I was planning on voting in the California election - and then I saw the forty or so things I had to vote on. Needless to say, I'm going straight to work and then straight home on Nov. 2nd.
we have compulsory voting in Australia, so if you're over 18 you have to vote in every state and national election. If you dont you will be fined a tiny amount, if you continue not to you will be fined more and end up in court.
" It's compulsory in Australia. Well, I guess I could just skip it and pay the fine, but I still vote. "
You need to vote away this bullshit law. "
plz do not comment on our system when you do not live here/have to deal with it. Our small population means that every vote is important and if only certain sections of society voted then we would not have a fair or equal system. The way it is now, most people realise they have to vote so think about their choice and place a vote for the party that best represents them. I will admit that some do abuse the system and throw their vote away, but they are a minority.
@lazyturtle: It starts with pounds of leaflets and letters urging you to vote for candidates. Then you get the "voter guide" which is a sample of the ballot. Then you get the hundred page "voting guide" which has the Propositions and what they mean. Then you give your mailman a large gift for Christmas. This election, we have to vote for a Governor, Lt. Govr. Senator. 3 Representatives. 9 Court Justices, The middle-men that work for the Govr. Middle-men that work for the county and 12 or so Propositions.
" I was planning on voting in the California election - and then I saw the forty or so things I had to vote on. Needless to say, I'm going straight to work and then straight home on Nov. 2nd. "
" I was planning on voting in the California election - and then I saw the forty or so things I had to vote on. Needless to say, I'm going straight to work and then straight home on Nov. 2nd. "
yes on 19 "
If you actually read the law, it's extremely poorly written. There are a lot of loop holes and stuff that isn't included that could allow for people to get away with some crazy shit. I am for the legalization of marijuana but prop 19 is not the way to do it. Read the prop itself and make a decision that way.
@fishmicmuffin: Do you have an example of the "crazy shit" cause I'll vote for it if It lets me go ahead and do some crazy illegal shit unrelated to weed.
" If you actually read the law, it's extremely poorly written. There are a lot of loop holes and stuff that isn't included that could allow for people to get away with some crazy shit. I am for the legalization of marijuana but prop 19 is not the way to do it. Read the prop itself and make a decision that way. "
I always do. My grandfather fought so I could have the right to do so, and I would feel like I was dishonoring what he fought for if I didn't. Plus, I was always raised to believe that if you don't vote then you have no right to complain about how the government is fucking things up.
@BunkerBuster: The main thing that is shitty about the law is that it doesn't make it legal California-wide. It merely gives every district in California the option to adopt the legalization of marijuana. So if you were to live in a county that didn't support it and drive to a county that did, you could buy weed there but get busted for having it in the county where you live. It's, as I said, just poorly written. It should be on the ballot again but in a revised format in my opinion.
" It's compulsory in Australia. Well, I guess I could just skip it and pay the fine, but I still vote. "
You need to vote away this bullshit law. "
plz do not comment on our system when you do not live here/have to deal with it. Our small population means that every vote is important and if only certain sections of society voted then we would not have a fair or equal system. The way it is now, most people realise they have to vote so think about their choice and place a vote for the party that best represents them. I will admit that some do abuse the system and throw their vote away, but they are a minority. "
I kind of wish we had compulsory voting here in the states.
"It's compulsory in Australia. Well, I guess I could just skip it and pay the fine, but I still vote. "
That is insane. They make you vote? That seems a waste, as a lot of people are just going to vote for any person so they can say they voted. What causes problems in the first place is people voting ignorantly. But , it hardly feels my votes count for anything anyway here. Politiians don't listen and just make decisions to help them keep out of the spotlight. They spend most of their time running for re-election, when their leadership should be the reason they get additional terms.
I went with "B" although that's not exactly right, but "A" is too absolutist an answer for my tastes. I've voted in every Presidential election since I was eligible (George Bush Senior) and nearly every Senatorial/Congressional election too. In the US, Presidential elections happen every 4 years while Senators and Congressmen are re/elected every 6 and 2 years respectively. That means every even-numbered year is an important election. Odd numbered years are usually where I miss an election. Those can be for local stuff like City Council, County Judges and Dog Catcher. I know that all politics are local but I just don't keep up with that type of stuff. If there is an issue that's been much publicized I've made the effort to go and vote then, but otherwise, I tend to stick with even-numbered year elections.
I had voted every time since I was able to .... but now I no longer care .... here in Mexico its all such a lie ( imagine this we have 500 congress men , from where we only select 2 hundred of them by voting , the rest are placed by the parties themselves .... democracy yeah right ) and since I change my address and state I have to re do my voting card (what we call IFE card , its an official ID) , so who knows....
I'm not old enough to vote, but when I will be able to I'm going to vote in every non local election. Both cities I live in are socialist strongholds, and nothing is going to change that (Which I'm fine with).
Compulsory voting here (Aus), it is a system that works for the most part. The last election was pretty dodgy but we haven't had a leader decided by a court case or by a minority of the population either. I would continue to vote however even if it were not compulsory.
I live in the UK and am only just old enough to vote. Sadly I couldn't vote last year because the day the polls opened near me was also one of the days I had to do some serious crunching for my coursework.
No. And this sums why I don't very succinctly. To summarise, I don't believe in the political system we have in place right now. The vote doesn't mean anything. Not only does it not mean anything, it is used as a smokescreen for covering of political corruption.
Well, let's say I'm a reluctant voter. I have voted in every election that came by since I reached the age, but I didn't enjoy it at all after the first time. My dad literally dragged me by the collar during the last polls stating that it's my "civic duty" and I hated it cause I had to forego video gaming time to stand in the line.
If a politician strikes a cord with me I vote for them - but they very rarely do.
So I used to go in to spoil my ballot every time just to "do my part" or whatever but as time went on I became more and more irritated by the fact that they count, and publicly announce how many people who didn't show up, but don't publicly announce how many people spoiled their ballots.
I decided I'd rather be counted with the disenfranchised and be mistakenly written off as "too lazy to bother" than to not be counted at all so I stopped.
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