71–80 of 177 posts
Anyway, a recent anekdot from Russian democracy illustrating why the ruling power is so obstructing oppositional candidates. A mayor of small town to make elections legally democratic, ie to have at least 2 candidates while of course not allowing any real oppositional candidates, ran his office janitor woman against himself. The people voted for the janitor.
This reminds me of the 2019 Canadian federal election. There was a new party in that election led by a man named Maxime Bernier called the People's Party. They're a far-right populist party and generally awful. Bernier himself was running in Beauce, Quebec, which he had represented through the Conservative party since 2006 before he had created the People's Party. But then the Rhinoceros Party, a satirical political…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
In Florida a sham candidate with the same surname as the real candidate paid to run to siphon off votes from the real candidate. Completely different. Not at all similar. Nothing in common. Nothing to see in Florida, move along please.
OP said it happened In Florida but no name changes happened in Florida. My comment was meant to clarify, not argue in bad faith. I said “very” different not “completely different”. Nor did I argue that either should be ignored.
Happened in Florida in 2020 as well... https://www.tampabay.com/opinion/2020/12/02/the-name-is-the-... https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/11/20/florida-ele... https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politic...
In the Florida case it was/is a common surname, not a full name. In this Russian case, two humans changed their full name to match. Presumably paid to do so. Very different situations Edit: in the Russian case, they also changed their appearance to match According to a sibling comment, this strategy goes back to JohnF Kennedy at least. Except that the Russians take it to the next level
Happened in Florida in 2020 as well... https://www.tampabay.com/opinion/2020/12/02/the-name-is-the-... https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/11/20/florida-ele... https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politic...
In one of the FL cases, reporters went to the house of the "other" one and he literally couldn't say why he was on the ballot. That is my recollection of the story I read at the time.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
OP said it happened In Florida but no name changes happened in Florida. My comment was meant to clarify, not argue in bad faith. I said “very” different not “completely different”. Nor did I argue that either should be ignored.
Whether there is a name change involved, the result is the same, to siphon off votes. That's the main thrust of the story in Russia and FL. I'd say very similar not very different .
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think you can usually ignore people who complain about "whataboutism" - on HN at least it usually boils down to someone trying to dismiss a legitimate comparison with "Hey you can't say that, I said it first!"
"you're ruining my point by showing my hypocrisy"
Happened in Florida in 2020 as well... https://www.tampabay.com/opinion/2020/12/02/the-name-is-the-... https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/11/20/florida-ele... https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politic...
The Russian case will likely end differently.
A friend of mine (and my successor as chairman of the Chicago Republican Party) filed a case in the U.S. Supreme Court this week over the same tactic right here in Chicago. https://www.chicagotribune.com/politics/ct-michael-madigan-c... If we win this thing, then filing sham candidates will become illegal in the U.S. It's an utterly corrupt practice.
Sorry, not from the US so I might be missing something, but the link you posted was about someone from the Democrats. Did your friend switch parties after that election (I wouldn't be surprised if that kind of thing had happened)?