Futility of Elections and Voting

[Samaritan Woman]

As of last year (since the presidential election) I no longer vote; in fact I wrote to my local board of elections and had my name rescinded from their list of registered voters. I'm sure that such an action will incur judgement from some, or many, of you. Instead of attempting to explain why I have made such choices, the first five minutes of this video articulates it well. I invite your thoughts on this subject assuming you first watch the first portion of this -

 

[Nithavela]

As of last year (since the presidential election) I no longer vote; in fact I wrote to my local board of elections and had my name rescinded from their list of registered voters. I'm sure that such an action will incur judgement from some, or many, of you. Instead of attempting to explain why I have made such choices, the first five minutes of this video articulates it well. I invite your thoughts on this subject assuming you first watch the first portion of this -

Unwilling to watch a video, either make your point or don't.

 

[Kenny'sID]

I'm sure that such an action will incur judgement from some, or many, of you.

Not from me and not from others, not as judgmental as they were in the past anyway.
And that's not to say we shouldn't vote, but we are starting to see the truth of the matter and it's probably even worse than we know.

 

[Lazarus Short]

It is not the lesser of two evils...it is the evil of two lessers.

My wife and I did a bit of research to see what would be on the ballot, and made our decisions beforehand. When we got to the poll, the line was too long in the cold - the second time, the line was longer but now with rain. The third time we tried to vote, it was colder, still raining and now dark. We are not young enough to stand in that rigor. I'm certain the lines were long because the ignorant were ready to vote, but knew nothing beforehand, and would be taking long minutes in the booth. Their ignorant votes nullify ours, and we knew the issues.

 

[Nithavela]

It is not the lesser of two evils...it is the evil of two lessers.

My wife and I did a bit of research to see what would be on the ballot, and made our decisions beforehand. When we got to the poll, the line was too long in the cold - the second time, the line was longer but now with rain. The third time we tried to vote, it was colder, still raining and now dark. We are not young enough to stand in that rigor. I'm certain the lines were long because the ignorant were ready to vote, but knew nothing beforehand, and would be taking long minutes in the booth. Their ignorant votes nullify ours, and we knew the issues.

Absentee and Early Voting | USAGov

 

[Danielwright2311]

As of last year (since the presidential election) I no longer vote; in fact I wrote to my local board of elections and had my name rescinded from their list of registered voters. I'm sure that such an action will incur judgement from some, or many, of you. Instead of attempting to explain why I have made such choices, the first five minutes of this video articulates it well. I invite your thoughts on this subject assuming you first watch the first portion of this -

I dont vote, If I do I follow this world, I'm not part of this world but I only vote for the kingdom of god.

I have only voted once in my whole life when I was in my 20s.

 

[Rajni]

Absentee and Early Voting | USAGov

Thank you for this -- I need to bookmark it for next time.

Almost a year ago I had gotten rid of my car (and don't miss it at all), so I planned on walking to my local polling place, which was a mere 17 minute walk through mostly-scenic-parkland.

Simple, right? HAH!

I get about a third of the way there, and discovered that the park was closed off for whatever reason. So I did a detour, got turned around a bit, and, long story short, the 17 minute walk turned into just under an hour, most of which was along a road with no sidewalks and crossing a narrow road's bridge not really designed for pedestrian traffic (and it was dark and had been very rainy, making things even more interesting).

By the time I got to my destination, I was all like "My candidates better have the decency to win after all I went through to get here!"

 

[Lazarus Short]

Absentee and Early Voting | USAGov

Good idea - thanks!

 

[Fantine]

Voting seems futile in my state, but I came upon a brainstorm. I am wondering if it is possible to have a proposition in 2020 prohibiting gerrymandering by any party, and requiring all legislative districts to be set up by the most equitable process--an unbiased computer.

 

[Nithavela]

Voting seems futile in my state, but I came upon a brainstorm. I am wondering if it is possible to have a proposition in 2020 prohibiting gerrymandering by any party, and requiring all legislative districts to be set up by the most equitable process--an unbiased computer.

And who gets to program the computer?

 

[Fantine]

An impartial bipartisan committee works together to set up equitable boundaries. A computer facilitates this process.

 

[Richard T]

I watched part of the video and can agree with parts of it. Still, there are some important consequences from elections at the highest levels. Trump for instance is changing the Supreme Court outcomes. It is not all just superficial, though some of those things do capture the low information voters in national elections.

The most important votes are at the local level. All kinds of issues are decided, sometimes by slim margins. You may think you have no say in this process but in reality you pay taxes and support the whole system, you just fail to give your voice, allowing others who do vote and spend your money an even bigger piece of the pie. Many of course do stay at home and not vote or participate in politics at all. No condemnation there either though in some countries like Italy you could be fined for not voting. It seems more like the Christian that quit going to church because they say there is too much hypocrisy. Well instead of sitting at home, go show yourself to be an example. Just because everyone else is disengaged and the outcome often poor versus poor, voting even for a third party is at least doing something.

 

[Occams Barber]

I find it a surprising to hear people abdicating their right (and obligation) to vote. This seems to be completely inconsistent with America's image as the bastion of democracy.

Here (Australia) voting is compulsory and normal voter turnout is around 95%. A voluntary postal vote on Same Sex Marriage in 2017 had a return rate of 80%.

Contrast this with the US where presidential elections get a turnout in the 50%-60% range and mid-term voter turnout is around 40%. This means that your elected representatives are usually decided by a minority of the eligible voters and most of the effort seems to go into getting the voters to vote or in devising devious schemes to discourage them from voting. According to Fairvote "voter turnout in the U.S. is much lower than most established democracies."

(In Australia) elections are always run on a Saturday to maximise voter access. Any and all public buildings like schools, halls, churches, local government facilities etc. are co-opted as polling places. Polling facilities are often delivered to remote communities by 4WD or plane. Wait times vary from a few minutes to perhaps half an hour. Wait times approaching an hour are exceptional and attract extreme public criticism. I can place a vote for my 'home' electorate from any polling place in the country. Early voting is available.

Federal and state voting is run by a legally independent Electoral Commission. The federal electoral process is exactly the same across all states and scrupulously policed by representatives of all political parties. Formal voter identification is not used. Just provide your name and address and it will be matched to the roll of registered voters. This same independent Electoral Commission is also responsible for setting electoral boundaries based on established formulae. Gerrymandering is almost impossible.

By contrast, based on what I've read, the US process sounds surprisingly inconsistent, corruptible and amateurish.
OB
Edited for clarity.

 

[mark kennedy]

As of last year (since the presidential election) I no longer vote; in fact I wrote to my local board of elections and had my name rescinded from their list of registered voters. I'm sure that such an action will incur judgement from some, or many, of you. Instead of attempting to explain why I have made such choices, the first five minutes of this video articulates it well. I invite your thoughts on this subject assuming you first watch the first portion of this -

I loved it, I can't hear enough of this kind of thing. I refuse to resign myself to a fatalisic opinion of governance. Our founding fathers faced with many of the same problems decided on a democratic approach to a Constitutional republic. We were the second country in history to try such an approach and desperately tried to avoid the need for a federal Constitution, unfortunately we needed someone to negotiate international treaties. I remember Henry David Thoreau described the elections as a lottery, your trusting your fellow voters to make good decisions. The power structure of US governance is simple really, the federal government is third in line, the states second, the people collectively are the ruling class. It's not the government at fault, it's us and I will not shun my responsibility for the flaws in my government. I will always believe that we need a moral consensus, human failings, flaws and failures included.

I'm sorry your so discouraged with our system, I share your frustration. I just refuse to give up on it. If you have I say go in peace I have no problem with you. But one day you may well revisit the process and hopefully, make some effort to improve such a flawed system because that's the only way it happens. As a Christian I believe the Most High is Soverign and rules in the affairs on men. Because of that, I refuse to give up on the process, even though often times I see little reason to participate.

Grace and peace,
Mark

 

[Samaritan Woman]

The power structure of US governance is simple really, the federal government is third in line, the states second, the people collectively are the ruling class. It's not the government at fault, it's us and I will not shun my responsibility for the flaws in my government.

While I respect your optimism, I do disagree with your above statements regarding the people being the ruling class. This, in my opinion, is what a republic is supposed to be but with our corrupt system the people are "in charge" on paper only. There is an elite class who are globalists (like the billionaire leftist George Soros and those who exercise tremendous power via the Rockefeller entities) and many manipulate the political system via the banks, Council on Foreign Relations, and Trilateral Commission. People like the Koch brothers wield an obscene amount of political power through their wealth. Not only that, but with the breakdown of morality and ethics in our society, our politicians exercise even fewer scruples now than in past decades as reflected in underhanded smear campaigns via political operatives and lobbyists. As James Corbett in the video discussed, every election cycle sees the masses getting lied to and conned while getting their hopes being falsely pumped up, only to be let down year after year and decade after decade. It truly is a three ring circus as he described it.

You might think that all this pessimism might get me depressed; I do admit to holding a cynical perspective. However, it's quite freeing actually to take a step back away from the crooked and rigged system. My hope and peace comes from Jesus Christ because I know that one day He will return and that eventually there will be a new heaven and new earth.