A Brilliant Solution To Third-Party Spoilers April 16, 2024April 15, 2024 But first . . . Jim Burt: “When you’re a fake Christian, you hire an AI artist. Just be sure to tell him to double check the number of fingers.” Also . . . NEW YORK WEATHER Also . . . POSSIBLE SECOND THOUGHTS And now! Paul F. deLespinasse asks: Is It Time to Start Voting AGAINST Candidates? . . . Sophisticated voters understand that unless they consider both major party candidates equally bad, they should hold their nose and vote for the one they consider less bad. That’s what I did in 2004 when, as a lifelong Republican, I voted for John Kerry. Since then I became a Democrat, and Kerry’s impressive work as green energy envoy has lifted his stock in my estimation. But that was how I saw things in 2004. Even if one candidate seems slightly less bad, voters should remember that every little bit helps. Many voters, however, cannot bring themselves to vote for the least onerous major party candidate. They support a third-party candidate or don’t vote, even if this increases the danger that the major candidate they like least will win. Case in point: Former vice president Mike Pence announced that he will not support Donald Trump in 2024. But he also said that he will not vote for Joe Biden. Despite all this, sophisticated voting apparently has been too painful for many thoughtful voters, exemplified here by Mike Pence. A simple reform, however, could allow such voters to vote as if they were sophisticated. All that’s needed is legislation allowing voters to cast their votes either for a candidate or against a candidate, with the results for each candidate being the total votes for minus the total votes against. This is not a partisan proposal. It would allow Mike Pence to cast a vote against Trump without having to vote for Biden. It would equally allow other people to cast a vote against Biden without having to vote for Trump. Admittedly, it would have the same consequences, but that is exactly my point: Voters would be able to act as if they were sophisticated without actually having to be sophisticated. . . . The good professor (your fellow reader!) goes on to cover a few more points (e.g., what to do if both candidates score below zero?), but you get the gist. It will presumably never happen — but I think it’s brilliant.