This could hurt Downtown politically.
Should I bother to vote this year?
- Thread starter downtown
- Start date
This could hurt Downtown politically.
Then you had best not utter one word of complaint about who got in and what they do after taking office. You had your chance to have your say, and threw it away.
Traitorfish
The Tighnahulish Kid
People like you would have been a ton of fun in 1933.
"Help, the Nazis are destroying my business just because I'm Jewish!"
"Did you vote in the last elections?"
"Well, no, but-"
"NO VOTE NO COMPLAINING"
I had my chance to say something about statewide election in Maryland, and for that, I won't complain about them. But I didn't get a vote for anything national of consequence, and I don't think my forgoing to vote for some obscure local office should disqualify me from complaining about Congress.
Harv
Emperor
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I don't think so. He is young, if I remember correctly; and young people are allowed to make mistakes like that. When he realizes this, he will simply acknowledge that he made a mistake that he will never make again - and move on.
I will stand by what I said earlier: You own your vote. You get to be a part of the process. Whether you saw last night as a great victory or bitter defeat, you got to be a part of it.
The OP is a sports commentator, right? He got to be a part of the action in the big game because he was there - and he is there the next day to talk about it whether his team wins big or loses big.
Voting also lends credibility. I would rather argue with somebody who opposes my views and votes for my opponents, rather than somebody who opposes my views and does not vote at all.
Going back to ownership: You own your vote. If you do not like the government's policies, either you voted for them or you voted against them. Next time bring your ptichfork!
Mise
isle of lucy
THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT 
Do you have the slightest idea how much abuse people like me get on the CBC comment boards just for being Albertan? (yeah, not anywhere comparable to how the Jews were treated, but we're not discussing Germany in 1933 in this thread) I get blamed for Stephen Harper, and not only did I not vote for him or his party, but I've never voted for any right-winger in my life.
But I do vote. So I have every moral right to complain how my city is run, how my province is run, and how my country is run (not great in all three cases).
Tahuti
Writing Deity
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"Help, the Nazis are destroying my business just because I'm Jewish!"
"Did you vote in the last elections?"
"Yes of course!
"YOU VOTED, SO YOU HAVE ASSENTED WITH THE OUTCOME"
I wonder if that was a serious consideration on making the map.
"If we include Boone, we'll be sure to win this election!"
"Among Klansman perhaps..."
That's fine. I didn't have an opinion on that race, seeing as I've lived in this state for all of =, I dunno, two months.
I am young (27) but I don't think this was a mistake. This was a deliberate choice.
Yup, I own this choice. There are lots of political issues that I care about, but given the circumstances around this election, I didn't see how participating would advocate for those policy issues.
Like I've mentioned a few times before, my district is not competitive. In a huge Republican wave year, my representative won with about 70% of the vote over a not-particularly-serious candidate. The incumbent mostly agrees with my political views, so showing up to vote for a libertarian or a green wouldn't have mattered much. I know that my rep is in the minority party and would be after the election, and subsequently locked out from most leadership positions or important committee responsibilities. Furthermore, as a relatively junior member of congress in general, she lacks seniority and clout. The election for Maryland 4, in any practical sense, did not matter. My rep's ability to influence her peers and impact policy remains unchanged whether she won the 55% of the vote, or 85%.
The issues that impact me the most on a day to day level were also outside of my control in this election. Nobody in my local government was on the ballot. As a DC Suburb, what happens in DC impacts my day to day life more than most things that happen in my own state (my rent prices, my traffic, my subway and my local development patterns are a reflection of what happens in DC)...but I can't vote for any DC representatives. DC's ability to self govern is also limited by what happens in the US House and Senate. I have no Senate vote, and my ability to make a real preference in the US House is also limited.
Furthermore, I'm mad at the Democrat party. The issue that I probably care the most about, immigration reform, was punted multiple times, even after the party promised they would make it a priority. Despite voters clamoring for student loan relief, to stop bombing people, for government transparency, and to get serious about prosecuting financial criminals, party leadership did none of those things.
By voting for my Democratic Rep, I am tacitly endorsing this, and saying that I will not hold them accountable. By voting for the Republican, or for another rep, I am giving an endorsement to a politician whose views I do not agree with. The only lever I have to apply real pressure on this group then, is to stay home. Which is what I, along with tens of thousands of other disaffected voters under 30 who lean Dem, did.
Damn right I'll own that.
I don't have to show up to write most of my stories. I just have to watch it.
Most things are.THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT
Harv
Emperor
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-Downtown from Maryland
I love the rant! A piece like this should be a letter to the editor or even an editorial.
I always disagreed with this logic. I happen to feel it's the ones who vote who have no right to complain about how things are run. If you vote, even if the issues/people you vote for do not win, you are giving your consent to the current system under which your city/state/nation is governed. However, if one does not vote, it can be viewed as a rejection of the current system and a refusal to allow that system to govern.
Of course all of that assumes that people should be denied the right to complain in the first place (whether by actual government law or social pressure). I think every citizen has the right to complain about their government if they are unhappy with it whether they voted or not.
That's ridiculous. If I'm dissatisfied with the system, all I need to do is sign in to vote - ie. make sure Elections Canada knows I showed up - and then refuse my ballot. That, more than the nonsense of a spoiled ballot or just not showing up at all, says "I'm not happy and am voting for None of the Above."
Every scrap of paper in a polling station has to be accounted for, and spoiled ballots are usually chalked up to "some idiot too stupid to follow the simple direction of marking an X for the candidate of his/her choice." A refused ballot is a whole other thing entirely.
Every scrap of paper in a polling station has to be accounted for, and spoiled ballots are usually chalked up to "some idiot too stupid to follow the simple direction of marking an X for the candidate of his/her choice." A refused ballot is a whole other thing entirely.
Refused ballots don't go into the statistics, though.
I believe I made the point that a note is made when a ballot is refused. The voter actually signs in before refusing the ballot, so Elections Canada knows it's been refused.
You did, but you don't just want Elections Canada to know about it. I've never seen the number of refused ballots reported, so the actual people being complained against won't hear it - or do they do that in Canada?
Refusing your ballot is still not voting so my point still stands. I'm saying if anyone shouldn't be allowed to complain (a ridiculous notion in and of it self) it should be the ones who happily cast their ballot whether the person/party/issue they voted for wins or not.
A refused ballot is a form of "I vote not to vote" that is official, in that a record is kept. It's not the same as just not showing up to the polls, because there could be any number of reasons for that.
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