If all of the people who didn't vote because "It would never make a difference" actually voted, we could have had a constitutional amendment by now removing the electoral college.
this post was submitted on 22 Jul 2024
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Seriously
I love how the takeaway from this is “yeah fuck politics amirite” and not “dude it is THERE FOR THE TAKING for anyone who is inspiring enough to actually get people voting for them”*
(*and who feels like overcoming the significant hurdles of the media and the DNC cooperating to do their best to tank their campaign which they will definitely do if you are inspiring enough for people to want to vote for you)
THERE FOR THE TAKING I tell you
Has someone run on that platform before? Can't vote to change the system if no one is running (allowed to run) who plans to change the system.
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For anyone like myself that was interested in 2020:
Found it here (Although the data source is shown on the chart)
I think trump woke a lot of people up. clearly there's still ground to cover but it looks like clear progress in voter turnout
Everyone was also at home/working from home/on flex schedules due to covid in 2020. People had time to vote, they had time to research things and take part in political discourse. Everyone always forgets that little historical tidbit.
2024 may hit record low voter turnout as the nazi's ratchet up anti voter laws, removing polling places, and companies keep putting the economic screws on their workers with stagnant pay and forced return-to-office so citizens don't have time to think about the political process.
Can Biden just say fuck it and declare a national holiday? Would that help at all? What about making voting mandatory like we have in Australia? You get a small fine if you don't vote which is usually enough incentive.
Having a national work holiday would do wonders for voter turnout. Most people in states who are required to vote in person can't get the time off to visit a poll booth while they're open.
In most of the countries of the World elections are on Sunday and Saturday for this exact reason, US could change to weekend voting days as well:
Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/MapPorn/comments/46ukem/so_camerons_eu_referendum_is_on_a_thursday_which/
Another confirmation that Russia is European country.
Also, US, please fix yet another thing you are worse at than Russia.
Who debated that. Historically, culturally Russia is European. Most of the population of Russia lives on the western side of the Urals.
But using it as a good example of elections, well... In the US you can choose from 2 candidates. In russia you can select from 1...
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2020 was the highest US voter turnout in over 100 years (percentage wise), and it was still atrocious. Also worth noting, trump got the second most votes of any presidential nominee in US history, thankfully beat by Biden, but it's not like all of the new voters were purely against trump.
I think the most interesting thing about these two maps, is that Georgia kind of proves the people wrong who don't vote "because it wouldn't make a difference in my state".
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...okay, you've convinced me. As someone from a beige state that's been presidentially blue for over 30 years (meaning my vote means dick-all due to EC shenanigans), I will continue to show up and vote to make sure it stays that way.
Maybe one day I'll even get an inspiring candidate to vote for.
Since I moved from a red state to Colorado it's been mind blowing how painless and accessible it is to vote in this state.
Before every election all registered voters automatically get a mail-in ballot, as well as a detailed book explaining every issue & candidate on the ballot with sample arguments for & against. You can then either mail the ballot or drop it off in very convenient drop boxes that are usually less than 10 min from your place. In some ways it's difficult to not have at least some idea of the political landscape for most voters.
Since I moved from a red state to Colorado it’s been mind blowing how painless and accessible it is to vote in this state.
I think that is something we need to stress here: A lot of people in America don't vote not because they are apathetic but because, well, they often don't have access because they have to work and can't get time off, and it doesn't help that certain states cut and limit the amount of voting places to prevent people from voting.
I remember seeing the images from Georgia in 2020 where there were queues around the block, hell, some fucking states have laws preventing people from offering water for people waiting in line, knowing that people will be waiting in line for a long time. And the fact the places where those polling stations tend to be set up in ways to stop certain demographics from voting is another thing. There's laws there to prevent students from voting in some states, there's laws making it hard to vote by mail, you fucking name it.
Meanwhile in the UK, I just had to fill in a PDF form and send it to my local valuation office and I could get a postal vote. No restrictions on who can do this, you can just apply.
Yep! It's real bad, I had to wait in a line around a building on a Tuesday morning the first election I voted in. One of the big things too is that there are fewer polling centers in the city, and usually more in the suburbs (proportional to the amount of people there).
So while you have a quarter of the eligible voting population in a city go to a single voting center, in the suburbs you have a much smaller group with a less crowded (& usually more convenient) polling area.
Yeah but you see, the suburbs vote for the people in power.
in Colorado you don't even have to apply for a postal vote, it is the default voting mechanism (though in person ballot boxes are also available)
Colorado has so many props on the ballot as well since I believe anything affecting taxes has to be voted on that way. I really like the direct democracy.
One odd holdover from TABOR (giant tax structure from the 90s that is still around in one way or another) is that any issue affecting taxes MUST BE PRINTED IN ALL CAPS FOR THE ENTIRE TEXT. It's so funny to see
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it really says all it needs to that dems are trying to get MORE people to vote, and GOP are trying to PREVENT as many people as possible from voting
What if "didn't vote" counted as "voted against both options, please try again with less shitty candidates."?
I think we'd have a better world
And also ranked choice voting, so there can be more than just 2 people running. F the 2 party system.
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Ideally an electoral system should have the "none of the above" option. If it gets the majority the elections are repeated with new candidates, and previous ones are disqualified for a number of years.
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Australia has mandatory voting. Why not the US?
Netherland doesn't have mandatory voting and yet our turnup is around 75-80% consistently for years
Source https://www.parlement.com/id/vh8lnhrp8wsz/opkomst_bij_tweede_kamerverkiezingen
That said, it seems the US has a turnup problem to solve
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Because the government really doesn't want people to have a say. People are stupid. So let's just have a mock vote with some old wizard math that adds up to who the fuck knows but your guy lost.
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I live in deep red Utah. A lot of people I know do not vote because they do not see the point. These people, who stem from all political spectrums, believe “republicans will always have control over state and local political offices.”
I live in deep blue Utah with connections to the punk scene. The political apathy that has been expressed to me, while simultaneously wearing badges of pride and shit makes me want to vomit. Pure aesthetic bullshit, made even more hypocritical under the banner of ‘punk’.
We should count non-voting eligible voters like this, and if not voting wins in your state you don't get any delegates for the electoral college.
Then just scrap the "first past the post" system and whoever gets the most delegates wins. In 2016 it would be Clinton with 51 vs. Trump's 16.
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Wow this diddnot voté guy seems wildly popular 🫨
This will likely be the first year I won't be voting. I moved to a state with no early voting, and it's all in person. Additionally, I'm in a blue city with a red state government, so voting locations are minimal, and my job only allows 2 hours to vote. I don't really see it happening.
All of that means that it is much more important that you do vote; they are actively trying to stop you for a reason.
I'm well aware, but I have to go to work. I'm just not sure how it is possible while meeting the obligations of my survival.
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I'd love to see something like ballot included in tax returns (for folks who don't otherwise request a ballot). Near-mandatory voting, with abstaining being allowed.
None of my coworkers that want Trump to win are registered to vote. I don't know if that means anything.
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An interesting idea, unless the majority of people in your state voted you get no electors to send. Force states to drive participation
Which is why we need to spend our energy this election on motivating voters who are already on side but think voting is pointless, rather than bothering to convince fence sitters who aren't already convinced by a Trump's behavior.
Get your friends in swing states to vote! Get them to get their friends to vote! Harris has this, especially if we can motivate even like 5-10% of non-voters!
No one for president.
Let’s not forget the third party and Harambe stuff. Some of that flipped swing states Red.
I don't think Harambe got that many votes but I'm too lazy to look that up
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we really do need a default option for "fuck off im not voting"
And this proves that a popular 3rd party candidate can win. Too many people, rightfully so, refuse to vote for the Democrats and Republicans.
I mean….. no. Not really. 50% (more than) of the country would need to vote en masse for the same person.
Don’t get me wrong, I agree that if we could get that level of unity we’d be able to fix everything. But not being that unified is why we can’t in the first place.
Good ol’ Iowa, one of the few shamelessly voting Trump. 😓
Back in my day it was an up-and-combing purple state… and remember how quickly they permitted all-gender marriage?
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