Do you vote?

[Beawulf]

I have been doing some searching for voter turn out of different countries, and I was suprised to see that the US averages about 60% turnout (49% '00) while Iran had a turnout of 87% in '97. I often hear people refer to America as the greatest democracy in the world, so why doesnt everyone vote?

 

I had a look at some country rankings for voting turnout, and America ranks at 64th for presidental election turnout and 93rd for parlimentary election turnout (source IDEA)

 

 

So do you vote? if not, why not?

 

 

p.s. If anyone is wondering, I live in Australia and it is compulsory to vote here. I would vote even if it wasn't.

[TFMF]

I'm still 3 years away from all that, but even if i was old enough i don't think i would vote - It just seems like no matter who you vote for - nothing changes. They fix one thing and create a whole new problem.

 

....which is why i won't be voting in this poll.... :)

[Lif3]

I'm still 3 years away from all that, but even if i was old enough i don't think i would vote - It just seems like no matter who you vote for - nothing changes. They fix one thing and create a whole new problem.

 

....which is why i won't be voting in this poll....

As long as people think like this nothing will change.

 

I live in aus to so I have no choice, all though If I did I would definitely vote.

[TFMF]

Well maybe my life will change in 3 years and i will see the importance of such a thing. but right now i'm focusing on exams.

[TetsuoShima]

Wow, when I first saw this topic my reaction was:

NOOOOOOOOOOOOO, NOT AGAIN THIS STUPID CR*P!!!!!!!!!!

 

But now I see this is a real poll and I am happy and relieved!! :)

 

In my country we have to vote! But I'd still vote if wer didn't have to, even though I often think that my vote won't make a real difference since all those politicians are utter cr*p, completely corrupt (even if they don't realise it yet themselves), and they never do what they say they'll do, they never do what I want them to do, .......

 

In short: I hate politicians!!!!!!

 

But I'd still vote in the hope of things improving someday..... :(

[appsappy]

:rolleyes:always vote because your vote wil count if you do not vote your vote wil be lost and the people that votes for there own party wil always win :p

[Chewbacca]

I do vote. That will never change. Here in America, voting may well be the more important right we have. It's the one way the ordinary citizen can have a say in their government.

 

Yeah, you may think that your one vote is insignificant and can't change anything, but what if millions of people felt the same way. What if millions of people stayed home on Election Day because they don't think that their one vote can make a difference? All of the sudden, everything is different. Because millions of people stayed home and didn't vote and didn't make their voice heard by voting, the world would be a much different place. (I believe this to be a major contributor to the low voter turnouts).

 

If you have a complaint against the government, I ask you one question: Did you vote? If you answer no, then you really have nothing to complain about because by not voting, you are saying that you don't care what happens. So now, you disagree with something and say "X should die!" or "X is a complete moron" (X can refer to anyone who you believe fits this description), you are being a hypocrite. I know I may seem harsh, which is not my intent. What I am aiming to do is merely to shed some light on another side of this argument. It is not my goal to offend anyone by my comments.

 

So, in conclusion, if you live in a country where you have the privilege of being able to vote, count yourself lucky. In many countries, you are not able to vote, or if you are, it is at gunpoint. Vote for the wrong person, they shoot you. Now, does that sound like democracy? I consider voting to be the more fundamental duty you have to your country (if you can).

 

(Sorry if it sounds like I am rambling and going from one point to another, and it is a bit difficult to understand me. That is how I work.)

 

[Beawulf]

I agree that it is silly not to vote because you think it wont make a difference, it will make more of a difference than doing nothing.

 

to me a 50% voter turnout says that 50% of the people would rather be living under a dictatorship.

[Vektram]

I also live in Australia, although I'm not old enough to vote yet. I would vote even if it wasn't compulsory here.

[Ruk]

I not only vote, but help on election day by working at the polls.

 

And it definately makes a difference in MANY issues, if not all of them. While I can agree that many things stay the same no matter who is in power (big business gives money to both parties and thus things rarely change on that front), there are many issues where our representatives have fundamentally opposite approaches on a number of issues; such as war, abortion, campaign financing, science research, environment, taxes, etc.

 

Unfortunately as a person of mostly libertarian persuasion, I do find that half my views are supported by republicans and half by democrats, so I'm often stuck on who to vote for.

[subspatial]

yeh, us Ozzy's have it compulsary..

.. and to us it is our rite to vote.

 

I think if we wanna live in a free and open democracy..

... we all SHOULD have our say!!!

And be forced to!!!

 

And if we don't have our say...

... we might as well move to a communistic/dictatorship.

 

(no offence to Marxists out there) :)

[Beawulf]

I'm glad to see that so far we only have one non-voter :D

[mmsock]

As a patriotic american, I feel it is my duty and priviledge to vote. The hindrance is with a two party system no real work gets done as everything gets reduced to a juevenile "us vs. them" mentality. This simplistic dynamic leads people to be lead by their irrational, emotional vendettas, rather than logical pragmatism. What bothers me the most is the sweeping dominance the judicial branch of government has acquired. Whenever the commonfolk rise up to make changes to the system through public referendums and ballots, there's always some wacky judge ready to circumvent the will of the people for his tawdry political ties. I think the true root of the problem is the conflicting nature of modern day, democratic constitutions. If you study the them you'll see that their framers intentionally design the legal structures to keep things stagnated in a status quo approach. It's a pipe dream, but I'd like to see a reversal of the power base. As it stands now the political foundation is formulated in a pyrimidyl architecture: All the power is at the peak, held by a small cadre of self-serving hedonists while the massive base of ordinary people at the bottom are emasculated flotsam, drifting in a sea of impotence. There needs to be an upheaval where the autority is given at lower and lower levels in the schema so that citizens can establish more indivdualistic communities, dictated by their residents' personal moral and ethical standards.

[GreGh]

well in my country there are the same people on power for 15 years (that doesnt necessarily mean the same party) ... and i dont like any of the major parties ... so my philosphy when voting is: vote for the one that isnt ruling the country at the moment and vote for smaller parties that hadnt been to power yet ... this way new ideas can be brought to public and changes (hopefully for the better) can be constantly made

 

i have one question for anyone from australia here: ... as i understood you have to vote in australia... what if you dont ... what then ?

[Reaper]

I said I don't vote, but it is only about 80% true. If a state or local rep I really don't like pops up I'll vote for the other guy, but for the biggest, most important election in America my vote really doesn't matter. Any American (unless someone reading this happens to be a member of the electoral college) that is self-diluted enough to believe otherwise obviously must have been living under a rock during the 2000 election. Besides, even if I did vote it would be for Nader and, well, I'm not self-diluted enough to believe he'd actually win.

[StitchInTime]

Yes, I vote. I feel it's the least I can do. It's a responsibility and a privilege really, given there are still so many places where people don't have a choice at all, not even a bad one.

 

I rather suspect that voting isn't enough, however. You have to get involved, even if only at the local level, if you want to see things change in a positive way. I recently completed an internship in community development, where I discovered that it really is quite amazing, the influence that people can have if they get together and pool their resources to fight for causes that matter to them. It's a lot easier to do that in a democracy, but to keep the democracy alive, I think you really need to take part in some way.

[Beawulf]

i have one question for anyone from australia here: ... as i understood you have to vote in australia... what if you dont ... what then ?

 

They send you a letter requesting an explanation why you didnt vote, and if you cant do that you get a fine, something like $80AU I think.

 

Considering how easy it is to get postal votes there arent many acceptable excuses.

 

I did some temporary work for the electoral commission call centre during the last election. Had heaps of phone calls from people overseas wanting to cast votes, or do a postal vote. people who left it too late to get postal votes sent to them in time and would get very abusive/agressive if they werent able to vote

[drken]

I'm still 3 years away from all that, but even if i was old enough i don't think i would vote - It just seems like no matter who you vote for - nothing changes. They fix one thing and create a whole new problem.

 

....which is why i won't be voting in this poll.... :)

 

How old do you have to be to vote in your Country?

 

 

[str82u]

I think if we wanna live in a free and open democracy..

... we all SHOULD have our say!!!

And be forced to!!!

 

And if we don't have our say...

... we might as well move to a communistic/dictatorship.

 

In the US it's your right not to vote, but why let others piss on you? Yeah, all politicians suck as far as I can see, anyone who makes a living off public service like that should be flushed. It used to be that polititians only got compansated for the income they lost during thier terms (like crops they could have sold for farmers) and then they had to go back to the dirt.

I grew up in a town that had a congressman with the record for service at nearly 40 years (Jack something or other from Beaumont Texas) and I can't remember for the life of me anything earth-shaking he did to improve life, the guy actually retired from government!

 

Yes, I agree, People should vote, should they be forced, I don't know, it doesn't sound right, but niether does throwing away a power like that.

 

I voted for Bush twice, don't throw rocks either, my girlfriend on the other hand has never voted, ever(and has never had a drivers license either, but doesn't know how to drive a car at 35 years old anyhow), but wants to call Bush a MF, liar, Redneck and anything else bad you can think of and then get's mad when I tell her "You can't complain, you didn't even vote...for ANYONE!"

 

What can you do, folks have made comments that we would be communist without the vote, but how far away are we from it now? Don't let that get your skirt in a knot, but when people tell other people that something they do, that doesn't interfere with anothers freedoms or rights, is a crime, then there is too much control. When people get paid just to sneak in thier own moral or ethical ideas (or worse, just to blow money on a pet project) on the coattails of a justifiable bill in congress, that's a moral crime, but is it illegal?...

 

I could rant more clearly, but not now.

[Beawulf]

I find it strange that the judges in the US that have the most power to affect peoples lives (high court is it?), are appointed for life by the president. Where is the will of the people in that. In a democracy you are supposed to be able to have a say about things that affect your life. At least if a president screws up and people arent happy they can vote him out, but with the judge...too bad, you didnt choose them and you are stuck with them for life