# Anyone planning to vote for Ralph Nader this time around? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 24, 2004, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-planning-to-vote-for-ralph-nader-this-time-around/230808 "2004-02-24T02:21:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![burundi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3ec8ea/32.png) [@burundi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burundi)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2004, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-planning-to-vote-for-ralph-nader-this-time-around/230808/21 "2004-02-24T22:39:15Z")
I voted for Nader in 2000, but not this time. The stakes are too high now. I can’t afford to make an idealistic statement with my vote this year. ---
**Author:** ![DaveX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/96bed5/32.png) [@DaveX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DaveX)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2004, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-planning-to-vote-for-ralph-nader-this-time-around/230808/22 "2004-02-24T22:59:47Z")
Um, Stonebow, my vote doesn’t count. If you lived in Utah and vote for a democratic presidential nominy, your vote wouldn’t count either… not for president anyway. It doesn’t stop me from voting, though, since there are local candidates and referendums where my vote does count, and those are every bit as important. ---
**Author:** ![Qburn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/bc79bd/32.png) [@Qburn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qburn)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2004, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-planning-to-vote-for-ralph-nader-this-time-around/230808/23 "2004-02-25T01:44:02Z")
[Nader acknowledges difficulty in getting on presidential ballot](http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2004/02/23/politics1157EST0570.DTL) You may not have the opportunity to even vote for Nader. For instance, he has to collect 65,000 signatures from independants in less than 60 days to get on the ballot in Texas. He’s not elegible for federal funding in either the primaries or the general election. This time around he’s without the benifit of a national organization. Sure he’s got a website, a lot of good it did Dean. Anybody who thinks their vote doen’t count wasn’t paying attention four years ago. The battleground state was Florida, but could easily have been Gore’s Tennessee or New Hampshire. Who knows what state could play a pivital role this time around… Or if you’re Pat Robertson, [“I think George Bush is going to win in a walk. I’m hearing from the Lord that it’s going to be a blowout.”](http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/02/19/60minutes/rooney/main601254.shtml) ---
**Author:** ![Call\_me\_Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/90ced4/32.png) [@Call\_me\_Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Call_me_Frank)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2004, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-planning-to-vote-for-ralph-nader-this-time-around/230808/24 "2004-02-25T03:55:45Z")
The thing I don’t understand about the people voting for Nader is the statement “I don’t like either candidate…” But isn’t there one you dislike the least? The one whom you think is _least_ offensive and least likely to cause serious damage to the nation??? ---
**Author:** ![Dogzilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@Dogzilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogzilla)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2004, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-planning-to-vote-for-ralph-nader-this-time-around/230808/25 "2004-02-25T14:11:44Z")
I’m a little scared to post this because I am one of the Florida Nader voters. Imagine my shock and dismay when I discovered that my vote actually counted! Who’da thunk it? I’ve been voting for 15 years and not once has my vote mattered one whit. This year, I’d really really really like to support Nader. I beleive the man has done more public work in terms of consumer advocacy, and accomplished more things that directly affect my life, making it cleaner, safer and more sensible, than any elected official out there. That said, I witnessed first hand what happened the last time, as a result of my (and 90-som thousand of my closest friends) idealism: we got screwed. We may have screwed ourselves. I’ll be voting Democratic this year, though it pains me to do so. Like others in this thread, I beleive the country is in dire straits and we cannot afford to throw votes away or allow the Shrub to continue to whittle away at our rights for four more years. ---
**Author:** ![Olentzero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/90ced4/32.png) [@Olentzero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Olentzero)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2004, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-planning-to-vote-for-ralph-nader-this-time-around/230808/26 "2004-02-25T17:35:41Z")
> [@Call me Frank](#): > > The thing I don’t understand about the people voting for Nader is the statement “I don’t like either candidate…” But isn’t there one you dislike the least? The one whom you think is _least_ offensive and least likely to cause serious damage to the nation??? Quite simply put, no. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-planning-to-vote-for-ralph-nader-this-time-around/230808.md?page=1)