Personal Choice Party Founder Says 14% Vote Not a Mistake
None by KCPW
(KCPW News) The new and little known Personal Choice political party got a whopping 14 percent of the straight party vote on Tuesday in Salt Lake County. Elections officials chalk the anomaly up to voter confusion - people checking "personal choice" without realizing it was an actual party. Founder Ken Larsen says Utahns are smarter than that."The media is pretending that the support that we got was a mistake," says Larsen. "Now I'll give you 20, maybe 30 percent was a mistake. But certainly not more than half!"
As evidence, Larsen points out that 12 percent of taxpayers checked the box donating 2 dollars to the "Personal Choice" party on their 2006 returns. Why would someone do that if they didn't know Personal Choice was a party? asks Larsen. Voters who checked Personal Choice for the straight party option did end up choosing different candidates on some races. As a result, no Personal Choice candidate got more than four percent of the vote. But Larsen says all it will take is the right candidate, because Utahns are catching on to the platform:
"It means I get to choose how I live my life," says Larsen. "And the smiley face (the party symbol) is not meaningless. It symbolizes the founding fathers stating in the Declaration of Independence that we all have the inalienable right to the pursuit of happiness."
Larsen lost his own bid for State Senate, but plans to again run for Governor in 2008, when he promises the Personal Choice party will have a full slate of candidates.
Other stories on this topic:
"Confusion Over Personal Choice" 11/6/06
Email to a friendPosted in KCPW Newsroom and Election Coverage. Copyright 2008 KCPW
1. Ron Amos said:
Well, Larsen is right...but then he isn't really a politicain and tends
not to underestimate the intelligence of ordinary people.
3. blablabla said:
gay!!!
2. Eric Hamilton said:
I got a good kick out of that statement. People were questioned about the Personal Choice selection as they were leaving polling locations, and it turns out, many people did, in fact, select it in error.
It is a bit misleading to see "Personal Choice" in a list of straight party vote options, and it's a simple mistake to make, regardless of how smart you are.
I understand Larsen's enthusiasm and willingness to believe in the ballot choices, but when you look at how few votes candidates got, it seems pretty obvious that most of the selections were accidental.