"Gee, I wonder why people don't vote?": because their votes don't count

A brief rant about out stupid system for electing a president.

Although I'm so looking forward to casting my vote against the Chimporer this November, my vote, like the vast majority of the population in our country, won't really "count". In other words, my individual vote will not make one bit of difference to who will be President in January. Why? Because my state is considered "safe" - safely in the column of one of the candidates.

While the ideal solution would be to give every US citizen an equally powerful vote for president (I realize this would never happen, as our current system happily (for the powers that be) effectively disenfranchises urban citizens), one solution which would retain the electoral college but would still make everyone's vote actually count, is to have representative electoral representation.

In other words, candidates would get a proportion of delegates based on their percentage of support within that state. I think Maine may already divide its electoral votes in this way.

Can you imagine what this would do to an election? Suddenly, the concerns of the vast majority of the country would come into play. What is important to California would suddenly matter! What somebody in Texas actually wanted would suddenly count! Instead of having to wonder about some bumblefucks in some battleground state, and having Chimpy just be able to fake sincerity to them about some manufacturing plant which he is helping to close on them, suddenly he would have to fake sincerity about ALL of our nation's problems.

Each vote would actually count . . . each voter you could bring to the polls would actually have the chance of increasing the final delegate count for your candidate.

As it stands now, why should voters in "safe" states bother to come to the polls? (Rhetorical question only, of course - like I said, I'm dying to vote against Chimpy . . . but how can I actively convince others I know to vote around here, knowing in my heart that it really doesn't matter to the outcome?)

Thoughts? I'm interested in people's ideas on this subject.

US Senate, Governor, US House, State Reps and Seantors, etc where one's vote can make a difference also. The election is not just for President.

of office, and they come back with "Delaware's three electoral votes are safely Kerry's - my vote won't matter.", I'd have to say, "That's true."

I love to vote, personally, and don't miss a chance to do it, but it's hard to realize I can't use affecting the outcome against Bush as a motivating argument in GOTV.

If people felt like their vote for president actually counted then we might see bigger turnout and better results in the races for House, Senate, Governor, etc.

Instead of the roughly half billion being spent on key states this year.

I agree, the electoral college is a despicable institution, but we have to be mindful of the consequences of altering it.

that all campaigns should be publically financed with spending limits that have to be adhered to.

money does not equal freedom of speech, that's such a bullshit argument.

Maybe that will be the case, or maybe we can find some way around that. But I still don't see why that should prevent us from giving every American an equal voice.

it's an outdated system that our forefathers put into place because they were afraid that ordinary people would not be capable of picking such powerful figures.

it's an insult to "democracy" and an insult to the american people.

Both parties have largely abandoned them in favor of corporations and fat cat donors. The GOP offers them bait and switch tax cuts, while the Democrats offer them the business as usual which has been killing them financially.

Did you know that if the poverty level formula were changed to reflect the changes in the average family budget (which assumes 1/3 is spent on food instead of the typical 1/6), that the poverty level for a family of four would be $36,000/year? That so many families are now living in unrecognized poverty is horriffic enough; that both parties would facilitate lying about it is worse.

A large middle class is artificial. The usual process of capitalism is to concentrate wealth into the fewest hands possible, leaving the working people who generate all the goods and services in misery. We are seeing the result of the dismantling of the New Deal structures which created the boom years of the late 40s through the early 70s now. Neither party has offered us anything to remedy the destruction of the middle class in the US. They're all rich men; we can only assume they really don't care if we vote or not.

Having nothing to vote for, we're only too happy to oblige them.

I think that there is plenty to vote FOR in this year's election.

I will be voting FOR the idea that it is proper to regulate business activity to protect the interests of the population.

I will be voting FOR more active oversight of military contracts.

I will be voting FOR multilateral foreign policy.

Etc. The list is endless.

Yes, I'd like to reduce corporate power over the process. But let's reduce the power of the most explicitly corporatist party on the way towards those goals.

only because Bush is a monster.

Your other points are quite valid, but less important this year.

important.

Kanary, leaving it at this before she blows up

There are many reasons why non-voters don't vote, but what you vocalized is the primary one: many people whose very survival issues are no longer of any concern to *either* party.

If we actually want to solve the problem of non-participation in this society, we will have to LISTEN to those who don't ote, and actually be willing to hear what they have to say, and to respond accordingly.

Just getting angry and judging them doesn't change one blessed thing.

You put your finger on it, and if you can understand it, so can the DEM party. If they really wanted to.

Kanary

vote--I hear so many say--oh well no one is talking about the things that are important to me. Or I hear them say--oh well my vote doesn't really matter.

This is so sad. We are disenfranchising people by discouraging them from even taking part in the process.