Should I bother to vote this year?

[BenitoChavez]

Doesn't your employer have to let you leave early so you can vote? If polls close before you finish work.

I'm guessing you'd rather stay at work anyway, but am curious if you guys don't have laws like that in place to allow people to vote (you probably do).

The company I currently work for doesn't give us any time off, but I've done some contractual work for companies that do.

Voting is your damn obligation, isn't it?

Not really. We have the right to vote, but we also have the right not to vote if we so desire.

 

[Rubendg12]

Vote is rigged anyway. Just stay home


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Tee Kay]

We Aussies vote on Saturdays. Our laws actually encourage (nay, compel) people to participate in the democratic process.

It's like the system in North America makes it as difficult as possible for you to exercise your democratic rights.

Anyway, voting is the one time that anything I do has the same weight in society as what a billionaire or celebrity or powerful boss does, so I'd vote whenever I get the chance.

 

[Kennigit]

I mean all WA and OR elections are vote by mail to preregistered voters (dunno if sameday registration is there), but surely just making a weekend election or holiday is just significantly administratively easier in ballot counting (not necessary to open envelope for feeding ballot into data entry; make full use if electronic voting)

It's just silly to make it difficult to vote or risk loss of business hours due to queues or plain loss of productivity due to some arguments of "they should make an effort if they want" (edit- i dont know which states have no-fault absentee, or relative difficulty to get absentee, etc. But many people have very inflexible schedules that do not allow them to just try to vote before work: primarily anyone that has to do a morning routine with their kid. THINK OF THE CHILDREN)

Though i dunno the cost/vote of OR or WA system or the math behind loss of productivity due to election day not being a simple holiday

 

[warpus]

We Aussies vote on Saturdays. Our laws actually encourage (nay, compel) people to participate in the democratic process.

It's like the system in North America makes it as difficult as possible for you to exercise your democratic rights.

Anyway, voting is the one time that anything I do has the same weight in society as what a billionaire or celebrity or powerful boss does, so I'd vote whenever I get the chance.

Voting on weekends sounds like a good idea. Why is it always on a weekday here? Everyone's at work and busy. My weekends are usually wide open - maybe I'm in the minority though, I don't have kids or wives or any of that jazz.

 

[Kennigit]

Yeah actually, contrary to my first post in this thread, I will get to vote since ill have a ballot mailed to me and I'll either mail it back or can just drop it off at a nearby ballot box thing, no effort required on my end other than already getting a state drivers license w/ motor voter laws

Have a morning coffee in my memory for those of you who have to spend some effort to do such a simple task as voting

 

[onejayhawk]

Remarkably few people control the vote in off years. Your influence is never stronger.

If time is an issue, early vote on a weekend.

J

 

[Harv]

The USA does not have its version of the Rhinoceros Party does it? If you want to protest vote, what is your option?

In the USA, RINO means Republican in Name Only. In Canada, Rhinos run a few candidates for the sake of adding entertainment to the election process.

I remember one election where the Rhinos found somebody named John Turner to run against the [former] Prime Minister John Turner in his own riding. He reminded his supporters to vote for John N. Turner.

On the more serious side, you should vote. Your reason for not voting is not a protest - There is a candidate that you support and you should support her. Even if your vote is heavily redundant, you should vote.

Even though we are on opposite sides of the political spectrum, you should vote. It shows that you take the political system seriously. Have you ever had a discussion with somebody where you asked how he voted? What do you think if he said that he did not vote in the last election?

EDIT: Made a couple of corrections after looking up the 1988 election. (John Turner was the opposition leader running against Prime Minister Brian Mulrouney.)

 

[downtown]

Remarkably few people control the vote in off years. Your influence is never stronger.

J

Only sorta. It's not like I'm voting for president. The headline race here is for a US congresswoman who is going to clear at least 75% of the vote no matter what. It's barely a real election. If I had lived here during a primary, that would have been different, and worth voting for.


FWIW, here is a map of the average wait times across the states from last year:

http://www.vox.com/2014/10/9/6951251/map-voting-time-by-state

 

[Wolfbeckett]

I always vote. ALWAYS. My reason is simple. I like to complain loudly about how much our government is screwing things up, and if I don't at least do my bare minimum civic duty by voting, I'll feel like a hypocrite for complaining. I don't want to be a hypocrite, so I take 30 minutes out of my day to vote and then go back to yelling loudly about how much both of the parties in this country suck.

 

[Perfection]

Will you get a sticker to lord your righteous voter status over consumerist corporate pawn nonvoters?

 

[Perfection]

Also you could ask a local who you respect who to vote for on local issues. I do that sometimes.

 

[onejayhawk]

Only sorta. It's not like I'm voting for president. The headline race here is for a US congresswoman who is going to clear at least 75% of the vote no matter what. It's barely a real election. If I had lived here during a primary, that would have been different, and worth voting for.


FWIW, here is a map of the average wait times across the states from last year:

http://www.vox.com/2014/10/9/6951251/map-voting-time-by-state

What is the wait time to early vote?

J

 

[Suido]

One reason to vote is to push the national total of votes for congress democrats higher. One of the key outcomes of the 2012 elections was that the republicans held onto congress despite massively losing the total vote count for congress members. This highlighted the problem of gerrymandering, but that issue is still huge - is your district gerrymandered to give neighbouring districts a better chance of electing a republican?

It's not much, but it's a reason.

 

[Tahuti]

I always vote. ALWAYS. My reason is simple. I like to complain loudly about how much our government is screwing things up, and if I don't at least do my bare minimum civic duty by voting, I'll feel like a hypocrite for complaining. I don't want to be a hypocrite, so I take 30 minutes out of my day to vote and then go back to yelling loudly about how much both of the parties in this country suck.

To vote is to assent to its outcome. By voting, you lose the right to complain.

 

[Tee Kay]

To vote is to assent to its outcome. By voting, you lose the right to complain.

Whatever gave you that idea.

It's like you think democracy is about voting and nothing else. No wonder you yearn for feudalism.

 

[Tahuti]

Whatever gave you that idea.

It's like you think democracy is about voting and nothing else. No wonder you yearn for feudalism.

Democracy is more about the 'will of the people', whatever that may mean.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

Voting on weekends sounds like a good idea. Why is it always on a weekday here? Everyone's at work and busy. My weekends are usually wide open - maybe I'm in the minority though, I don't have kids or wives or any of that jazz.

On Saturday, people who aren't working are either relaxing or away from home. Good luck getting someone to interrupt a weekend camping trip to come back to vote.

On Sunday... do you know how many polling stations are located in churches?

 

[GenMarshall]

Not to mention some industries, people actually work on Saturdays and/or Sundays.

 

[Hygro]

downtown doesn't want to vote?

the sky has fallen for sure.