Shit! we forgot an election thread for the midterms. Here it is now.
- Thread starter Godzillarich(aka tf2godz)
- Start date
The one where the gang find out you can attempt to overthrow a elected government and don't pay any electoral price.
- Apr 1, 2009
- 14,491
- 3,437
- 118
- Gender
- Whatever, just wash your hands.
- Apr 1, 2009
- 14,491
- 3,437
- 118
- Gender
- Whatever, just wash your hands.
Voted. Straight blue ticket, no, no, yes, no, no, yes on the assorted state constitutional amendments and levies.
For those amendments, that's no on the courts having no authority regarding impeachments, no on some tax changes that would be good for manufacturing businesses and remove property tax from vehicles but almost certainly massively increase real property tax for individuals to make up the shortfall, no on the legislature getting to approve or deny all board of education policy, no on the school levy, yes on allowing churches to incorporate rather than the unique board structure we require and yes on the library levy.
If you wonder why I voted no on the school levy, it used to be that part of school levies went to the library system, and the schools won a court case saying they didn't have to contribute to the library system giving them a massive reduction in costs and all that extra money being used to little effect - since that court case I have refused to vote for a school levy.
Wife had slight difficulty voting because she apparently forgot to update her voter registration to her married name.
For those amendments, that's no on the courts having no authority regarding impeachments, no on some tax changes that would be good for manufacturing businesses and remove property tax from vehicles but almost certainly massively increase real property tax for individuals to make up the shortfall, no on the legislature getting to approve or deny all board of education policy, no on the school levy, yes on allowing churches to incorporate rather than the unique board structure we require and yes on the library levy.
If you wonder why I voted no on the school levy, it used to be that part of school levies went to the library system, and the schools won a court case saying they didn't have to contribute to the library system giving them a massive reduction in costs and all that extra money being used to little effect - since that court case I have refused to vote for a school levy.
Wife had slight difficulty voting because she apparently forgot to update her voter registration to her married name.
Just got back from the polls a little while ago. (Good thing I double-checked where they were; I'd forgotten they'd been moved.) I voted against Republicans at every level, which I expect to do for the rest of my life, until the party is utterly destroyed.
There was one issue on the ballot, about an environmental bond act. After seeing a third of Pakistan flooded this year, and "storms of the century" turning cities into lakes, I voted to approve it.
There was one issue on the ballot, about an environmental bond act. After seeing a third of Pakistan flooded this year, and "storms of the century" turning cities into lakes, I voted to approve it.
- Feb 7, 2011
- 7,927
- 2,290
- 118
- Country
- 'Merica
- Gender
- 3 children in a trench coat
So I only recently found out that not all states send out a packet of information regarding everything being voted on the way California does. In California we get a booklet that's like 30-40 pages long that includes basic information on each candidate for all of the positions and all of the propositions we're voting on, what a 'yes' or 'no' vote means in each case, and the estimated financial impact of each vote.
Other places don't do this?!
How are people expected to know what they've voting on without dedicating a massive chunk of time to research. No wonder so many people just don't vote if they have no convenient method of figuring out what they're even voting for when they're standing in front of a ballot.
Other places don't do this?!
How are people expected to know what they've voting on without dedicating a massive chunk of time to research. No wonder so many people just don't vote if they have no convenient method of figuring out what they're even voting for when they're standing in front of a ballot.
I had precisely 4 votes to make this morning. One of the four was unopposed. Two of the remaining three absolutely dominated all local (and lots of national) news for the last few months. I had to do 5 minutes of research on one race before I voted.
In the Michigan, we don't get huge ass booklets in most counties, but most ballots have a synopsis, or a short version of what details are on what we're voting for. Especially for major issues or propositions. Even then, a lot of the information is assumed you already know, or put at least some research into before the mid-terms or big elections.
I basically guessed at the policy outcomes from the election computer while reading the ballot measures.
I refuse to acknowledge any electoral system that doesn't let you draw dicks on your ballot.
- Apr 1, 2009
- 14,491
- 3,437
- 118
- Gender
- Whatever, just wash your hands.
In TX we get jack and shit. On the ballot we have ballot measures that will describe what they are in weird legal language but that's all you get for describing anything. You gotta look this stuff up yourself.
Dang it, my polling place normally sells home baked snacks. None today. But got into line to vote and just in front of the guy in front of me was wife and daughter. He let me cut so I could hang. Nice coincidence. As Babylon Bee put it today, angry voters will vote against career politicians in favor of slightly different career politicians. Tomorrow should be an interesting news cycle.
Ish? I got a - mostly self-reported - elevator pitch for the candidates on the ballot in the mail. Basically a brief summation of their history and a short paragraph about issue that they consider a priority if elected. It was using a half-sized newspaper, so it wasn't as brief as you might expect for something in the mail. But still, the thing was probably only...I want to say 8 pages total? Regardless, the contents were largely superficial, only touching on what the candidate thought was the most important factor and otherwise not really going into their policies and goals.
To your point, this has been a complaint of mine for some years now. The system only really works if the population is politically educated and informed, which is decidedly the exception rather than the rule. Even in presidential races - which dominate the news cycle for almost a year - the general populace would be hard pressed to accurately describe the candidates' policies, much less their qualifications. More commonly, they default to how they're characterized by their favored pundits, or simply assume that if they belong to the same party then they must share beliefs and priorities.
Never mind direct voting, wherein the ballots can be deliberately obtuse or otherwise misleading - with or without weasel wording - to try and prejudice voters towards a particular answer. Eg. "Should this law be rejected? Yes or No?" is a very literal case of "vote yes to say no". I shit you not, that's a thing. In fact, here's an example of it from 2014...as part of a 1,000 word ballot measure.
In a very fundamental way, our current approach to the system is somewhere between broken and useless. A voting population needs to be politically aware and capable of making informed decisions, and - right now - the system at best doesn't facilitate either consistently and at worst tries to sabotage both factors.