I ran for the office of State Senate this year because I believe that normal hard-working Americans need to be involved in the “process”. We all have a responsibility to get involved in our government in order to reign in the insanity. I still believe that.

For two years I’ve heard nothing but continuous complaints that the “incumbents need to go” and “we need people to run against these lifetime politicians”. The feedback that we received this year was amazingly and overwhelmingly positive. Personal “thank you” messages from people of the area that were excited to have a choice on Election Day.

With the help of our team (more like “our new family”), we put together an amazing grassroots campaign. We had very little money to work with, but we pulled our resources and did the best with what we had. We had name recognition, we had a great message, and we worked our tails off to contact voters in the District.

What was our Election Day message? DON’T VOTE STRAIGHT TICKET.

Why? In a race against a 20-year incumbent/career politician, we had a gigantic hurdle . . . that being the fact that my opponent was running as both a Republican and a Democrat. Having managed to get his name on both ballots, he would receive ALL straight party votes. Voters would cast their ballot for him if they didn’t pay attention . . . or if they didn’t care.

What was the final result? We lost . . . overwhelmingly . . .82% to 18%.

In an analysis of the numbers (examining Mercer County numbers right now as an example because they are the only details available), you find that almost 50% of the people that voted . . . voted straight ticket! In a race for over 70,000 votes, Bob Robbins pulled out of the gate with a head start of 35,000 votes that he didn’t deserve. He started the race with a 35,000 vote advantage.

Why? . . . Because 50% of the voters don’t take their votes seriously. 50% of the people that went to the polls on Election Day let their “party” make their decision for them.

Good News? You might think that it is difficult to find a bright spot in a 82% vs. 18% race, but you’d be wrong. One amazing number was that 521 people voted straight ticket for the “Unaffiliated Independent” party. 521 people in Mercer County realize that the biggest problem that we have is “party politics”. By casting a vote for the “Unaffiliated Independent” ticket, they voted for ONLY ONE candidate . . . me. Thank you!

Second, in the total District race, 12,725 people looked at the names on the ballot and chose to vote for the Independent Candidate. They were NOT drawn to vote straight ticket. Instead, they wanted ALL OF THEIR VOTES to count. They took their duty to vote seriously. Thank you to those 12,725 individuals that understand how important Election Day is.

What was most disappointing? In the end, it is clear that the “Tea Party” has become an extension of the Republican Party. A majority of Tea Partiers went out on Election Day and decided that the best way to fix the problem was to vote straight ticket . . . the Republican ticket.

On a positive note . . . I still believe that we need to get people to run for office. If we, as concerned citizens, don’t get involved, the ship will never turn. I urge fellow concerned citizens to get involved and remain involved. Run for office at the local, county, state, and federal level. Run! It is only by continuing to push back that we will send a message to our governmental leaders that We the People call the shots.

I want to extend a personal “Thank you” to the thousands of people that we’ve met over the past two years. The thousands of supporters and serious thinkers that realize that we have a problem in this country that needs to be fixed. Thank you to my many friends who gave their time and effort to support our campaign this summer. We had a hard-working team that has become a very close family. In the end I am the winner as I forged friendships that will last a lifetime. It was a truly amazing experience that I would not change for anything. It was perfect!

Thank you and God Bless

Roberta Biros

 

WANT TO LEARN MORE?
Roberta Biros is an Independent candidate for State Senate in Pennsylvania's 50th District in 2010.
Learn more about Roberta's goals as your Pennsylvania State Senator below:
	Reform Restore Reunite
Specifics regarding Roberta's platform are also outlined in her Platform for Good Government.