In some countries participation is still high, e.g. Australia’s is 95% because of the compulsory voting.
This thread is about your personal voting attitude.
Please share your thoughts.
Maybe you should take up on Putin's offer? He was kind enough to suggest sending election supervisors through the UN, and he would be glad to provide such service to the US if they had problems with their elections. Come to think of it, it's not such a bad idea.Sparrow wrote:Other (because it's rigged). There's no reason to vote until we switch to paper ballots, and outlaw electronic voting. But we're getting more and more areas using these machines.
I totally agree. But seeing the way the current election race is being conducted in the US, I have no problem understanding why people are staying home. How can anyone take this thing seriously? There are things being said that would put the speaker in jail in my country! What I find interesting is that this is happening in a country where lawsuits seems to be the national pastime, but all rules seem to be suspended during elections...@Fable: as the saying goes, isn't it better to choose the lesser of two evils? Surely you do not think that say, Al Gore, would have done worse than Bush? I understand your reasons not to vote, but if I were a US citizen I'd still vote for the Democrats rather than not vote at all, because either the democrats or the republicans are going to win anyway, and it's better if the winner is the one
who is sure to cause the least damage. A mediocre government is still better than an utterly bad one. Just my POV though.
A mediocre government in a faux democracy doesn't deserve support. We're seeing people beginning to be riled, now, who have been lying supine for a decade or more. People are getting angry. They're getting involved. If we switch from King Stork back to King Log at this point, slumber will take over, again. But if things continue to get worse--as they would, if nothing changes--then I could see things breaking open, much for the better.moltovir wrote:@Fable: as the saying goes, isn't it better to choose the lesser of two evils?
When I started voting, my party of choice was in power and riding high. Right now they're almost at the bottom of the political food chain, and they did it all themselves. However, I still vote for them because I believe in their ideas and the general principles that's behind them. Because of the stupendous incompetence of the party leadership, and the way that shifts between political blocks, there's not a tequila shot's chance at Spring Break for them to get back in power without a major workover, but they're still "my" party, and yes, I feel obliged to vote for them. I will vote as much as I can just to make my tiny squeak of a voice heard.I selected the first option (I usually vote after considerable research). Fifteen, ten, or even five, years ago I might have said I don't vote because there is nobody really worth voting for and that doing so just supports an inherently flawed political structure.
However, the reality is that I'm a minority, and my refusal to vote changes absolutely nothing. *sigh*
So, I suppose I have adopted something of a "pragmatic" approach. Seeing as somebody is going to acquire power, regardless of my personal opinions on voting, I support the candidate that most closely represents my views. Or, sometimes, I even vote strategically.
Several federal elections back, for example, the Conservative candidate in my area was a far right Christian fundamentalist. Instead of voting for the New Democrat candidate (which would have been my first choice), I voted for the Liberal. Why? Because the Liberal had the best chance of defeating the Conservative, and it was a close race.
Also... given the struggle women went through to obtain the right to vote I'm not comfortable with forfeiting that right.
You're forgetting that Dubya didn't win the first time around, because he wasn't elected. The Supreme Court first okayed a recount in one state that would have potentially given the vote to his opponent, and then changed its mind, closing down the recount and literally declaring Bush the winner.Lady Dragonfly wrote:Unfortunately, thousands of people stay home for this very reason. THOUSANDS votes could make a difference. People stayed home and Dubya and Co. won. Twice.