[Politics_Observer]

So, I will be voting early tomorrow in the primary elections taking place in my state of Georgia. Trump has endorsed several Republican candidates in my state it seems. I am not a Republican. However, I will vote in the Republican primary to vote for the candidate that leads the closest or exceeds the Trump-endorsed Republican candidate to hopefully contribute towards defeating that Trump-endorsed candidate in the primary. The strategy is part of my own effort to break Trump's hold on the Republican party with insincere voting. Then, when the General Election comes, I vote for the Democrats running against the Republicans.

[Potemkin]

insincere voting

We call it “tactical voting”, @Politics_Observer. It sounds better.

[Unthinking Majority]

Trump is the symptom, not the cause. You gotta kill the ideas.

[Politics_Observer]

@Potemkin

We call it “tactical voting”, @Politics_Observer. It sounds better.

That's exactly what it is. Though I am a Democrat, I just voted in the Republican primary. What I did was get a copy of the Republican ballot and research all the candidates. I determined which candidates were endorsed by Trump and then which candidates were less Trumpy than Trump. I voted for the candidates that either lead the Trump-endorsed candidate or are closest behind the Trump candidate that was less Trumpy than Trump.

For example, Trump endorsed a candidate in my state of Georgia, Trump has it out for Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and Governor Brian Kemp because they followed the law and wouldn't cave into Trump and falsely give him the votes he wanted to win Georgia. So, Trump endorsed candidates for governor of Georgia and for Secretary of State that he thinks would break the law for Trump and manufacture votes that don't exist to give Trump the state in a future election.

So, I voted for the incumbent Secretary of State who Trump is trying to unseat, Brad Raffensperger, and the Governor of Georgia Brian Kemp, since they are leading the Trump-endorsed candidate or are closely behind the Trump candidate. Now, my state of Georgia has runoff elections. The intent of those runoff elections is to try to curve the influence of tactical voting in which I am engaged.

However, by voting for the candidates that are less Trumpy than Trump AND either lead or are closely behind a Trump-endorsed candidate, it's more difficult for a runoff election to curve the influence of my vote. So, I calculated the influence curving effect a run-off election might have on my vote.

I will of course, also vote in any run-off election in the Republican primary should they happen. I don't think run-off elections can completely curve the influence of more savvy voters who engage in tactical voting. Especially those who are educated in Game Theory and will calculate the influence of runoff elections on their tactical votes.

[Politics_Observer]

@Unthinking Majority

Trump is the symptom, not the cause. You gotta kill the ideas.

Part of the war of ideas is defeating those ideas at the ballot box and those candidates who spread such ideas.

[Rancid]

Let me guess, all the trumper MAGAs won?

[Politics_Observer]

@Rancid

Let me guess, all the trumper MAGAs won?

We are still doing early voting here in Georgia. So, the official day for the primary election hasn't come yet here in Georgia. Nothing has been decided yet. In other states, some Trump-endorsed candidates were defeated while some won. There have been mixed results for Trump-endorsed candidates.

[Politics_Observer]

@Potemkin

It would appear that my tactical voting might be more influential than I previously thought given that Georgia's runoff election law, implemented by white supremacists in the state in the 1960s was designed to dilute the black vote. Trump is racist and my votes have gone against Trump-endorsed candidates (which by default makes them racist too as far as I am concerned) but such votes were done in the Republican primaries and the votes were given to those candidates less Trumpy than Trump but either leading the Trump candidate or closely behind the Trump candidate. That could help to potentially force a runoff, which in turn would participate in voting for the least Trumpy candidate likely to win. Here are the racist roots of my state's runoff election laws:

In the U.S., the adoption of runoff voting at the state level first occurred in the South, after a long process of electoral experimentation.

The Georgia Constitution of 1777 directed that the governor was to be chosen each year by the legislative assembly. That system continued until an 1824 constitutional amendment required that governors be directly elected by voters. Notably, however, in situations where no candidate received a majority, the legislative assembly would make the final determination. This provision was later incorporated into successive Georgia constitutions up through 1945.

It’s important to remember that Abraham Lincoln was a Republican. After the Civil War, many white Southerners came to the realization that only through a united political front could a culture of white supremacy be preserved. As a result, Southerners who were pro-segregation and anti-civil rights universally supported Democratic candidates to all political offices.

In 1966, Howard Callaway decided to try to challenge this legacy by becoming the first Republican nominee for governor of Georgia since 1876. In the election, Callaway won 46.53% of the vote, which was slightly more than Democrat Lester Maddox – his nearest competitor – who netted 46.22% of the vote.

Despite winning a plurality, Callaway did not obtain a majority. Following the 1824 provision, Georgia’s legislative assembly – which was dominated by Democrats – ended up choosing Callaway’s Democratic opponent as the next governor. This led to a series of court battles, eventually culminating in a U.S. Supreme Court decision, which upheld the right of Georgia’s legislative assembly to choose a governor who had lost the popular vote.

The contested election of 1966 provided Georgians with an opening to adopt runoff voting for the election of future governors, other statewide officeholders and its congressional delegation. Runoff voting was already on the minds of many proponents of reform, as Georgia had adopted the system for primary elections just a few years prior.

Back in 1917, Georgia adopted the “county unit system” for all primary elections.

Under this system, “urban” counties were allocated six votes, “town” counties were allocated four votes and “rural” counties were allocated two votes. Each county’s votes were then awarded to whomever won that particular county, similar to how the U.S. Electoral College works for most states.

Just as the U.S. Electoral College gives proportionately more power to less populous states, the county unit system similarly favored less populous counties. This system was particularly harmful to the voting influence of African Americans, who largely lived in urban counties.

In 1963, the U.S. Supreme Court declared the county unit system unconstitutional as a violation of the “one person, one vote” principle. This prompted Georgian legislators to look for a new electoral system that could similarly, yet legally, suppress the African American vote. Later that year, Denmark Groover – a staunch segregationist – proposed the adoption of runoff voting, as it “would again provide protection which … was removed with the death of the county unit system.”

The fear among whites was that if elections were left to plurality voting, the white vote could be split among several different candidates, while African Americans could – in theory – vote as a single bloc for an African American candidate, who could end up winning with the most votes overall.

Groover was quoted by State Representative James Mackay as having said on the floor of the Georgia House of Representatives that with plurality voting, “the Negroes and the pressure groups and special interests are going to manipulate this State and take charge.”

However, by adopting runoff voting, even if white voters split their vote in the first round and an African American somehow made it to the second round, white voters – from both parties – would still have a chance to unite behind the white candidate to ensure victory. Groover himself advertised his runoff voting bill as being designed to “prevent the Negro bloc vote from controlling the elections.”

In 1964, Georgia adopted Groover’s runoff plan for primary elections. After the contested 1966 gubernatorial election, the state also adopted it for general elections.

Notably, Georgia’s runoff voting process works slightly differently in the event of a special election, such as the upcoming Loeffler versus Warnock Senate race. In such cases, there is no primary, and instead, all candidates – from all parties – appear together on a single ballot in what is called a “jungle primary.” If a candidate wins a majority, they are elected. If no candidate wins a majority, a runoff is held between the top two candidates – even if both are from the same party.

https://theconversation.com/a-brief-his ... ots-150356

[Politics_Observer]

Looks like Kemp defeated the Trump-endorsed candidate Perdue in the Republican primaries here in my state of Georgia which has become an important battleground state for U.S. elections. So far, Brad Raffensperger for the position of Georgia Secretary of State, the man who refused to cheat the election for Trump is ahead against the Trump-endorsed candidate Jody Hice. This is good news for me. So, I think voting in the Republican primaries, even though I am a Democrat, against Trump-endorsed candidates has so far proven to be a good strategy that has payoffs for me in that such votes are contributing to reducing Trump's hold and sway on the Republican party. The payoff for me is reducing the threat that Trump poses to America's democracy and the U.S. Constitution. I am hoping that another additional payoff will be that Republicans will have an easier time standing up for U.S. democracy against Trump or Trump-like candidates or elected officials.