Because Election Day is going to be extra hectic for me next week, I went down to Oshkosh City Hall yesterday to cast an absentee ballot. I realized a couple of things at the little privacy booth: 1–There were a lot of people I forgot were once running in the Republican race for President. And 2–There is a viable alternative to voting for any of the three clowns still in that race.
What gets lost in all of the candidate appearances and the attack ads on the radio and the TV is that we aren’t actually electing Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, John Kasich, Bernie Sanders or Hillary Clinton to anything in this primary. We are instead voting for a slate of delegates that will attend each party’s respective convention this summer. Under the GOP’s bylaws, those delegates are required to vote for the candidate that won their state in at least one round of the nominating process.
But if you scan down past the dozen or so names under the Republican header, you find a space where you can vote for an “Uncommitted” slate of delegates. And here is where Wisconsin voters can both send a message and start a trend that will send the Republican Party in the direction of a nominee that would actually have a chance to win in November.
By sending an entire delegation of uncommitted representatives to Cleveland, Wisconsin would make it clear that we are not happy with the choices presented to us–and we want something completely different. And let’s be honest, there is going to be an open convention, as the remaining states will be divided between Trump and Cruz and neither will come to Cleveland with enough delegates to win the nomination. With Kasich promising to retain all of his delegates–and Marco Rubio begging the GOP officials to let him keep his–that first round of voting is going to be an embarrassing mess. So why not just send Wisconsin’s delegation down there as free agents–beholden to no one?
And when you consider that one of our favorite sons would make the perfect convention candidate, it wouldn’t hurt to have 42 or so delegates ready to either make the Paul Ryan nomination–or jump on the bandwagon immediately. It’s not quite “None of the Above”–but it’s still the best choice.
