Make this one count.
Reading the news today, I found many topics pertaining to the upcoming Election and on my drive home it seemed like I went past every advertisement for candidates on the local November ballot. This made me think about elections in general and how as an American society we have low voter turnout. For instance, look at the Connecticut primary which had a whopping 15% turnout. Unbelieveable!I have to wonder how many people who complain about this Party's platform or that Party's platform are guilty of being one of those who choose not to vote, ignoring the polls all together? My way of thinking is this- If you do not exercise your right to Vote, do not exercise your right to Bitch. Plain and simple.
With that said...We have been receiving a huge number of participants with this blog and I wanted to take the time to give everyone a chance to participate with this particular blog topic. My question for you is this, why does our society have such a low turnout when it comes to Local, State and National Elections? Liberal, Democrat, Republican, Libertarian, whatever...voice your opinion now.
posted by Diego @ 6:02 PM
8 comments
8 Comments:
Getting things started, here goes:
-People not believing their vote matters
-frustration over candidates running for office
-Early polls suggesting one candidate is favored over another (i.e. Gore Vs Bush: 2000).
Obviously there is many more, but let's see what else we can come up with and possibly give solutions to overcome this problem that plagues our society.
Always VOTE! It's not only our right, but our DUTY. I take my voting rights seriously. I see you do too, Diego, and that's great. I get tired of listening to others fuss and fret over the state of the world, yet say, "No, I didn't vote, because my vote doesn't count, or they fix the votes, so why does it matter if I vote or not?" I tell them, IT DOES MAKE A DIFFERENCE. Just think if EVERY American thought that way. We would have the same scum bags each time LOL.
One more comment...The Daily Home had an article on the 10th of August, that praised Democrat Susan Parker for not accepting questionable funding. I was downright appalled that they printed such trash. I emailed them and told them I had an email saved alerting them to the fact that Susan had INDEED taken pac to pac transfers that contained regulated utility money. The publisher told me she had not received any emails regarding that, but said if I had anything to show further, she would be glad to look at it. This article was where Susan Parker was challenging Perry Hooper Jr., to not accept pac to pac transfers with questionable funding. Once again, the media is trying to dupe the PUBLIC and the CONSUMER into believing that Mrs. Parker is honorable, and doing the right thing. Just yesterday, and the day prior, I was tracing more pacs to regulated utilities that Susan has accepted. All the information was gleamed from her Secretary of State records. Tracing pac transfers is NOT HARD, but tedious, and time consuming. I applaud Ben Raines, with the Mobile Register, for his detailed studies on pac transfers also. Thanks for letting me vent, as this has really had me "riled" up. I cannot allow the public to continue believing false information printed by news media, when it is my duty as a former PSC candidate (who ran an ethical and fair campaign), to alert the public to corruption. It is also my duty, as a Democrat, to uphold certain standards, and as a Democrat, I intend to hold the PSC responsible to the public, and hold responsible, ANYONE who intends to go into that office. And I mean, no biasedness on this issue. I hold both parties responsible. Anyone who wants to view the link of The Daily Home article concerning Susan Parker, may view my website, at http://www.DebbieMurphree.com, or view the Alabama Democrat website where my party printed the article praising Susan Parker for something she has NOT DONE.
I don't agree that everyone should go out and vote for the sake of voting. Let only the informed people go vote.
I am a firm believer that IQ tests should be administered prior to being allowed to cast a vote -- no matter what side of the fence you sit. This goes for all levels of elections. Locally in Cape Co. we've seen many local bond issues and tax initiatives get passed thru by a populace of folks only interested in a few pet issues without fully understanding the economics ramifications.
Regarding being too stupid to vote. The Florida election of 2000 is a classic case of where politicians' constituents were so dumbed down they couldn't even figure out the ballot and cast the correct vote (remember the butterfly ballot?). Once they were informed of their mistake (where many had vote for Buchanan in a highly Jewish community -- aahaha I still laugh at that one) they demanded to be able to revote. Hey it doesn't work that way. Ignorance and stupidity is not an excuse -- use that with the IRS next time you're audited.
Why don't people vote? I'll tell you. They are more concerned about American Idol, Survivor, their favorite sports team, where they are going to go get wasted tonight, and Paris Hilton than they are about their goverment. Voting isn't sexy. Politics are not followed or understood by most people (unfortunately the people whom they elect don't always have a whole lot more insight, R, D, or I). Remember the poll that came out last week that showed more people could name the Seven Dwarfs than could name Supreme Court Justices? People just don't care. And if they don't care, let them stay home.
I vote every election and make sure that I am well informed about every item on the ballot. The folks that just passed the sales tax in Cape Co (with 1% or so of the population voting) are just ignorant. They actually believed the song and dance that they will pay less sales tax than amount they paid in road tax on their personal property taxes. Yeah, right. (They also tied it to Co. deputy pay and gave the SOS sob story to get people to vote for more pay. I agree they are underpaid, but I don't agree with the way they asked for the pay raise. It made me think of extortion...'vote for the road sales tax or there will be no deputy when you need one')
The next biggie we have here in MO is the embryonic stem cell research item on the Nov. ballot (Missouri Resesarch and Cures Initiative). Most people are clueless in regards to what has been done, what different stem cells are, and what the actual research shows. The proposition is complicated in its wording and not clear to the average voter. The also don't realize the Pandora's box that will be opened by voting yes.
Also...
If we get to vote based on IQ, can we also take a tax return and get more "weight" for our votes by having larger incomes? When 25% of the population pays 83.88% of income taxes, shouldn't we get 83.88% of the vote? I know, I know, this will never fly & unconstitutional, but I thought I would throw it out there to provoke thought.
Is everyone offended now?
Angel,
YES YES! I forgot to mention that as well. How could I have forgotten it.
I agree as well that only those who pay taxes should be allowed to vote. Anytime this is ever suggested, some MORON retorts with... I pay salestax when I buy my smokes at the Wal-Mart.
Stupid people shouldn't be allowed to breed nor vote.
Anonymous,
How do you determine if someone is informed or not? If you go to that system you’ll have the ACLU step in saying the system is unfair and we are discriminating against Stupid people. Well…hello, the ACLU is full of stupid people.
You’re a firm believer IQ test should be administered prior to being allowed to cast a vote, what would happen to the Democrat Party’s ticket? They’re already going to fail the IQ test because…hello, they’re voting in favor of the Democrat ticket.
People blame the simplest of voting techniques being hard, I mean, in my area of Northern Tennessee, how hard is it truly to draw a line across with an arrow tip to the candidate you want to vote for? Doesn’t sound too hard… my 3rd grade child has enough intellect to cast a vote. However, people moan and groan every election about it being too hard. How much easier could it be?
For Angel- the items you mentioned (American Idol, Survivor, etc.) are all things that normally and typically come on after the polls are closed. 7am-7pm, so that is no excuse but you’re right, people do use it.
Let’s face it, we live in a society with ignorant people who are not intelligent enough to vote for their own well-being and many times often than not, they vote un-informed.
As for County deputies, I’ve heard candidates for Sheriff say, “If you elect me, we will get coverage throughout your entire county.” That sounds great until when the Sheriff gets elected and finds out that the Deputies get paid by the mile not hourly on patrolling. Cuts into the county wide coverage in a hurry, proving your point that a lot of candidates are misinformed just as much as the voters.
My point wasn't that folks are necessarily sitting in front of the TV watching Idol instead of voting, but that their priority is popular culture not their country (or city, state, or county).
They choose reality TV over reality.
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