Are you part of the low voter turnout problem?

[Emerson40]

Studies have shown that among developed nations, the U.S. ranks among the lowest for voter turnout. This results in a smaller part of the eligible electorate, sometimes less than 50%, making decisions for all.

There are many theories put forth as to why, such as lower turnout in states where the race is less competitive due to Republican or Democratic Party strongholds, the hassles - long lines, polling site confusion, registration limitations - some associate with the voting process, gerrymandered districts, and the general contentious nature of politics, usually ramped up in the weeks leading up to election day with trash-talk, negative ads, and mudslinging, which folks get fed up with and decide to just not participate.
Voting day being on a Tuesday shouldn’t be an issue, as most states allow early voting and absentee ballots.

There are those too, that find themselves unable to support any of the available candidates, and decide to abstain from voting as a form of protest. I’m not a fan of this generally, as a lot of people sacrificed and gave a great deal, including their life, for you to have the freedom and right to vote, and this should not be squandered. There are many, many people in the world who don’t have these freedoms or ability to influence their lives and futures, and I think it remiss of you to take the right to vote for granted.
Even casting a split vote, although not as effective in a two-party system like the U.S.’s, is better than not voting.


Citizens of America, will you, or have you voted?

If voter turnout hit the 75-80% mark, do you think the political landscape would change all that much?

Post any theories you may have as to why the voter turnout in the U.S. is so low, as well as any ideas you may have for increasing it.
Compulsory voting, anyone?



https://66.media.tumblr.com/7724fff275e4d4de142a383ec09735dd/tumblr_ph2s8sf5vF1xoaai3o1_400.jpg

 

[BotanyBoy]

What the fuck is the point?

The Democrat will win, no point in wasting fuel.

 

[TalkRadio1]

Hey, Em! What's up with beew? Is she saying you're Canadian?

For your viewing pleasure...

Hey Emerson40, the male loser who has to resort to sadism and stalking to get it up,

Remember when you called me a gipsy?

Figures.
Most SouthEastern and Eastern European immigrants to Canada have a University degree and posibly took the jobs that you aspired for.
Which explains your resentment.

You repeatedly called me a gipsy, the clear inuendo being that the "revelation" would make me look like a second class European.
Just like when Rob calls me a third world "paki."


Tell me "Em".
How many "third world European immigrants" who went to "run on the Mill" native universities -and either did their Canadian equivalency exams, or got into the Canadian Unoversities that denied you-

took the jobs that you were rooting for?

^^^
https://www.speakgif.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/fat-man-dancing-animated-gif.gif

Emerson40: speaking, with a BobDownSouth type of Canadian accent
from his three storey mansion from his all White neighborhood:

" I love teh Blacks and teh Muslims!
You can tell I do, because I say so!"

 

[Que]

Most places low voter turnout harms Democrats. How is that a problem?

People with little to no information and who are not engaged in the political process shouldn't vote in any case. Name recognition and incumbency are the two most powerful forces at work. Yard and Corner signs are how the majority of the American electorate decides which box to tick

 

[Tryharder62]

Honestly....it is always like having to choose the lesser of two evils. But I do it.

 

[Emerson40]

What the fuck is the point?

The Democrat will win, no point in wasting fuel.

Huh.

I wasn't sure if you'd be a voter because of your military experience and love of freedom, or an abstainer because of your general, overall dislike of government.

Would anything sway you to the polls? A gas card perhaps?

Most places low voter turnout harms Democrats. How is that a problem?

People with little to no information and who are not engaged in the political process shouldn't vote in any case. Name recognition and incumbency are the two most powerful forces at work. Yard and Corner signs are how the majority of the American electorate decides which box to tick

I think low turnout, regardless of party of choice, is a problem. Take Trump as an example. You can't say definitively that he was the American people's choice. You can't even say he won the popular vote, out of the 58% of eligible voters who voted.
All you can say is he won the electoral college, and became prez as a result.

Your point about informed and engaged voters is valid, but I think it goes a little deeper than that. The current state and politicizing of the US media makes getting accurate information difficult. It is about spin, 'alternative facts', and perceptions / deceptions.

Looking back at the conventions prior to the 2016 election, it was more a sideshow of soundbites, divisiveness, and adversarial confrontations than it was about issues, policies, and suitability of candidates, which carried forward into the election campaigns. I think a lot of people held their nose when voting, or, weary of the circus, removed themselves from the process entirely.
It became about people and not policies, party before country. This doesn't attract or engage voters, and likely disenchants those that are.

 

[OldJourno]

Compulsory voting in a free country. What a concept!

Would we make it mandatory that they get ID before the compulsory early voting period begins?
Would we want someone who is incapable of obtaining identification participating in compulsory voting, much less voluntary voting?

 

[Emerson40]

Honestly....it is always like having to choose the lesser of two evils. But I do it.

Quality of candidate is not only an issue in the U.S. elections.

More and more voters it seems, everywhere in the world, are having to decide between the better of the devils.

 

[Kirkrapine]

Most places low voter turnout harms Democrats. How is that a problem?

Because low voter turnout is a Bad Thing in a purely nonpartisan, civic-virtue sense. The point of democracy is to make the state do whatever a majority of people want it to do, and that doesn't work unless they vote.

 

[TalkRadio1]

A wonderful Canada Day
https://forum.literotica.com/showpost.php?p=86665406&postcount=4756

May all your reeds vibrate merrily, and your fipples be clear in the New Year!

Both I (when I was a wee Em) and my children have received letters from Santa.

Canada Post has been accepting letters for Santa - postal code H0H 0H0 - for years, with retired postal workers and other volunteers handling St. Nick’s replies. Adds to to magic that is Christmas for the little ones.

 

[TalkRadio1]

Hey, Em! Can't you just feel the love, Babe?

I love your ongoing obsession with all things American. It's such a shame you'll always be on the outside looking in.

 

[BotanyBoy]

Huh.

I wasn't sure if you'd be a voter because of your military experience and love of freedom, or an abstainer because of your general, overall dislike of government.

Would anything sway you to the polls? A gas card perhaps?

Not living in one of the darkest blue counties in one of the bluest states???


When I get to a my more purple spot in the Midwest I'll certainly take my civic duties more seriously, but not here.

In this part of California you will get the slimiest, most incompetent set Democrats available and you'll like it.

 

[Kirkrapine]

Not living in one of the darkest blue counties in one of the bluest states???

Lucky dude, you are!

 

[CandiCame]

I just got a new driver's license and I look fucking... way less shitty than I thought I would. I just want to show it off, but that wasn't an option.

 

[BotanyBoy]

Lucky dude, you are!

It's a hole that just took a huge dump on it's biggest economic engine creating a serious poverty problem.

(D)emocrat legalization (but only for rich well connected people OF COURSE!!!) is leaving a LOT of mom and pop pot farmers who were only making it because they could grow an extra 40k/yr in their back yard out in the cold.

Logging industry is about strangled to death here so there isn't a whole lot left for the north state.

Houses aren't selling, especially the shitty ones in towns like Eureka and Crescent City....add the fires in Redding this summer? Lots of folks are bailing, I saw it in my sales this spring and couldn't pull the plug fast enough. So did Costco apparently, they are packing their shit at the end of the year. Man if Wal Mart and Mc'Diddles fold up the north coast is in for some dark times.

I just hope the house sells relatively soon, I gotta gtfo before this shit show drags me down.

 

[CandiCame]

I'm pretty sure that at least one of the candidates I like isn't going to win either way, but I'll still be there.

Also, the lady who worked last year made cookies and they were pretty good. It's in a fire station with a full kitchen and she always makes snacks and coffee, but they don't have disposable coffee cups, so you have to like... stand there and drink it and I don't want to do that. I also don't want to make her do dishes because she's like 4 million years old. I don't know why they don't run down to the dollar tree and get a couple packs of cups. You wouldn't need more than for a family BBQ- the district is TINY.

 

[Kirkrapine]

It's a hole that just took a huge dump on it's biggest economic engine creating a serious poverty problem.

(D)emocrat legalization (but only for rich well connected people OF COURSE!!!) is leaving a LOT of mom and pop pot farmers who were only making it because they could grow an extra 40k/yr in their back yard out in the cold.

Logging industry is about strangled to death here so there isn't a whole lot left for the north state.

Houses aren't selling, especially the shitty ones in towns like Eureka and Crescent City....add the fires in Redding this summer? Lots of folks are bailing, I saw it in my sales this spring and couldn't pull the plug fast enough. So did Costco apparently, they are packing their shit at the end of the year.

I just hope the house sells relatively soon, I gotta gtfo before this shit show drags me down.

I will be extremely surprised if the population of NoCal declines significantly in the next decade. But pleasantly surprised -- cheaper housing, you know.

 

[RoryN]

I vote just so I can tell people I don't like who I voted for (most of them vote for the opposite candidate). I have no false hope that my chosen candidate will do 50% of what they promise; instead, my reason for voting means I get what I want, regardless: the ability to annoy weak people as a patriotic duty.

Of course, I take full responsibility for whatever candidate or policies I vote for despite this. That's why I'm proud to say I'll have been on the right side of history by not having voted for Trump. Trumpublicans, however, will never be able to wipe away that stain from themselves. Very sad - jobs and relationships will be lost. But they asked for it.

 

[Emerson40]

I'm pretty sure that at least one of the candidates I like isn't going to win either way, but I'll still be there.

Also, the lady who worked last year made cookies and they were pretty good. It's in a fire station with a full kitchen and she always makes snacks and coffee, but they don't have disposable coffee cups, so you have to like... stand there and drink it and I don't want to do that. I also don't want to make her do dishes because she's like 4 million years old. I don't know why they don't run down to the dollar tree and get a couple packs of cups. You wouldn't need more than for a family BBQ- the district is TINY.

I’ve heard of realtors putting a batch of tollhouse cookies in the oven to bake, during an open house. Fresh baked cookies smell like home...

Some folks get a cookie after donating blood.


This lady could be on to something.

 

[Kirkrapine]

I vote just so I can tell people I don't like who I voted for (most of them vote for the opposite candidate).

As good a reason as any, I suppose.

 

[Luk]

Yard and Corner signs are how the majority of the American electorate decides which box to tick

You often tell the tale of seeing a 45 sticker on a hillbilly's pickup. We now see who can influence your political beliefs.

 

[BotanyBoy]

I will be extremely surprised if the population of NoCal declines significantly in the next decade. But pleasantly surprised -- cheaper housing, you know.

Not NorCal overal...the bay area/sacramento will probably never notice a thing.

The "Emerald Triangle" + which Mendo, Humboldt, Trinity and areas of other close by north state counties where cannabis was the only industry around?

They are fuckin' feelin' it bruh, legalization was no friend to the small time pot farmer. They only let the BIG money in that industry, it's the progressive Democrat way.

And all the shit that supported them and their backyard bidniz, like me, got fucked just as hard because if they can't make money then neither can I.

 

[Kirkrapine]

Yard and Corner signs are how the majority of the American electorate decides which box to tick

That is extremely hard to believe, considering that in any race, everyone will see signs for both candidates.

 

[RoryN]

Yard and Corner signs are how the majority of the American electorate decides which box to tick

Lawn signs are...98.3 percent useless
"To a campaign manager, lawn signs are similar to randomly handing out fliers at a grocery store: a waste of time, money and energy. Now there’s data out that, in the main, proves campaign managers right."
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...-98-3-percent-useless/?utm_term=.a84ed171ea11

"Based on pooled results, lawn signs are `on par with other low-tech campaign tactics such as direct mail that generate … effects that tend to be small in magnitude.'”
https://journalistsresource.org/studies/politics/elections/election-lawn-sign-campaign-votes

 

[CandiCame]

I’ve heard of realtors putting a batch of tollhouse cookies in the oven to bake, during an open house. Fresh baked cookies smell like home...

Some folks get a cookie after donating blood.


This lady could be on to something.

She's super nice and I think kin to me in some way in that way that all backwoods people are- like maybe not by blood but she's an aunty of some kind. Maybe worked with my granny or something?

That's part of the reason I don't want to stand there and drink her coffee. I just... I don't want to have the "How's your mom and them?" conversation that takes all goddamn day. Once you're in that's your DAY. You have to catch her having a problem with someone- which she never does- and throw out the "Oh, well, you look super busy!" And then just fucking BOLT before she can argue with you.