# Would shame help get people to vote? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [October 27, 2022, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-shame-help-get-people-to-vote/973875 "2022-10-27T14:04:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2022, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-shame-help-get-people-to-vote/973875/21 "2022-10-28T15:55:46Z")
Interesting! Just to make sure I understand this. It isn’t posted publicly, though, right? It is just a private mailing to you? ---
**Author:** ![velomont](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/8491ac/32.png) [@velomont](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/velomont)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2022, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-shame-help-get-people-to-vote/973875/22 "2022-10-28T15:59:34Z")
I agree with this and, sort of covering all three of your points, there are probably people who think that anyone Stupid-Enough-to-vote is some sort of naïve, Pollyannaish chump and that those “in the know” who understand “how things _really_ work” know that there’s no point. So for those folks shame would bolster their self-images. ---
**Author:** ![Ann\_Hedonia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ann_hedonia/32/319_2.png) [@Ann\_Hedonia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ann_Hedonia)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2022, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-shame-help-get-people-to-vote/973875/23 "2022-10-28T16:04:25Z")
> [@Jasmine](#): > > Interesting! Just to make sure I understand this. It isn’t posted publicly, though, right? It is just a private mailing to you? Yes, that’s right. I found this link to something similar that you may find interesting. [http://s3.moveon.org/pdfs/sample\_voter\_report\_card.pdf](http://s3.moveon.org/pdfs/sample_voter_report_card.pdf) ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2022, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-shame-help-get-people-to-vote/973875/24 "2022-10-28T16:26:17Z")
> [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#): > > Who are the most egregiously shameless Dems? A few who come to mind, both present and recent. [Katie Hill](https://www.politico.com/news/2019/10/27/rep-katie-hill-to-resign-amid-allegations-of-inappropriate-relationships-with-staffers-000301) [Mike Madigan](https://www.npr.org/2022/03/09/1085355613/federal-prosecutors-will-be-in-court-with-an-illinois-political-corruption-case) (among many others) in Illinois. And the three members of the St. Louis Board of Aldermen (including the President of the Board) [who resigned after being caught taking bribes.](https://news.stlpublicradio.org/government-politics-issues/2022-06-07/lewis-reed-resigns) Then there’s [Anthony Weiner](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_Weiner). That one goes back a few years, but it’s especially distasteful. Ditto [John Edwards](https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/john-edwards-mistress-breakdown-americas-sensational-scandals/story?id=20854336) ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2022, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-shame-help-get-people-to-vote/973875/25 "2022-10-28T16:36:21Z")
> [@DPRK](#): > > If someone does not feel like casting a vote for any of the usual pack of crooks, why would they feel shame rather than satisfaction or pride? Once again, I’m not on the shame wagon for this thread, however, you don’t have to vote for any of the “usual pack of crooks”, you can vote third party or leave it blank. The important part is that you showed up. Showing up and turning in a blank ballot is a statement that you want higher quality candidates, and if enough people do the same, you _may_ get them. Not showing up just tells them that you are lazy and that your needs and wants can be safely ignored. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2022, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-shame-help-get-people-to-vote/973875/26 "2022-10-28T17:05:45Z")
> [@bump](#): > > if there’s no actual visibility into whether they voted, it’s not effective. But there is. > [@Jasmine](#): > > it may very well be an invasion of privacy. It isn’t. If you go to pretty much any board of elections site, you can order voter lists, that will tell you who voted and what party they are registered with. > [@kenobi\_65](#): > > People who feel that “my vote won’t matter anyway.” Some of them may simply feel that one vote out of millions is meaningless; others may be liberals who live in a deeply conservative area (or vice-versa), and know that their preferred candidates/parties are going to lose, regardless. Politics is local. Your vote _does_ matter as to who your city council or mayor is, who is on your school board, or who are your city and county judges. And those positions will have a much greater impact on your life than the president. > [@Jasmine](#): > > Interesting! Just to make sure I understand this. It isn’t posted publicly, though, right? It is just a private mailing to you? It used to be, and maybe still is, that you could go to my local board of elections site and do a lookup by address to see if someone voted. I can’t find the link for it though, so that function may no longer be valid, and I don’t know if other BOEs did so at all. But you absolutely _can_ order the list of voters. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2022, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-shame-help-get-people-to-vote/973875/27 "2022-10-28T17:08:33Z")
Most of them resigned after their scandals came out, so you wouldn’t have the option of voting for them. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2022, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-shame-help-get-people-to-vote/973875/28 "2022-10-28T17:09:58Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > Politics is local. Your vote _does_ matter as to who your city council or mayor is, who is on your school board, or who are your city and county judges. And those positions will have a much greater impact on your life than the president. I agree. Even so, if I’m a bleeding-heart liberal, living in a deep-red city in a deep-red state, I may still feel that no one I vote for (even for local offices) is going to get elected. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2022, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-shame-help-get-people-to-vote/973875/29 "2022-10-28T18:00:30Z")
> [@Kent\_Clark](#): > > I can name a number of politicians (from both parties) who seem to have no shame. Why should voters be expected to live to a higher standard? But both parties are not equal in shamelessness. One party is ninety percent shameless and one party is ten percent shameless. So if people can’t vote for a party that’s perfect, they should vote for the party that’s better. That’s the way we make progress. ---
**Author:** ![FlikTheBlue](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fliktheblue/32/10972_2.png) [@FlikTheBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlikTheBlue)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2022, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-shame-help-get-people-to-vote/973875/30 "2022-10-28T18:51:37Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > In my semi-informed opinion, there are three major reasons why Americans choose to not vote: > > - People who don’t pay attention to the issues, or to elections in general; they simply don’t care enough about the issues to engage in the political/voting process. When they do vote, they’re “low-information voters,” and their voting choices are made on minimal information. > - People who feel that “both sides/parties are the same, and they’re all corrupt.” They feel that the entire system is broken, and it simply doesn’t matter who they would vote for, so why bother? > - People who feel that “my vote won’t matter anyway.” Some of them may simply feel that one vote out of millions is meaningless; others may be liberals who live in a deeply conservative area (or vice-versa), and know that their preferred candidates/parties are going to lose, regardless. > > I don’t see how shaming any of the above solves the issues. It doesn’t. IMHO we’re actually in the middle of an experiment showing that it makes things worse. That first group is where Trump is getting his support, although shame / embarrassment wasn’t the emotion that brought them out in '20 and '22. The irony is that we’re in the middle of the highest voter participation ever if you account for the fact that Black people and women weren’t allowed to vote in the old days. Even if you ignore that, we haven’t had this high a percentage of voter participation since back in the Roosevelt administration. And I don’t mean Franklin. > **[US Elections Project - national-1789-present](https://www.electproject.org/national-1789-present)** > > National General Election VEP Turnout Rates, 1789-Present > National general election voting-eligible population turnout rates for presidential and midterm elections are plotted below, along with the raw data provided in an accompanying... ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2022, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-shame-help-get-people-to-vote/973875/31 "2022-10-28T20:55:53Z")
If we’re going to try the experiment of coercing electoral participation with negative emotions, stop half-assing it and go for the tried-and-true favorite: **fear**. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2022, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-shame-help-get-people-to-vote/973875/32 "2022-10-28T20:58:23Z")
> [@gnoitall](#): > > stop half-assing it and go for the tried-and-true favorite: **fear**. Have you seen political ads lately? They’ve been there for some time. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Dallas\_Jones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dallas_jones/32/3277_2.png) [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2022, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-shame-help-get-people-to-vote/973875/33 "2022-10-28T21:04:14Z")
The decision to **not** vote is also a vote, of a sort. The issue may not be important enough, the candidates may not be inspiring. For whatever reasons that people chose to not vote, that is also a vote. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2022, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-shame-help-get-people-to-vote/973875/34 "2022-10-28T21:05:54Z")
> [@Dallas\_Jones](#): > > The issue may not be important enough, the candidates may not be inspiring. For whatever reasons that people chose to not vote, that is also a vote. Right, they are saying that they don’t matter, and that their needs should be ignored. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2022, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-shame-help-get-people-to-vote/973875/35 "2022-10-28T21:07:38Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > Most of them resigned after their scandals came out, so you wouldn’t have the option of voting for them. They didn’t resign because they were ashamed. If they had been capable of shame they wouldn’t have taken bribes and had relationships with their staff members in the first place. > [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > But both parties are not equal in shamelessness. One party is ninety percent shameless and one party is ten percent shameless. Which has nothing to do with the OP, shaming people into voting. > [@k9bfriender](#): > > Showing up and turning in a blank ballot is a statement that you want higher quality candidates, and if enough people do the same, you _may_ get them. A blank ballot does nothing. Unless the ballot has a “none of the above” box to check, it doesn’t matter. The way to get more people to vote is to run candidates that people want to vote for, not to try to shame them into voting. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2022, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-shame-help-get-people-to-vote/973875/36 "2022-10-28T21:10:24Z")
> [@Kent\_Clark](#): > > They didn’t resign because they were ashamed. If they had been capable of shame they wouldn’t have taken bribes and had relationships with their staff members in the first place. I didn’t say that they did. I said that people didn’t vote for them after the scandals came out. ---
**Author:** ![Dallas\_Jones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dallas_jones/32/3277_2.png) [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2022, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-shame-help-get-people-to-vote/973875/37 "2022-10-28T21:16:42Z")
You may not like it, but the choice to not vote, is a real choice, a vote. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2022, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-shame-help-get-people-to-vote/973875/38 "2022-10-28T21:21:16Z")
I didn’t say I didn’t like it, I gave no opinion about it. I said that people who don’t vote don’t matter. They have, as you said, voted that they should be ignored. That is the choice that they have made. If we are voting on what we are having for dinner tonight, and you choose not to vote, then no one is going to care that you don’t like what we chose without you. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2022, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-shame-help-get-people-to-vote/973875/39 "2022-10-28T21:33:17Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > If we are voting on what we are having for dinner tonight, and you choose not to vote, then no one is going to care that you don’t like what we chose without you. Ahhh, but when my pizza arrives y’all are going to want a slice. ---
**Author:** ![penultima\_thule](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penultima_thule/32/3833_2.png) [@penultima\_thule](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/penultima_thule)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2022, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-shame-help-get-people-to-vote/973875/40 "2022-10-28T22:12:52Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > What other decisions have good outcomes when made by manifestly unqualified individuals? Evolution? Let’s get married and have a baby? The hubris of “I am an educated voter and it is my prerogative to determine the fate of all” converges to tyranny. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-shame-help-get-people-to-vote/973875.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-shame-help-get-people-to-vote/973875.md?page=3)