By Steve Brawner, © 2024 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.
I guess one of the Electoral College’s upsides is that if you live in a solidly red state like Arkansas or in a blue state, you don’t have to stress too much about your vote.
The corresponding downside is, neither will the campaigns.
Arkansas’ six Electoral College votes aren’t in play because they will certainly go to former President Donald Trump. A September poll by Talk Business & Politics and Hendrix College confirmed what everyone already knew. Trump was leading Vice President Kamala Harris, 55%-40%, while 3% favored other candidates and only 2% were undecided.
The survey was conducted Sept. 5-6, two months before the election. Trump elicits such strong emotions that it’s unlikely his or Harris’ numbers will move much. If they do, it would probably be in Trump’s favor. No Democrat has polled above 40% in a statewide race in Arkansas since 2014. The Biden-Harris ticket four years ago only received 35%. Maybe she’ll gain a few points from some voters’ “Trump fatigue.”
The Electoral College combined with the country’s division into red and blue states means we no longer really have national presidential elections. Arkansas being a solidly red state makes it politically irrelevant. Trump will take the state for granted while Harris will write it off. In fact, the entire election will come down to seven states: Georgia, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Nevada and Arizona.
I’ve written in the past about how to improve the Electoral College: Multiply each state’s number of votes by 10 and award them proportionally, and then award additional votes to the state’s winner. Under that system, both Harris and Trump would have incentives to ask Arkansans for their votes.
The fact that 95% of Talk Business/Hendrix College poll respondents said they knew how they will vote doesn’t mean they were all happy about it. Some, if not many, on both sides will be voting for the lesser of two evils.
Those Arkansans along with the 2% who are undecided have another choice, and that’s to join the 3% who say they are choosing one of the other candidates. I’ve interviewed all of them except independent Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has left the race and endorsed Trump but will still appear on the ballot.
He polled at 1%, as did Libertarian Party nominee Chase Oliver. Libertarians including him believe in very limited government. On the opposite end of the spectrum, Green Party candidate Jill Stein, who supports the government performing many functions currently run by big corporations, was at 0%.
One percent said they were voting for “another candidate.” Whether or not those respondents knew it, there are only two on the Arkansas ballot. One is Peter Sonski with the American Solidarity Party, which is pro-life on both abortion and the death penalty and heavily influenced by Catholic teachings. The other is Michael Wood with the Prohibition Party, which seeks to reduce alcohol and drug use among other policy priorities.
Arkansas voters who don’t want to support either Trump or Harris should feel no pressure to chose one or the other. Their votes will not affect the outcome.
Instead, they should feel free to take advantage of that aforementioned Electoral College upside and vote for whomever they prefer. That includes Trump or Harris, of course. But they also can vote for one of the other candidates. They can do so because they support them or because they want to send a message of disapproval to Republicans and Democrats.
Unfortunately, voters who don’t like any of the candidates listed on the ballot cannot write in someone else’s name, as they can in some states.
They do have one other choice – to skip that race. That’s an option, though not an ideal one.
Steve Brawner is a syndicated columnist published in 17 outlets in Arkansas. Email him at brawnersteve@mac.com.
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