# Why don't single women register to vote? Their involvement could decide elections! **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 22, 2004, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-single-women-register-to-vote-their-involvement-could-decide-elections/241448 "2004-04-22T16:03:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2004, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-single-women-register-to-vote-their-involvement-could-decide-elections/241448/1 "2004-04-22T16:03:06Z")
Per the linked article below. Why don’t single women exercise their right to vote as the same rates married women do? [Forget NASCAR dads and soccer moms. It’s single women who could decide the White House race—if only they get out and vote](http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4797251/) > [@](#): > > Why single women? It turns out they make up the largest group of unregistered voters, representing 24 per cent of the population—a group four times larger than the now-famous NASCAR dads who enthralled the nation all of two months ago. If single women voted at the same rate as married women in 2000, there would have been an extra 6 million voters to fight over—with or without butterfly ballots and hanging chads. ---
**Author:** ![voguevixen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b5ac83/32.png) [@voguevixen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voguevixen)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2004, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-single-women-register-to-vote-their-involvement-could-decide-elections/241448/2 "2004-04-22T19:02:00Z")
This is sort of mind-boggling. I couldn’t wait until I was old enough to vote. Whenever I meet someone who claims voting is a “waste of time” or “doesn’t matter” I tell them it takes me less than 5 minutes to vote, and because they don’t speak up it means _I_ get to make all their decisions for them. (This tactic works best with people who think I’m an obnoxious freak, which is pretty much everyone.) ---
**Author:** ![Celyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9dc877/32.png) [@Celyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Celyn)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2004, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-single-women-register-to-vote-their-involvement-could-decide-elections/241448/3 "2004-04-22T19:28:41Z")
How weird! I can’t think of a reason. Celyn (single woman who always votes) ---
**Author:** ![Ross](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e274bd/32.png) [@Ross](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ross)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2004, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-single-women-register-to-vote-their-involvement-could-decide-elections/241448/4 "2004-04-22T19:30:11Z")
> [@voguevixen](#): > > … because they don’t speak up it means _I_ get to make all their decisions for them. (This tactic works best with people who think I’m an obnoxious freak, which is pretty much everyone.) That is a stroke of genius. I’m using that from now on. ---
**Author:** ![Sami41](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c57346/32.png) [@Sami41](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sami41)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2004, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-single-women-register-to-vote-their-involvement-could-decide-elections/241448/5 "2004-04-22T21:29:15Z")
I can’t speak for all the other single women out there, but I vote every election. And, vougevixon, that’s a great way to put it, I’m sure I’ll be quoting you. ~S ---
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2004, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-single-women-register-to-vote-their-involvement-could-decide-elections/241448/6 "2004-04-22T21:40:16Z")
Don’t know. I’ve been registered since 3 months after I turned 18 (I was in college and out of state when my birthday hit - I registered as soon as I got back home). Many of the excuses seem bizarre to me, too. It’s a work day - yes, but the polls are open from 7am to 8pm. There are few people so busy as not to be able to spare 5 minutes in 13 hours. Plus, in my state (which is not true for all states) all you have to do to get an absentee ballot is to call them and say “I want an absentee ballot” and it shows up in your mailbox, just like that. The same is true for permanent absentee ballots. And you have until election day to send it. (Not to have it received, but sent.) It just isn’t that hard. Maybe it will kick in for some of the people that since single women don’t tend to vote, they do get screwed - economically and socially, because neither major party is going to cater at all to a group of people who don’t vote, when there’s a group with competing interests that does. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2004, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-single-women-register-to-vote-their-involvement-could-decide-elections/241448/7 "2004-04-22T23:15:46Z")
> [@amarinth](#): > > Many of the excuses seem bizarre to me, too. It’s a work day - yes, but the polls are open from 7am to 8pm. There are few people so busy as not to be able to spare 5 minutes in 13 hours. The polls here are open from 6 am to 7 pm. I work from 9:30-6, and my daily commute is an hour, which means I would have to vote before work. It takes half an hour to walk to my polling place, and half an hour to walk back. So, it takes some people longer than 5 minutes to vote. ---
**Author:** ![PigArcher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/bcef8e/32.png) [@PigArcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PigArcher)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2004, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-single-women-register-to-vote-their-involvement-could-decide-elections/241448/8 "2004-04-22T23:49:26Z")
Young people generally vote less than older people. Young people are more likely to be single than older people. There are more women than men. So it is reasonable that there are many single women who don’t vote. ---
**Author:** ![PigArcher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/bcef8e/32.png) [@PigArcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PigArcher)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2004, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-single-women-register-to-vote-their-involvement-could-decide-elections/241448/9 "2004-04-22T23:50:48Z")
By which I don’t mean to say they _shouldn’t_ vote, I’m just saying that as a cultural phenomenon it’s not all that surprising. ---
**Author:** ![SmackFu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@SmackFu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmackFu)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2004, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-single-women-register-to-vote-their-involvement-could-decide-elections/241448/10 "2004-04-23T00:26:44Z")
> [@Captain Amazing](#): > > The polls here are open from 6 am to 7 pm. I work from 9:30-6, and my daily commute is an hour, which means I would have to vote before work. It takes half an hour to walk to my polling place, and half an hour to walk back. So, it takes some people longer than 5 minutes to vote. Well then you’re excused. But that is not the reason these women are not voting. ---
**Author:** ![Star\_Was](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@Star\_Was](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Star_Was)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2004, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-single-women-register-to-vote-their-involvement-could-decide-elections/241448/11 "2004-04-23T00:41:02Z")
Don’t employer have to allow employees time to vote? ---
**Author:** ![burundi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3ec8ea/32.png) [@burundi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burundi)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2004, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-single-women-register-to-vote-their-involvement-could-decide-elections/241448/12 "2004-04-23T12:57:18Z")
For the record, I’m a married woman and a voting fanatic. But I can understand why many single women don’t vote. So much of politicians’ rhetoric is geared toward senior citizens and parents that it all seems very remote from my own life. I’m in my 20s; discussions of Social Security and Medicare don’t mean much to me. I don’t have kids, so the whole “children are the future” stuff gets lost on me as well. For that matter, it often seems like many politicians think that reproductive rights are the only issues that childless women care about. That’s actually relatively low on my list of political concerns. As **amarinth** points out, it’s a vicious cycle: young people don’t vote, so politicians don’t pay attention to them, so young people don’t vote. ---
**Author:** ![Homebrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@Homebrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Homebrew)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2004, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-single-women-register-to-vote-their-involvement-could-decide-elections/241448/13 "2004-04-23T14:30:45Z")
> [@Captain Amazing](#): > > The polls here are open from 6 am to 7 pm. I work from 9:30-6, and my daily commute is an hour, which means I would have to vote before work. It takes half an hour to walk to my polling place, and half an hour to walk back. So, it takes some people longer than 5 minutes to vote. I’m shocked at your whininess here. _Ohhhh, I have to get up a little early to take part in one of the most important civic duties I have as a responsible citizen._ Cry me a river. ---
**Author:** ![beagledave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6de8d8/32.png) [@beagledave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beagledave)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2004, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-single-women-register-to-vote-their-involvement-could-decide-elections/241448/14 "2004-04-23T15:38:42Z")
> [@Homebrew](#): > > I’m shocked at your whininess here. _Ohhhh, I have to get up a little early to take part in one of the most important civic duties I have as a responsible citizen._ > > Cry me a river. **I’m** shocked that you missed his point. **Captain Amazing** was responding to the notion that voting is only a 5 minute proposition. It’s relevant (especially when wondering why other people DON’T vote) to point out the logistics of voting for some people. I didn’t see any whining. ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2004, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-single-women-register-to-vote-their-involvement-could-decide-elections/241448/15 "2004-04-23T16:07:48Z")
Jeez am I being Whooshed here? Or has **Captain Amazing** never heard of an absentee ballot? Now I guess the next whine will be “It costs me $0.37 to vote” ---
**Author:** ![voguevixen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b5ac83/32.png) [@voguevixen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voguevixen)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2004, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-single-women-register-to-vote-their-involvement-could-decide-elections/241448/16 "2004-04-23T16:11:09Z")
[QUOTE=beagledave] **Captain Amazing** was responding to the notion that voting is only a 5 minute proposition. It’s relevant (especially when wondering why other people DON’T vote) to point out the logistics of voting for some people. [QUOTE] Hello! Absentee ballot! Take five minutes and fill it out in your jammies in front of the TV! ---
**Author:** ![Celyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9dc877/32.png) [@Celyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Celyn)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2004, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-single-women-register-to-vote-their-involvement-could-decide-elections/241448/17 "2004-04-23T16:11:38Z")
> [@burundi](#): > > For the record, I’m a married woman and a voting fanatic. But I can understand why many single women don’t vote. So much of politicians’ rhetoric is geared toward senior citizens and parents that it all seems very remote from my own life. I’m in my 20s; discussions of Social Security and Medicare don’t mean much to me. I don’t have kids, so the whole “children are the future” stuff gets lost on me as well. For that matter, it often seems like many politicians think that reproductive rights are the only issues that childless women care about. That’s actually relatively low on my list of political concerns. > > As **amarinth** points out, it’s a vicious cycle: young people don’t vote, so politicians don’t pay attention to them, so young people don’t vote. Absolutely! The very same thing occurred to me after posting. As it is not a consituency that the parties address (single non-parents in general), perhaps some fail to vote for that reason, therefore their interests are not addressed etc. I suppose, of ocurse, there always jsut will be some people who take not interest at all in tiny minor details (i.e. rights that people have _died_ for) such as voting. (I’d prefer if it I could vote via the internet, but plans for that seem to have been shelved here.) Bah! Grrrrrrr ---
**Author:** ![Celyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9dc877/32.png) [@Celyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Celyn)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2004, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-single-women-register-to-vote-their-involvement-could-decide-elections/241448/18 "2004-04-23T16:14:37Z")
Other minor point, though - surely 8 pm IS a bit early for polling to close? And 7 pm does strike me as silly, I think. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2004, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-single-women-register-to-vote-their-involvement-could-decide-elections/241448/19 "2004-04-23T16:53:34Z")
> [@Rick](#): > > Jeez am I being Whooshed here? > Or has **Captain Amazing** never heard of an absentee ballot? > Now I guess the next whine will be “It costs me $0.37 to vote” I’ve heard of an absentee ballot, but I don’t qualify for one under Virgina law. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2004, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-single-women-register-to-vote-their-involvement-could-decide-elections/241448/20 "2004-04-23T22:35:53Z")
> [@Celyn](#): > > Other minor point, though - surely 8 pm IS a bit early for polling to close? And 7 pm does strike me as silly, I think. Exactly how long a day do you think those who staff the polling stations should work? My ex landlord used to be one. They’ve got to be there from before the morning start to after the evening close. They’re not allowed to leave until the end of voting. And then they’ve got to take the ballot boxes to the counting centre. And there’s paperwork. So let’s hear it for those who volunteer for a 14+ hour day. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-single-women-register-to-vote-their-involvement-could-decide-elections/241448.md?page=2)