Have this damnable thought ever slipped through your mind that

[Alex_Sanders]

your vote... might not count?

 

[Andre]

What! No count??

 

[Jimmy Snyder]

Do you mean vote doesn't count, or vote doesn't matter? Unless there is a glitch in the equipment, I expect the vote will count.

 

[jim hardy]

Surely you don't think there's any skullduggery afoot in today's political climate !

 

[Jimmy Snyder]

Surely you don't think there's any skullduggery afoot in today's political climate !

Such as?

 

[alt]

Surely you don't think there's any skullduggery afoot in today's political climate !

Todays ? Psephologists who studied Athenian democracy discovered that the psephos (little pebble) was rorted on occasions, being quickly rub dyed during counting. Why would it be different now ?

 

[Hobin]

Todays ? Psephologists who studied Athenian democracy discovered that the psephos (little pebble) was rorted on occasions, being quickly rub dyed during counting. Why would it be different now ?

For starters, because we don't use pebbles.

 

[TylerH]

For starters, because we don't use pebbles.

That doesn't mean your vote can't be changed. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hursti_Hack

 

[lisab]

Speaking of pebbles, I wonder how she's doing.

 

[dlgoff]

Speaking of pebbles, I wonder how she's doing.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

your vote... might not count?

Your vote counts as much as anyone else's. But voting was never enough. That's why we send money as well. However, since the SC decision legalizing super pacs, I have to wonder about the practical value of making donations now.

 

[Andre]

Speaking of pebbles, I wonder how she's doing.

The other Pebbles is fine too.

 

[256bits]

Make your vote count.
Vote early. Aannd vote often.
( How original is that !)

 

[SHISHKABOB]

maybe voting in the presidential election feels a bit unsatisfactory when it comes to your impact on the outcome, but remember that there are elections on the state level and local level too! The guys who run for county commissioner, etc. can have a much bigger effect on your life, and you can have a much bigger effect on their elections. Relative to the presidential elections.

 

[Hobin]

Relative to the presidential elections.

Perhaps I'm just a ridiculous idealist, but I'm much more concerned with what happens on a global level than what happens locally - at least politically speaking. Locally, I'm pretty sure I'll manage, so I might not even bother voting. Globally, there are a lot of thing I think could be improved, and that's why I vote.

(Fair disclaimer: I live in the Netherlands. I don't really know much about voting on state-level, though I would probably see this as more 'global' than 'local'.)

 

[eggshell]

Your vote counts as much as anyone else's. But voting was never enough. That's why we send money as well. However, since the SC decision legalizing super pacs, I have to wonder about the practical value of making donations now.

in smaller states the vote of the individual counts for more because you must consider that your vote plays a much greater role in determining whether or not your candidate gets the electoral vote from your state; though electoral votes and population are proportional, in the matter of determining whether or not your candidate wins your particular state, your vote matters more in a smaller population.

 

[Gokul43201]

...in the matter of determining whether or not your candidate wins your particular state...

But that matter is not one that matters, is it (once you've multiplied by electoral votes from the state)?

 

[SHISHKABOB]

Perhaps I'm just a ridiculous idealist, but I'm much more concerned with what happens on a global level than what happens locally - at least politically speaking. Locally, I'm pretty sure I'll manage, so I might not even bother voting. Globally, there are a lot of thing I think could be improved, and that's why I vote.

(Fair disclaimer: I live in the Netherlands. I don't really know much about voting on state-level, though I would probably see this as more 'global' than 'local'.)

Well, it's not that I'm not concerned about these national-scale issues, it's just that I am more connected to the issues near me. Perhaps it is not so in the Netherlands, but where I live (southeastern rural Pennsylvania, which is near Philadelphia) there is a biiiiig split in the ways people here would like things to be handled on the local scale. Things like public education in my area, or the way housing developments are taken care of, are things that people have vastly different opinions on in my "home town" and they also affect me quite a bit.

 

[MarcoD]

Well, it's not that I'm not concerned about these national-scale issues, it's just that I am more connected to the issues near me. Perhaps it is not so in the Netherlands, but where I live (southeastern rural Pennsylvania, which is near Philadelphia) there is a biiiiig split in the ways people here would like things to be handled on the local scale. Things like public education in my area, or the way housing developments are taken care of, are things that people have vastly different opinions on in my "home town" and they also affect me quite a bit.

It's a combination of being a small country, so lots of global news, and having it fairly well, at least superficially. In short, it's a luxury problem.

Personally, I have the opposite set of priorities since I think the Netherlands have lots more problems than people care to admit.

 

[turbo]

There is a concerted move in the GOP to disenfranchise voters who are poor, disabled, elderly, and minorities. If the local poll-watchers challenge your ballot, it will be put in the "provisional" pile and may or may not get counted. In Maine, the Tea Party tried to eliminate same-day registration and early voting, citing voter fraud. The Secretary of State used our staff to go hunting and found exactly ONE example of an ineligible voter, and had to go back ten years to find that example. We managed to get the Tea Party measure repealed with a citizens' initiative, but the Secretary of State wants to require state-issued IDs before you can vote, which would be a severe hardship on people who are elderly or poor or don't have access to vehicles. If you are holding down two or three jobs trying to keep your family fed, should you have to blow a half-day at the Department of Motor Vehicles to get an ID? The poll-tax is back.

 

[Gokul43201]

There is a concerted move in the GOP to disenfranchise voters who are poor, disabled, elderly, and minorities. If the local poll-watchers challenge your ballot, it will be put in the "provisional" pile and may or may not get counted. In Maine, the Tea Party tried to eliminate same-day registration and early voting, citing voter fraud. The Secretary of State used our staff to go hunting and found exactly ONE example of an ineligible voter, and had to go back ten years to find that example. We managed to get the Tea Party measure repealed with a citizens' initiative, but the Secretary of State wants to require state-issued IDs before you can vote, which would be a severe hardship on people who are elderly or poor or don't have access to vehicles. If you are holding down two or three jobs trying to keep your family fed, should you have to blow a half-day at the Department of Motor Vehicles to get an ID? The poll-tax is back.

This thread lives in GD (not P&WA). We should try to not make it political.

 

[turbo]

This thread lives in GD (not P&WA). We should try to not make it political.

Sorry. It is an inherently political issue, especially in the light of the efforts of one party to suppress the votes of weaker, poorer, more elderly voters. Our votes really might not count, if they prevail. I have to vote by absentee ballot every election. What if my ballot is tossed into the provisional pile due to the objection of a poll-watcher that is dedicated to killing as many votes as possible from home-bound voters, people in extended-care facilities? I think we can all figure where this is going.

 

[ThomasT]

your vote... might not count?

The notorious Alex Sanders. My comment, in another thread, on your ***sack got me an infraction. But it was funny.

As for votes counting -- well, of course they do. Votes are counted. Therefore, every vote counts.

 

[Galteeth]

Back in 08 I was a poll watcher at my precinct during the primaries. The precinct had three diebold machines. At one point, two of them apparently malfunctioned. The precinct chair called in people from the diebold company who took the two machines offsite to fix them. They brought them back an hour later and said the problem was fixed. Now of course I don't have evidence that anything went down. But the point is, the precinct chair entirely trusted these two guys from the company to take the machines off site about half-way through the polls. No observers were allowed to accompany them. My point is, elections in this country are not particularly secure.

 

[cmb]

Your vote counts as much as anyone else's...

... unless your local legislation permits plural voting (as was permitted in UK until the late 40's).

..Plus, where everyone's vote counts just once, it counts the same as those allowed to vote. It's a bit like saying your dollar is worth the same as everyone else's dollar... providing you're allowed to spend it!

 

[wuliheron]

Congress has an all time low approval rating with the overwhelming number of Americans disapproving of the job they're doing, yet only 10% of house seats have changed parties in the last ten years. If the overwhelming majority's vote counts for so little then why on Earth would I think mine mattered?

The only study I've ever heard of actually done on the subject polled people about whether they intended to vote and if not why, then went back and polled them again after the election. The vast majority of people who said they thought their vote would not make a difference in the election were right. Even if all of them had voted the way they wanted it would have made no difference in the outcome.

Despite so many people insisting on the importance of voting its not like its rocket science. If your vote really counts then it should be possible to easily prove it counts and to give people even bipartisan feedback on exactly how much it counts. The fact that to this day there is no real effort to prove how much voting matters implies that the majority of voters don't want to know the truth and neither party has a stake in the truth being known.

 

[nucl34rgg]

What! No count??

I am literally dying laughing.

 

[turbo]

I am literally dying laughing.

I doubt that.

 

[eggshell]

But that matter is not one that matters, is it (once you've multiplied by electoral votes from the state)?

it matters in the sense that you have a greater chance of assigning electoral votes to your particular candidate, the only votes that matter, as opposed to the reduced likelihood of that happening if you were in a bigger state, regardless of the proportionality.

 

[Hobin]

I doubt that.

Well, it *is* possible. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_from_laughter

(Though, granted, not very probable.)