The write-in choices

It takes all kinds to run for President, I suppose.

Photo by Element5 Digital on Unsplash

Here in Delaware we have five choices on the ballot for Presidential tickets. You know Trump/Vance, Harris/Walz, and maybe Kennedy/Shanahan (who, in other states, wished to withdraw so as not to take votes away from Donald Trump.) The Libertarians have Chase Oliver and Mike ter Maat as their Presidential ticket, while Delaware can also choose their “Conservative” Party featuring Vermin Supreme and his running mate Jonathan Realz. You know how I feel about that.

But there are also a handful of folks who paid the money or otherwise managed to place themselves in front of voters as prospective write-in hopefuls. Most are running for themselves, but there are four other tickets who will have their write-in votes counted so I figured a paragraph or two on each wouldn’t hurt. So I bring to you the forgotten four, in alphabetical order.

Claudia De la Cruz/Karina Garcia (The Party for Socialism and Liberation)

This pair is the logical extension of where the Democrat Party wants to be: a pair of community organizers whose party’s goal is simple.

In order to emancipate the workers, we have to build a socialist movement, anchored in a multinational organization, that fights for a socialist transformation and abolishes the tyranny of the market, that abolishes the rule of private property and profit.  

We are fighting for a planned economy, the democratization of decision-making, production and distribution that works to our collective resources and labor to meet the needs of the people and the planet. The market, capitalist exploitation and a profit motive will no longer dictate who gets access to life-saving medicine, who has a place to live, who gets evacuated from a flood zone or who goes to prison. 

There are two choices: it’s capitalism or it’s socialism.

With goals like “Seize the Top 100 Corporations, Create a New Economy for the People” and “Overthrow the Dictatorship of the Rich - Build a Democracy That Serves the Working Class” it’s the Democrat Party on steroids, the fever dream of folks like Kamala Harris and Tim Walz. These people at least have the cajones to walk the walk.

At this time, the PSL is not an organized party in Delaware, but they have similar cousins in the Socialist Workers and Working Families parties. Between the two they boast 451 voters.

Peter Sonski/Lauren Onak (American Solidarity Party)

This is an intriguing ticket in that their platform (or, as they put it, vision) combines facets traditionally associated with the Right (pro-life, traditional marriage) with economic ideas from the Left, stating, “Workers’ rights and a family wage must be ensured, and those who cannot work should receive income adequate for full participation in society.” Also, America “must first address ideological differences and eradicate racial, ethnic and economic injustice within its own borders.”

While they are not on the ballot in Delaware or Maryland, they helpfully encourage those in the (formerly) Free State to, “vote No on Question 1 which would expand abortion even further in Maryland.” They are on the ballot in a handful of states, including Florida and Ohio. The ASP is an overtly Christian and perhaps left-of-center alternative that’s not formally a party yet in Delaware.

Jill Stein/Rudolph “Butch” Ware (Green Party)

For want of a couple dozen registered voters, the Greens would have made the Delaware ballot (they have in the past.) Maybe the Democrats don’t want them to be a spoiler again.

To be honest, with their focus on “People, Planet, Peace” they are a somewhat less revolutionary version of the PSL above, and as such have a little more support from those who wish to color within the lines. They don’t so much want to smash capitalism as they wish to regulate it out of existence by demanding a zero-carbon economy by 2035 and cradle-to-grave government assistance buoyed by a “steeply progressive” tax system, among many other things. They have a tremendously long to-do list for a more intrusive federal government.

This is the third time Stein has run as the Green Party standard-bearer, having done so before in 2012 and 2016 - the ill-fated “glass ceiling” election for Hillary Clinton. Democrats also swear Ralph Nader (who ran as a Green Party candidate in 2000) cost Al Gore that election by being on the Florida ballot, which is why Democrats discourage Green Party participation. The Greens have 750 registered with their party in Delaware.

Cornel West/Melina Abdullah (Justice for All Party)

The West/Abdullah ticket is trying to work their way onto the ballot as independents, despite the party label created by West. Amazingly, they have succeeded in 15 states, including the battleground states of Michigan and Wisconsin (despite the best efforts of Democrats to boot him off there. They did succeed in Pennsylvania.)

Yet again, we seem to have a candidate whose platform doesn’t think government is big enough or insures equality in outcome enough. Everything is couched in justice, but it seems to be justice for those who the pair deem are the downtrodden in America. This pair isn’t altogether different than either the PSL or Green Party above - in fact, West briefly flirted with seeking the Green Party nomination before deciding to strike out on his own.

With these four choices (plus a dozen or so others who did not announce a running mate when they filed), it’s disappointing that the Constitution Party didn’t try to even be on the docket as a write-in. I get why the national ballot access was important to the Randall Terry/Stephen Broden ticket but to be taken seriously they have to work these steps in.

So if you don’t like the ballot choices, this is what you’re left with.

Until next time, remember you can Buy Me a Coffee since I have a page there.