Assuming there’s nothing stopping you from legally voting
My mom never registered to vote “because I don’t want to be picked for jury duty!” (stupid boomer face)
WTF?! In some states, your registered for jury duty when you get a driver’s license…
That’s what I told her!
Wow so she was a bad citizen in two ways.
Jury duty wasn’t fun (child abuse case), but it was one hell of an education. I’m still greatful to have had such smart fellow jurors so we could really consider everything. You get to see how the world works.
don’t pick me for jury duty because always guilty 100% idgaf
I maliciously complied with Jury Duty. I went. I sat in the room 8 hours a day for a week reading a conspicuously large copy of “Atlas Shrugged”.
Weird, they didn’t pick me… :)
In some Canadian municipal elections, you can vote for school board trustees.
Before I had kids, I was too lazy to educate myself on their platforms, so I wouldn’t cast a ballot. I’d rather leave it up to people who care to make the decision.
Now that I have kids and school boards have turned into a culture war battleground, I am researching and voting.
I didn’t vote for years because I was busy trying to keep my head above water and I just couldn’t wrap my head around politics. I had my own shit to deal with during that time.
And here’s the long version - for those that are interested.
It’s one day, with most states allowing mail-in in advance. You have no excuse for not fulfilling your duty as a citizen to ensure least negative outcome of elections.
I had my own shit to deal with
So does every other fucking adult, and now we have even more shit to deal with, thanks for that
Don’t berate people like this man
It takes one day to do the actual voting. It takes a lot more time to figure out who to vote for.
Everyone should invest that time.
Depending on where you are, it also takes some effort and coordination to ensure you register to vote, verify you are still registered by the deadline, and to ensure you understand what will be on the ballot before you show up and have the necessary documents when you get there. I do live in a place the Heritage Foundation considers high in “election integrity”, so they made a lot of barriers to vote where I am, and I could theoretically get why busy people have a hard time prioritizing it.
He’s saying he didn’t even know what was happening. I bet trump won 2016 because in some peoples minds “it’s boll clintons wife vs the guy from the pizza hut ads…well I LIKE pizza!”
Before trump won, his “policies” weren’t well known. It’s hard to remember, but when he won, people were surprised that the joke candidate won. I’m sure some people clueless to politics did it for the lulz.
Please consider voting. Don’t ignore your political voice.
I moved from the UK in my early 20s, prior to that I was young and stupid, so I neglected to vote there. Then I moved to America and started the green card process, and didn’t feel it was right to vote for things back in the UK as it wasn’t my home anymore and it wasn’t my place to say what should happen there. I finally naturalized around a decade after I moved here, and immediately signed up to vote. I actually cried at the polling station because I was so happy to vote for the first time ever!
Ok
I vote for Federal and Provincial. For local, I never seem to find out there even is an election until after it has passed
Still really irritating
And even if you do know about the election, finding useful information on the candidates is a feat
I usually don’t think to. I mostly just scroll All sorted by active so there’s lots of people already voting on those posts. Plus my instance is upvote-only
Who are you supposed to vote for when you feel it doesn’t matter? Or when you feel that all candidates are insufficient?
Additionally, if we’re speaking of the US, the electoral college can and will supercede the popular vote. We literally put these people in power just to say we’re wrong and they will quickly say we’re wrong and work against the popular votes because we gave them the authority
Ah yes the classic, “i cant decide between voting for fascism or against it. Really tough choice”
OP wants to know why people don’t vote. If you believe in voting you’re probably not going to like any of the answers but they shouldn’t be downvoted for answering the question as asked.
Hey. I’m trying to turn over a new leaf on social media. In situations like this, I will be absolutely serious, direct, and respectful. Regardless of if you disagree with my view, I politely ask the same thing. We need to talk to each other with respect regardless of our views. Agreed?
Ok I will rephrase to be polite and respectful.
When you are presented with the option of voting for or against fascism, what makes that choice difficult?
I’ll continue to say this question still isn’t being asked in good faith.
Of course the ballot isn’t literally, “do u want fascism or nah”
It’s between two politicians. You and I are agree that one side is almost inherently better than the other, but you have to remember that a. the other side also believes that they are inherently better than the other, and b. not everyone believes that either side is inherently better than the other.
Judging by your comments I’m assuming you’re pro-choice; if someone asked you, “when presented with the choice of outlawing the murder babies, what makes that choice difficult for you?”, you’d rightfully say they aren’t posing the question in a fair way to you. It’s the same thing here, if you’re trying to communicate with someone who doesn’t outright agree with you you can’t just outright attack their position or frame it in a negative light or you just make them defensive and not receptive to an alternative view.
Of course the ballot isn’t literally, “do u want fascism or nah”
This specific election is literally just this
If you’re speaking hyperbolically, sure. But when you’re trying to have a genuine conversation with someone regarding a serious topic, using hyperbolic speech to belittle someone’s position is pretty lame
I’ve voted in every election since Bush senior in 1988 and I do not believe the other guy is speaking hyperbolically at all. It’s so different this time. It truly is.
You are as pathetic as your weak defense of abandoning your most important civic duty. Your weakness hurts us all. Shame on you.
It’s not a difficult choice at all because, you said it yourself; voting for or against when I already stated that I would vote for no one because we as a nation have put people in power that have the authority to supercede our vote. It’s not a left or a right thing. It’s not a democracy or fascism thing. It’s a fact that every single American has to contend with because WE as American citizens allowed it to happen. Isn’t that democracy?
Ok so you are deciding to not use your right, and thus will have no right to comment on the results of the election.
“I dont care either way”
Yes I do
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Is the one trying to overthrow democracy the fascist or the one funding the ethnic cleansing?
The one that wants to overthrow democracy and would like to fund the ethnic cleansing at an even higher rate/amount is the fascist. The one that has encouraged Israel to go faster / do more in Gaza is the fascist. I do not like Biden’s weakness confronting Israel, but one is a cheerleader, and one is weakly pushing for caution.
Giving Israel the means to continue ethnic cleansing is more than cheerleading. Not that it would be acceptable if he were just cheering it on.
There’s no evidence that Trump can do anything that Biden already isn’t already, barring sending American soldiers to participate in the genocide which I doubt would be politically feasible for him. Israel doesn’t need our soldiers, they do need our bombs though, which Biden has provided without any effective conditioning.
Not just funding but delivering planes, bombs, and weapons.
Kinda telling of how poor of a choice the Democratic candidates have been that they can’t or can barely sway enough votes in their favor when this is on the line.
The electoral college only applies to Presidential elections, but there are many more elections happening for primaries, local, and state elections, where the electoral college doesn’t apply. Your vote in these elections is arguably more important than the presidential election and there have been many cases of elections coming down to under a hundred votes.
As for candidates who are insufficient, your vote is not an endorsement of the policies of the candidate, and is an objection to other candidates. This is the flaw of our two party system, and the only optimal strategy is to vote against who you don’t want to be president. Voting for representatives who advocate for ranked voting is how this can be fixed, but requires voting in non-presidential elections to create the change, along with a whole set of other challenges.
when you feel it doesn’t matter
Nobody should give a fuck about how it fEeLs. Elections are verifiable and essential. You cry about the electoral college and yet don’t vote which gives said EC even more of an advantage.
Having a rough day? Need someone to blame for it? That’s cool. Have at it
Unfettered capitalism has masterfully created a self-serve corporatocracy that filters money straight to the political parties who, in turn, pose puppet leaders in front of the masses to grant a semblance of choice. No good will come of this “Weekend at Bernie’s” farce of an election. Under current auspices, only more greed, lies, and violence are to follow.
Sorry, disenfranchisement and apoplexy are all that remain.
You’ve given into despair and have opted out entirely, which is exactly what the people you gripe about want you to do. Congratulations, you’ve surrendered.
You may well be correct on all counts.
A question was asked, and I answered honestly from my perspective.
I encourage you to reconsider and vote for whatever you perceive to be the least of all evils. Voting is relatively easy and doesn’t require much effort. It’s literally the least you can do. Yes, may not matter in the end, but it can still inform certain statistics that can be used to support various messages and arguments down the line. If you don’t vote at all, you guarantee you have no impact. Don’t throw away the little power you have.
Duly noted, and I appreciate your not relegating my opinion to snorting self-sourced methane expulsions.
The harder notion for me here is that I have been voting since Bush Sr. / Clinton. This toilet keeps spinning faster as we get closer to the drain.
Until recent years, I believed that voting was exercising my rights and fighting the good fight. Maybe I’m jaded, which I think is fair, but I do think, in light of the circus we’ve watched the the past 8 years, that we’ve entered a new arena where violence ultimately is where this is headed. Someone responded here that I have permission to be something other than sad. Unfortunately, I disagree. When the shots ring out in political rage, we’ve effectively lost our civility.
I will reconsider my decision to not vote, but the bitterness might win out.
Even if this does end in political violence or civil war, if you vote, at least you will have tried to avoid that fate by participating in our democracy as much as possible. Voting is just so easy to do, how can you justify not doing it as anything but laziness? It can’t hurt and takes almost no effort.
Voting is easy as hell, you have no excuse. Shame on you, quite literally part of the problem.
No good will come of this “Weekend at Bernie’s” farce of an election.
Hard disagree.
Anybody who has actually followed what Trump has done / is doing vs what Biden has done / is doing knows there’s a clear distinction between the two. One is clearly a worse choice. It reads like you’re just intoxicated by the smelling of your own farts.
How dare you accuse him of excessive fart-huffing. Jenkum plays a significant role in many cultures and economic systems. Educate yourself. Huff a splort.
Ok.
You’re permitted to do more than be sad
I’m not allowed because I’m an immigrant, and I’ve only found out recently that I can vote while living abroad in national elections in the fatherland.
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This happened to me last election
I assume a good chunk of people who don’t vote live in non-contested counties/states and feel that it’s pointless to vote.
Which is weird, because in those cases you can vote for whatever 3rd party candidate is closest to what you want. In the distant past I voted Green for this reason, knowing it didn’t matter. (Since then the state swung left a bit and I vote Democrat. I even registered as Democrat to vote for Bernie in the primaries…)
I do the same since I live in Basically a red state.
Depends on what is getting voted on. Posts on Lemmy? Eh… Maybe if I find them especially good or bad. Can’t be bothered otherwise.
In that one instance where I didn’t vote… It was a local election with exactly two candidates. One of which told ahead of election day that should he win he would refuse to take office. So yeah… Didn’t bother with that.
Just curious - why would he be a candidate if he’s not running for office?
Good question… If I remember correctly his motivation was to give a choice besides the only person that would have been on the ballot otherwise. Perhaps a moral choice because he thought that there should be at least another choice even if the result is the same in a good democracy.
And it’s a good right to exercise for everyone even if you then choose not to take that position for one reason or another. Who knows what reason someone has, maybe just to be more well known…
When all of the candidates on a ballot are going to actively work against my values, why would I vote for any of them? That said, I have written in choices before, but it’s a lot of work to do when literally no one will be taking notice of that vote.
I’m from the UK, I don’t vote simply because I don’t trust the shit politicians come out with during election periods and because of this I worry I will vote the wrong way. Time and time again promises are made and you never really seem to see the difference.
For example, and please correct me if I’m wrong, but it’s been promised since Brexit more money will go into the NHS to release the pressure on the service. Yet the NHS seems to be in the worst condition currently it’s ever been in.
The NHS is bad by design. You can’t convert a great system to whatever the shit is in the US that makes. Avery select few people very rich. You first need to break it down by pulling money out of it, pull more money out of it, more still, then when it starts breaking down, complain about how badly it works and propose this wonderful new system that will fix all of that! Privatize everything and then move to whatever shit they have in the US and get rich
I mean, look at how great privatizing the rail system has worked out in the UK!
Our railways are fucked, our healthcare system is hanging by a thread. I’m so grateful for NHS care and investigations in the last year - dread to think how much Americans would have to pay to find out they have a shitty disease, let alone treat it.
Or… anywhere else. Privatization of public transport or postal services is such a good idea.
