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$1M VotePlz Sweepstakes

blog.samaltman.com

51–60 of 112 posts

Re: $1M VotePlz Sweepstakes

#51

With the incentive being student loan payoff, shouldn't we be concerned that this is targeting voters that skew Democrat?

According to Pew research any effort to spread the word to register to vote for anyone below 69 years of age would be skewing democrat[1] [1]http://www.people-press.org/2015/04/07/party-identification-...

Re: $1M VotePlz Sweepstakes

#52
post #35

Getting more people to vote is nice, but ultimately you're still stuck with the duopoly [1] of parties. Why isn't there a big push to change the voting system to something that would allow better representation in Congress? A whopping 49% of Americans are registered as Independents, which leaves only half of Americans that truly feel like they're represented by the only two choices they're given every 2/4 years: the…

Yes, almost 100% in agreement with you. My only quibble is that we take care to really know about who is running the various vote reform efforts and initiatives. The Democrats and Republicans will do whatever they can to get reform in name only under the guise of more choice. See California's "top two" primary system as an example of how one party more or less locks up exclusive access to the ballot in more cases than one should be comfortable with. If we aren't careful, vote "reform" efforts will look more like that than PR.

Re: $1M VotePlz Sweepstakes

#53
post #44

"The 2016 US Presidential election feels like the most important one so far in my lifetime." -sama I'm the same age as Sam. But I must confess I don't see why he sees this one as the most important. Both candidates are terrible (for different reasons). It's quite damning of the entire political establishment. I just want to get through the next 4 years and hope that either party can finally find one good candidate.

Same. I'd argue the 2000 election was far more important especially given the creation of the PATRIOT act and the decision to invade Iraq, both of which were coincidentally voted for by one of the current candidates.

uh, you couldn't know what was going to happen a year later when voting in 2000.

Re: $1M VotePlz Sweepstakes

#54
post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>So, Sam, who do you support? He's made no secret of this. http://blog.samaltman.com/trump

$1M VotePlz is too little too late of that's the impetus; keep the cash and do something useful with it Sam, like fixing the DNC so they run a competent candidate next time.

You have been the victim of the conservative spin machine if you think one of the most experienced candidates that either party has fielded in decades isn't "competent".

Re: $1M VotePlz Sweepstakes

#55
I don't believe most of the people responding to this type of gimmick are educated enough to vote.

Not that there are many good choices anyway. The last 8 years has been an assault on people of integrity.

Re: $1M VotePlz Sweepstakes

#57
post #7

Obligatory. - Incentivizing to vote with cash prizes. Isn't that illegal?" - "Illegal? Sam(ir) this is America".

Not a lawyer, but as far as I know, the relevant statute would be 18 USC 597, which says: "Whoever makes or offers to make an expenditure to any person, either to vote or withhold his vote, or to vote for or against any candidate [...]" Which I strongly suspect is why the language around the offer universally refers to "check[ing] voter registration status". And I'm sure somebody or other's legal team has reviewed th…

[deleted]

Re: $1M VotePlz Sweepstakes

#58
post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It doesn't take a lot of research to choose when one candidate is comically unqualified. The people voting is the entire point of democracy. Smart people and dumb people. Policy wonks and random button pushers. It doesn't matter, everybody gets one vote. That way whatever the outcome is, it reflects the will of the people. To oppose this is to oppose democracy itself.

There are (at least) two comically unqualified candidates in this year's election. Thank you for proving my point.

She is literally the most qualified presidential candidate in a generation. She has the bipartisan support of all five living presidents today. That's unheard of. And she's running against a con man who scams his suppliers, scams students with his fake university, and who is utterly ignorant of foreign policy.

Re: $1M VotePlz Sweepstakes

#59
post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, this is undeniably a partisan endeavour.

I'm sorry are you saying that there are no student republicans? that's a very misinformed opinion if you believe that.

He said "skew", not exclusive. College students are more liberal b/c they're still stupid.
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