# My friend can't be arsed to vote.  Am I irrational to be irked with her?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-friend-cant-be-arsed-to-vote-am-i-irrational-to-be-irked-with-her/466695>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [October 6, 2008, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-friend-cant-be-arsed-to-vote-am-i-irrational-to-be-irked-with-her/466695 "2008-10-06T16:38:38Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 5

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**Author:** ![Captain\_Carrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@Captain\_Carrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Carrot)\
**Post date:** [October 8, 2008, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-friend-cant-be-arsed-to-vote-am-i-irrational-to-be-irked-with-her/466695/81 "2008-10-08T16:25:00Z")

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> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#):
>
> FWIW, the voter turnout in the 1824 election (the earliest one I can find data for) was [26.9%](http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/data/turnout.php). So apparently the founding fathers and their kids didn’t think much of their civic duty either.

It’s generally agreed that elections for quite a while had very low turnout, but we really don’t have data reliable enough to say how low. A lot of states didn’t bother to track popular votes for President very well or at all.

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**Author:** ![dmatsch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3be4f8/32.png) [@dmatsch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dmatsch)\
**Post date:** [October 8, 2008, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-friend-cant-be-arsed-to-vote-am-i-irrational-to-be-irked-with-her/466695/82 "2008-10-08T17:25:22Z")

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> [@muttrox](#):
>
> And yet you bring up 2000, where a few hundred votes in Florida decided the election. You undermine your own argument with this example.

I seriously hope you’re joking about this and not truly as myopic as this post paints you.

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**Author:** ![muttrox](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a8b319/32.png) [@muttrox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muttrox)\
**Post date:** [October 8, 2008, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-friend-cant-be-arsed-to-vote-am-i-irrational-to-be-irked-with-her/466695/83 "2008-10-08T18:11:42Z")

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> [@dmatsch](#):
>
> I seriously hope you’re joking about this and not truly as myopic as this post paints you.

I am not joking. I don’t see what’s myopic, care to elaborate?

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**Author:** ![kasuo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8c91f0/32.png) [@kasuo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kasuo)\
**Post date:** [October 8, 2008, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-friend-cant-be-arsed-to-vote-am-i-irrational-to-be-irked-with-her/466695/84 "2008-10-08T18:33:58Z")

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Nah, you can be irked with her, irk her all you want and rub it in her face like a bad porn.

> [@Cervaise](#):
>
> Me too. I’ve been known to roll up the ballot and use it to rub one out in the voting booth. I’m hugely depressed by the switch to touch screens. Absentee ballots just don’t have the same cachet.

Votaphilia?

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