Last week’s mid term elections were not exactly great news for the Democrats but one state appears to have bucked the trend. California saw the re-election of veteran politician Jerry Brown as well as small advances in the state senate.For me anyway, one result was rather curious: the electors of Long Beach voted en masse for Democrat Jenny Oropeza (left) who beat her Republican opponent 58.4% to 35.7%
This is despite the fact that Sen. Oropeza, had died on 20 October…. A special election will be required.
This sort of thing is not unknown. The odious and erstwhile Attorney General John Ashcroft was defeated in 2000 by Mel Carnahan who had been killed in a plane crash.
What I don’t understand is why these election went ahead when it was clear that one of the candidates was clearly unfit to discharge their duties if elected (or perhaps not: Strom Thurmond is believed to have died in 1983 but still served for many years).
Here if a candidate dies the constituency election is suspended (as happened in Thirsk and Malton this year) until the party whose candidate has died selects another one. It just seems odd that the in the US the election still goes ahead
12 comments:
That is TOO WEIRD!!!
It is odd eh?
This disrespect to the dead, Jams, could get you in trouble yet, mind you...
Besides, dead is my preferred kind of politico ;-)
A dear American friend, who died over two years ago, and couldn't bring himself anymore to vote in any election for "rotten candidates" would have told you, " What's the problem? Whether they're in a coffin, reduced to ashes, or seemingly acting politics, those elected people are zombies who don't have a clue about America."
Apparently, if you were to investigate the voting lists, a lot of dead people resurrect and vote in the American Elections. That's what I've been told.
I'm sure it happens in my country too.
Sue why do many people prefer their politicos in that state!
Many politicians the world over are like that Claude
There have been a fair few cases of electoral fraud here too.
First off, election laws in the US are different for every state, and my state, Florida, has a procedure in place for replacing candidates who die, or, more normally, Republicans who get removed as they need to spend more time with their lawyers and parole officer.
In some states parties can only select candidates by a primary election, so there is no way to make a substitution quickly.
Generally, after the ballot is approved by the secretary of state for a specific state it cannot be altered, and the election must take place as scheduled.
I would note that Americans generally suspect that the candidate's opponent had something to do with the death, so this actually occurs more often that is reported. Voting for someone who is dead, with the notable exception of Strom Thurman, is a way of noting a definite dislike for the choices that were presented.
As for voting after death, that generally takes place only in large cities like Chicago and Miami. Computerized record keeping has reduced that problem in most places.
Bryan thanks for the information. It still strikes me as odd to go ahead when it is known that a candidate is dead. Electing Oropeza served no purpose in my view.
For us the process is more simple. The constituency party chooses its candidate. None of this primary nonsense. We don't have this registering as a repub or democrat voter.
Politics in most places but in the US especially is simply entertainment - one could call it Kabuki Theater.
Often with tragic endings Susan!
You have a party-based parliamentary system, Jams. The people who wrote our Constitution disliked even the concept of political parties, so they are grafted on as an afterthought. We, in theory, are voting for the individual, not the party. There were a dozen different people from 5 parties and no party at all running for the top jobs on my ballot.
That's true Bryan. It is very difficult to get elected here if you are not aligned to a major party. It does happen at local level and occasionally at national but it has to be a particularly charismatic candidate. THe Greens finally had an MP elected this year, in a constituency where the student vote is significant. National politics may wel swep her away next time unless she makes a major mark.
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