Amid concern nationwide that "a vote for Nader is a vote for Bush," at least four web sites are offering to connect would-be voters for Ralph Nader in so-called "swing states" with Al Gore supporters in so-called "safe states," so that they might informally agree to exchange their votes. This would have the effect of shoring up support for Gore, the Democratic nominee for president, in states where he and Republican candidate George W. Bush are polling in a dead heat. At the same time, votes for Nader would be shifted to states that are either strongly pro-Bush or pro-Gore so that the Green Party candidate might still gain five percent of the vote and win federal funding for the Green Party in the 2004 elections.

For example, a Nader supporter living in the hotly contested, electoral vote-rich state of Minnesota could use www.voteexchange.com to locate a Gore supporter in Montana - a state whose three electoral votes Gore has all but conceded to Bush. In theory, the Minnesotan would then agree to vote for Gore in exchange for the Montanan's pledge to vote for Nader. However, neither voter could be assured that the other would vote the way he or she promised. Other websites that offer this service are www.winwincampaign.org, www.winchell.com/nadertrader, and www.nadertrader.org.

These sites exist at least partially because of a unique Constitutional feature of presidential elections, in which the president is not popularly elected, but is instead chosen by a body known as the electoral college, composed of fifty state delegations (and one for the District of Columbia). The size of each delegation is equivalent to the number of representatives each state has plus two, with each state assured of a minimum of three electors. In practice, each state casts its electoral votes en masse to the candidate who received the most votes, regardless of the margin of victory. This means that some votes are more meaningful than others, depending on which state the voter lives in. These web sites attempt to bypass this system, and give Nader and Gore supporters a potentially win-win outcome.

Founders of these sites contend that they can have a meaningful impact on the election. According to www.winchell.com/nadertrader, "In 1976, if 9,234 voters had voted differently, Ford would have beaten Carter. In 1960, if 12,000 voters had voted differently, Nixon would have beaten Kennedy. As of last night, another web site had 6,700 people participate in Nader trading."

There is contention however. www.voteswap2000.com, has been shut down by the State of California and, as of Wednesday night, had posted the following message on their site: "We have just received word from the California Secretary of State that offering to 'broker the exchange of votes' is a violation of California state law."

According to a Reuters report, the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California has filed for a temporary restraining order against the Attorney General to reopen the site, claiming First Amendment protection. "I think the Secretary of State is clamping down on pure political speech," ACLU attorney Mark Rosenbaum was quoted as saying.