Today, as a United States citizen, I voted. Once again, I voted for my Dad for President of the United States of America. I voted for my Dad for POTUS as a write-in candidate on my ballot today. I live in Albuquerque, New Mexico (yes, New Mexico is part of the United States (#47); no, New Mexico isn’t part of Mexico), and per the FAQ on the New Mexico Secretary of State site:

Are write-in candidates for President of the United States allowed?

NM statute does not allow for write-in candidates for this office.

It’s interesting comparing this state statute with the POTUS candidacy eligibility as described in the Constitution of the United States (oft referred to as our “Law of the Land”), Section 1 of Article 2:

No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President; neither shall any Person be eligible to that Office who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty-five Years, and been fourteen Years a Resident within the United States.

Further, we have this thing called the Bill of Rights as part of our Constitution, and per the First Amendment of the Constitution of the United States:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

It’s the Congress of the United States charged with making any alterations (amendment) of Section 1 of Article 2, not the State of New Mexico. The First Amendment is the very first amendment of our Bill of Rights because inarguably it is the very most important above all other rights we have as United States citizens.

Because of this, and because I’ve always loved the “Freedom of Speech” amendment as it guarantees I can interpret in any and every way what free speech is to me, I voted for my Dad as a write-in candidate for POTUS. Let’s give the immediate interpretation of how I see things in this “New Mexico ban on POTUS candidate write-in” statute:

  1. I want to do a write-in vote for my Dad for POTUS.

  2. I don’t like that the State of New Mexico (i.e. “gubmint”) says I can’t do a write-in vote for my Dad for POTUS.
  3. I want to petition to the Government for a redress of grievances (the grievance of a state statute forbidding write-in presidential candidates).
  4. So, essentially, my writing my Dad’s name on my ballot today is my petition to the Government… as well as my chosen candidate for POTUS.

By my interpretation of my First Amendment guarantees, I could have scrawled in fresh, warm kitten blood using the severed claw of a putrid, rotting platypus “I’m Voting for My Dad” on my ballot and submitted that. Nothing could prevent me from doing so. It is my First Amendment guarantee.

While state sovereignty is also addressed in our Constitution of the United States, as a citizen of the United States of America I look to our Constitution as the contract our citizens have with our government and the contract our government has with our citizens FIRST, and only then is state sovereignty even considered.

What the State of New Mexico is defining with this “no write-ins allowed” statute is whether or not my vote for my Dad will be counted from my ballot… which it will not. Very superficially (in a “let’s keep things easy and efficient” way), I’m okay with that, although that is an entirely different article for another time.

So, if you are to believe that a New Mexico state statute supersedes the Constitution of the United States, and that I am 100% forbidden as a New Mexico resident to place a write-in vote for my Dad by writing his name on my ballot, then New Mexico might as well be part of Mexico, for it is only outside of the borders of the United States of America that the Constitution of the United States does not apply… much like how under the table in my bedroom is the only place on the planet where my horoscope does not apply.

I voted today. I voted for my Dad as a write-in candidate. I voted for my Dad as a write-in candidate for the third presidential election in a row. And, I’ll continue to vote for my Dad as a write-in candidate until our country can cough up a candidate who is worthy of my support, and more importantly worthy of my vote as a United States citizen… regardless if the State of New Mexico will actually tally his name in the ballot counts.

VOTE STANLEY BRINGE FOR PRESIDENT!!!

“Because I’m the parent here, that’s why!!!”