Where Not Voting Mean Voting No

For years, people fed up with the choices on the ballot have been suggesting a "none of the above" box for each elective offices. If NOTA gets the most votes, then NOTA wins - the office remains vacant until the next or a special election.

Now repugs want something even more anti-candidate than NOTA: counting all non-votes as NO votes. It's a goddamn good thing is wasn't an option in the midterm elections last November, because if it had been, the U.S. House of Representatives would be vacant. Not one single representative or challenger would have won.

But in their usual hypocrisy, Congressional rethuglicans want to force that very rule on unions.

Labor activists are preparing to step up their advocacy efforts on Capitol Hill ahead of a key vote on a union-busting measure later this week, according to sources familiar with their campaign.

The stepped up effort comes as anti-union activists are preparing efforts of their own, in order to make it harder for aviation and rail workers to unionize.

At issue is House legislation to renew FAA programs, which includes a provision that would reinstitute old rules governing how the National Mediation Board counts workers' votes. Under the current system, a simple majority of those voting wins, just like in, say, the House of Representatives. If Republicans get their way, those rules will change, and workers who don't vote will be tallied as having voted "no."

To illustrate the unfairness of that structure, the Communication Workers of America will circulate a new report on the Hill Monday, making the point that none of the recently-elected members of Congress would have won if their constituents who didn't vote at all had been counted as votes against them.

SNIP

Here's what Rep. Candice Miller (R-MI) said about it in committee when an effort to strip it failed by one vote.

Before I came to Congress, I spent eight years as Michigan's Secretary of State. In that job one of my prime responsibilities was to serve as my state's chief elections officer. I'd like to think I know a little something about conducting free, open, and fair elections...Each of us who has the honor to serve in this House does so with the consent of those we serve in free elections. All we have to do is win this privilege is receive more votes than our opponent. That is the fundamental caveat of our democracy, and how we conduct elections. Why should a union election be any different?

Remember that quote the next time a repug runs for Secretary of State in your state: they think non-votes count as no votes in congressional elections.

Read the full rerport: If Congressional Elections Were Like Proposed NMB Union Elections Final