Is a vote for Jill Stein really a vote for Donald Trump? Democratic operatives want you to believe that it is. However, as public fear grows that a third party run could unwittingly give Trump a pathway to victory,John Rachel, a Stein supporter, created an “I’ll vote for Jill if you will” campaign.
This campaign seeks to silence critics who contend that Stein is a spoiler and lacks the votes to win in November. Rachel, a native of California, thinks it is his civic responsibility to give the public a way to validate the effectiveness of their vote.
He said, “Vast numbers of voters are frustrated and angry! It’s come down to Hillary Clinton vs. Donald Trump [?]. These are the two most unpopular candidates in the history of presidential elections. Of course, there is an excellent alternative. But understandably voters are afraid of throwing their vote away.”
Rachel sees a simple solution to this conundrum: “We join together in a person-to-person pledge campaign, the ‘I’ll vote for Jill if you will’ initiative, supporting the presidential bid of Dr. Stein. Together we’ll elect the first female President of the United States, one who will do a great job of putting America back on track.”
The plan works this way. A Stein supporter will takes the pledge.
The next day this supporter will ask two other people to commit to the pledge. The next day those two people will ask two different people to take the pledge and so on and so on.
Rachel set up a website at DIY Roots Action (https://diy.rootsaction.org/petitions/i-ll-vote-for-jill-if-you-will-pledge-campaign-to-elect-jill-stein-president) to track the number of pledges. According to the rules of the campaign, the pledgees will be released from their pledge to vote for Stein if 50 million people do not register with the site before November 8.
Also, Rachel has set up a petition on MoveOn (http://petitions.moveon.org/sign/ill-vote-for-jill-if) and at Change.org (https://www.change.org/p/every-person-registered-to-vote-in-the-united-states-of-america-i-ll-vote-for-jill-if-you-will-campaign-to-elect-jill-stein-president).
Many political pundits believe that it will take at least a plurality of 50 million votes nationwide for any of the four major candidates to win the oval office this year. Using the exponential power of numbers, Rachel’s sites that have sprung up over social media may be the answer for progressives torn between voting their conscience or voting their political gut.
Stein is on record supporting this petition drive: http://www.wbur.org/onpoint/2016/08/10/green-party-nominee-dr-jill-stein
“I’ll vote for Jill if you will” could be just what the doctor ordered.
Harold Michael Harvey is an American novelist and essayist, the author of Paper puzzle and Justice in the Round. He can be contacted at haroldmichaelharvey.com.