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
Lets all remember that time one of the largest pop stars in the world gave a message to her fans on stage to remember to vote, and was instantly targeted by the GOP for being anti-american, and they started a beef with her that would drive thousands of people against the right.
How does anyone not see it and get what's happening? I feel like you would have to have eaten ALL the crazy pills for this to make sense.
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.
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
Wait, what was that quiet bit in the middle? /s
democracy may not be available in all areas, ask your local TV conglomerate whether democracy is right for you
"We've tried nothing and we're all out of ideas."
Just having the vote on a non working day or giving (almost) everyone obligatory paid leave that day is way easier and could already have quite an impact.
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
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.
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/
I never knew Hillary won the popular vote by so much. Remind me, why the fuck does the electoral college exist???
To give a disproportionate amount of voting power to rural areas.
People look at a map and go "Oh my god look how much square footage is red" and can't comprehend the population density of large cities, so feel they are under represented.
Same principle as two Senators per state, and Congressmen are supposed to balance that out by representing population, until the artificial cap on number of Congressman.
Between that, and the insane gerrymandering, Red rural votes are just weighed higher than Blue urban votes.
That isn't why it existed in the first place but it is part of why it still exists today. Afaik nobody has made a serious effort to get rid of it but it's time. The electoral college needs to go
So that rich land owners have more power.
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
Hot take: voter suppression would be far more widespread, as it would stalemate the current "interim" government into power. Permanently. The current system, for all its flaws, doesn't have that weakness.
My counter to that is the interim gets executed if they go over a time limit, and new one is appointed.
What if "didn't vote" counted as "voted for both options, they're equally wonderful and we'd be happy either way"?
Well that's what it counts as now.
And also ranked choice voting, so there can be more than just 2 people running. F the 2 party system.
...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.
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.
I'm not an American so I'm not sure I understand. Wikipedia says voter turnout in 2016 was 59.2% of the voting-eligible population. Even if we count is a percentage of the voting-age population (i.e. including people with felonies or without citizenship or barred from voting for other reasons) it's still 54.8% voter turnout.
But that bar at the top of the graph makes it look like only around 15% voted.
Can someone explain?
Does the top graph not just show that all the gray states had people that did not vote be the largest percentage.
So if for example 30% voted for Biden and 31% for Trump, you still have 39% that did not vote thus making the non voter 'candidate' win.
In this case the voter turnout is 61% yet the non voters represent the biggest share.
It's cause by FPTP. If the largest share of voters in a given state were people that didn't vote, all the electoral college votes should go to "did not vote." That doesn't happen IRL because they just ignore low voter turnout.
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.
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.”
An interesting idea, unless the majority of people in your state voted you get no electors to send. Force states to drive participation
The problem there is that the Constitution says the state legislators get to pick how electors are selected. They don't even have to hold popular elections, even though all 50 states currently do. In fact, the Supreme Court hinted in its decision in Bush v Gore that state legislature can change the rules between the November elections and the actual election in December.
That is: Republican legislatures can decide to ignore the election results and send Republican electors if they don't like the results.
Texas already passed a law allowing the Texas Secretary of State to overturn elections in Harris County (Houston).
No one for president.
This is why voting needs to be really easy. If a phone app/website is good enough for banking, it is good enough for voting.
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!
For the map enthused!
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