Elections in America: You can vote for anyone you want to... except 'those' guys

We have already seen how limited our choice really is at the polls. Examples of the 'pre-filtering' process that candidates are forced through are all around us.




In the latest instance, online right-wing news outlet Pajamas Media recently removed Dennis Kucinich and Ron Paul from their weekly straw polls. Kucinich and Paul were consistently winning their straw polls-- to the point where "many readers [had] been complaining to [Pajamas Media] about the increasing inutility of the poll because of vote-swarming by second tier candidates."

"Second tier" candidates winning polls? Maybe "second tier" isn't quite the appropriate label, huh?

So they removed Kucinich and Paul. Go to their website right now, scroll down... the poll lives just below the skyscraper banner ad in the right margin. No Dennis Kucinich, no Ron Paul.




Online music magazine and liberal news outlet Lost At Sea is another perpetrator. They host a similar straw poll on their homepage, but the choices are severely limited-- only Hillary Clinton, John Edwards, Rudy Giuliani, John McCain, Barack Obama, and Mitt Romney make the cut.

If you are so inclined, feel free to contact Pajamas Media and Lost At Sea to express your disappointment. Of course, your feedback will be most effective if you are professional and respectful.

These are but minor symptoms of a much broader issue-- and only two examples of many-- and the chicanery shows no signs of stopping. If you know of a similar instance of voter disenfranchisement, leave it in the comments!