[EL] William Jennings Bryan and the election of 1896 / 2 distinct Nader slates of electors in New York in 2004

[John Koza]

I can report how New York State handled this kind of situation in 2004.  I
suspect that it would necessarily have been the same in 1896 in the
situation of interest to Prof. Edelman. New York's 2004 presidential ballot
(figure 2.11 in section 2.10 of Every Vote Equal book at
www.EveryVoteEqual.com) illustrates that presidential elections are
conducted on the basis of distinct presidential slates. In 2004 in New York,
Ralph Nader appeared on the ballot in New York as the presidential nominee
of both the Independence Party and the Peace and Justice Party. Nader ran
with Jan D. Pierce for Vice President on the Independence Party line, but
with Peter Miguel Camejo for Vice President on the Peace and Justice Party
line. Thus, there were two "Nader" presidential slates in New York in 2004,
each with a different slate of presidential electors. The Nader-Pierce
presidential slate received 84,247 votes on the Independence Party line
(shown on the fifth page of New York's 2004 Certificate of Ascertainment in
appendix H of Every Vote Equal book at www.EveryVoteEqual.com). The
Nader-Camejo presidential slate received 15,626 votes on the Peace and
Justice Party line (shown on the sixth page of the Certificate). Because
there were two distinct presidential slates (that is, slates with different
candidates for Vice President) and two distinct slates of presidential
electors, there was no fusion of votes between the Independence Party and
the Peace and Justice Party. 

 

 

Dr. John R. Koza

Box 1441

Los Altos Hills, California 94023 USA

Phone: 650-941-0336

Fax: 650-941-9430

Email: john at johnkoza.com

URL: www.johnkoza.com <http://www.johnkoza.com/> 

URL: www.NationalPopularVote.com <http://www.nationalpopularvote.com/> 

 

From: Edelman, Paul [mailto:paul.edelman at Law.Vanderbilt.Edu] 
Sent: Wednesday, January 07, 2015 3:03 PM
To: law-election at uci.edu
Subject: [EL] William Jennings Bryan and the election of 1896

 

 

  In the 1896 presidential election William Jennings Bryan was nominated by
both the Democratic Party and the Populist Party, but the parties  nominated
different men for Vice President- Sewall for the Democrats and Watson for
the Populists.  It is not obvious, when counting votes, whether one should
add together the votes Bryan received in each of his affiliations or to
treat them separately. Evidently they were added together, at least
according to the reports I have found. Does anyone know if there was a legal
challenge to the method of counting the votes? Any pointers to a relevant
literature would be appreciated.

 

 

 

Paul H. Edelman

Professor of Mathematics and Law

615-322-0990

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