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Hong Kong9157 Posts
Go vote
Today is Election Day in the United States. Those of you reading this on Team Liquid who are of voting age and are eligible to vote should do so.
You might ask why this is so important. Here’s why:
In the last 30 years, turnout rates for American presidential elections have been horrendous. Remember those happy feelings about the elections of 2008, how they were the biggest turnout on record for a while? Only 61% of the eligible voting population in the country turned out to vote that year. That percentage of people represents a fraction of the total voting-age population.
Click the image above for a clearer view of the data.
In essence, the popular vote in American elections is decided by a much smaller number of people than you might expect, given the size of the country and its population density. An average of around 80 million eligible Americans regularly sit out elections, and fail to vote. That number is roughly equivalent to just about every person living in the states of California and Texas failing to vote.
The number of voters who failed to vote in each election year manages to outstrip, by a large margin, the voting totals of the two party’s contenders each time. Depending on the preferences of each individual voter in this huge pool, the change in election results if they chose either candidate (or all voted for a different candidate from a different party entirely) would be quite significant.
A lot of fuss is made about the Electoral College and the problem of the two-party consensus in the United States political and electoral system, but the simple fact of the matter is without the engagement of those 80 million or so people who fail to vote and express their preferences in elections, not much can change in the short-, medium-, and long-term scheme of things.
Actively failing to vote, while admittedly an expression of political preference, doesn’t actually get anything done in the real world. It functions as your tacit acceptance of the status quo.
Go out and vote.
The subject of this post is not about discussing the merits of any candidate or position except that people should go out and vote.
  
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United States24715 Posts
If you don't want to select any particular candidate in the election, you should still go anyway. You can submit your ballot without selecting a person you would like to choose for a given office (in fact, I often abstain from at least 1-2 of the lesser offices in an election if I don't know anything about them).
Not wanting to pick someone to be the president is not an excuse to skip voting.
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Hong Kong9157 Posts
Yeah that's important to note as well. You don't have to vote in every part of the ballot for it to count. I worked at a polling place years ago and clearly remember someone coming in simply to vote against a local ordinance increasing cigarette sales tax. She skipped through every part of the ballot except that part, voted, and then left.
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In fact, oftentimes local offices and ballot measures are the things you can influence. Sometimes you can't influence the presidential elections due to electoral college, but local stuff is easy to have an influence on. A local candidate won by 117 votes in my district.
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You might think: "Why should I vote when all the candidates are bought by corporations anyway?"
Well, there are two reasons, good sir.
1: There is a difference between being bought by corporations, and being bought by corporations + being fucking insane.
2: If enough people vote blankly (Voting for no one, but voting nonetheless) then that will be noticed, and will send the message that people won't vote for you unless you serve the people, and not corporations. With unlimited super pacs and all that, candidates will still be bribed, but they'll have to be somewhat better, or they won't be voted on. If enough people decide to vote only for a decent candidate, or vote blankly if that doesn't exist (which it doesn't, right now), there will be lots of progress.
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Hong Kong9157 Posts
On November 06 2012 04:03 vOdToasT wrote:
You might think: "Why should I vote when all the candidates are bought by corporations anyway?"
Well, there are two reasons, good sir.
1: There is a difference between being bought by corporations, and being bought by corporations + being fucking insane.
2: If enough people vote blankly (Voting for no one, but voting nonetheless) then that will be noticed, and will send the message that people won't vote for you unless you serve the people, and not corporations. With unlimited super pacs and all that, candidates will still be bribed, but they'll have to be somewhat better, or they won't be voted on. If enough people decide to vote only for a decent candidate, or vote blankly if that doesn't exist (which it doesn't, right now), there will be lots of progress.
Or actually, things will continue on as if nothing happened. The non-votes of people who do not express their preferences are completely ignored because pissing those people off doesn't impact their chances. The strategy of modern political parties is actually to attempt to dissuade as many voters from the opposite side from voting. Media functions in the modern day to convince people that the side they favor has already won, and that voting is useless.
The reaction towards the problems you describe shouldn't be political inaction and apathy.
Edit: I kinda misinterpreted your post. While more cynical, yes what you describe might be valid.
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What if, say, I happened to be a Republican in a state which votes overwhelmingly Democratic, or vice-versa? Even if I was like "Romney, fuck yeah!" and totally ignorant about the electoral college, my state would be won by Barack Obama regardless.
Also, why should I be pressured into voting if, as an American, I have the personal freedom to abstain from voting if I feel that neither candidate is qualified for holding public office?
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Hong Kong9157 Posts
On November 06 2012 04:07 ninazerg wrote:
What if, say, I happened to be a Republican in a state which votes overwhelmingly Democratic, or vice-versa? Even if I was like "Romney, fuck yeah!" and totally ignorant about the electoral college, my state would be won by Barack Obama regardless.
Also, why should I be pressured into voting if, as an American, I have the personal freedom to abstain from voting if I feel that neither candidate is qualified for holding public office?
You do realize there are other things to vote on in an election season than that for highest office? A lot of those things will fundamentally affect you much more than whoever might end up being elected president (mayorships, initiatives and referendum, etc). You do have the freedom not to choose, I'm just trying to educate people as to why not choosing is a bad strategy if you are uncomfortable with the status quo.
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I voted but I don't believe this is a democracy so I don't feel like I made any impact whatsoever.
Edit: But yeah, for local stuff it actually does matter.
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On November 06 2012 04:07 ninazerg wrote:
What if, say, I happened to be a Republican in a state which votes overwhelmingly Democratic, or vice-versa? Even if I was like "Romney, fuck yeah!" and totally ignorant about the electoral college, my state would be won by Barack Obama regardless.
Also, why should I be pressured into voting if, as an American, I have the personal freedom to abstain from voting if I feel that neither candidate is qualified for holding public office?
It's your civic duty as an American to exercise this freedom and right to vote!  But of course, you can surely exercise your right not to vote as well. And I understand why it may seem futile to not bother if your state is going to lean the other way anyway.
Even though my state (like nearly all states) is most likely decided already by predictive polls, I'll still be voting. To show my support. To be a part (albeit negligible) of this huge process. Because I did research on the candidates and I feel like I'm informed enough to be voting for someone (and against someone else). And because it makes me feel good.
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On November 06 2012 04:10 itsjustatank wrote:Show nested quote +On November 06 2012 04:07 ninazerg wrote:
What if, say, I happened to be a Republican in a state which votes overwhelmingly Democratic, or vice-versa? Even if I was like "Romney, fuck yeah!" and totally ignorant about the electoral college, my state would be won by Barack Obama regardless.
Also, why should I be pressured into voting if, as an American, I have the personal freedom to abstain from voting if I feel that neither candidate is qualified for holding public office? You do realize there are other things to vote on in an election season than that for highest office? A lot of those things will fundamentally affect you much more than whoever might end up being elected president (mayorships, initiatives and referendum, etc). You do have the freedom not to choose, I'm just trying to educate people as to why not choosing is a bad strategy if you are uncomfortable with the status quo.
This. A lot of people forget that other offices are up for voting, and these offices matter a lot more than the presidency for most.
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As others have said, there are more candidates and issues on the ballot than simply your choice for President. There's always a house seat up for grabs, 2/3rds chance of a senate race, and lots of local offices and initiatives you can vote on. If you don't like Romney or Obama, there are third party candidates you can choose too. Even though they won't win, votes for third parties can help with ballot access in future elections, and it sends a message to the major parties that they aren't properly addressing the issues you care about.
You should also vote because politicians don't give a shit about you if you don't. Most people on TL are under 30, a demographic that has very low voter turnout compared to older people, and as a result, we have a government that panders to the desires of those old people.
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i will be old enough to vote soon, but i'm probably not going to vote even after i am old enough because i feel like i dont know enough about politics to make an informed decision about who to vote for, and i dont want to vote for somebody without being able to clearly support my decision.
And actually learning enough to make an informed decision would take too long anyway 
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On November 06 2012 04:22 snively wrote:i will be old enough to vote soon, but i'm probably not going to vote even after i am old enough because i feel like i dont know enough about politics to make an informed decision about who to vote for, and i dont want to vote for somebody without being able to clearly support my decision. And actually learning enough to make an informed decision would take too long anyway
If you think that you don't know enough, you know more than most.
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If I was an american I'd be really hard pressed to find a person to vote for with my whole heart even though I'm more inclined to Obama I'd like the USA to have a candidate that was fundamentally different than the ones americans are presented with - a candidate that believed in weakening the current imperialist ideology, less silly patriotism and less neoliberalist bullcrap. To cheer things up and HIGHLY on topic, some political rap: + Show Spoiler +
On November 06 2012 04:22 snively wrote:i will be old enough to vote soon, but i'm probably not going to vote even after i am old enough because i feel like i dont know enough about politics to make an informed decision about who to vote for, and i dont want to vote for somebody without being able to clearly support my decision. And actually learning enough to make an informed decision would take too long anyway
You are already inside of the political game the second you were born, if you can't grasp the whole of the situation at least vote in a way you judge that it'll change things positively around you, but remember, it only counts as positive if you are not selfish. (:
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Hong Kong9157 Posts
Not every candidate or position will be perfect, but there is such a thing as strategic voting: voting with the candidate or position that more closely reflects most of your preferences. You can also branch off entirely and roll your own political party and candidates; if enough of those 80 million plus voters who don't vote did so, the results would be quite interesting to observe.
And, as I said, there are more things on the ballot come election day than just voting for president. Not having opinions and expressing them on those can be uniquely bad for you in ways more significant than whoever gets elected as president.
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On November 06 2012 04:10 itsjustatank wrote:
You do realize there are other things to vote on in an election season than that for highest office?
Duh. If you read your OP, you will notice how much of it is devoted to the presidential race. That's why I'm talking specifically about the presidency. However, where I live, there is no Mayor, because my city is trolling us 24/7, and almost everyone is running unopposed, except for my Congressman, who also happens to be running for Vice-President. There's also a very bitter Senate race (damn right!) which I already voted on when I went to go vote early a few days ago. Also, I just so happened to vote for a presidential candidate while completing my ballot.
I'm just trying to educate people
I realize voting is important, but some people choose not to, and will have to live with the consequences.
+ Show Spoiler +
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Hong Kong9157 Posts
On November 06 2012 04:38 ninazerg wrote:Show nested quote +On November 06 2012 04:10 itsjustatank wrote:
You do realize there are other things to vote on in an election season than that for highest office? Duh. If you read your OP, you will notice how much of it is devoted to the presidential race. That's why I'm talking specifically about the presidency. However, where I live, there is no Mayor, because my city is trolling us 24/7, and almost everyone is running unopposed, except for my Congressman, who also happens to be running for Vice-President. There's also a very bitter Senate race (damn right!) which I already voted on when I went to go vote early a few days ago. Also, I just so happened to vote for a presidential candidate while completing my ballot.
It focuses on the turnout rates for presidential elections. Turnout is measured by proportion of people voting for someone for highest office, and is the only set of statistics available across the 50 states consistently every year. I infer that turnout across the entire ballot reflects these rates, or are even smaller.
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United States10328 Posts
well, I apparently didn't get my absentee ballot request through, so gggggggggggg
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Hong Kong9157 Posts
On November 06 2012 05:11 ]343[ wrote:
well, I apparently didn't get my absentee ballot request through, so gggggggggggg
What state? Some states even let you register to vote on election day. High chance you can still get a ballot in.
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