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Green Party argues that some Trump electoral college votes should go to Gary Johnson and Hillary Clinton

9 Dec

DC Statehood Green Party calls for Electoral College vote proportional to popular vote, citing the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The DC Statehood Green Party is calling on Electoral College members in eleven states to assert their constitutional mandate by proportionally allocating their electoral votes for president.
Statehood Greens cited the Malapportionment Penalty Clause of the second section of the 14th Amendment pursuant Title Two Section Six of the United States Code (2 U.S.C.§6) in their appeal to electors in the eleven states who are pledged to Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton and Libertarian nominee Gary Johnson.
The eleven unbounded states are Alabama (with 3 electors pledged to Ms. Clinton), Arizona (5 for Clinton), Georgia (7 for Clinton, 1 for Mr. Johnson), Indiana (4 for Clinton, 1 for Johnson), Iowa (3 for Clinton), Michigan (8 for Clinton), North Carolina (7 for Clinton), Pennsylvania (10 for Clinton), South Carolina (4 for Clinton), Tennessee (4 for Clinton), and Wisconsin (5 for Clinton).
Election codes in the eleven states do not specify a “Winner Take All” statute that explicitly awards all of the state’s presidential electors to the candidate who receives the majority of the votes cast in a state.
In the absence of “Winner Take All” in state election code, the plain text of Section 2 of the 14th Amendment mandates proportional allocation of presidential electors according to the percentage of the popular votes cast in the state.
Electors pledged to Ms. Clinton and Mr. Johnson in the eleven states have constitutional standing to demand the award of presidential electors according to the percentage of the popular vote cast for their candidates.
Electoral College members will meet in their respective state capitols on Dec. 19 to cast their votes.
“Per the Malapportionment Penalty Clause of the Second Section of the 14th Amendment pursuant Title Two Section Six of the United States Code (2 U.S.C.§6), on Dec. 19, electors pledged to Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson will suffer an abridgement of their votes,” said Asa Gordon, chair of the DC Statehood Green Party’s Electoral Task Force.
A retired astrodynamicist, Mr. Gordon is also executive director of Douglass Institute of Government and secretary general of Sons & Daughters of United States Colored Troops. He received the 2016 National Civil Rights Conference “Civil Rights and Justice Award” in recognition of his promotion of the post-Civil War voting rights legacy of the U.S. Colored Troops.
Mr. Gordon intends to file a civil Writ of Mandamus to compel the National Archives and Records Administration Office of the Federal Register to (1) inform the unbounded state governors and electors before Dec. 19 that their Certificates of Votes must abide by the 14th Amendment’s mandate to allocate the states’ electors in proportion to the popular vote cast, and (2) rectify any discrepancies between the Certificates of Ascertainment and the Certificates of Vote for unbounded states in conformity with the 14th Amendment’s mandate requiring proportional allocation of electors.
“This is not a campaign to elect Hillary Clinton President. This legal action is about assuring the electoral integrity of US democracy and our political system,” said Justin McCarthy, representative for the Statehood Green Party.
“The United States’ first-past-the-post electoral system has entrenched a dysfunctional bipartisan system fundamentally disconnected from the American people. More importantly, first-past-the-post in the eleven states legally violates the Constitution’s Malapportionment Penalty Clause,” said Mr. McCarthy.
DC Statehood Green Party leaders said that, because of malapportionment of presidential electors in violation of the 14 Amendment, the final count of 306 electors for Donald Trump and 232 for Hillary Clinton must be held invalid. Correct apportionment would subtract 62 votes from Mr. Trump, add 60 to Ms. Clinton, and add 2 to Gary Johnson.
The DC Statehood Green Party is an affiliate of the Green Party of the United States. 2016 Green nominee Jill Stein and running mate Ajamu Baraka didn’t receive enough votes to qualify for an elector in any state.
The Green Party’s national platform endorses abolition of the Electoral College, enactment of Ranked Choice Voting and Proportional Representation to replace first-past-the-post and at-large election systems, repeal of state ballot-access laws biased in favor of the two major parties, and other reformsto ensure fairer and more democratic elections.

See also:
Neo-Redemption Gerrymandering of the Electoral College, Suffer Loss of Representatives to Congress
By Asa Gordon, Green Pages, Summer 2013
http://greenpagesnews.org/2013/07/18/neo-redemption-gerrymandering-of-the-electoral-college
Taxpayer Voter ID Act would allow more citizens to vote
By Asa Gordon, Green Pages, Summer 2014
http://greenpagesnews.org/2014/07/22/taxpayer-voter-id-act-would-allow-more-citizens-to-vote
This Long-Lost Constitutional Clause Could Save the Right to Vote
By Richard Kreitner, The Nation, January 21, 2015
http://www.thenation.com/article/any-way-abridged

John Hospers anniversary for gay pride month – first gay candidate to receive an Electoral College vote

8 Jun

John Hospers, an academic philosopher and author on aesthetics, was the first Libertarian Party candidate for president in 1972.

Though the Libertarians were on very few ballots he received an Electoral College vote, becoming the first openly gay man (by 1972 standards anyway) to do so.  His running mate, Tonie Nathan, became the first Jewish American and the first woman to receive an Electoral College vote as well.

(Libertarian) Women’s History month: Tonie Nathan

5 Mar

Tonie Nathan, R.I.P. (The First Woman to Receive an Electoral Vote for Vice President)

Tonie Nathan was the first woman and the first Jewish American to receive an Electoral College vote, decades before Geraldine Ferraro or Joseph Leiberman, when she was the (first) Vice Presidential candidate for the Libertarian Party in 1972.  (I met her in 2012 at the Libertarian Party nominating convention, less than two years before she passed away in March last year.)

Dates: February 9, 1923 – March 20, 2014
Known for: First woman to receive an electoral vote (in a United States presidential election) — Libertarian Party candidate for vice president in 1972, with John Hospers
Occupation: political candidate, public relations consultant, freelance writer, insurance agent, music publisher, business manager, radio and television talk show host
Also known as: Theodora Nathalia Nathan
Education
  • University of Oregon; B.A., Journalism, 1971
  • some graduate work
Marriage:
  • husband: Charles (Chuck) Nathan (composer)
About Tonie Nathan:
Tonie Nathan was born in New York, lived for a time in California, and moved to Oregon.
She ran several businesses and was a talk show host on KVAL-TV and several radio programs.
In 1972, Tonie Nathan was nominated by the Libertarian Party, which she had helped found, as candidate for vice president, with John Hospers nominated for president. The Libertarian Party was on the ballot in two states and received about 3,000 votes total. Roger L. MacBride, a Republican elector, cast his electoral vote for Hospers and Nathan rather than for the Nixon and Agnew ticket.
In 1976, Tonie Nathan ran for Congress as an independent and in 1980 she ran for the Senate as a Libertarian.
In 1977, Bella Abzug appointed Tonie Nathan as a delegate-at-large to the National Conference of Women.
Tonie Nathan remained politically active and worked as a public relations consultant and writer, including promoting her husband’s musicals.  Later she and her family owned a company that sold custom blinds and shutters
Organizations: Libertarian Party, Association of Libertarian Feminists


Pictured:  1972 Libertarian Vice Presidential candidate Tonie Nathan with 1980 Presidential candidate Ed Clark and wife Alicia Clark