Why do so few Americans vote?

KeyMaster45

Gone Gonzo
Jun 16, 2008
2,846
0
0
Yeah, the time constraints are a big issue with voting here. For the last presidential election I had to make a special trip home to participate in early voting since I go to school in a different part of the state. Yes, there's absentee ballots but everyone knows those almost never get counted before one of the candidates concedes.

Honestly I can't stand the presidential election season because all I hear from my family is how the democrats want to turn the US in communist Russia (or how Obama wants to turn it into a Muslim theocracy). Presidential elections in my family is like the precursor for judgement day.[footnote]My family is made up of lower-middle class, southern republicans in case you hadn't figured that out yet. I sit firmly in the "zero fucks to give" camp as the black sheep.[/footnote] I actually look forward to the next election though, because no matter who wins it means I'll never have to hear about how Obama is the anti-christ (or w/e fear-mongering bullshit they've latched onto from fox news that week) and how they feel sorry for the world my generation is going to grow up in.[footnote]Which is always such an inspiring line to hear when the stresses of college already have me worrying about my future.[/footnote]

To put it bluntly, the political arena can kiss my pasty white ass but I'm still going to vote so I at least have some semblance of the illusion of control over it.
 

Altorin

Jack of No Trades
May 16, 2008
6,976
0
0
If you live in a red state and are a blue voter or vice versa, your vote does absolutely nothing.

That and both the Red and the Blue kind of suck and there's no real alternative to them, so you get voter apathy.

The reasons for these are based on the fact that their election process is over 200 years old and come from a time when if you needed to get some information to someone really fast (like say, an election ballot) the fastest and most reliable way of doing it is putting a courier on a horse and telling him to haul ass, and even then it might take days.

Now we have broadband connections from coast to coast.

oh well.
 

Esotera

New member
May 5, 2011
3,400
0
0
Before everyone gets ahead of themselves bear in mind that those turnout figures are nearly 20 years out of date.

Anyway, if voting stations aren't easy to get to, if the election isn't well advertised, and if nobody cares about which candidate gets in because they're both as bad as each other, that will discourage people from voting.
 

KoudelkaMorgan

New member
Jul 31, 2009
1,365
0
0
This thread needs to be in the Religion/Politics section.

I live in Oregon, which votes democrat, and due to the absurd electoral system has never had ANY FUCKING RELEVANCE TO ANY FUCKING ELECTION EVER. The only states whose votes matter are Ohio, Florida, and maybe 2 more swing states. Candidate ignore ALL but those states for 99% of their terms then suddenly realize that they need to fire up the bullshit machine if they would like to continue living the good life provided by our corporate overlords that actually govern this, and many other countries.

That anyone believes that there actually ARE 2 parties and not just a group of complete psychopathic nitwits arbitrarily split into two groups for legal reasons is kidding themselves.

There aren't any metal/IQ/Civics/History/Rhetoric/or any other applicable tests of aptitude you need to pass in order to run for office.

Hence we get idiots that claim to be experts on how the opposite sex's genitalia regarding how it can prevent pregnancy in case of "legitimate rape." Also, Michelle Bachman was elected. How in the fuck did that happen? Didn't someone else lose an election to a dead guy?

Anyone that runs for office and desires direct control over the lives of thousands of others is inherently mentally unstable, and not to be trusted with ANY responsibility. They say anything, do nothing, get paid to NOT show up to vote on anything, and have zero accountability to anyone that voted for them. Unless they have an affair. Then, suddenly their ability to govern is stripped away and they MUST resign.

I guess when you are in the business of deceiving everyone, one cannot afford to let one deceit become public record.

Like the WMD lies about Iraq. Bush an CO got ZERO impeachment cries from sending people off to kill and die in the desert on a total fucking lie. But if an intern had blown him, well we just can't have that can we?

And the belief that you only have a right to complain about something if you vote, no. We have every right to complain about it and the good sense NOT to fucking endorse what we see as more of the same world ending, mind killing bullshit from either candidate.

When someone comes along that can actually do more than PRETEND they know what the fuck to do in a position of power apart from treating human lives like playthings, sending them off to kill and die pointlessly, treating our taxes as their own personal petty cash for their own personal agendas, and worst of all ignoring the separation of church and state then I'll vote for them.

As it is, we live in the United States of Corporate Christianity where no one actually DOES what Jesus would do, but if you point that out, or the fact that the NRA in fact ISN'T a branch of our government and has no power apart from its terrorist-like threats and ultimatums which everyone cowers in fear to, then you are branded unpatriotic.

I wish we still lived in a country where we did what is right, not what we can get away with. That did what needed to be done, such as maintaining our roads and crumbling bridges which are getting people killed when they fall apart, feeding our OWN starving children before sending billions in aid to countries that fucking hate us, and providing them with affordable healthcare and educations as opposed to rolling over to our corporate masters. Where we exported something other than soldiers, movies, misinformation, and human spectacle. We need more scientists, and engineers, teachers, and doctors. What we don't need are more celebutards, CEOs, and reality shows stars.

Maybe if we could go a few years before starting multiple wars against countries that haven't attacked us, out of some false sense of moral authority, and against the will of all peoples involved, our so called "job creators" might stop shitting their pants long enough to regain confidence in our economy. Nothing like starting WW3 to get investors to pull out.

But, on topic, and less ranty the reasons we don't vote are already stated by Dirty Hipsters. And, since despite our crumbling infrastructure, inept government, terrifyingly evil corporations, and a younger generation whose IQ is hovering around 70 in the north and 40 in the south thanks to no one giving a shit...this country is still a nice place to live. We have grown accustomed to its imperfections more and more and accept it as the status quo. We know that no matter who is in charge, they aren't likely to go North Korea "eccentric" anytime soon. We see no negative consequences for inaction, either personally (i.e. receiving a fine for not voting) or broadly (genocide, anarchy, poisoned reasources) that some other countries have to deal with. We don't have 18 parties and have to finagle some kind of coalition out of the winning 4, or whatever. We also aren't going to have any kind of armed riots in the streets with 49% of us against the other 51% in an effort to stage a coupe. We may not be perfect, but at least we don't have to deal with that crap every election.

Until there are actual, tangible, personally relatable stakes involved which would stand to affect us in a really negative or positive way...no one gives a shit. If anything they will ***** at the presumption that we should go out of our way to pick an arbitrary option that means nothing, and resentful at the tax money wasted in the whole voting process.

49% of us will always be disappointed, and if it WERE somehow a landslide 80/20 victory that means that there actually WAS a definite reason to vote for one person for a change, and that the losing voters and their party are idiots for even nominating their candidate.
 

Griffolion

Elite Member
Aug 18, 2009
2,207
0
41
All I can say is, over here in Britain, things aren't much better.

You basically have this:

Conservatives - Out of touch idiots, hate the poor
Labour - Out of touch idiots (but in a different way to Conservative), hate the hard working/successful
Lib Dem - Out of touch idiots (but in a different way to Labour and Conservatives), so much of a non-entity I don't even know who they hate
UKIP - Hates the EU
BNP - Every country needs a good Hitler appreciation party
Green Party - Obligatory enviromentalist party, wants wind farms everywhere (not a bad idea, really)

None of them are concerned with the country anymore, they're all in it for the power/money. Take it from a country a couple of thousand years older than you, America, you don't do that badly in the grand scheme.
 

Guitarmasterx7

Day Pig
Mar 16, 2009
3,872
0
0
Dirty Hipsters said:
A big part of it is that voting in America takes place in the middle of the week, and Americans aren't given time off to go vote. This means that for anyone with a job, if they want to go vote they have to either do it in the morning before work, or in the evening after work, and since that's when everyone else with a job is also voting, it means you have to go and spend between half and hour and an hour in line, after having already worked a full day's work, when you just want to go home, relax, and have a beer.

Another big part of it is that the major parties in the US, the Democrats and the Republicans, don't really represent voter issues all that well. If you have an ideology that clashes with both parties, then you really don't care who gets voted in since you hate both candidates either way, and if you vote for a third party you're basically throwing your vote away in most cases. And that's just talking about voting in national elections. Local elections are even worse, since almost no one cares to follow the candidates so barely anyone knows who is running for what positions, and what the pros or cons of different candidates may be.
Really couldn't have phrased it better myself. The two parties we have are terrible, and they're so set in stone that if a clinical genius invented a time machine, went to the future, spent their whole life studying the social and economic situations of our time, came back with rational solutions to every problem we have and the cure for cancer in their pocket, and then ran for office as an independent, they wouldn't even make it past the preliminaries. And even if you'd rather vote for the lesser of two evils, they fucking lie on top of that. You don't know if the person who you vote for is even going to try to hold to their policies in office.

So what it really comes down to "is your ultimately pointless vote for someone who could be completely fake worth the time out of your day?" To me, the answer is generally no.
 

krazykidd

New member
Mar 22, 2008
6,099
0
0
Canadian here . I do not vote . Canadian politics are boring ( compared to american politics that i follow on and off ) . They never speak about any issues , and just try to discredit one another over every little thing, it's ridiculous . Not to mention , they have been spewing lies and talking in circles for the past decade or so . I also live in Quebec, the most racist ( both in regardes to race , and language ) provinces in Canada , where every politician wants to screw you if you are anything other than white and speak french . So no , i don't vote . I will however , when i see an honest politician ( fat chance ) . So far , the politicians here aren't worth the paper their names are written on.
 

Mersadeon

New member
Jun 8, 2010
350
0
0
I understand why Americans don't vote. With that two-party-system, where issues have to be split in half? I mean, what if you are pro-abortion and pro-gunownership? Or any other combination of believes that doesn't neatly align with the Democrats or Republicans? This leads to both being at the same time alienating to everybody who has a worldview that doesn't fit with those two, and being completely bland, since each party encompasses so many different ideals they can hardly ever focus on one.

I ***** and moan how there isn't a party for me in Germany, but really, we have it good. We actually have a choice. Even if we always have to choose the lesser evil, at least WE HAVE A LESSER EVIL.

EDIT: I saw that other post with a short description of parties in Britain, so I'll do that too, because it seems fun. (For certain definitions of fun.)

SPD (Socialist Party Germany): Call themselves socialist, probably the only party that can manage to completely work against its own demographic and STILL get voted by workers. Not socialist at all.
FDP (Free Democratic Party): The typical "let's cut taxes on the rich" party. They want freedom for the market. Needless to say, ever since the banks got a bit wonky, these guys aren't held in high regard.
CDU/CSU (Christian Democratic Union): Exactly what their name says. My dust-allergy acts up just by looking at these guys.
Die Linke (The Left): Socialists - pretty much the real deal. However, since socialism is still associated with the mangled mess of East Germany and The Left is actually a direct successor to the then reigning Socialist Unity, they aren't held in high regard, either.
Die Grünen (The Greens): A bit of a different beast than green parties in other countries. Sure, they want typical green policies, but they have quite an extensive program - with reason. Every point is tailor-made to encourage their typical demographic. In my opinion, the biggest sellouts available. Their youth-party version is pretty cool, though.

Piratenpartei (Pirate Party): The new kids on the block. Started out pretty much as a mix of a joke and a protest party, morphed into an actual party. And they got a lot of votes, too. In the end, they still are a bit directionless. Apart from the typical pirate policies, they've adopted directly democratic policies. Famous for having a My Little Pony break during an official party meeting.
 

Psychobabble

. . . . . . . .
Aug 3, 2013
525
0
0
Because as of yet Americans can't vote via Twitter using their iPads from the comfort of their overstuffed sofas?

But I kid my American cousins. I think it has everything to do with the idea that electing a new President has about the same effect as EA appointing a new CEO.
 

J.McMillen

Senior Member
Sep 11, 2008
247
0
21
Mersadeon said:
I understand why Americans don't vote. With that two-party-system, where issues have to be split in half? I mean, what if you are pro-abortion and pro-gunownership? Or any other combination of believes that doesn't neatly align with the Democrats or Republicans? This leads to both being at the same time alienating to everybody who has a worldview that doesn't fit with those two, and being completely bland, since each party encompasses so many different ideals they can hardly ever focus on one.

I ***** and moan how there isn't a party for me in Germany, but really, we have it good. We actually have a choice. Even if we always have to choose the lesser evil, at least WE HAVE A LESSER EVIL.
That's the real problem with the two party system, if you go down the list of key issues you will probably end up siding with one for some of them, the rest with the other. As he said above there are people who are pro-choice* and anti-gun control**. The best you can do is weigh the results and see which side you lean more towards.



* Not everyone who is pro-choice is pro-abortion. Maybe when all the pro-lifers out there adopt every last child out of the foster care system I'll think about changing my stance. I don't like that it exists, but I'm not going to stop someone if that's what they want to do.

** Beyond a reasonable amount. The average citizen probably shouldn't be allowed to go and just buy a rocket launcher or mini-gun.
 

SinisterGehe

New member
May 19, 2009
1,456
0
0
What my mate complains to me about this I understood that your voting system is horrid, political party system is horrid 2 party system with no one elses voice getting through and people don't feel that they have impact.

Maybe you should consider system like we have in scandinavian countries (I am going to play my own trumpet here) lie in Finland every political party over x% of get's a seat (there are ~200 among of the parties, most votes gets most seats and lest ones I get 1) and there will always be 5 independent seats.
Voting for president is still bit odd here, since even if person in the party loses they go to next person in party (it is odd...)
But voting lasts 1 week and pre-votes can be sent in month before, in ANY post office or government facility.
 

Yopaz

Sarcastic overlord
Jun 3, 2009
6,092
0
0
I don't think I would have voted if I was living in America either. I could vote for the Democrats or the republicans and it wouldn't really make that much of a difference. You end up with much the same.

Now out election was done today and my party actually had a great turnout, we secured 5.2% which is a lot better than last time. I swear I was staying up late last night to catch the results because the nuances matter. It's not just right/left republican/democrat, it's the balance between all the spectrum. I already knew we'd get a right win government this time, but how much power the parties would manage to get was what made me excited. Now we we still don't know how out government will turn out because this will have to be negotiated to see which parties will work with each other.

Now sorry for going a bit off topic there, but that is why the elections here interest me. There's more options, it's more than picking the president.
 

Story

Note to self: Prooof reed posts
Sep 4, 2013
905
0
0
Dirty Hipsters said:
A big part of it is that voting in America takes place in the middle of the week, and Americans aren't given time off to go vote. This means that for anyone with a job, if they want to go vote they have to either do it in the morning before work, or in the evening after work, and since that's when everyone else with a job is also voting, it means you have to go and spend between half and hour and an hour in line, after having already worked a full day's work, when you just want to go home, relax, and have a beer.
I think this is the biggest reason, or at least that's the excuse most of my peers and family members give. I don't understand why election day isn't a holiday where it's "illegal" to work. I think we would have a much bigger turn out if people didn't have to choose a day's worth of pay over voting.
 

AuronFtw

New member
Nov 29, 2010
514
0
0
Voting literally doesn't matter in this country. Both parties are funded by the same corporations that run the media, news sources and influential magazines. And this is on top of the political parties meaning nothing anyway - hell, we've had politicians literally swap parties! Not because their ideals have changed, but because they think they have a better chance of winning/getting elected or re-elected in the other party. When stuff like that happens, it's a pretty big clue that the system is flawed.

Unlike some other countries, the nature of our voting system renders third party votes moot; if we vote libertarian or some other middle-ground option, it does nothing at all. The votes simply disappear into the void; we don't get additional seats in the senate for our chosen political party or anything. Voting anything other than demo or repub is a waste of time because of that, and given that voting demo or repub is already a waste of time, why fucking bother?

The only time I vote is when one particular candidate is a massive idiot and I want to do all I can to keep him from office, but that's precious little control in a system that's supposedly built around civil servants being chosen by the populace. Most people don't vote because it's a waste of time; voting is typically held during a weekday, and many of us don't get work off (or we get very little time off where we have to fight traffic, stand in lines, fight with some woman that doesn't speak english over forms she can't read but insists she's right about anyway... etc). I'd rather just stay at work, I'd get more done.
 

Hero of Lime

Staaay Fresh!
Jun 3, 2013
3,114
0
41
I do like voting, but admittedly only for Presidential, Congressional, and Senatorial type elections. I feel little need or care to vote in Mayoral elections and other really local ones, I guess because I feel like they don't matter. Even if they probably do anyway.

It doesn't help that we have a strict two party system. Both parties appeal to so many different types of people going from moderate to radical, so voting numbers get crazy depending on how the candidate appeals to a certain segment of the party. Even those politicians who like to say they have a bit of an independent mind still go with one of the parties, because they have nowhere else to go.

Funny how George Washington warned against having a two party system. It just leads to one group getting in power, while the other bides its time figuring out how to make the other party look bad so they can win next time.
 

lacktheknack

Je suis joined jewels.
Jan 19, 2009
19,316
0
0
Bipartisian politics, possibly.

If I don't want to vote for one or the other, because (gasp) no one party properly covers my political preferences, then not voting seems to be the most effective use of my voting power.
 

Henriot

New member
Dec 15, 2011
114
0
0
I live in Australia. I get a fine if I don't vote. Regardless of the threat of fine, I still vote and somewhat resent those that don't, but Australian politics is something of a joke. Not much gets done, regardless of which party is elected.

Unfortunately, we have a chimp for a Prime Minister now.
 

Skeleon

New member
Nov 2, 2007
5,410
0
0
A large part is probably the two-party system. Both major parties are too entrenched and too similar on economics (don't get me wrong, though, for social issues alone it'd be worth going to vote in my view). And the minor parties are not worth voting for. So it seems pointless to many, I'd assume.
Of course, is it's true that less than half of the populace vote... well... imagine if everybody who doesn't vote voted for a third party next time around? Bah, but that's unrealistic nonsense.
What you really need is campaign finance reform and proportional representation. Other countries have a very few major parties as well, but the minor parties are necessary for coalitions and can "drag" their partners in a given direction politically. Meaning that they are quite important.

EDIT: Yeah, the stupid relic of votes on Tuesday doesn't help, either. Especially when you add voter-restrictions on top of it, like removing Sunday early voting and whatnot. But let's not forget that some people profit from fewer folks voting, so it's not necessarily an unwanted effect.
 

Dr. Cakey

New member
Feb 1, 2011
517
0
0

And now you know why.

Hero of Lime said:
I do like voting, but admittedly only for Presidential, Congressional, and Senatorial type elections. I feel little need or care to vote in Mayoral elections and other really local ones, I guess because I feel like they don't matter. Even if they probably do anyway.
I feel pretentious saying this, but they do. I mean, yes, the President or your Congressperson probably is more important, but unless you live in one of maybe five or ten states, your state is already spoken for in terms of whether it's voting for the Democratic or Republican candidate, so in that sense your vote is meaningless. State elections, and especially local elections, are much more flexible, and it's totally possible for a third-party candidate to win. Turnout for local elections is also ridiculously low. Depending on the size of the town or district, fifty or a hundred votes spoken for could easily be enough to decide a candidate's victory.
 

somonels

New member
Oct 12, 2010
1,209
0
0
Democratic stagnation is evident in most stable democracies. Those in power will always try to stay in power or set up a favourable successor. Over time the barrier of entry for new forces diminishes and all that's left are pseudo-factions who are content with the current arrangement.
In those cases voting is like picking what colour (and maybe taste) your lollipop is.