Assuming the mandatory vote has always been there I see no problem with it. If you tried doing that in the US it would be a mess, and no doubt a certain faction would argue it as being illegal because of the problems it would cause the poor…:)
As a California voter I would agree that the presidential vote is a waste of time, also the votes for US senator, but maybe some day. However there is always much more on the ballot.
Well, nothing has always been there, but at this point it’s been almost a century. And I think given the general thrust of voter ID laws passed by Republicans lately, that the Democrats would expect to get quite a tidy little boost from a universal vote.
But with respect to that, yes, if you want a mandatory vote, you must make sure that everyone is able to vote with the least disruption possible. It’s not simple in execution, and that’s why we have an independent federal electoral commission which oversees elections.
I always vote. Even for the school board.
The easy answer is that it just doesn’t matter. I live in Hawaii, so I COULD vote for various democrats, but 70% of the population does so for me so I might as well stay home and keep myself off of one of the jury duty lists.
So you don’t care which Democrat? They’re all the same, so you ignore the primaries?
Nope, don’t care. I originally had a longer post where I went in to how I generally despise all politicians and don’t see a whole lot of difference between individual ones (despite how often they attempt to differentiate themselves from their opponents), but I deleted it and left the far simpler version.
What an interesting and thoughtful perspective. Thank you for sharing it with us.
I last voted in New Jersey, maybe for Clinton, I forget. I vote where I actually think a) the candidate is not a total scumbag, and b) my vote might possibly conceivably make a difference to the count somehow.
I now live in Massachusetts. The state is solidly blue for the White House, so there’s no point there to voting for President: my hatred for the current crop of national-level Republican scumbags is not strong enough for me to merely count coup at the voting booth. If MA was a purple state, I would have voted for Gore and Obama; Kerry’s kind of a weasel IMO, but I guess he still would have been better than Bush – fortunately there was no point to my voting for him. I blew off the Brown/Coakley election, not liking either of them.
As for local elections, the eastern half of the state is dominated by a completely corrupt and criminal Democratic machine, and I would never vote for any of those scumbags; yet the local Republicans are mostly creeps and wingnuts, so they don’t get my vote either.
I might possibly vote in the senate election coming up, but then again, maybe not. Depends on whether Warren doesn’t annoy me somehow over the next few months.
That people want to come on the internet and complain about things being wrong with politics and their countries government on a political board, and then don’t even bother to vote and make their voices heard in a meaningful way baffles me.
Obviously they feel that voting doesn’t make their voices heard in a meaningful way. As far as I’m concerned, one Occupy Wall Street or Tea Party marcher has more impact than any thousand voters, and any one news talking head is worth at least a million.
Voting patterns can change over time but that might not happen if enough people take the ol’ “My vote doesn’t matter” position. It seems to be an increasingly popular position, though, as the number of people voting keeps declining steadily all over the place. That may lead to skewed results in future elections where determined interest groups can have a disproportionate effect on the outcome. One could argue it already has happened in the U.S. with the Tea Party.
I always vote, at every level. It doesn’t take much time, it forces me to at least acquaint myself with the issues and it helps me to feel connected to the process in a more tangible way than just getting cranky at the news.
I will vote whenever there is a candidate who has actual redeeming qualities, rather than simply being less bad than the other.
How many votes is a bitchy forum post worth?
Depends if it’s in a solid blue or red state :)
There have been times where I haven’t voted for a full slate on city council (which would be ten) because I didn’t feel there were that many worth electing. I usually have someone I want to vote for, though.
I only ever cast a ‘strategic’ or negative vote once and regretted it (and the candidate lost, anyway).
Then dont bother complaining about your countries political system and the government if you wont bother to vote. If all the people who said their vote doesnt count or doesnt matter actually got off their asses and voted then they could make a change. But I guess its easier for all of them to just sit home and whine about how things can never change.
You are really talking to some strawman opponent you’ve got in your head now.
My vote for Obama or Kerry or Gore in fact does not count in Massachusetts. If there was the slightest danger of it counting, as I said I would have voted for them, sadly as the lesser of multiple evils, which is a regrettable choice to have to make.
You wonder how many of them vote. I feel pretty safe in saying the TeaBaggers vote, results show that. I wonder how many of the OWS’ers have voted.
I can understand not voting nationally when you feel you don’t have a choice. But that you can’t take the time to vote locally, that I don’t get. I can’t remember when the last election was when I didn’t vote for/against something involving somehow taxing myself. Of course, I live in California where we have probably more wacky stuff on the ballot then most places.
No strawman there at all, I just have zero respect for the political opinions of a person who doesnt bother to vote.