Mickey Mouse for President

According to American Partisen Mickey Mouse gets approximately 20,000 votes in each general election. Other notable write in candidates include Donald duck, Bart Simpson and Madonna. Those of you as old as I may remember the popular 1968 slogan “Pat Paulsen for president.”

In 1992 Pat Paulsen received enough votes in a few counties to come in 2nd to Bill Clinton. That same year he came in second to George Bush in the North Dakota Republican Primary. In the 1996 primaries Pat Paulsen received a total of 76,754 votes, although Paulsen died in 1997 he received 10,984 votes in the last republican primary - enough again to be considered a major spoiler in the election. This year because of feelings of national political hopelessness and discontent, political experts believe Paulsen has the potential to siphon votes off from both parties and become a spoiler once again.

On average only about 60% of registered voters vote in each election. Between 1-5% of those are willing to throw away their vote. So if you tell yourself that your vote doesn’t count, you are mistaken. In a country of 300 million people, a mere 10,000 votes can make or break an election. If every voter voted for a viable candidate, instead of throwing away their vote, the outcome might be different. Or if only 200 people from each state decided that their vote might count, and voted, they could change the outcome of American history.