Monday, October 19, 2020

'Tis a Rough Year to be a Third-Party Candidate

    I wonder if this election was especially problematic for those of us who ran third-party. If our campaign material arrived before the ballots, voters were not ready to consider our races, and likely trashed the material before it could even make a mental impression. 

   But, if our campaign material arrives two weeks after the ballots went out, by then many -- who knows how many -- will have already voted. So, our material was wasted if it arrived before the ballots, and wasted if it arrives much after the ballots.

    All our campaigning had to be compacted into about a week's time, if it were to have full impact. 

   Democrats and Republicans do not suffer so much from this problem. When the voter gets the ballot, and knows nothing about the candidates, they simply vote based on which party they lean toward. Or, if they know the incumbent, they might suppose they know a little about him or her, and vote based on having knowledge of that candidate. 


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