My children ask me "why should I bother to vote' when my vote doesn't count?

The 'electoral college' decides the presidency. They have no campus, no buildings, no ideology......who ARE the 'electoral collieges?

And why should *I* go and bother to vote?

TIA

...is the one that isn't cast.

Never Give Up.

I agree with them that the electoral college is crap though - it's letting hicks install into the White House who they'd like to drink a beer with :thumbsdown:

... all I can say is "Keep the faith," and I mean it.

Keep the faith.

Hekate

If you live in California and vote Republican in a presidential race, it does no good. If you live in Mississippi and vote Democrat, it does no good either in a presidential race. A simple plurality of the vote would mean all, not just a plurality, of the state's electoral votes goes to one person. Everyone else is automatically disenfranchised as a result. I voted for Kerry in 2004. It didn't do a damn bit of difference here in Mississippi in terms of helping put him in the White House, but you can damn sure bet it would have made a difference in a state like Florida or Ohio, where margins were razor thin.

You're better off voting in state and local races, but I'd only say that if you live in a state heavily dominated by one side or the other. In any other case, get out and vote.

I'm in NY so it's the same for me, but we must never let down our guard or fail to do our civic duty. That's what they're counting on, and with NY getting touch screen machines this election, I'm damn well not taking our state for granted anymore.

...there are freepers in Massachusettes and California bitching about the exact same thing!

:-)

Suppose all the Dems in a blue state felt that way? Suppose all the Repubs in your home state felt that way?

Without a minority vote, the hope of possibly (even remotely) turning the state melts away.

A vote is NEVER wasted!

the macroscopic level or state-wide level. There will always be people voting for Republicans where I live in Mississippi, and there will conversely be people voting for Democrats in this state. On an individual level, I realize this state likely won't go Democratic this year, so that is the basis of my post.

"Suppose all Dems thought that way?" Now THAT question is nonsense. Simply for the fact that everybody thinks differently and can come to different conclusions based on the same evidence.

Is the Presidential race the only one on your ballot?

trying to convince you that your vote doesn't matter.

It's the oldest trick in the book to convince you not to vote by telling you this tripe.

McCain is going to be crushed in this election.

GO AND VOTE ASAP AND DON'T LISTEN TO THIS IDIOT.

If you can vote before election day by absentee or early vote GO DO IT so we don't have to knock and drag your ass out to the polls on election day and we can go do that to someone else.

I've worked a multitude of campaigns over the last five years and guess what:

None of them have been "stolen" - when you lose there's always a good reason.

If you work for the campaign, go door to door, have a good absentee ballot chase program, a good message, a well spoken charming candidate - you win.

Doug D.
Democratic Activist and Consultant
Orlando, FL
Volunteered on or consulted on:

Kerry Campaign 2003-2004
John Edwards for President, 2007-2008
Obama for President 2008
Rod Smith for Florida Gov. 2005-2006
Jim Davis for Florida Gov. 2006
Bill Nelson for US Senate FL 2006
Homer Hartage for Congressional 8-FL, 2006
Alan Grayson for Congressional 8-FL, 2008
Jeremiah Jaspon for FL Senate 22, 2006
Scott Randolph for FL House 36, 2006 and re-election 2008
Stephen Bacallao for FL House 34, 2007
Darren Soto for FL House 40, 2006
Darren Soto for FL House 49, 2007 and re-election 2008
Tony Sasso for FL House 32, 2007
Linda Stewart for Orange County FL Commission 2006
Sam Ings for Orlando City 6 2007

amongst numerous other campaigns.

First tell your kids that Al Gore officially lost the state of Florida in 2000 by 527 votes. Yeah, yeah, recount, hanging chads, Ralph Nader, and all that. Still, it's 527 votes. That caused Florida's electoral votes to go to Bush. All of them.

Now, tell them if just 600 more registered Democrats had shown up to vote in Florida, Gore would have won Florida. There is no way that 100% of registered FL Democrats showed up and voted.

Then tell them, if Gore had won Florida, he would have been President of the United States.

Finally tell them, that if EVERY registered Democrat showed up and voted, the Democratic party would never lose a Presidential election ever again because there are much more Democrats than Republicans. It's just that a greater percentage of Republicans (and Independents) vote than Democrats.

As others have said, it's the vote of the people that determines the Electoral College vote.

"Going to vote" consists of more than just voting for president. My friend was having difficulty convincing her 18-year-old to register and vote for the same reason you mentioned. Plus, we're in IL, so we all know how the vote here will turn out. However, they live in Mark Kirk's district, and I mentioned the Dan Seals-Mark Kirk race.

I also mentioned that even though the popular vote doesn't really count for anything, it has been in the news year after year. Remember how the pukes used it against Clinton despite his electoral victory? Then there was 2000 where Gore actually got more votes. In 2004 it was used to show that more people voted for junior this time around. So even though it doesn't matter, it matters.

And as others have said, if you don't bother voting, you forfeit your right to complain (at least to me ;-)).

My friend convinced her child to register, so add another Democratic vote to all the races on his ballot. :applause:

All of the House is up for election this year, and a third of the Senate. Plus, there are local races. In 2004, the contest for state assemblyman in my district was decided by a handful of votes - so every one did make a difference.

So what they are doing is voting to pick one of two electors; one of the electors (should they prevail) will vote for Obama in the Electoral College and the other Elector, if he receives the most votes, will vote for McCain. Hence their vote does indeed count.

Why don't you explain how it actually works?

Dumbest post in a long time. What about your vote for local issues?