I would like to know how many of the SDMB folks vote. A brief poll, if I may:
Do you vote (consistently)?
If you do, why? If you don’t, why not?
Do you believe that “one vote can count”?
Lastly, do you believe (y)our elected officials are truly representative of the populace?
Thank you for you responses…
I vote most of the time. I skipped the recent primary. I vote in general elections all the time.
I studied the “rational voter” in college too much to answer this question. I live in Texas right now. I’m a liberal Democrat. I’m probably going to lose 99 percent of the votes I cast.
I think the Texans in office represent the Texans that vote. I don’t think they represent the state, however.
) Do you vote (consistently)?
Absolutely. I vote for everything. City Council, school board, minor elected positions etc…
If you do, why? If you don’t, why not?
I do it to make people accountable. I’m got tired of complaining about politicians and not doing anything. Now I try to get as many people to vote as possible.
Do you believe that “one vote can count”?
Absolutely. We voted out our mayor recently and it was very satisfying knowing that I helped put him out of a job.
Lastly, do you believe (y)our elected officials are truly representative of the populace?
Somewhat. They go in with ideas, but generally the results are much different. That’s how it works.
Yes
Responsibility, plus the fact that I teach American Government. It would be rather hypocritical of me to not vote.
Yes
Not really, but that is one of the flaws in the system. The common man can no longer be a representative of the people. It costs too much money these days. I’d like to see a system that bans all political advertising privately-funded. Everybody equal. Might be interesting.
Yes, in every election.
Because I have some say in the people representing me. Not very much, but some.
3.Only in very close races.
4.Not really.
Voting in Australia is compulsory, but I would vote even if I were not legally required to.
My ancestors travelled thousands of miles, fought in a lot of wars, and several got themselves killed, all to ensure that I would have the right to help decide who got to run the country. That and I want to be able to say “Hey, don’t blame me, I voted for the other guy” when bitching about pollies at the pub.
No, I don’t believe one vote can count, especially if you support a minority party that has no chance of getting in to parliament, or you’re in a Safe Seat for Party A and you support Party B. My thoughts on this are perhaps best expanded in another thread, however.
No, I don’t think elected officials are representative of the general populace. They’re the people with the time, money, and connections (business or political) to make running for office a feasible exercise. If our elected officials were truly representative of the populace, we’d have more people like Bob From Accounts or Kate The Hairdresser running, instead of Ted The Lawyer or Steve The Businessman.
Yes.
2) If you do, why? If you don’t, why not?
How else can I make my wishes known?
3) Do you believe that “one vote can count”?
Every vote counts.
4) Lastly, do you believe (y)our elected officials are truly representative of the populace?
No.
No. I used to vote consistantly when I was living in my home country (New Zealand.) For the past five years I’ve been living in Australia and haven’t had the right to vote here, and haven’t had enough current knowledge of NZ politics to want to vote in their elections.
I’ve recently become an Australian citizen so I’ll be voting in the next election here. When I return to live in NZ, I’ll continue voting there.
When I do it’s because I want to have my say. When I don’t it’s because I don’t feel I have enough information to make an informed decision, or I have no interest in the issues, or I feel that both parties are so similar that it makes little difference who is in power.
Yes. In that, without a whole lot of people casting their “one vote”, there would be no “many votes”.
I believe the locally elected officials do try to represent their electorate. They have to otherwise people won’t vote for them next time.
(I should point out that in NZs electoral system you get a vote for a local representative, and then you can vote for the party you want to be in power nationally. This allows you to vote for the person you feel will represent you best locally even though they may happen to be from a different party from the one you want to be in power nationally. The national numbers are made up from MPs on a party list to ensure that the proprtions of party numbers matches the proportions of people who wanted the various parties in power.)
Do you vote (consistently)?
In national elections, yes. State and local, not so much
If you do, why? If you don’t, why not?
I recognize fully that the utility of a single vote likens metaphors of farts in wind and drops of water in oceans, but it’s a way of feeling like you have some influence over the political process. More importantly, it can end up being a gateway into greater political action that actually does effect change.*
Do you believe that “one vote can count”?
One vote can count, yes. To the tune of 1/120,000,000 of the decision, it counts. “One vote can count,” no not really. At least not in national elections.
Lastly, do you believe (y)our elected officials are truly representative of the populace?
Certainly not. There are too many legacy political families, too many Bushes and Kennedys to really believe that any average joe with enough interest can find his way into major office. Too many lawyers and doctors to believe that the rights of blue collar labor is properly represented. But through my job, I’ve met a fair number of congressmen, and most genuinely want to help their constituency, whether or not they truly personify it.
*having studied utility theory as applied to voting systems during my coursework getting a PoliSci degree.
Do you vote (consistently)?
Yes. Consistently? If you mean without a skip in elections, yes. If you mean for the same party, yes.
If you do, why? If you don’t, why not?
Something I was quite proud of back when I was 18 and could vote for the first time. It’s not so much a civic duty to me as tradition – my family have always voted, and so do I.
Do you believe that “one vote can count”?
Only sometimes. NZ has a system called MMP which allows for a lot of smaller parties to get a share of the vote based on percentages, and this translates into seats in the House. One vote counts more under that system than our former First Past The Post one.
Lastly, do you believe (y)our elected officials are truly representative of the populace?
More and more they are, yes.
1) Do you vote (consistently)?
Yes
**2) If you do, why? If you don’t, why not? **]
Because it’s fun. I get a huge charge out of it. Oh, it’s probably also my civic duty.
3) Do you believe that “one vote can count”?
Sure, especially at the local level. In the last election, one of the races was decided by 23 votes.
4) Lastly, do you believe (y)our elected officials are truly representative of the populace?
Well, no, not truly. They’re somewhat more representative of people who vote. My personal elected officials (the local guys, the people at county and state levels and even our Congressman) are pretty representative because my voting district is a fairly homogenous place, so any guy you picked off the street would be fairly representative. My Senators are not representative of my district AT ALL, which irks me to no end. One of them is representative of the other part of the state, so I suppose that’s okay, and the other is a carpetbagger.
1)** Do you vote (consistently)?**
No, but there hasn’t been an election since I turned 18. I am registered and plan to vote, though.
**If you do, why? If you don’t, why not? **
Civic duty, and the fact that I’m way on the liberal end of the spectrum and both my Senator and Representitive are Republican. Honestly, I’d be less likely to vote if they were Independent or Democrat, because I’d be less annoyed with the people representing me.
Do you believe that “one vote can count”?
At the local or state level, sure. There’s only 60,00 people in my state house district, and you have to figure 2/3rds of them don’t vote for anything smaller than presidential elections. National elections… it’s a little iffier.
Lastly, do you believe (y)our elected officials are truly representative of the populace?
They probably are in my district, much as it irks me. On the whole… No, they represent people who voted. Low voter turnout annoys me, but only because I’m a liberal teenager and feel underrepresented.
Yes.
Everybody else was doing it and I wanted to be cool.*
In some rare circumstances, it can - or at least, it can be close. Generally, no.
Most of the time, no.
*Okay, real answer: even if my vote means little or nothing, I’m more than willing to voice my opinions on particular candidates. And perhaps more importantly, I think our system only becomes worse as more people “quit” in frustration.