Voter turnout

paul

paul

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Why is voter turnout so low, yet we're all so "proud to be Americans" and we wave our flags around lately.

The right to vote is the Holy Grail is some countries yet we don't care.
 
I have never understood the mentality of those who choose not to vote. Even more frustrating to me are those who either won't take the time to know what each candidate proposes, or even worse lets the media think for them. It takes an hour tops to see where each candidate stands on the pertinent issues. If your future means less to you than an hour of your time, then maybe you should stay home. Dan Rather, Peter Jennings, and Ted Koppel do not need to be your research.
 
First to bitch,but last to vote,or not at all seems to be the standard mentality of a lot of people Paul.;)
 
Too many Americans take their freedoms for granted. Why take the time to vote when you can just sit around, complaining about the roster of awful candidates and how your one vote doesn't make a difference anyhow? It fascinates me how it always seems to be the people who complain the most who wind up never bothering to vote.

I have voted in just about every election since the time I was first eligible. When I was a young college student, I actually voted for...(oh gosh, this is embarrassing)...Michael Dukakis! Even voted for Clinton the first time. Yikes. Maybe young people shouldn't be allowed to vote... :p
 
I have voted since I was able to, the last eight years. But, some of my friends choose not to vote for anything. They say they really have no control. I try to explain how important it is. People in this country do take it for granted. They could be living under a dictator somewhere.
 
I just went and voted in the Massachusetts primaries.

Crossing fingers that Romney can at least start to turn this state around.
 
If he turns it around, Paul, it won't fit into the map anymore. :p
 
mabey people would vote if they could vote from home on the tv or computer:) the proud but lazy americans
 
I can't understand the low turnout, either. It's sad to see our liberties so taken for granted. I think I've missed a few primary votes, but always vote in the elections.
 
We just had a primary here last Tuesday. Surprisingly, we had a good voter turn out. The last couple of elections had very good turn outs, due to the fact that most districts were recalling their country board supervisors over the pension fallout. It seems the only time we get a big voter turn out is when someone is mad about some issue. I wish it were the other way around and people voted because it was the right thing to do. I agree, way to many people take voting for granted.
 
When I came of age to vote you had to be 21.......yeah, that long ago!!:) And since that time, I missed one general election. I was in Viet Nam at the time and I waited too late to apply for an absentee ballot.......but, that is the only one I missed. Sometimes I neglected to vote in the primaries especially being in Arkansas when there was only one Republican running and he had it sewed up!!:) Did vote in a couple primaries as a Democrat though.....just to vote AGAINST Bill Clinton!:D Didn't work though.....boy did he ever have a machine in that state!!

BTW......Abooja, I can forgive you for voting for Dukakis but I can't believe you voted for Bill Clinton!! Must have been his looks.....huh?:)
 
Originally posted by DE Wrangler 2
BTW......Abooja, I can forgive you for voting for Dukakis but I can't believe you voted for Bill Clinton!!  Must have been his looks.....huh?:)
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Absolutely not! I was just a young, impressionable lockstep Democrat, like my parents and 92% of New York City. I bought into the whole kit and kaboodle back then. Believe it or not, I was actually going to vote for Jerry Brown, but threw my support to Clinton when the space cadet didn't win the primary. All that changed when I met the ex- from Baton Rouge. He was a freak, but his political opinions still make sense to me. :satisfied
 
I was joking.......like saying you are a Jr fan because he's hot!!:D
 
Shame on those who do not vote. We have a free country (and there are few), and no matter what one's personal or political beliefs are there is NO reason unless one is a convicted felon, NOT TO VOTE.

Paul, Taxachusetts does need a turnaround:p But on the onher hand, many elected officials in my home born state MA, for many years have been sent to, re-elected while in, or after.

Just think, the very long term mayor of Providence, RI (where I used to live) was recently sentenced to a long term in Fed prison for raketeering and was perviously in jail for assault....NOW with this man, his record goes back for at least 20 years and has been repeatedly voted back into office.

YES I VOTE, and therefore have the right to complain.
 
I have been voteing sence I was 18 and that has been a hundred years ago. Live here in TN and help take the state away fron Al ( tree hugging ) Gore. LOL.:D
 
It seems as though FLORIDA still doesnt know how to vote. No matter what they do. Either they can't read instructions, they're playing stupid, or they....Oh NEVER MIND!!! Don't want to get into trouble again, but alot of you know what I mean.
 
Yeah we know what you mean Dupont.........we still have the old punch card type here in California!! Big sign on the booth: "Make sure you remove all debris from back of card before leaving booth". I can't remember if I did though last primary!! Should I call the election office and complain?:)
 
I was ASTOUNDED when I moved to GA in '94 that they still did not have eletronic (or whatever) ballots And I still had to use a paper ballot with pencil.
Maybe in some areas our vote really isn't counted.:mad:
 
Originally posted by DUPONT_24_fan
It seems as though FLORIDA still doesnt know how to vote. No matter what they do. Either they can't read instructions, they're playing stupid, or they....Oh NEVER MIND!!! Don't want to get into trouble again, but alot of you know what I mean.
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Dupont, do you still have PAPER ballots???
Even my First vote waaaaaaaaaaay back in Massachusetts was not on paper.
PURRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR
 
Originally posted by kat2220
I was ASTOUNDED when I moved to GA in '94 that they still did not have eletronic (or whatever) ballots And I still had to use a paper ballot with pencil.
Maybe in some areas our vote really isn't counted.:mad:
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And because it's electronically tallied it is assured of being counted? Has your computer ever crashed? Have you ever lost a file on your computer? Isn't Florida having some problems with their new system? Paper ballots, punch cards, electroic.........all have problems. I highly doubt even one area where our vote isn't sincerely attempted to be counted.

I left Arkansas in 97.......the voting booth in Washington County in NW Ark had a plywood back and three curtains with a small counter. You signed in and were given a ballot with a pencil and instructions to "fill in the circle completely for your vote to accurately counted".......is that what you are talking about? I'm pretty sure my votes were counted.
 
Originally posted by kat2220
Dupont, do you still have PAPER ballots???
Even my First vote waaaaaaaaaaay back in Massachusetts was not on paper.
PURRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR
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This last primary.........May I think it was.......I voted with a punch card!! Is California "waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay back too?


I see many more problems and potential abuses with computerized voting than either paper and pencil or punch card.:)
 
Here in Iowa we have the "Fill in the Circle" ballots. Pretty simple...just fill in the circle next to your candidate. How hard can that be? I've never had any problems voting. Why all of a sudden after all these years of Florida voting; are people having problems? How hard is it to punch a HOLE; next to your candidate? Must be a literacy problem.
 
I've always voted in those prehistoric, curtained machines with the big metal crank and little levers you pull for your candidate. I'm not sure how exactly they work, but I doubt they're electronic.

This is NYC, mind you. My father told me the machines are quite ancient (by today's standards). Pretty crazy. :rolleyes:
 
Originally posted by abooja
I've always voted in those prehistoric, curtained machines with the big metal crank and little levers you pull for your candidate. I'm not sure how exactly they work, but I doubt they're electronic.

This is NYC, mind you. My father told me the machines are quite ancient (by today's standards). Pretty crazy. :rolleyes:
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Boo, that is kinda what I was talking about, but still much better than my first IRS tax filing on IBM punch cards.
 
Those are the same machines I used when I lived in Little Rock abooja. You move all the levers while voting and then when you pull the big handle it punches a card and drops in the a box to be tabulated by a punch card reader. Basically the same thing we used just last may and what they used in 2000 in Florida. Not complicated, not difficult, not fool proof either........but we ain't near a fool proof ballot yet.:) All anyone has to do is follow instructions.........if they can't follow instructions then maybe they shouldn't be voting.:)
 
Originally posted by DE Wrangler 2
All anyone has to do is follow instructions.........if they can't follow instructions then maybe they shouldn't be voting.:)
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:thumbsup:


Goodnight, all. :)
 
Originally posted by DE Wrangler 2
Those are the same machines I used when I lived in Little Rock abooja.  You move all the levers while voting and then when you pull the big handle it punches a card and drops in the a box to be tabulated by a punch card reader.  Basically the same thing we used just last may and what they used in 2000 in Florida.  Not complicated, not difficult, not fool proof either........but we ain't near a fool proof ballot yet.:)   All anyone has to do is follow instructions.........if they can't follow instructions then maybe they shouldn't be voting.:)
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