I voted before I went to work this morning; it was either that or miss voting comepletely, as I get off work after 7. Several co-workers approached me when I got in, and asked, archly, “So – voted yet?” Not even a good morning. When I answered in the affirmative, they seemed please and wandered off. They, of course, had also voted, and were obviously quite willing to voice their scorn for those who either hadn’t yet or who didn’t wish to. I’ve urged people to vote today(early and often!), but I was rather puzzled by this apparent smugness.
Those of you who have voted today – do you feel superior to the non-voters? Have you made it readily apparent? And if so – why?
On the one hand, I can’t stand the fact that so few Americans can be bothered to get off their fat asses and go to the frigging polls once every two years, tops. Don’t vote? Don’t bitch, you lazy twit.
Then I consider what elections would look like if peer-pressure were the only motivator, and I’m not so sure I should be public in my scorn.
I just use it as a way to bring up the topic as a reminder. “Everyone voted yet?” In all the rooms I’m responsible for I have a little sign next to the sign-in form that says “Don’t forget to vote today”.
I had a migraine headache today. I went out to the polls early this morning before it got too bad, then went home and went to bed. The doorbell rang three times, and each time I answered it, it was somebody wanting to know if I had voted yet. (This has NEVER happened to me before. What’s so special about this election?)
After the third one, I went and pulled the “I Voted Today” sticker off of the sweater I’d been wearing and stuck it to the door.
I normally feel superior to everybody. Why should an election change things?
(patting Daithi on the head patronizingly) Really, if I have to explain it to you, if my superiority is not blindingly obvious, then that just shows why I feel superior to poor, sadly afflicted, you.
Honest, you should not be surprised by the responses when you feedithis crowd an engraved invitation like that.
Just to add the other perspective to this: I have not (yet!) voted today, and I feel vastly inferior. I feel like my IQ has dropped by 30 or 40 points, my minute-mile now takes a good half-hour, and my naughty bits have begun to shrink. I must vote soon, lest I waste away to nothing!
I will take any chance I can get to feel better than others.
That said, I’d only say that to people who I thought were going to vote the same way I am. If people who would cancel out my vote forget to vote, well, too bad, so sad (I don’t think they should be intimidated or turned away at the polls or anything, but I’m not going to remind them to vote)
Where are you? You might be in a district with a hotly contested House or Senate seat, or have some propositions on the ballot that someone is spending a lot of money and effort to pass or defeat.
Yeah, yeah, I guess I shouldn’t have put this particular question to the Olympus that is the SDMB, being populated as it is by gods, goddesses, demiurges and the like.
As an update, I was just within ear shot of a conversation:
Person 1: So, X, did you vote yet?
Person 2: No, I don’t even know where to go.
1: WHAT? Why NOT? How could you not KNOW? And I HOPE you’re going to vote DEMOCRAT!
2: Why? What are the issues?
1: GAH!
#1 stamped off. I helped #2 find out her voting place (she recently moved), and we had a good chuckle at other people’s hyper-sensitivity.
I was duped? I still can respect that a lot more than the “everything sucks so I won’t participate” rubbish that some attempt to pass off as an excuse for pure uselessness.
I’m perfectly content in not urging someone to vote who doesn’t know what the issues are.
I don’t know if I’d call it “smug”, but, yes, I do feel good about voting, about having taken the time to learn about the issues, about participating.
I bug people before the election - I’ve sent emails to remind them when registration was about to end, when early voting began, scouted up all the different counties’ web sites so that they could find their polling places, sent a link to the state blue book - I’m a bit of a pain in the ass, really. But I have not asked one single person if they have voted, that is none of my business.
[QUOTE=Daithi Lacha]
Yeah, yeah, I guess I shouldn’t have put this particular question to the Olympus that is the SDMB, being populated as it is by gods, goddesses, demiurges and the like.
[QUOTE]
Demiurge? Is that like when you kinda hafta pee, but not bad enough yet to get off the couch and go to the bathroom?
Exactly. I used to get impatient with people who didn’t vote, until the 2004 election and the “Vote or Die” foofaraw. What settled it for me was the “Giant Douche/Turd Sandwich” episode of South Park. If you force someone to vote when they honestly don’t care, you’re just forcing them to choose at random. Election results should be an accurate reflection of what the citizenry wants. As terrifying as that thought is sometimes, it’s better than results that are skewed by people saying, “Fine, whatever, turd sandwich.”
Yep, coin flipping would be a disaster. You’d have people voting for someone named “Ford” because they like Ford pickups. You’d have people voting for someone named Bush because…
Maybe it would be better to taunt people who don’t read the news.
