VoteSwap 2004

Nader won't be on Indiana ballot

Nader won't be on Indiana ballot

Independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader won't be on Indiana's ballot in November.

"I'm extremely disgusted," said Dallas Stoner, Nader's Indiana coordinator.

He blames Indiana's ballot access laws -- among the toughest in the country -- for setting a difficult standard to reach. Nader supporters, Stoner said, haven't collected even half of the 29,552 petition signatures they needed to have by noon today for Nader to be on the ballot.

GOP campaigning in Oregon for Nader

Daily Kos reports that two conservative groups have been phoning people around Oregon this week, urging them to attend Ralph Nader's convention Saturday in hopes of putting Nader's name on Oregon's presidential ballot.

The groups make no bones about their goal -- to draw votes away from Democrat John Kerry and help President Bush win this battleground state in November.

"We disagree with Ralph Nader's politics, but we'd love to see him make the ballot," said Russ Walker of Citizens for a Sound Economy, a group best known for its opposition to tax increases.

The Oregon Family Council also has been working the phones to boost attendance at Nader's event -- with the idea that it could help Bush this fall.

"We aren't bashful about doing it," said Mike White, the group's director. "We are a conservative, pro-family organization, and Bush is our guy on virtually every issue."

Conservatives Try to Get Nader on Ballot

Conservatives Try to Get Nader on Ballot

By BRAD CAIN, Associated Press Writer

SALEM, Ore. - Two conservative groups have been phoning people around Oregon this week, urging them to attend Ralph Nader convention Saturday in hopes of putting Nader's name on Oregon's presidential ballot.

The groups make no bones about their goal — to draw votes away from Democrat John Kerry and help President Bush win this battleground state in November.

"We disagree with Ralph Nader's politics, but we'd love to see him make the ballot," said Russ Walker of Citizens for a Sound Economy, a group best known for its opposition to tax increases.

Greens Give Nader Thumbs Down

theBakersfieldchannel.com - Politics - Greens Give Nader Thumbs Down

The Green Party nominated Texas attorney David Cobb as its candidate for president Saturday, rejecting Ralph Nader's efforts to secure the party's formal endorsement and likely access to the ballot in key states like Wisconsin and California.

Nader, the party's candidate in 1996 and 2000, had told Green officials months ago he would not accept the party's nomination for president, preferring to build a coalition of third-party groups and independents rather than running under one banner.

Still, he openly courted their formal endorsement as a means to get on the ballot in the 22 states and Washington, D.C., where the party has a ballot line.

Is Vote-Swapping Legal?

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Is Vote-Swapping Legal? By Jeremy Derfner

Slate, the Industry Standard, and washingtonpost.com join forces to examine the effect of the Internet on Campaign 2000.
Last week, Jamin Raskin, a law professor at American University, published an article in Slate proposing that Ralph Nader supporters who live in battleground states (such as Michigan) swap votes over the Internet with Al Gore supporters in states where the outcome of the election is an all-but-settled issue (such as Texas). That way, Nader could get the 5 percent of the popular vote he needs to secure federal matching funds for the Green Party in 2004 without tipping swing states to George W. Bush and costing Gore the electoral votes he needs to win.

It turns out a technical writer from Washington, D.C., had already thought of the idea and launched Vote Exchange Oct. 1. A Wisconsin graduate student launched a second site, Nader Trader, the same day the Raskin article appeared. Since then, the idea has exploded. At least six other trading sites have gone up: Voteswap 2000, Nader's Traders, VoteExchange, votexchange2000, nadergore.org, and WinWin Campaign. The media has given the trading trend heavy coverage, driving hundreds of thousands of visitors to these sites. Nader Trader reports that it got more than 90,000 hits on Monday alone. It seems as if vote-trading is catching on everywhere. A Democratic club in Alabama has declared Minnesota