Voter participation - what is your stance?

newy777

I would love to see what 200 million pigs with lipstick would look like..

HughFreakingDillon

Of course I vote, because...

newy777 said:

I would love to see what 200 million pigs with lipstick would look like..

LOL

mickeyrat

Of course I vote, because...

HughFreakingDillon said:

not voting isn't powerful at all. it's nothing. it would only be something if ZERO people voted. and that's impossible. spoiling your ballot is a statement. not voting is the opposite of a statement.

Explain what you mean by spoil, will you? I'm not familiar.

Ok read the other post. Here it would be deemed invalid. Therefore not counted. Also not possible the electronic voting stations. Unsure how many states still use paper

Leezestarr313

I agree with the poster who said you should try to inform yourself as much as possible before you go and vote. I found this link very interesting and helpful to understand some things that the candidates stand for. Some stuff I had to ask my husband about because it was not always super easy to understand to me. I have a Master in English, but got it in Germany. After almost four years living in America, I feel like I still have lots of gaps in my knowledge, stuff that cannot be taught at university, you have to live it. But I would say I am not the stupidest cup in the cupboard. Now if I, trying to read a lot about the election and the candidates to form an opinion even if I am not allowed to vote (actually I looked it up again and I could get a penalty which could in the worst case even lead to my deportation if I do vote), am confused about certain wordings and the deeper meaning of some issues in this test, I wonder how people feel who are not used to reading a lot, checking out different sources, and forming their opinions based on memes with typos and obscure sources. It seems to me, the possible Trump voters are reactionary voters. This is not about contents or anything, it is purely emotional. And that feels dangerous.


Here is the link:
https://www.isidewith.com/elections/2016-presidential-quiz

(My top 2 were Bernie Sanders and Jill Stein.)

HughFreakingDillon

Of course I vote, because...

mickeyrat said:

HughFreakingDillon said:

not voting isn't powerful at all. it's nothing. it would only be something if ZERO people voted. and that's impossible. spoiling your ballot is a statement. not voting is the opposite of a statement.

Explain what you mean by spoil, will you? I'm not familiar.

Ok read the other post. Here it would be deemed invalid. Therefore not counted. Also not possible the electronic voting stations. Unsure how many states still use paper

weird. didn't know that. then they should have a "none of the above" choice.

PJfanwillneverleave1

Of course I vote, because...

I think spoiling your ballot does nothing except waste time and paper in the tally process.
No one cares about the people that did not vote/spoil their ballot - especially the runners.
If you don't vote you have no say or reason to complain what goes on in the world politically except bend over and take it.
If you don't like the candidate then get out there and run yourself on the issues that matter to you.
Spoiling a ballot does not send any message because its forgotten about 100times faster than it took your effort to do so.
Anybody think Trump cares about spoiled ballots?

HughFreakingDillon

Of course I vote, because...

PJfanwillneverleave1 said:

I think spoiling your ballot does nothing except waste time and paper in the tally process.
No one cares about the people that did not vote/spoil their ballot - especially the runners.
If you don't vote you have no say or reason to complain what goes on in the world politically except bend over and take it.
If you don't like the candidate then get out there and run yourself on the issues that matter to you.
Spoiling a ballot does not send any message because its forgotten about 100times faster than it took your effort to do so.
Anybody think Trump cares about spoiled ballots?

spoiled ballots in canada DO count for something. they are tallied. it tells the establishment how many people are unhappy with the current crop of political choice. if more people were aware of it, and actually took the time to do it instead of thinking "Ah, there's no point in doing that", then maybe the parties would have to take a harder look at who they are appointing as their leaders.

PJfanwillneverleave1

Of course I vote, because...

HughFreakingDillon said:

PJfanwillneverleave1 said:

I think spoiling your ballot does nothing except waste time and paper in the tally process.
No one cares about the people that did not vote/spoil their ballot - especially the runners.
If you don't vote you have no say or reason to complain what goes on in the world politically except bend over and take it.
If you don't like the candidate then get out there and run yourself on the issues that matter to you.
Spoiling a ballot does not send any message because its forgotten about 100times faster than it took your effort to do so.
Anybody think Trump cares about spoiled ballots?

spoiled ballots in canada DO count for something. they are tallied. it tells the establishment how many people are unhappy with the current crop of political choice. if more people were aware of it, and actually took the time to do it instead of thinking "Ah, there's no point in doing that", then maybe the parties would have to take a harder look at who they are appointing as their leaders.

As long as we have a system where you win by the most votes (per se), spoiled ballots will not have an effect.
It just makes it a tighter race for the few running.

HughFreakingDillon

Of course I vote, because...

PJfanwillneverleave1 said:

HughFreakingDillon said:

PJfanwillneverleave1 said:

I think spoiling your ballot does nothing except waste time and paper in the tally process.
No one cares about the people that did not vote/spoil their ballot - especially the runners.
If you don't vote you have no say or reason to complain what goes on in the world politically except bend over and take it.
If you don't like the candidate then get out there and run yourself on the issues that matter to you.
Spoiling a ballot does not send any message because its forgotten about 100times faster than it took your effort to do so.
Anybody think Trump cares about spoiled ballots?

spoiled ballots in canada DO count for something. they are tallied. it tells the establishment how many people are unhappy with the current crop of political choice. if more people were aware of it, and actually took the time to do it instead of thinking "Ah, there's no point in doing that", then maybe the parties would have to take a harder look at who they are appointing as their leaders.

As long as we have a system where you win by the most votes (per se), spoiled ballots will not have an effect.
It just makes it a tighter race for the few running.

it doesn't have an effect on the outcome, of course. that's obviously not the point.

PJfanwillneverleave1

Of course I vote, because...

Unless your actions effect an election outcome why bother doing them?
Isn't the whole point of taking action to change things?
Spoiled ballots will not change the issues runners are campaigning on.
Spoiled ballots have no issues to bring forth for a runner.

HughFreakingDillon

Of course I vote, because...

PJfanwillneverleave1 said:

Unless your actions effect an election outcome why bother doing them?
Isn't the whole point of taking action to change things?
Spoiled ballots will not change the issues runners are campaigning on.
Spoiled ballots have no issues to bring forth for a runner.

*sigh*. spoiled ballots send a message. if enough people send said message, people up top will receive said message and act accordingly.

jnimhaoileoin

Of course I vote, because...

I always vote, I'm very into politics and have strong opinions, so it's important to support those who share my views

JimmyV

Of course I vote, because...

HughFreakingDillon said:

mickeyrat said:

HughFreakingDillon said:

not voting isn't powerful at all. it's nothing. it would only be something if ZERO people voted. and that's impossible. spoiling your ballot is a statement. not voting is the opposite of a statement.

Explain what you mean by spoil, will you? I'm not familiar.

Ok read the other post. Here it would be deemed invalid. Therefore not counted. Also not possible the electronic voting stations. Unsure how many states still use paper

weird. didn't know that. then they should have a "none of the above" choice.

I had a NO PREFERENCE option on my ballot yesterday. But ballots vary from state to state.

ldent42

Leezestarr313 said:

I agree with the poster who said you should try to inform yourself as much as possible before you go and vote. I found this link very interesting and helpful to understand some things that the candidates stand for. Some stuff I had to ask my husband about because it was not always super easy to understand to me. I have a Master in English, but got it in Germany. After almost four years living in America, I feel like I still have lots of gaps in my knowledge, stuff that cannot be taught at university, you have to live it. But I would say I am not the stupidest cup in the cupboard. Now if I, trying to read a lot about the election and the candidates to form an opinion even if I am not allowed to vote (actually I looked it up again and I could get a penalty which could in the worst case even lead to my deportation if I do vote), am confused about certain wordings and the deeper meaning of some issues in this test, I wonder how people feel who are not used to reading a lot, checking out different sources, and forming their opinions based on memes with typos and obscure sources. It seems to me, the possible Trump voters are reactionary voters. This is not about contents or anything, it is purely emotional. And that feels dangerous.


Here is the link:
https://www.isidewith.com/elections/2016-presidential-quiz

(My top 2 were Bernie Sanders and Jill Stein.)

I hate to break it to you hun but that's just 100% true of all people even eligible to vote. Most people don't care and don't keep up with all the information.
Thanks for the link - I did the WHOLE thing (skipping a few questions I have no business trying to answer since I know nothing about the subject) and the response I got is startling.
97% with Bernie which isn't surprising.
96% with Jill Stein who I've never even heard of
92% with Hilary which is surprising
but the absolute shocker -
77% with Michael Bloomberg. Now THAT is disturbing.

blueandwhite

Voting is a way of mitigating damages. If you can't be bothered to get off your arse and cast a ballot you're implicitly supporting both parties doing whatever they please. If you find both choices so reprehensible that you can't in good conscience cast a ballot, spoil it instead. It at least denotes frustration over apathy.

Most Western countries aren't truly democratic but the alternative is much worse. If you can't be bothered to vote don't be surprised when you lose the right to do it. Choosing the lessor of two evils is still favourable to having no choice at all.

hedonist

Can it be made clear that most of the people talking about not voting aren't talking about NOT VOTING but about abstaining from certain issues or candidates, whatever the reason?

How some can't see this is beyond me.

***no edit, either!

blueandwhite

hedonist said:

Can it be made clear that most of the people talking about not voting aren't talking about NOT VOTING but about abstaining from certain issues or candidates, whatever the reason?

How some can't see this is beyond me.

***no edit, either!

There is a clear distinction between spoiling your ballot and not voting altogether. You can choose to ignore that distinction but it doesn't mean it isn't there. Spoiling a ballot indicates your disapproval of both candidates whereas choosing to not cast a vote suggests voter apathy and demonstrates to candidates that they don't need to do anything to win you or others over.

As for edits, I don't give a rat's ass about edits. If I make a typo while writing on my phone I'll change it; period.

JimmyV

Of course I vote, because...

Suggests voter apathy maybe, but certainly doesn't prove or confirm apathy.

JimmyV

Of course I vote, because...

More than 11,000 people in Massachusetts marked their ballots NO PREFERENCE last Tuesday.

Free

Of course I vote, because...

JimmyV said:

More than 11,000 people in Massachusetts marked their ballots NO PREFERENCE last Tuesday.

That counts for something! So spoiled or no preference ballots still get counted in MA.