Exercising My Right
I don't understand people who are given the right to vote, but opt not to exercise it. Retraction: yes, I do. It can be attributed to ignorance and apathy. Why should this be so? I don't know and I don't care.
When it comes time for the general elections, a common complaint would be 'I don't like any of the candidates, how did they get chosen to run?' - which is why I think the primaries are even more important - you get the chance to vote for the best candidate to run in your party of choice. Is it a perfect system? By no means.
The cool thing is, the lower the turnout, the more my vote counts. During presidential elections, when the turnout's 50%, my vote is worth twice what it would be if everyone voted. However, in off-year elections, when only 33% show up, it's worth three times as much - and, in off-year primary elections, my vote is maybe four times more valuable! All of which is fine with me, because I personally think minimum qualifications should be met before one is allowed to vote - like knowing who the candidates are and what they stand for.
So, all of you who are too lazy or disinterested to vote - by all means, stay home!
When it comes time for the general elections, a common complaint would be 'I don't like any of the candidates, how did they get chosen to run?' - which is why I think the primaries are even more important - you get the chance to vote for the best candidate to run in your party of choice. Is it a perfect system? By no means.
The cool thing is, the lower the turnout, the more my vote counts. During presidential elections, when the turnout's 50%, my vote is worth twice what it would be if everyone voted. However, in off-year elections, when only 33% show up, it's worth three times as much - and, in off-year primary elections, my vote is maybe four times more valuable! All of which is fine with me, because I personally think minimum qualifications should be met before one is allowed to vote - like knowing who the candidates are and what they stand for.
So, all of you who are too lazy or disinterested to vote - by all means, stay home!
posted by Jim at 11:30 AM
1 Comments:
I disagree with some of your comments.
First, the idea of the right to vote implies free elections. While we are free to go punch the ticket for the candidates that are on the ballot, the candidates themselves are pretty much chosen for us by the party(ies) in charge. They have rigged the ballot access rules so that only their candidates appear on the ballot. If another candidate manages to qualify, they are generally broke by that point and can't afford to run a campaign. Not only that, the rules for the debates exclude anyone outside of the big party, even though they have no problem using all our tax dollars to pay for them. So, the elections really aren't free if only certain "qualified" candidates make the ballot - it's kind of like Iraq's elections under Saddam except you won't die if you vote for the wrong candidate.
All of which leads me to my disagreement: It's not only ignorance and apathy that stops people from voting. For these people, their right to vote has been effectively taken away by the discriminatory ballot laws. They don't vote because the state-approved candidates are unacceptable.
I will probably be staying home this fall, unless there is a local referendum I need to vote for. And why should I vote? I have a choice between a man who wants to model Illinois after California and a woman who will probably be following George Ryan to the defendants chair sometime soon.
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