Ingenious way to vote for both Kerry and Nader 

Ingenious way to vote for both Kerry and Nader

Well, it's not really double voting. But in a sense it allows swing state voters to have their cake and eat it too.

If you really like Nader better than Kerry but fear a Bush re-election, then there is now a solution thanks to the internet. Swing state voters can make sure their third party candidates receive their vote while not hurting the chances of their preferred major party candidate.

This Wired News article describes how websites like VotePair match up voters from swing states like Florida with voters from non-swing (safe) states like Texas which is considered "Bush safe". The safe state voter pledges to vote for the third party candidate of the swing state voter. The swing state voter then pledges to vote for the major party candidate of the safe state voter.

This is a brilliant and totally legal way to use the web to get around the archaic Electoral College. If you live in a safe state, your vote for president isn't going to matter much. But if you live in a swing state, voting for a third party candidate can affect the nation (just like Florida in 2000).

This is a great way to let more people vote for third party candidates without fear that their vote will cause a highly disliked major party candidate to win.

As the Wired News article mentions, there haven't been enough voters in swing states signing up to swap their votes. It may not help change this election, but hopefully, it'll gain popularity in the future and allow third parties to get more votes.

Also as you would expect, these websites seem to be hoping vote swaps will help Kerry rather than Bush. Wonder it there are any Libertarians or Constitutional party followers who might want avoid a Kerry win...