# If you don't vote, why not?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-dont-vote-why-not/953749
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [November 3, 2021, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-dont-vote-why-not/953749 "2021-11-03T20:21:27Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)
#### Post date: [November 3, 2021, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-dont-vote-why-not/953749/1 "2021-11-03T20:21:27Z")
Voter turnout in the 2020 presidential election was about 66%, which was the highest in at least 40 years. It’s still not very high for a country that prides itself on its democracy. I am wondering what keeps you away from the polls.
No non-voter shaming. I am just wondering why people don’t vote.
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### Author:  [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)
#### Post date: [November 3, 2021, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-dont-vote-why-not/953749/2 "2021-11-03T20:38:11Z")
Not me, but I believe that your average American doesn’t give a rat’s ass about politics. They are too busy trying to earn money to put food on the table. Busy getting their kids to/from school, doctors appointments, sports practices, etc. Busy dating, looking for their boo, listening to their favorite singer, comedian, etc.
The average daily viewers of Fox News, CNN, and MSNBC combined in 2020 was about 5 million per day. That’s about 3% of registered voters in the U.S.
Political junkies, people that follow politics on a regular basis, are a small % of the US voting population.
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### Author:  [@Keeve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keeve)
#### Post date: [November 3, 2021, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-dont-vote-why-not/953749/3 "2021-11-03T20:49:40Z")
When I was a child, teenager, and young adult, it seemed to me that the adult world in general always complained about whoever was in power. It never seemed to matter who won the election, because there was never a leader we could be proud of or happy about. So what incentive did I have?
(I did end up changing, and now I try to always vote, but I’ll save that for after we have more responses.)
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### Author:  [@Mallard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mallard)
#### Post date: [November 3, 2021, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-dont-vote-why-not/953749/4 "2021-11-03T20:54:17Z")
I always vote. Too many countries on this earth that the citizens don’t have that right. My view is if you don’t vote don’t complain about what you get for a government.
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### Author:  [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)
#### Post date: [November 3, 2021, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-dont-vote-why-not/953749/5 "2021-11-03T21:00:27Z")
I don’t think you’re going to get a lot of self admitted non-voters in this thread, so I hope you don’t mind voters speculating as to why.
I didn’t start voting until my mid thirties. For me, it was a lot of what @Omar_Little suggests. Also, I just never “felt” the difference personally. No matter who got elected, my paycheck didn’t change, my expenses went along as expected… So why bother? Politicians are slimy on both sides of the aisle.
What changed for me personally is I got divorced, had little time to socialize, and found myself immersed into the internet. The internet opened up my world view a 100 fold. Looking back, I’m embarrassed at how clueless I was.
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### Author:  [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)
#### Post date: [November 3, 2021, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-dont-vote-why-not/953749/6 "2021-11-03T21:04:05Z")
The people that I know who don’t vote all sincerely believe the same thing: That it won’t make a damn bit of difference.
I do not share that view.
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### Author:  [@Keeve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keeve)
#### Post date: [November 3, 2021, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-dont-vote-why-not/953749/7 "2021-11-03T21:04:55Z")
> [@Mallard](#):
>
> My view is if you don’t vote don’t complain about what you get for a government.
I had heard this for a long time, but it wasn’t until heard the following explanation that I decided to vote as often as I could:
- If the candidate you voted for wins, then you can complain that they aren’t doing the good things that they promised.
- If the candidate you voted against wins, then you can complain because they’re _are_ doing the bad things that you expected.
- But if you didn’t vote, then you got what you asked for, so how can you complain?
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### Author:  [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)
#### Post date: [November 3, 2021, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-dont-vote-why-not/953749/8 "2021-11-03T21:19:19Z")
With our “two party system” that essentially excludes election or representation of views divergent from the narrow mainstream view and parties that both police themselves to marginalize anyone too distant from the mainline dogma, the effectiveness of the vote in such a “managed” democracy loses much of the value it theoretically has. The only thing that has gotten me voting in the past decade is that the difference between “worse” and “much worse” has become more distinct in its extreme, and I’m willing to hold my nose and vote for “ordinary lying politician” versus “would-be demagogue” if it means slowing the slide into authoritarianism.
Stranger
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### Author:  [@jaycat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jaycat)
#### Post date: [November 3, 2021, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-dont-vote-why-not/953749/9 "2021-11-03T23:17:18Z")
> [@Grrr](#):
>
> I don’t think you’re going to get a lot of self admitted non-voters in this thread,
Sometimes I vote, and sometimes I don’t.
I voted for Biden against Trump, because I thought it mattered. Even though Biden would still have won my state easily if I didn’t vote.
I didn’t vote yes or no on the new firetruck on the town ballot yesterday, because I couldn’t decide if it was worth the money.
There isn’t a one-size-fits-all answer.
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### Author:  [@Smudge777](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smudge777)
#### Post date: [November 4, 2021, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-dont-vote-why-not/953749/10 "2021-11-04T00:10:48Z")
I live in Australia, where voting is compulsory. However, if that weren’t the case, I almost certainly wouldn’t vote, and the reason is simple.
My vote = 1 vote, which is almost certain to have no impact on the outcome of the election.
My vote = some amount of time and effort expended to go to the polls, wait in line, cast my vote, get home.
The cost-benefit analysis doesn’t justify voting. My time is more valuable than my vote.
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### Author:  [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)
#### Post date: [November 4, 2021, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-dont-vote-why-not/953749/11 "2021-11-04T00:11:45Z")
I know you’re asking about individual experiences, but if you have a moment, spend a little time looking at the [100 Million Project](https://knightfoundation.org/reports/the-100-million-project/), a terrific survey/focus group effort that digs into why people don’t vote.
The front page has a good summary, but there are also a ton of interesting graphs.
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### Author:  [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)
#### Post date: [November 4, 2021, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-dont-vote-why-not/953749/12 "2021-11-04T01:33:58Z")
> [@Smudge777](#):
>
> I live in Australia, where voting is compulsory. However, if that weren’t the case, I almost certainly wouldn’t vote, and the reason is simple.
But you have Preferential (single transferable vote) Voting!
[ ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bleyX4oMCgM)
Stranger
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### Author:  [@jaycat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jaycat)
#### Post date: [November 4, 2021, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-dont-vote-why-not/953749/13 "2021-11-04T02:32:13Z")
> [@Smudge777](#):
>
> I live in Australia, where voting is compulsory.
What happens to you if you don’t vote?
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### Author:  [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)
#### Post date: [November 4, 2021, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-dont-vote-why-not/953749/14 "2021-11-04T03:54:05Z")
You are fined. It’s not much, maybe $80 or something.
I can’t vote in Australia, as I am not a citizen, but I do vote in my home country of New Zealand’s elections when I can (I have to have visited within a few years of the election date). I do that online through a verification process.
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### Author:  [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)
#### Post date: [November 4, 2021, 9:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-dont-vote-why-not/953749/15 "2021-11-04T09:40:23Z")
I don’t vote in U.S. elections because I’m a dual citizen and I don’t believe I have the moral right to vote for a country I don’t live in and don’t consider “my” country. Plus, with so many people around the world who don’t get to vote at all, who am I to vote twice?
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### Author:  [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)
#### Post date: [November 4, 2021, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-dont-vote-why-not/953749/16 "2021-11-04T12:20:51Z")
I love to vote and do so in every election. It’s great being the youngest person in the room.
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### Author:  [@velomont](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/velomont)
#### Post date: [November 4, 2021, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-dont-vote-why-not/953749/17 "2021-11-04T12:32:05Z")
I always vote in federal, provincial, and municipal elections but I am faced with a quandary for the Montreal mayoral elections. We have two prime candidates who are in a fiscal squandering promises arms-race and a third candidate who is way down in the bottom polls-wise. I intend to vote but my wife and I have thought about not voting.
I presume the same type of situation could happen federally, provincially or at the state level, where you truly do have a choice between two equally bad alternatives, and I really don’t know what to think about that.
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### Author:  [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)
#### Post date: [November 4, 2021, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-dont-vote-why-not/953749/18 "2021-11-04T12:57:21Z")
I didn’t vote until I was in my mid-20s. For the usual reasons-- I was apathetic, apolitical and coming off an extended adolescence. I thought my one little vote made no difference anyway. Then a girlfriend convinced me to become a voter with one simple statement-- your country asks very little of you. Do your civic duty and vote, moron! Since then I always vote, even in the off-year elections.
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### Author:  [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)
#### Post date: [November 4, 2021, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-dont-vote-why-not/953749/19 "2021-11-04T16:13:20Z")
There have been elections where I voted and elections where I didn’t vote. In none of those elections was a single vote decisive; the winning or losing margins were quite large.
I get a small benefit from feeling like I’m doing my civic duty, but it’s pretty minor in the grand scale of things.
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### Author:  [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)
#### Post date: [November 4, 2021, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-dont-vote-why-not/953749/20 "2021-11-04T16:22:23Z")
I didn’t start voting until my mid-30s. I had a long list of reasons I would give people who asked, but the truth is I was just lazy and I didn’t care that much. Frankly, I’m still lazy and I still don’t care that much, but I vote by mail, when I’ve voted I’ve always voted by mail, and if I couldn’t vote by mail, I wouldn’t.
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