Subject: Make your vote count TWICE! *AND* vote your conscience! Date: Mon, 23 Oct 2000 From: Eris Make your vote count twice! If you are like most Americans who will be voting in this election, you are probably not happy with either party. The conservatives are disgusted with the Republicans because they have abandoned fiscal responsibility for corporate welfare. The liberals are disgusted with the Democrats because the has given up a progressive platform and cater too readily to big business. But whether a liberal or a conservative, you are (justifiably) afraid that you will be helping the party you dislike most if you don't vote for the lesser of two evils. But what if I were to tell you that there was a way to effectively make your vote count twice. Well then, Here is an important idea for people who are disgusted with the choice of candidates within the two major parties this year but who are afraid that voting against Gore will help Bush or voting for Bush would help Gore for the other side of this message-----the idea works for both.) My suggestion is this: Find a person who you disagree with politically but who is also disgusted with the two candidates, lives in the same State as you do, and make the following proposal: "Hi ________, every election year we both end up essentially canceling out each others' votes for President. I vote for the Democrat/Republican, and you cancel it out by voting for the Republican/Democrat. The effect of this is essentially that neither one of us taken together helps out the candidate we would rather have win out of the two parties who we are both disgusted with. So why not make our votes count this year? We both dislike both Bush and Gore, so I'll tell you what: I will not vote for Gore if you do not vote for Bush. This way both of us are free to use our votes for third party candidates we think are better suited to be president, but whom we were too fearful to vote for because we were each afraid that the other candidate would get elected and do more damage than who each of us view as the lesser of two evils. This is an effective solution. Neither one of our candidates gets hurt by our not voting for them and in this way we almost get to make our votes count twice---once by canceling out each others like we always do, and again by voting for who we really think is the best choice! What do you think?" I believe this proposal has great merit, though there are three rules you need to keep in mind: #1. The person needs to be someone you can trust---otherwise they might do something different in the poll booth than they promise. #2. The person must be in the same state (otherwise you might do your candidate harm by costing him a state that he was on the boarder of winning for the sake of a vote in one he has handily, etc). #3. The person must promise not to make this same deal with anyone else (otherwise he or she is undoing two votes for 1.) Now go for it! You have very few bargaining days left. Find a friend or relative you butt heads with at the polls and reach a gentleman's (or gentlewoman's) agreement to make your votes count. If you don't have somebody to make this deal with and still want to help, pass this letter along to a friend. If you DO have someone to make this deal with but would like to help more, pass it along to a friend! (k) Kallisti, all rights reverse. Redistribute as you like.