polls in droves because of their disgust, distrust, despair and disillusionment.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
A recent Nevada ballot<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cPresently, from forty to eighty percent of eligible voters, depending on the election, stay home and are labeled apathetic.\u00a0 Refusing to participate, they do not count and have little impact on who gets on to future ballots and how they behave when elected.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2018None of the Above\u2019\u201dmakes voters who wish to register a \u2018no-confidence\u2019 vote, who wish to withhold their consent, count,\u201d writes Nader.<\/p>\n

The idea has been endorsed by The Nation<\/em> magazine and the Boston Globe<\/a> \u2013 <\/em>but the last serious attempt to put \u201cNone of the Above\u201d up for a vote was almost a decade ago.<\/p>\n

It would appear that voter disgust with the upcoming presidential election could resurrect the notion. Mention either Obama or Romney and you get an ear full of disappointment, disillusionment, ambivalence and hostility. Voters seem driven only by negativity \u2013 their unhappiness, not their excitement.<\/p>\n

Evangelicals are certainly wringing their hands. In 2008, some 17 million of them stayed home. They\u2019ve been stung by third-party alternatives \u2013 supporting Ross Perot just put Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky into the Oval Office.<\/p>\n

They yearn for another option. The Republican primary season demonstrated that \u2013 with the agonizing search for \u201canybody but Romney.\u201d Rick Scott, Jon Huntsman, Rick Santorum, Mitch Daniels, Ron Paul, Newt Gingrich and even Sarah Palin had a moment in the limelight \u2013 with Gingrich drawing nearly twice as much evangelical support as the former Massachusetts governor.<\/p>\n

Romney\u2019s Mormonism worries fundamentalist evangelicals who are further disillusioned by his inconsistent record on such moral issues as abortion and same-gender marriage. His stiff public demeanor evokes Cal Coolidge.<\/p>\n

Some cynics speculate that neither party hierarchy really wants to win in 2012. Having the other party in the White House has a spectacular effect on fund-raising. The other party that wins will reap the blame for what seems to be an inevitable economic train wreck.<\/p>\n

So, let the other party\u2019s candidate become the new Herbert Hoover.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>In the Federalist Papers<\/em>, \u201cJames Madison voiced his hope that American elections would feature candidates \u2018who possess the most attractive merit, and the most diffusive and established characters,\u2019\u201d notes John J. Pitney, Jr. ,<\/a> an assistant professor of government at Claremont McKenna College.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen he wrote those words, government was simple, elected offices were few, and the roster of potential candidates was rich with such greats as George Washington, John Adams and George Mason. Because of the growth of government at all levels, the total number of elected offices has since risen to 497,000 \u2013 but not all 497,000 elections give voters a choice among candidates of George Washington’s caliber. When voters elect members of Congress, state legislators or town councilors, they must often choose from the unworthy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the final analysis,\u201d concludes Nader<\/a>, \u201cpoliticians understand only one language \u2013 voter rejection. \u2018None of the Above\u2019 allows voters to send a message that they want change.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\u201cWhenever I mention political reforms to strengthen our democracy before audiences, the one that receives the most enthusiastic applause is \u2018None of the Above.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is time to let the voters decide.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cWhat if we add another \u2018party\u2019 to the ballot: \u2018None of the Above\u2019 alongside \u2018Republican\u2019 and \u2018Democrat\u2019?\u201d asks political observer Deb Fitz. Indeed, could it work? It\u2019s already the law in Nevada, Spain and Ukraine. It was tried in Russia \u2013 targeting abuse by power-brokers. For decades the Communist Party had controlled the ballot \u2013…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":270,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[100],"tags":[2084,2083,2082,2236],"class_list":["post-11590","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-commentary","tag-demoncrat","tag-none-of-the-above","tag-presidential-election","tag-republican"],"yoast_head":"\nWhat if you could vote "None of the Above?"<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2012\/07\/what-if-you-could-vote-none-of-the-above\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What if you could vote "None of the Above?"\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u201cWhat if we add another \u2018party\u2019 to the ballot: \u2018None of the Above\u2019 alongside \u2018Republican\u2019 and \u2018Democrat\u2019?\u201d asks political observer Deb Fitz. 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