Dropout presidential candidates remain

on Va. ballots and could affect survivors

By ASHLEY KERSHAW

February 10, 2008

HAMPTON, Va. – The Feb. 5 Super Tuesday primaries proved that dropout candidates throughout the race make a major impact on the elections.

Democrat and former candidate John Edwards, despite dropping out the race on Jan. 30, still received 26 total delegate votes. Democratic Party favorites U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., and U.S. Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., were involved in a tight race on Feb. 5. If Edwards were no longer on the ballot, those 26 points could have either put Clinton at 849 delegate votes versus Obama’s 741. Or reverse those points and add them to Obama’s and the score was a tighter 823-767.

“I would vote for Edwards if I didn’t like Hillary or Obama just to throw a wrench in their campaign, but I’m a Obama supporter” says Hampton University freshman Darius Johnson, an engineering major.

Republican former presidential candidates Fred Thompson, Rudy Giuliani and Democrat Bill Richardson, who have recently dropped from the presidential race, kept their names on the Feb. 12 Virginia primary ballots as an option. Citizens voting for them on Tuesday may not get what they want in terms of their candidate support.  Here are some rules concerning dropout candidates:

Voters can chose their favorite dropout candidate just to show who they really like even though they have dropped out the race, but that vote is not going to count for allocation of any delegates.

Democratic rules in terms of dropout candidates: If a candidate doesn’t receive at least 15 percent of the vote in a congressional district, then any votes he or she did get are thrown out. The remaining votes are reapportioned and the remaining candidates get a portion of delegates equal to their actual vote percentage.

            Republican rules in terms of dropout candidates: The candidate with the most votes in a congressional district wins all the delegates. The other candidates do not get any delegates. So if Thompson or Giuliani pick up any delegate votes, they would have had to win an entire district.

Offering the voters a chance, to show their support to a dropout candidate, more than likely that dropout candidate will not do damage to the votes and campaigns of the candidates that are still in the race.

“If Hillary were to drop out now,” says Tiffany Smith, a junior marketing major, “I wouldn’t still vote for the name on the ballot; I would change my vote to Obama.”

 

Kershaw is a junior at the Hampton University Scripps Howard School of Journalism and Communications.