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I rarely vote in a presidential election because there is never anyone that I like running. Take the last election: You can't blame me for not voting if I don't like either candidate. What was the choice--a war monger or Obama.
You could vote for Gary Johnson... The guy would never win, but if he could at least get 5% of votes, that would be huge for the next election cycle. Besides, political technologists notice "protest" votes maybe even more than their hard-core supporter numbers.
The thing is... You aren't just voting for the President. You're voting for their party as well, whether you like the candidate they nominated or not.
Most importantly (to me anyway) you're also voting for the candidate/party who will be responsible for appointing Supreme Court justices. They serve for life, so sometimes, if a sitting President gets more than one appointment, their legacy is felt long after they are gone.
Yes. I'm sorry but when I hear people only talk about "liking" or "not liking" certain presidential candidates, it reveals a naivete. By now there is very little similarity between the Republican and Democrat parties (despite the lazy adage that they are ultimately the same). So if a potential voter cannot even decide which of the two parties is better for the country/world, I throw up my hands.
At minimum people should be able to find some issue(s) they care about: pro-pot legalization =vote Dem; pro-life=vote Rep; pro-environment=vote Dem; pro-guns=vote Rep, etal.
Others that complain about people not voting drives me crazy. If you don't want to vote...don't. I am 39 years old and yesterday was the first time I have ever voted...why? Because I actually liked some of the candidates that are running. I am not going to vote for someone I don't like just for the sake of voting. Fill in the "none of above" bubble you say? WHy? WHat is the point?
I rarely vote in a presidential election because there is never anyone that I like running. Take the last election: You can't blame me for not voting if I don't like either candidate. What was the choice--a war monger or Obama.
Yes, you should feel guilty for not voting. It is a privilege, right and responsibility of your American citizenship. There are lots of candidates besides the office of president that are voted on in primaries and general elections. These offices affect your life and what happens in your community, often having more impact than the office of president.
If you think you don't like the candidates, you should get more involved in the process, ask questions of them and their supporters to find out the details of their positions on issues you care about.
You're lame if you don't vote. If you choose not to vote, don't you dare complain about what you get.
Yes you should feel guilty for not voting. A vote for the candidate you dislike the least is a vote against the one you dislike the most. That unfortunately is how I end up voting quite oftern
I rarely vote in a presidential election because there is never anyone that I like running. Take the last election: You can't blame me for not voting if I don't like either candidate. What was the choice--a war monger or Obama.
Well, in that last election, there were surely many other issues and candidates that were not presidential. You don't clarify whether you just didn't cast a ballot, or whether you just left the presidential part blank. I'm assuming you didn't cast a ballot, because if you can't get motivated over the national leadership, even to vote for a third party, I'm betting you can't get motivated to help pick the county coroner or which ambulance-chaser gets pastured to the county bench.
If you didn't, it depends on whether you still feel membership in the United States, and a desire to participate in/validate its institutions. If you do, and you fail to vote at all, you are absenting yourself from the overall decisionmaking process simply because you find one of the races uninspiring. If you actually utter the pledge of allegiance in any form, as an adult, I submit that failure to vote amounts to violating your pledge ("and to the republic for which it stands...").
If, like me, you feel that your citizenship has become nothing more than an economic equation, that your country's democracy is an illusion, and that even if a principled person became president that the accumulated criminals on both sides would unite in agreement that principles are the one thing that cannot possibly be tolerated in the White House, then you also probably don't feel connected to local politics and elections. If that's how you feel, then there's no reason you should waste your time, no matter how many people try to guilt you and lecture you and bully you (this being America, they will rarely try courteous persuasion; it's all about the shaming and bullying). In that case, let them as cares and believes, do whatever they plan to, and if it makes them feel better--or gives them the illusion of democracy--no need to ridicule their choice, even though you can be 100% certain they will ridicule yours.
quote=artillery77;42954417]I have often voted for Mickey Mouse, ......
You can't vote for some one who is not on the ballot. No wonder your vote goes File 13! LMAO
Not true! You most certainly CAN write in a vote in many elections. That is why there is a blank space at the bottom of the list of candidates! Very few ballots are one issue forms. the other votes on the ballot must be counted. I do not believe any ballot would be thrown out unless it was improperly voted on the majority of the items listed.
Over the years, Mickey has received a LOT of votes for various offices.
I'm not sure, but I think Scooby Doo has, also.
I have also received a vote or two.
Voting is showing support for someone, so if you do not support anyone, why should you vote? Places that have mandated voting, like Australia, is a joke. All you are getting are people who are voting for reasons other than reasons that need to matter, goofy stuff like astrology signs, who is better looking, who put on the best talking points, coin flip, whatever name is first, etc. A huge mass of people who really do not care or support, but are made to vote.
A lack of voting to me shows something, but too bad no one really gets it. Politicians would be all giddy even if they won with 1% of voters voting, ignoring that 99% just did not like anyone enough to show up, let alone the winner.
If voting is made mandatory, there should be a "none of the above" and the total for this vote should not exceed something like 70% for the vote to be counted.
So basically no, you should not feel guilty, you should vote only for someone you support. An act of not voting (for a reason besides laziness) is the same as voting.
Sad as it sounds, US elections have a long history of people voting against the worst of the options, instead of for someone. You should vote to keep the worst candidates out of the office, if you don't feel there's anyone you can enthusiastically support. To use the example provided earlier, a "war monger vs. Obama"--another important consideration is the economy. We know that the reason the US has arrived at having the highest income disparity of any developed nation because of a certain party implementing disastrous tax cuts while also initiating wars in the Middle East. If we don't want the country to go any further down the tubes, our only choice is to vote for the side that is trying to restore fiscal rationality without any further cuts to the national infrastructure, Social Security, education, etc. So you vote on the economy, or the war issue, or both, rather than for a specific candidate.
Mandated voting doesn't achieve anything; people can, and do, go to the polls and turn in a blank ballot. No one can force them to actually vote once they're in the privacy of the polling booth.
I'm not going to tell you whether you should or should not feel guilty. What I will say is that voting is a duty in our democracy, and it is something that mature, responsible people do.
I doubt that there is anyplace in the United States that does not allow write-in votes, so I don't think the person who said that you can't vote for a person not on the ballot was correct. On the other hand, as a justice of the peace, one of the people responsible for counting ballots, I can tell you that under Vermont law votes cast for fictional characters, such as Mickey Mouse, are not counted.
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