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Vote.org is a non-profit that wants to get the U.S. to 100% voter turnout

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Re: Vote.org is a non-profit that wants to get the U.S. to 100% voter turnout

#141

Post by nommm-nommm »

debracleaver wrote: post #106
jimrandomh wrote: post #63

There's a very important reason to do this which no one has brought up. US elections have a lot of vote-suppression shenanigans; in some noteworthy cases (including the 2000 Presidential election), fraudulently removing voter registrations, understaffing and obstructing poll locations changed the outcome. This sort of thing becomes much more difficult to execute and much more difficult to get away with if there's an…

Jim, shenanigans is the word that comes to mind for me as well. I've yet to meet this mythical "apathetic American" that people talk about, but I've met tons of people who were prevented from voting by administrative incompetence (at best) and what appeared to be deliberate attempts to prevent citizens from casting ballots. Here's an fun example: 7 out of 9 of the states that were prohibited from changing their votin…

>I've yet to meet this mythical "apathetic American" that people talk about

Well now you have.

Re: Vote.org is a non-profit that wants to get the U.S. to 100% voter turnout

#142

Post by atria »

This is a worthy goal, but is it a good thing to have 100% voter turnout? Every direct democracy has failed since the time of Socrates. After several generations, direct democracies turn into a mob with the majority voting themselves benefits while minorities become permanently disenfranchised. At least voter disinterest allows minorities the possibility of voting as a block and gaining influence in off-year elections. In my opinion, sometimes too much so.

Re: Vote.org is a non-profit that wants to get the U.S. to 100% voter turnout

#143

Post by hnamazon123 »

seomis wrote: post #42

To those commenting with some variation of "only informed citizens should vote," pause and consider how much overlap there is with your idea of what an "informed" voter is with race/class lines. You may be unwittingly (or wittingly in some cases?) insisting that voters in the US should be, disproportionately, wealthier whites.

Perhaps wealthier whites are more informed on average? Why does race or class matter?

Re: Vote.org is a non-profit that wants to get the U.S. to 100% voter turnout

#144

Post by pixelatedindex »

igorgue wrote: post #114

I have a theory that since that the USA doesn't make election day a federal holiday is one of the major factors the working class of america is not voting, usually it takes too long to vote, and it's not paid for employees, especially blue collar ones. I wonder what are your thoughts about it, and how can it happen in America? I've seen every single proposal be rejected in congress.

I am inclined to agree. During election days, I struggled to get time off from my retail job to go vote. If young people are encouraged to vote, they should not be financially penalized for doing so.

Also, you have to go to a polling place next to your neighborhood. Most of the time work is not anywhere close to just take off during lunch and get the vote out. It almost ends up being a hassle.

Sundays would be better, but there is still a substantial part of the population that works on Sundays.

Additionally, the "closed" primaries vs "open" primaries are bullshit. As a citizen I should be able to go to a polling place, choose a candidate and get out.

Re: Vote.org is a non-profit that wants to get the U.S. to 100% voter turnout

#145

Post by igorgue »

nommm-nommm wrote: post #127
igorgue wrote: post #114

I have a theory that since that the USA doesn't make election day a federal holiday is one of the major factors the working class of america is not voting, usually it takes too long to vote, and it's not paid for employees, especially blue collar ones. I wonder what are your thoughts about it, and how can it happen in America? I've seen every single proposal be rejected in congress.

How would making election day a federal holiday increase voter turnout among anyone not working for the federal government. Plenty of federal holidays are working days for my company.

And plenty aren't... Many companies actually respect that every single company I worked at in the 10 years I've lived in America respected Christmas and New Year Day for example. I don't get your point, your situation is not the same as everyone else.

Re: Vote.org is a non-profit that wants to get the U.S. to 100% voter turnout

#146

Post by erispoe »

nxzero wrote: post #134

100% voter turnout assumes that not voting is a not an meaningful expression of someone's right to vote. Unless there's option to express this within the voting system, there will always be voters that don't vote. Second, if it's safe enough to bank and file taxes online, it safe enough to at least take an unofficial, but publicly published count online; people could for example update their vote during the run up to…

Tax errors can, and are, routinely corrected. There's an error tolerance for taxes that is way, way higher than for voting. What if you realize three months after the fact that your taxes are off? Might be a big problem, but not as big a realizing three months after the fact that election results are wrong.

Re: Vote.org is a non-profit that wants to get the U.S. to 100% voter turnout

#147

Post by nxzero »

Unlikely, given that many states have an absentee voting option, polls are long enough in a day that if someone really wanted to vote they would, etc.

Also heard it's the time of the year, but fact is that there's only so far that you're able to go before you corrupt or bias the system.

Re: Vote.org is a non-profit that wants to get the U.S. to 100% voter turnout

#149

Post by hansjorg »

igorgue wrote: post #114

I have a theory that since that the USA doesn't make election day a federal holiday is one of the major factors the working class of america is not voting, usually it takes too long to vote, and it's not paid for employees, especially blue collar ones. I wonder what are your thoughts about it, and how can it happen in America? I've seen every single proposal be rejected in congress.

The obvious solution to this is online voting. This also removes any hope of a fair election, so expect this to be pushed pretty hard in most locales soon.

Re: Vote.org is a non-profit that wants to get the U.S. to 100% voter turnout

#150

Post by erispoe »

igorgue wrote: post #114

I have a theory that since that the USA doesn't make election day a federal holiday is one of the major factors the working class of america is not voting, usually it takes too long to vote, and it's not paid for employees, especially blue collar ones. I wonder what are your thoughts about it, and how can it happen in America? I've seen every single proposal be rejected in congress.

People can vote by absentee ballot. They have plenty of time to do it.

It's a consistent pattern that in places with frequent elections, turnout is low. There is a form of voter fatigue. Switzerland votes every six months, and has very low turnout.

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