Oh look, the National Organization for Marriage has reuploaded this Rhode Island television ad attacking Gov. Lincoln Chafee, after learning how to spell his name correctly, for his same-sex marriage support. Fun! But when your argument starts out by claiming an elected official was voted into office with “just” the most number of votes — which is, uh, how elections work — you know you’ve got a problem.
democracy werks
NOM Can’t Trust Gov. Lincoln Chafee For Winning Merely Most of the Votes
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ed
Actually… Chafee didn’t win with a majority of votes. He won with a plurality of votes. More people voted for someone else than voted for him.
You are right in that the majority of elections in the United States are decided on who wins a plurality. But it does undercut the sense of a “mandate” when more people voted for someone else than the person who won the election.
That, NOM’s ad is still misleading because they compare the results of the Lt. Governor’s Race (Cool Moose Party, in particular) to the results of the more contested governor’s race. If you want to mock them, mock them for that.
Kev C
From nooses to mooses, NOM is redefining stupid.
Cam
Would Maggie Gallagher of NOM please answer a question for me?
As a crusader to defend “Traditional Marriage” why does she not wear a wedding ring, take her husbands last name, or be in the same location as her husband?”
Her marriage doesn’t sound very “Traditional” to me.
Steve
It’s misleading in that 60% or so voted for pro-marriage-equality candidates. He wasn’t the only one with that position.
Also, the number of people who voted for Prop 8 in relation to the actual population (and not the number of voters) is also closer to 30%
Danny
So if the majority of people harmed by NOM vote on the fate of NOM, will NOM respect the will of that majority?
Apparently majority rules only applies when NOM isn’t subject to it by the millions of people they have harmed. It is obvious NOM wants to dictate which clusters of people get to vote to ensure they are not on the receiving end of “majority rules”.
Chris
Yes, it’s a plurality. I recently checked the Rhode Island 2010 election results and Democrats have big majorities in both legislative chambers. The gay Speaker was reelected, as was the pro-equality Lt. Gov., while the Republican gubernatorial candidate lost, so the state just had an election where they could have chosen people opposed to marriage, but did not. Couple this with the vocal support by Chafee and it looks like this can only be stopped by Dems now (the Senate President is no supporter of marriage but has made statements that she won’t stop a bill). Very interesting.
Bill
The Cool Moose comparison is completely inane…yet they feel to show the moose at the end for added oomph. If you’re not from Rhode Island, then you probably don’t know what the Cool Moose Party is. They have 1 member and run 1 candidate…for Lieutenant Governor, not Governor.
There was no Republican candidate for Lt. Gov., just a Democrat and a Cool Moose. So of course, the opposition got a substantial portion of the vote. (He should have won too! đ )