Trumpled (Alternative Leading)

[Mav]

Lods, I was actually referring to:

• the Libertarian Party which has nominated Gary Johnson and Bill Weld as his running mate - click HERE; and
  
• the Green Party which has nominated Jill Stein and William Kreml as her running mate - click HERE.
  

By the way, those links show that both of those parties hardly allowed the public at large to vote - they rigged it so a Libertarian and Green would win.

Anyway, a Republican can run as an independent but the clock is ticking.  Each State has different prerequisites for getting onto the ballot.  There are differing filing dates and IIRC the one in Texas has either passed or soon will.  There are various requirements to put together lists of supporting signatures from signatories living in that State who can't have voted in other primaries or caucuses in that State.  So if Kasich were to run in those States, he'd need to sign up people who hadn't voted for him before.  So it isn't easy.

But don't make the mistake of assuming that an independent candidate will cause the delegates to be split, leaving everyone short of 270 electoral college votes.  Mostly*, each State's electoral votes all go to the candidate who receives the most votes, even if that candidate receives less than 50% of the vote.  So even if the Libertarian, Green and Independent candidates draw away votes, the Republican and Democratic candidates will get all the delegates.  The ONLY circumstance in which they might prevent one or tuther getting 270 is if one of them scores the most votes in one or more states.  Neither Ross Perot nor Ralph Nader managed to win a state even though Ross Perot received 18.9% of the popular vote.  There were 5 independent candidates earlier in the 20th Century who did manage to do so.

* Nebraska and Maine can split votes.  Both award 2 electors to the popular statewide vote winner and then 1 elector to the winner of the popular vote in each congressional district (making an additional 3 in Nebraska and 2 in Maine). 

The major threat of the third party candidates is that they can bleed votes from one of the main 2 candidates and swing the election to the other candidate.  In 2000, Ralph Nader ran as a Green candidate and took votes away from Gore in Florida which handed Bush the election (although he disputes this analysis).

Clinton would love a Republican to run as an independent and Trump would love Sanders to run as an independent.  In 1912, Teddy Roosevelt lost in the Republican primaries to Taft and then ran as an independent.  He managed to win 88 Electoral College votes, kept Taft to just 8, and allowed the Democratic candidate, Woodrow Wilson, to romp home with 435.

[Mav]

These are the requirements for an independent to be placed on the ballot in Texas:

Independent Candidates

Independent candidates for President file an application with the Secretary of State. The application must be submitted with a petition, and both documents must be filed no later than May 9, 2016. The petitions can be circulated beginning after March 1, 2016. For 2016, the petition must contain 79,939 signatures of registered voters who did not vote in the presidential primary of either party. The application must include the information about and signed consent from the candidate’s vice-presidential running mate. In addition to the petition and application, an independent candidate for President must provide signed, written statements of consent to be a presidential elector candidate from 38 presidential elector candidates (the number of presidential electors that federal law allocates to Texas). Forms are linked below and may be obtained from the Secretary of State’s office.

It looks like Texas has already shut out independents, although the Libertarian and Green Party candidates are set. 

I couldn't be bothered going through the other states to see which might already have closed their ballot nominations.

[Lods]

These are the requirements for an independent to be placed on the ballot in Texas:

It looks like Texas has already shut out independents, although the Libertarian and Green Party candidates are set. 

I couldn't be bothered going through the other states to see which might already have closed their ballot nominations.

About halfway down the page it gives the requirements for independent candidates and deadlines
The majority are in July/ August


https://ballotpedia.org/Ballot_access_fo...es.2C_2016

[dodge]

Curiosity won and I looked at the list (thanks Lods)

- the people in the District of Columbia are recognised as a separate "State"
- 5 US Territories get a vote as well.

That makes 56 "States" that get to vote.

[Mav]

It's a nightmare system, isn't it?  Trump stuffed up in a few of the primaries/caucuses because he hadn't read all the fine print.  In Nevada, he didn't nominate potential delegates in time and the delegates who were ultimately awarded to him weren't even Trump voters.  If there'd been a contested convention, he would have lost quite a few because Ted Cruz was well organised and was busy peeling delegates away.  Even Ivanka Trump failed to register in time to vote for dear old daddy.

No wonder a well-organised candidate has a flying squad of lawyers and a reliable team of scrutineers in every state just waiting to argue all the technicalities in a close election.

[Lods]

When I was younger it was the case that the average Australian kid could name many more Native American tribes than they could Indigenous Australian tribes. Sioux Cheyenne, Comanche Apache, Mohawk...we could pick them by their clothing or hairstyles ....the impact of television!

With the decline of the Western in movies and TV that disparity is probably not there any more....although the knowledge of Indigenous groups is probably still pretty thin.

It's funny that with a Federal election less than a month away we seem to be devoting more time to an American election that wont happen until November than we are to our own contest.

I guess we prefer the "bizarre" to the "boring" when it comes to elections.

[DJC]

When I was younger it was the case that the average Australian kid could name many more Native American tribes than they could Indigenous Australian tribes. Sioux Cheyenne, Comanche Apache, Mohawk...we could pick them by their clothing or hairstyles ....the impact of television!

With the decline of the Western in movies and TV that disparity is probably not there any more....although the knowledge of Indigenous groups is probably still pretty thin.

It's funny that with a Federal election less than a month away we seem to be devoting more time to an American election that wont happen until November than we are to our own contest.

I guess we prefer the "bizarre" to the "boring" when it comes to elections.

Perhaps folk are more concerned about the fallout from the results of the US election.  A victory by Tweedle Dee or Tweedle Dum in our election won't really make much difference but the prospect of a Trump victory is scary.

[Baggers]

When I was younger it was the case that the average Australian kid could name many more Native American tribes than they could Indigenous Australian tribes. Sioux Cheyenne, Comanche Apache, Mohawk...we could pick them by their clothing or hairstyles ....the impact of television!

With the decline of the Western in movies and TV that disparity is probably not there any more....although the knowledge of Indigenous groups is probably still pretty thin.

It's funny that with a Federal election less than a month away we seem to be devoting more time to an American election that wont happen until November than we are to our own contest.

I guess we prefer the "bizarre" to the "boring" when it comes to elections.

What a perfect summary, to prefer bizarre over boring. Well said. I remember a time when there were inspiring political leaders.

[Robblues]

It's amazing the Americans can make a rah rah about almost anything. The lead up and the hype almost over shadows the event it's self. It has its own life, and the public really buy into it. Must the culture in general, here , we mostly are sick of hear about it from day one

[Mav]

Impressive oratory works in the US but not in Australia.  Going to an Obama rally in 2008 or 2012 must have really been something.  He captivated his crowds with his soaring and inspirational rhetoric.  But if Obama had grown up in Australia, he would have been told he was being a wanker. 

Imagine thousands of people turning out to listen to Bill or Malcolm. It just doesn't happen.