I am lucky enough to have an absentee ballot in US presidential elections. Of course I knew that Clinton and Trump were battling it out for the Democrats and Republicans. I vaguely heard that there were additional candidates for the Libertarian and Green parties, so I was expecting to see 4 names on the ballot, However, when I got my absentee ballot, I was surprised to see 8 candidates that I could vote for, Closer scrutiny revealed that many of the candidates were listed more than once.
Hillary Clinton is the candidate for the Democratic Party, but is also listed separately as the candidate for the Women's Equality Party and the candidate for the Working Families Party (neither of which I heard of before). Likewise Donald Trump is listed as the Republican Party candidate and separately listed as the candidate for the Conservative Party (which I thought was based in the UK).
I had vaguely heard that Gary Johnson was running for the Libertarian candidate, but the ballot also lists him as the candidate for the Independence Party. Poor Jil Stein of the Green Party is the only candidate who has to make do with a single listing on the ballot.
What I am not sure of is if it makes any difference if I tick the box beside the Democratic Party or the box beside the Working Families Party? Could it be that Hillary and/or Donald are splitting their vote or do the counters amalgamate both sets of ticks?
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