If it didn’t help other global powers, i.e. Russia, I’d say this is a reason to have New England be it’s own country.
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.
No one for president.
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.
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
It’s also very manipulative. TABOR is the worst thing about Colorado honestly.
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.
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)
Thats insane, here in Germany voting is always on sunday and (at least in my state, we may have some small time variations in others) I can go vote from 8-18:00, or I could do a postal vote, although I never bothered to do that because its just easier to vote in person, the lines were never really long or even existant at all.
Right now I just have to walk 200m to the next primary school and vote there, its very easy and relaxed.
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.
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.
I’d rather have ranked choice voting. And get rid of the stupid electoral college.
A national RCV race would be an absolute nightmare to count if it ever became remotely competitive. Approval Voting is better in general, but especially for big, competitive elections.
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.
I’m not sure what is worse: Soviet elections without choice or American elections without choosing.
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.
So mississippi?
Indiana, actually.
You can vote early in Indiana.
Looks like I misunderstood what I had read previously. Thank you.
Are the states that have a majority swing states, so have more advertising and campaigning, or are they just more politically active?
Politically active. MN is decidedly not a swing state and is here.
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.
Leaving the office empty for a term is the only democratic outcome.
…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.
You intend to vote red?
No, they were saying they didn’t bother since their party was winning anyway. Easy to misread though.
I did vote in 2000. “Wait… so the son of the VP during Regan’s Reign of Dementia is really a for real candidate?” Didn’t matter, state went blue, Florida did not because some guy named Chad Brooks hung his brother in front of SCOTUS.
I did vote in 2004. “Well this guy is completely forgettable but at least junior is going to follow in daddy’s footsteps and be a one pump chump.” Didn’t matter, state went blue, I begin to question reality.
I did vote in 2008. “I have no idea who this guy is but he talks a good game and he pisses off the bigots.” Didn’t matter, state went blue, record numbers came out to vote, and my mom suddenly cared about politics because she’s a racist piece of shit.
I did vote in 2012. “Let’s keep this rolling please and thank you.” Didn’t matter, state went blue, Bain Capital went on to kill both KayBee Toys and Toys R Us as revenge.
I did not vote in 2016. “These choices are bullshit, what the hell.” Didn’t matter, state went blue, large areas of empty space went red, and the oval office went orange despite almost three million more people voting for Buttery Males over Fraud Inc.
I did vote in 2020. “This election smells of mothballs and Icy Hot but at least I don’t have to stand in line.” Didn’t matter, state went blue, record numbers came out to vote, fascists went mask-off.
I will vote in 2024 (and already voted in the primary, which… didn’t matter). “I truly believe we are living in some sort of simulation, how can this possibly be real life?”
Pass the coconuts.
hey, maybe it doesn’t feel like it matters, but the margin of popular vote victory does mean something for the effectiveness and legitimacy of the ruling party (especially in the face of coup attempts)
Thank you for elaborating, and apologies for assuming I fully understood.
I totally get the existential dread, anxiety, and depression. Never easy to cope with.
All good, you covered for me while I was trying to be witty >_>
Ah, that still seems like a risky move.
Yup, that was the point. They used to do that but now realize they might actually be needed.
I’m assuming you’re showing up for more than presidential elections, though, right? Where your vote counts even more?
If you think presidential participation is low, you should see state and local numbers. Or don’t, if you’re prone to depression.
Yes. Unfortunately I live in a nepo congressional district where the mob boss’s — I’m sorry, party power broker’s — little brother has a seat for life and runs unopposed every primary. And said “power broker” is VERY deeply embedded in the state dem machine (and much of the business dealings in and out of the public view), to the point where court action was needed to stop the ballot placement fuckery.
It’s also next to impossible to dig up information on county commissioners, township committee, and school board candidates. “John Doe was born in neighboring Othertown but has lived and worked in Hometown for decades. He has three children in the local school system with his wife Jane. ‘I care very deeply about policy and I think things should be good, not bad.’ John likes to go for long walks in the local park when he’s not hang gliding at his mountain vacation house.”
Unfortunately techniques like this work, as (at least) one of the Moms Against Liberty types got voted onto the school board last term. The term before that, they were all mask-off for the standard conservative Covid crap and lost… but not by much. They scrubbed their online presence to be as generic as possible… and the only POC on the board lost her seat.
And yes, I am prone to depression.
And yes, I am prone to depression.
Felt.
This is the epitome of lying with statistics.
we really do need a default option for “fuck off im not voting”
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
aren’t the libertarians on the right wing of politics and the largest 3rd party?
… at least we voted! (Wisconsin)
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
millions of libertarian party voters not turning up /j
Because mandatory anything is spun as an attack on our freedoms, and our generally-undereducated masses eat it up.
We could probably spin it around and give a tiny tax break for those who vote. It’ll still definitely get attacked though.
We could probably spin it around and give a tiny tax break for those who vote.
Now you’re talking!
It’ll still definitely get attacked though.
Yeah. It’ll be presented as unnacceptable to us temporarily-embarassed-billionaires.
We could probably spin it around and give a tiny tax break for those who vote.
Now you’re talking!
Make tax refunds and all tax write-offs contingent on proving you voted. >:D
If they can find a way to block student loan forgiveness they’ll find a way to stop this. Just need to get it in front of the SC and it’ll be squashed.
You still have the freedom to not vote. However you have to go to a polling station and get your name marked off but no-one can force you to write on the piece of paper.
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.
Just wondering, how is mandatory voting enforced? I assume vote cops don’t show up at your door… What if you turn in a ballot with no choice marked?
You receive a penalty notice in the mail and have to pay a fine. Similar to a traffic infringement or parking fine.
All elections are held on a weekend and voting booths are everywhere, to make it a little easier for everyone to vote.
You can choose to not mark the ballot, no one would know. As long as you turn up to a booth and get your name marked off, then you are considered to have voted.
As a result, voter turnout is generally over 90%.
And yet they still regularly have a right wing government fucking things up for them. Perhaps turnout is not the primary issue after all.
Eh, not fucking things up in the way that seems to happen in the states. Our conservative government is much more corporate oriented and less strong on climate policy, but they aren’t insane. They don’t tend to strip rights from women, and almost the entire party supported gay marriage legalisation with many openly stating they personally disagreed with it but understood that their constituents needs should come before their own opinions.
Edit: I guess to expand upon my point, mandatory voting means candidates need to run on a platform which considers the needs of the whole population. Optional voting means that if 50% of the population doesn’t turn up, and 30% of the remaining population feels very strongly about an extreme view, it becomes easier for that extreme view to win an election.
Also preferential voting means you can actually vote for the candidates you want (you can’t ‘waste’ your vote by voting for someone other than the big two parties like in US), and (afaik) when your do this, and a candidate wins based on your lower preferences, that candidate gets data on what your first preferences were (so e.g. they know that a certain percentage of my voters had a higher preference for this other party, which means next time around I should possibly consider adopting some policy from this other party).
(I might have gotten some details wrong, someone feel free to correct me)
Yep. Us Aussies can only waste our vote deliberately. If we want to vote we can number every box. And because we have a single transferable vote we have a lot of boxes, the last senate vote form had more than 40, and you could vote any of them first
And if the rest of your electorate didn’t rate your number 1, you might agree on number 2
News reports call out the losers — this party is last, its votes get distributed per the voters’ forms and you watch for which bars on the graph grow as the shooters and hunters party (I didn’t get to vote in the election where the sun ripened warm tomato party failed to get elected) is excluded. A forty horse race is better than a two horse race
It’s also nice to choose your actual preference, even if it isn’t popular
Not sure how it is there, but in a few areas you basically lose your right to vote of you don’t. Which is fair motivation.
Teacher: If you don’t go to school, you’ll be punished!
Student: Oh yea, what’s the punishment?
T: Suspension from school
S: Great, glad we’re on the same page, see ya never
Looks like they mostly pay fines. So let’s figure out approximately how much money it will make and sell it to the Republicans as a money making venture!
You are allowed to cast an empty ballot, or write in a candidate who isn’t running. You just have to participate. When you go, you get marked off an electoral roll. Those people who don’t show up get a fine in the mail of something like a couple of hundred dollars. Not bad in isolation but this applies to state, federal and local elections so about 3 times in a 3-5 year period, for something which takes all of 15 minutes out of your day.
And you can buy a sausage on a slice of bread
I very much prefer California then, which mails every registered voter a return-postage-paid ballot and provides locked ballot boxes if you prefer, as well as having in-person voting places. I mail mine in, at least a week early, and if I didn’t get the text notifications I could walk in and do provisional. My spouse is basically bedbound but can vote from home.
I think we can request to vote by post although I’m not really sure. We can vote early in person though, and many people do
We can. And pre-poll votes. We don’t need to mail forms to everyone as most people can and will make it to a polling place on the day.
We can also vote out of state or from outside the country at an embassy or High Commission
Would input from the people who otherwise wouldn’t have bothered to show up be useful?
It’s a dangerous line of reason you’re skirting around there buddy.
Lmao the same people suppressing voting rights wont agree to that
