Wow, Baker. What a gal!
PRR, go with your gut. I know from experience that you’re a man of honor. Do what you think is right.
two things
- if you did not bother to vote, essentially you voted for who ever won
- not voting negates your right to bitch, whine or moan about who ever won
Vote, shit man, there are people dying in this planet for the right to vote for who ever bozo runs their country… sure its a Bozo, but at least it will be more likely to be “thier” bozo, plus the other bozos do pay careful attention to the percentage, even if your bozo loses!
spoil your ballot as a last resort (I have several times) - ALL the Bozos look at spoiled ballots… a voter too pissed off to vote for any bozo, but who cares enough to vote counts BIG TIME on all party screens…
VOTE!
FML
I just do not fucking understand why the world’s most technologically advanced, richest nation can’t figure out a way to run an election properly.
Here in Canada we have slightly higher turnout for federal elections (it’s still not very good, so don’t take that as bragging) and the longest I’ve ever had to wait is, ah, nothing. In every election I’ve voted in, I walked in, walked right up to the table, presented my ID and was promptly handed a ballot and directed to a place to mark it.
I realize we have only one ninth the citizens, but that means we also have only one ninth the base from which to draw polling center staff.
WTF is up with these hours-long lines?
I’ve voted in every election, federal, state and local, held since I turned 18. Yes, it’s important that everyone should vote. So important that it should be compulsory, like it is here. I know it’s a potentially controversial topic, and there are people who will defend their right not to vote if they don’t want to. But really, it’s not like they pull your fingernails out here if you don’t turn up to vote, they don’t send you to Siberia or anything. If you don’t vote, you get fined. So 99% of people vote. End of problem.
This will be my first year voting, at 27 years old. I’ve refrained in the past due to **AudreyK’s ** exact reasons - making an uneducated choice was worse to me than making none at all.
I don’t know why I was so politically interested so young. When I was fairly young, I remember standing outside my elementary school, also a polling place since this is before Oregon went vote by mail, with a friend. There was a gubernatorial race that year. I shouted at the voters to vote for candidate A, while my friend told the voters to vote for candidate B. We really had no grasp of the issues, but we knew their names and it was a fun game.
I read Rush Limbaugh’s books “The Way Things Ought to Be” and “See, I Told You So” in 8th and 9th grades. All my friends in HS were self identified Republicans. I was also Republican until I discovered the Libertarians. Now I am more liberal, even registering as a Dem to vote for Obama in the primary.
I think it has to do with empathy and caring for the community as a whole, not just you and yours. Because you care, you make to ensure that you are informed about what is going and try to do something to make things better. Teenagers are usually very selfish, but people get more empathy as they get older. This also would explain why women vote in larger numbers than men, since they are generally considered more empathetic. That’s also why not voting is selfish.
Is it against the rules to send in an absentee ballot if you’re not actually gone?
Doubtless it depends on the state, but it is certainly not illegal in CA - I am on the “permanent absentee voter” list. As it happens the last two elections I forgot until the last minute, so I walked the 100 yards or so to my local polling place and stuck it in the “absentee voter” box :).
Absentee is the way to go if you ask me - screw the lines and boothes.
ETA: By the way, this is nonsense…
If both choices suck, there is nothing wrong with voting for neither and bitching about the suckiness of the idiot who was elected.
This is my biggest bitch about these blanket “calls to arms” for people to vote. An uneducated voter in the ballot box because s/he felt they had to vote is way more dangerous than a less-than-stellar voter turnout.
Yes, by all means vote, but more importantly, know what the hell you are voting for because your vote really does make a difference.
Furthermore, I reserve the right to bitch about the suckiness of the idiot whom I actually voted for. 
The candidate I vote for rarely wins anyway.
I’m not comfortable with either Presidential candidate, so I’m not sure what I’m going to do. Probably just vote on state and local issues.
Growing up in the Reagan years, and , having read up even at that age on the whole Watergate debacle, I was cynical and figured whatever my age had to say was ignored. Two decades later, after all the sad shit that has happened, yep , it’s worse for substansial wear, but, I tell every kid I know to Vote, that’s the democratic process, and ya need to be there and do it.
This coming Monday is Obama’s birthday, and there are many gatherings , giving voter regestration and information. His website has the info. I’ve never been feet on the ground with a campaign, but have signed up for this one, especially to get young voters. It’s just too important a time to not voice a strong cry for going in a different direction from the present course.