American Voters Disgust Me

[reds4ever]

I live in a Labour stronghold and support Labour, ego I never need to bother voting!!

[Sprayber]

Often times it's not just a matter of not caring but not having enough time. I'm not defending it and I know they could vote with extra effort but a lot of people have streatched themselves so thin on a day to day basis that it's hard to make time. Either there needs to be two days to vote (not likely) or voting should be moved to weekends.

[Wycoff]

Originally posted by SlowwHand
I'm saying, vote or don't complain about the after effects.

And I'm saying that's stupid. I have the right to complain if I pick a candidate at random or go and vote for a third party candidate that I absolutely detest but vote for just for spite, but I don't have that right if I decide to skip the whole damn thing? Maybe I'm the one who takes voting too damn seriously. The substance of the vote matters way more to me than the physical ritual of voting.
I can't bring myself to vote for someone who I don't support, so I don't play those games of "voting for the lesser evil" or "vote for a rock / inanimate object to show your disdain" (that assumes that 1. everyone can write in and 2. the vote counters will count that sort of vote rather than simply throw it away. At least I'm sure that I'm being counted when I don't go)

You have an interesting view on whining. You started the whole topic complaining of low voter turnout. I gave you my opinion on the matter. You complaining doesn't equal whining... people who complain about things with which you don't agree are whining. Nice.

[Wycoff]

Originally posted by reds4ever
I live in a Labour stronghold and support Labour, ego I never need to bother voting!!

That's another major reason that America has low voter turnout: the problem of the wasted vote. Most of the districts are so gerrymandered that they're no longer competative. Thus, supporters of the dominant party don't show because they think that they don't need to, supporters of the minority party don't show because they've lost hope, and the disaffected voters just don't show up at all.

Make this an election in which every vote counts for something and I guarantee more people show up to vote.

[Ramo]

Rick Perry is the runaway winner in the Republican primary for Texas governor.
I don't know about the Democrat side. I never heard of any of them.
Kinky Friedman is so far behind he may cross the finish line in time to run again.
Why am I disgusted?
It's not because of Rick Perry. As far as I'm concerned, he's done a fine job.
What disgusts me is that 17% of registered voters made the decision.
Don't even say it's Texas. It's not. Apathy is so rampant it's...disgusting.
Get off your asses and vote.

You do realize that if you vote in the primary, your signature can't be used to get Kinky (or Strayhorn for that matter) on the ballot, right?

And...

I don't know about the Democrat side. I never heard of any of them.
[...]
Apathy is so rampant it's...disgusting.

It's not because of Rick Perry. As far as I'm concerned, he's done a fine job

dismantling public education.

[germanos]

Re: American Voters Disgust Me

Originally posted by SlowwHand
Rick Perry is the runaway winner in the Republican primary for Texas governor.
I don't know about the Democrat side. I never heard of any of them.
Kinky Friedman is so far behind he may cross the finish line in time to run again.
Why am I disgusted?
It's not because of Rick Perry. As far as I'm concerned, he's done a fine job.
What disgusts me is that 17% of registered voters made the decision.
Don't even say it's Texas. It's not. Apathy is so rampant it's...disgusting.
Get off your asses and vote.

Question (from an ignorant euro who doesn't know anything about voter-registration):
Is this 17% of the registered Republican voters? (I got at one point the impression that voter-registration can be 'party-bound'). Does this vote you speak off make it a vote that only concern potential republican voters?

[Apocalypse]

I depends on the state whether only parties can vote in their own primaries or whether they can do both.

[Sava]

this is just the primaries right?

sometimes, if you vote in the primaries, they make you declare, officially, that you are for that party... at least in Illinois it works that way

I don't vote in the primaries because I don't want to declare myself a democrat or republican. Those records are public. And IMO, it's nobody's business. So I won't vote in primaries just for that reason.

But this isn't the general election, is it?

If so to Texas voters.

Kinky

[SlowwHand]

17% of all registered voters voted. Party affiliation has nothing to do with it. 17 out of every 100 registed voters, voted. That doesn't even speak of people who don't register to vote.

Sava, you cn vote Democrat in primary, then vote Republican in general election.
I myself have done this, in affort to put the 2 best candidates, IMO, in the general election.
You don't get locked into a party by voting one way in the primary, and if they stamp your voter card Democrat or Republican, who cares?

[germanos]

What is it with this voter registration anyway?

Where I live, every Dutch citizen over 18 gets to vote, no need to register.

What the rationale behind getting registered in the first place?

[Dinner]

Originally posted by Traianvs
The tricky part is that you can't vote for anyone willing to change the system

So true. Time after time I see popular candidates get crushed in primaries by the insider because special interests control the primary process.

It seems like nothing short of open primaries and actually removing money contributions from politics would solve that problem. The problem is the politicians who recieve the money and the special interests which buy legislation don't want the system changed.

[VetLegion]

The Dutch are already registered elsewhere, the Americans aren't?

[Dinner]

Originally posted by germanos

What the rationale behind getting registered in the first place?

To insure people are voting in the correct district. Only people who live in one district can vote for that districts representative so they want to make sure that people from outside aren't coming in to change the vote and make one candidate win. In the Dutch system everything is based upon the percentage of votes each party receives on the national level so where people vote doesn't matter.

In the American system each Congressional district gets to choose their own representative and no one outside that district gets a say.

[Sava]

Originally posted by SlowwHand
17% of all registered voters voted. Party affiliation has nothing to do with it. 17 out of every 100 registed voters, voted. That doesn't even speak of people who don't register to vote.

Sava, you cn vote Democrat in primary, then vote Republican in general election.
I myself have done this, in affort to put the 2 best candidates, IMO, in the general election.
You don't get locked into a party by voting one way in the primary, and if they stamp your voter card Democrat or Republican, who cares?

I just don't like the idea of being labeled... and on top of that, the information is available to the public.

Who I vote for, my party affiliations, etc, should be private information.

I don't want to be a registered anything.

In order to vote in a primary in Illinois, you need to be registered in that party. And those records are public.

I'm just uncomfortable with that.

I don't really care about primaries anyways.

[Zkribbler]

I blew off yesterday's school board election.