# Is it selfish to vote on your death bed? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 22, 2012, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-selfish-to-vote-on-your-death-bed/638509 "2012-10-22T12:19:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![CyclopticXander](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/59ef9b/32.png) [@CyclopticXander](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CyclopticXander)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2012, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-selfish-to-vote-on-your-death-bed/638509/1 "2012-10-22T12:19:48Z")
Say you know you will be dead very soon, likely before the next term starts. Should your opinion hold just as much weight as everyone who will live under the leadership? ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2012, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-selfish-to-vote-on-your-death-bed/638509/2 "2012-10-22T12:36:14Z")
It is not selfish to cast your vote for what you believe is the good of the nation. This is true regardless of whether you are on your deathbed or not. ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2012, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-selfish-to-vote-on-your-death-bed/638509/3 "2012-10-22T12:52:54Z")
Yeah, Not voting might be the selfish option. ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2012, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-selfish-to-vote-on-your-death-bed/638509/4 "2012-10-22T13:24:03Z")
I think there’s a lot of selfish reasons to vote, and even not to vote. (For example, I think the “I’m not going to vote because the odds of my vote deciding this election are really small” is an incredibly self-absorbed point of view: sure, millions may vote, but if _my_ vote isn’t the one which decides which direction this country/state/city will go, fuck it!) Being on one’s deathbed has nothing to do with the selfishness of the vote. All civic minded adults have the right to vote, and there’s nothing wrong with exercising that right. ---
**Author:** ![BetsQ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/fbc32d/32.png) [@BetsQ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BetsQ)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2012, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-selfish-to-vote-on-your-death-bed/638509/5 "2012-10-22T13:26:03Z")
I guess it depends on whether you view voting as something you do in your own interest or in the interest of the nation. Personally, I tend to view voting as something one should do in the public interest, and would therefore think that voting from one’s deathbed as a patriotic duty. (Full disclosure: My grandmother voted from her deathbed by absentee ballot in 1988. I believe she actually passed away between the time she cast her vote and the general election.) ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2012, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-selfish-to-vote-on-your-death-bed/638509/6 "2012-10-22T14:17:41Z")
if the politician wanted to fund more medical research it just might save your life. ---
**Author:** ![leahcim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b4bc9f/32.png) [@leahcim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leahcim)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2012, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-selfish-to-vote-on-your-death-bed/638509/7 "2012-10-22T15:14:45Z")
It’s at least as moral as voting for the candidate who promises to tax only other people. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2012, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-selfish-to-vote-on-your-death-bed/638509/8 "2012-10-22T15:23:33Z")
It’s your right to vote. Not selfish at all. ---
**Author:** ![qualityleashdog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/9f8e36/32.png) [@qualityleashdog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/qualityleashdog)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2012, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-selfish-to-vote-on-your-death-bed/638509/9 "2012-10-22T15:28:05Z")
There is usually no certainty that one would expire before the election. The person on the deathbed may be voting this week, but the person that walks in and votes on election day may die in a wreck on the way home. A group of 80-somethings in decent health may swing votes for a particular candidate and have good odds that they won’t be around to see the candidate finish the term or may not even be around for the start of the term, but they still vote. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2012, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-selfish-to-vote-on-your-death-bed/638509/10 "2012-10-22T15:31:58Z")
Unless you’re saying, “MWA HA HA! Let’s see them live with THIS!” then not particularly selfish. Now, on her death bed, my Aunt was trying to get ahold of her husband’s absentee ballot, so that she could vote for both of them, when he had said several times that he didn’t like anyone running, hadn’t been paying attention, and didn’t want to vote. She had a guy that she was determined to vote against and, bedbound, spent a fair chunk of energy trying to convince several caretakers to find his ballot and bring it to her. Amazingly, none of them seemed to be able to find it, sitting there, bright yellow, on the coffee table. Once I was sure he really didn’t want to vote and wasn’t just putting her off so that he could fill it out himself later, I shredded it. Just in case. ---
**Author:** ![pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2012, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-selfish-to-vote-on-your-death-bed/638509/11 "2012-10-22T15:35:13Z")
Sure hope McGovern got to cast an early ballot. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2012, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-selfish-to-vote-on-your-death-bed/638509/12 "2012-10-22T15:39:01Z")
A friend of my family’s was a priest in a mountain valley. Often he’d get called to perform Last Rites and a few days later run into that person in the street or see them in church; the doctor took to calling him Father Resurrection. There was a particular customer for whom he performed Last Rites over 25 times in the 22 years he was the valley’s priest (some winters he’d get two calls); the old gent was still there when the priest got replaced. He liked to say that “people forget they’re not supposed to be a send-off, the official name is ‘the rite of the sick’ and they’re ‘for the health of body and soul’”. With a Father Resurrection around, it would be perfectly logical for someone who voted for purely selfish reasons to cast a vote. Those of us who try to think of what’s going to be better for the whole community reckon it’s a duty as much as a right. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2012, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-selfish-to-vote-on-your-death-bed/638509/13 "2012-10-22T15:45:37Z")
How could it be selfish? What does one gain by voting while knowing death is imminent? ---
**Author:** ![Lightnin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightnin/32/180_2.png) [@Lightnin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightnin)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2012, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-selfish-to-vote-on-your-death-bed/638509/14 "2012-10-22T16:12:12Z")
> [@Hypno-Toad](#): > > Yeah, Not voting might be the selfish option. This. The world continues on after you die, and it’s incredibly selfish to say, “Welp, I’m done here. Good luck, guys!” ---
**Author:** ![Noone\_Special](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/noone_special/32/2863_2.png) [@Noone\_Special](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noone_Special)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2012, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-selfish-to-vote-on-your-death-bed/638509/15 "2012-10-22T16:24:38Z")
I’m assuming this is a global question, valid for people voting in places other than the US as well. I’ve pretty much given up on voting for someone to fix up the place for _me_. I’m now voting for a better place for my \*children \*to live. In a few years this will probably be “Grandchildren.” So I’ll be voting as long as I can get someone to wheel me down to the poll station (no Absentee Voting in Israel…) ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2012, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-selfish-to-vote-on-your-death-bed/638509/16 "2012-10-22T16:47:59Z")
> [@CyclopticXander](#): > > Say you know you will be dead very soon, likely before the next term starts. Should your opinion hold just as much weight as everyone who will live under the leadership? Sure. It’s not like I’m voting just for what works best for me. I’d like my kid to grow up in the best possible world, and I’d like this world to be a hospitable place for as much of the human race as possible. This would be true whether I expected to live another 40 years, or whether I expected to leave this mortal coil on November 7. ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2012, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-selfish-to-vote-on-your-death-bed/638509/17 "2012-10-22T18:19:04Z")
You’re not dead yet. Why should your opinion be disregarded? ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2012, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-selfish-to-vote-on-your-death-bed/638509/18 "2012-10-22T18:31:05Z")
> [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](#): > > Sure hope McGovern got to cast an early ballot. I felt momentarily bad that this was my first reaction to his death. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2012, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-selfish-to-vote-on-your-death-bed/638509/19 "2012-10-22T18:36:04Z")
An individual vote isn’t worth nearly as much as the act of casting it - and the act of participating in a democracy is an unselfish act. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2012, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-selfish-to-vote-on-your-death-bed/638509/20 "2012-10-22T18:52:30Z")
I got better. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-selfish-to-vote-on-your-death-bed/638509.md?page=2)