# Get-out-the-vote and voter suppression are not equally legitimate political tactics **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [October 22, 2008, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-out-the-vote-and-voter-suppression-are-not-equally-legitimate-political-tactics/469089 "2008-10-22T18:03:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 124
**Author:** ![Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/budget_player_cadet/32/205_2.png) [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Budget_Player_Cadet)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2011, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-out-the-vote-and-voter-suppression-are-not-equally-legitimate-political-tactics/469089/124 "2011-09-08T21:16:06Z")
> [@In Florida, 2000-style voter-registration shenanigans yet again](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-florida-2000-style-voter-registration-shenanigans-yet-again/468898/66): > > Yup. In this single post (click the arrow for context), something has become clear to me: Bricker either: -Does not understand how a democracy works or -is the most morally repugnant person I have met online in a _long_ time. I’m going to assume ignorance, rather than malice, because I try to give people the benefit of the doubt. A democracy is ruled by the people. In our case, this happens by the people of a given region voting on who they would like to have represent their interests. The more the representative represents the will of the people, the better the system has worked, as the will of the people is that which rules. One start on this is to ensure that the majority actually gets their way. To ensure this 100%, you need a high voter turnout, to the extent where you can say that the remainder of the electorate simply does not _care_ about the outcome (for whatever reason) without being facetious (of course, high voter apathy is another problem). For this reason, groups like ACORN and other voter registration groups do a very large service to democracy: they ensure that voices that otherwise would not be heard get heard by helping people to vote, bringing the true vote count closer to the actual breakdown of demographics. For similar reasons, organizations/actions that hamper a person’s ability to make their voice heard are actively tampering with and hampering the _main goal of a democracy_. This is why making it harder for someone to vote legally and making it easier for someone to vote legally is _not_ equivalent. Any questions? --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/get-out-the-vote-and-voter-suppression-are-not-equally-legitimate-political-tactics/469089)._