Posted on 09/22/2014 10:30:04 AM PDT by Mrs. Don-o
Tennesseeans, this is what I wrote for my fellow parishioners, making the case that we ought to consider leaving the GOVERNOR line blank, and just voting Pro-Life YesOn1.
Your comments, please?
I personally am convinced that the governor's election means nada, since Haslam is going to win unless Christ comes again, or a supercaldera blows somewhere to the West of Memphis and destroys our beloved RockyTop altogether.
So the best thing we can do --- owing to math generated by the "dual majority" or "supermajority" mechanism of amending the Constitution --- is to skip the governor race and boost Proposition 1.
Amirite? Let me know.
YesOn1: Moral, Political, Tactical Thoughts
Did you know that Amendment One could (theoretically) get 100% “YES” votes , 0% “NO” votes, and still not pass?
Amending the TN Constitution requires, not just a simple majority, but a "dual majority," That means that it’s not enough for the proposed amendment to get more “Yes” than “No” votes. To pass, an amendment must get a majority based on the total ballots cast for the governor of the state. Anyone who votes for the governor but simply skips voting on the Amendment, is casting an automatic “NO” vote against the Amendment.
Consider a theoretical situation: say the total number of ballots cast in the governor’s race (for all candidates combined) , is 2,000,000. And say the total number of ballots cast on the Amendment (“YES” and “NO” votes combined) is just 200,000. Even if the vote for the amendment were unanimous -- if all 200,000 ballots cast were “Yes” votes --- the amendment would fail.
Why? Because the number of votes needed to pass would not be 100,001,--- a hundred thousand and one; It would be 1,000,001 -- a million and one --- a majority of the total ballots cast in the governor’s race.
So: more vote are cast for governor, the higher the bar is set: the higher the number an amendment is required to get in order to pass. And the less total votes there are for governor, the less the total votes an amendment is required to get.
That leads to a purely tactical question: wouldn’t it help the Amendment if a lot of people voted YES on the Amendment, and didn’t vote for governor at all? In other words, if Amendment supporters cast their vote on Amendment, but skipped the governor’s line on the ballot altogether?
From an ethical point of view: is this moral? Strictly speaking it’s not a moral question at all, but a tactical one: but yes, it’s morally allowable, because it ‘ s not morally obligatory to vote for governor. (That’s exactly the kind of purely political-tactical question the Church, for instance, cannot rule on, one way or the other.)
Is it legal? Again, this is a political, not a moral question, but the answer is yes: of course it’s legal. Voting on the governor line, one way or the other, is not morally obligatory.
So should you skip voting for governor, in order to lower the bar and make it easier to pass the YesOn1 Pro-Life Amendment? It’s strictly up to your judgment as a voter and citizen.
The best advice is to study exactly how a “dual majority” vote works, evaluate other factors, policies and platforms as much as you can or must, and then cast your ballot by your own best judgment to get the best results for the Sanctity of Life in Tennessee.
A non vote is a vote nonetheless, so you might as well vote for who you would LIKE to win even if it appears hopeless, you never know. BTW that is exactly why Ali Bama got re-elected, too many conservatives did not vote, thereby casting their vote FOR Obama.... Just saying.
Oh sure, blame the conservatives who couldn’t in good conscience vote for Liberal Romney. Don’t blame the GOP-E which cooperated with the gay lamestream media to boost Romney as the GOP nominee.
Comments sincerely sought.
Don’t think it would change any candidates mind.
However hitting the streets by the hundreds of thousands, might put the fear of God in one or the other...maybe!
BUT if the count of total ballots cast, regardless of whether a vote for governor is registered, is the measuring rod then you will kill the amendment with this strategy of not voting for governor.
No matter who conservative-activists vote for on the Governor line, it will not make a a difference in the outcome: Haslin will win, like it or not.
That's simply a foregone conclusion.
But it WILL make a difference to the Propositions. Because of the Dual majority Rule, YesOn1 votes must top the majority of votes cast for governor. Therefore every "redundant" vote cast for governor, raises the bar for how many votes the Propositions or Amendments have to get.
I guess I didn't explain that adequately?
Is there a better way to explain it?
...then there are the NINETY MILLION eligible voters who sat home and didn't vote for anyone...
I am trying to pass YesOn1, which is on the Nov. ballot.
Every ballot cast for governor, raises the number of votes legally required for the Proposition to win. It's a peculiarity of the TN Constitution.
Thus every vote cast for governor, makes it harder to pass a Proposition.
If you were trying to explain this, how would you explain it?
Can you clarify?
Link to the Tenn Constitution - See Amendment Process - Legislative Method
"Legislative method[edit]
Under the legislative method (which is a quite lengthy process), the Tennessee General Assembly must pass a resolution calling for an amendment and stating its wording, and must do so in three separate readings on three separate days, with an absolute majority on all readings. The resolution does not require the governor's approval.
The amendment must then be published at least six months before the next legislative election, but is not placed on the ballot at that time. Instead, once the legislative election is held, the proposed amendment must go another three readings, three day voting process. At this stage the amendment now requires approval of 2/3 of the legislature on each vote.
Finally, the amendment is placed on the ballot as a referendum coinciding with the next gubernatorial election. For the amendment to pass, the number of yes votes must be greater than one-half the number of votes cast for governor.
It does seem a viable strategy to not vote for Governor and vote for the amendment, to increase the odds that the amendment passes.
This strategy could be applied by both sides, those for Haslam and those against.
Does anybody know the history of amendment voting. What ratio to governor votes is usually obtained? Have proposed amendments failed in the past for failure to exceed 1/2 of the votes for governor?
If I lived in TN I would at least be able to vote YES on 1 but wouldn’t vote for Alexander or Haslam under any circumstances because they are the business as usual GOPe machine candidates. And of course I wouldn’t vote for Corker when he comes up for re-election.
I despised Romney, but I sure as hell refused to vote FOR Obama by not voting..
I’m asking a very technical question: does the counting contrast rely on number of ballots cast in the election, OR on the number of votes cast for governor?
Refraining from voting for governor is a tactic to effectively double the number of votes for a very important constitutional amendment on the ballot. The rules are arcane and hard to follow but essentially for the amendment to pass, it must receive 50% + 1 of the total number of votes cast for the governor. By refraining from voting for governor, you reduce the number of votes needed for the amendment to pass.
I couldn’t vote for either one.
But Romney won TN, so my lack of vote didn’t matter. But if I was forced to vote, I might have voted for Obama. After all, if rat policies and promotion of gays is going to be done by both candidates, I’d rather have the democrats take the blame.
I think I vcted for the Constitution party, so at least my vote registered for something not represented by either party.
In most states the amendment process by ballot referendum will call for a certain % of the ballots cast in the last gubernatorial election, not the one being voted on at the time.
I have no idea how it works in TN though.
It looks, however,like YesOn1 has a chance, despite the fact that we have almost no money, and the Abortion Industry is putting a quarter of a million dollars behind the "NO" campaign.
We've got a good chance ESPECIALLY of there's an over-all light turnout, and peolpe decide to skip voting for governor!
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