Quote:
Originally posted by Aerich:
Here in Canada, there is another good reason to vote for a fringe party, but I'm not sure it works this way in the States. If a party gets a certain percentage of the overall vote (I think it's 5%), they get some federal funding as an official party. That funding allows them to run more candidates and raise their public profile in other ways. That 5% of the vote is an important stepping stone for a fringe party to become a viable option.
Edit: In our most recent (June 30, 2004) election, the Green Party achieved the percentage it needed to get that funding.
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If I remember my Government class correctly the numbers are similar here in the states, it might be as low as 4% of the vote (it's been about 6 years since I had that class, and it's not something I routinely use, so the info hasn't been accessed since that class).