Please vote

Cactus said:

chandler said:  If only there was a platform for taco Tuesday and cheap auto cross tires. Oh well.

Cactus 2024

 

Also, we don't discriminate against Taco Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Sat or Sun.

 

In fact, I'm considering making tacos my running mate.

I'll be your campaign manager

Mr_Asa said:

 

You fancy South Florida people get way better stickers than we do.  Makes me want to run for Supervisor of Elections just so we can get better stickers.

Faxed my request for absentee ballot today. Hopefully it will be back to be early next week so I can throw it back to them the same day.

We shall see. I didn't even register until literally 2 days before the deadline. Thanks social media platforms... 

In reply to Stampie (FS) :

Hillsborough County is very proud of their election process.  Voted one of the top in the state or country or some such ridiculousness.  So of course they have faaaaaancy stickers.

In reply to Mr_Asa :

Well damn that is fancy if you get to vote on how you get to vote.

I will be using my shiny new citizenship for the first time to vote!

In reply to Keith Tanner :

Congrats ... welcome to the insane asylum.

I worked one of the polling stations Monday morning.  I got there 15 minutes early and there was already a line wrapped around the building.

Things ran smoothly and they moved a bunch of people through.  It was neat whenever someone voted for the first time and you could hear people cheer and clap.  When I left after 7 hours there was still a pretty decent line remaining.

I will vote on election day.  I always enjoy going in person.

I will vote in person on Election Day. I have only voted once with a absentee ballot for a primary. My opinion is voting is a right as a US citizen but also a privilege. If you don't vote you don't have the right to bitch about government. I personally think it shouldn't necessarily be easy to vote (mail in ballots) a little sacrifice as in waiting in line is little to pay for those that gave so much for this great country to insure our freedoms. Only my opinion as a 74 year old ex marine your mileage may vary.

Well I voted not your election but BC has a Provincial Election on Sat the 24th. I voted on Monday in the advance poll and there was no line line up (5 12 hour days of advance polling). I made my that I was eligible to vote and received my paper ballot.

To be fair no particular election was in the topic.

Boost_Crazy said:

 

I agree with eliminating the Electoral College. It has out lived it's purpose and takes away the one person one vote ideal in presidential elections.

The whole purpose of the Electoral College was to ensure representation of the individual states. Without it, the more populous states would have overwhelming influence on elections, and the smaller states would be forgotten. All of our current battleground states would be pushed aside by CA, TX, and NY. A state’s electoral votes are proportional to the population, +2 for the state’s two senators. That +2 actually gives a mathematical advantage to the small states percentage wise, so a VT vote actually counts for more than a CA vote. This was not on accident- this is in many ways a moot argument, because without the electoral college we likely wouldn’t have the United States (right there in the name) of America. The smaller of the original 13 colonies had no desire to trade one form of control from afar for another, that is why state’s rights were so important to the founding of our country. Without them, we would be a bunch of small countries like Europe right now. The individual states have their own say on how their electoral votes are divided. The all or nothing method is fairly recent, and a couple states still proportion their electoral votes. If you would like your state to switch to proportional votes, you can take that up with your local representatives. 

There is a lot of misinformation out there on electoral Vs. popular votes. The most common misconception is the “If we went by popular vote, candidate X would have won.” Both candidates know how the system works. Both candidates do the best they can to get the most votes within that system. If the rules had been different, they would have run their campaigns differently, in different states, and the popular vote totals would likely be different. Here is a good autocross analogy-

You get four runs, fastest time of those four runs wins. Those are the rules that everyone is competing by. Driver A has a slow first run, faster run 2, overdrives run 3 with 2 cones, and finishes with a fast and clean run 4 with the winning time. Driver B  has four consistent runs, and his total time is better than diver A, but his best run was not as good as A’s best. Do we call driver B the winner? We sure don’t, because the rules ask for the single best time. Had the rules been different from the start, a total of all four runs, driver A would likely have changed his strategy and still won. 

It may be the rules of the game but they are some stupid rules.  States don't elect candidates, people do.  That said, we probably could use a bit of realignment in what states we have.  Combine the Dakotas to get one Dakota and we can break California up into more manageable pieces, that would keep the total at the magic 50.  Delaware can be absorbed by Maryland and boom, room for Puerto Rico to finally get admitted.

My mail-in ballot was accepted and counted.

KyAllroad (Jeremy) (Forum Supporter) said:

States don't elect candidates, people do.

Actually, the states are the electing bodies. From the 12th Amendment:

The Electors shall meet in their respective states, and vote by ballot for President and Vice-President, one of whom, at least, shall not be an inhabitant of the same state with themselves; they shall name in their ballots the person voted for as President, and in distinct ballots the person voted for as Vice-President, and they shall make distinct lists of all persons voted for as President, and of all persons voted for as Vice-President and of the number of votes for each, which lists they shall sign and certify, and transmit sealed to the seat of the government of the United States, directed to the President of the Senate;

Under the original concept of the Constitution, the states really should be rather more powerful political entities than they currently are. The US is a federal republic, with each member state holding powers distinct from those of the federal government and the people (rather than a hierarchical model, consider it a triad). These have been significantly, and often voluntarily, eroded over the last 150 years (+/-), often in exchange for federal money. Over that same time period, a variety of social factors have combined to create a far stronger sense of national (versus state) identity, with a concomitant tendency of people to look to the national, rather than state, government for solutions, and to consider elections as national, rather than state, events.

Did the early vote.

I think we should have compulsory voting and preferential ballots like they do in Australia, but also add a "none of the above" option.

In reply to Boost_Crazy :

Back then slave owning states threw a wrench in the works when it came to representation. It was not just about big cities vs. rural regions like it is now.

In reply to 02Pilot :

Also senators were chosen by state legislatures back then, but they had trouble choosing and keeping them.

I voted on Saturday.  Expected a line as my son and I didn't get there until noon-ish, but we were in and out in under 5 minutes.  Waited until Saturday because his work starts at 7 every morning, so finding time during the week would have been difficult.  Plus, it was his first time to vote, so we were able to spend an hour or so talking politics and helping him understand the different candidates and what they represent.  I always assumed his political leanings were close to mine, but quite a few of them were different.  Regardless, I think I helped him make a more informed decision.  (No, I didn't sway him, just asked questions to let him think through and strengthen his ideals)
 

-Rob

Took an 'early lunch' today to stand in line. Posting this from the line. Guessing my wait will be a little over an hour on a Thursday morning. Crazy but good. 

the entrance is on the other side of the building 

In reply to KyAllroad (Jeremy) (Forum Supporter) :

It may be the rules of the game but they are some stupid rules.  States don't elect candidates, people do.  That said, we probably could use a bit of realignment in what states we have.  Combine the Dakotas to get one Dakota and we can break California up into more manageable pieces, that would keep the total at the magic 50.  Delaware can be absorbed by Maryland and boom, room for Puerto Rico to finally get admitted.

We don’t have a democracy, we have a democratic republic. Big important difference. Straight democracy sounds good on paper, until you realize that it is just another way to say mob rule. The rights of the individual get trampled on. Our country was founded on the ideas of individual rights and states rights. As the saying goes, it’s the worst form of government, except for all of the others in human history.

So who would be in charge of combining and breaking up states? The federal government? That is opposite of the principals our country was founded on. Once again, the United States of America wouldn’t exist if that power had been granted to the federal government. States themselves can break themselves up, but those in power in those states don’t see a benefit for them. 

Boost_Crazy said:

We don’t have a democracy, we have a democratic republic. Big important difference. Straight democracy sounds good on paper, until you realize that it is just another way to say mob rule. The rights of the individual get trampled on.

Which is neither changed nor affected by whether or not each individuals rightful vote is given equal consideration for any given official being elected to represent them.

In reply to Driven5 :

Which is neither changed nor affected by whether or not each individuals rightful vote is given equal consideration for any given official being elected to represent them.

Sure it is. When you vote for local or state officials, individual votes are given equal consideration. But when it comes to electing a president, or federal laws, the states want to be sure that they have more equal representation. That is why each state gets two senators, no matter how large or small the state. Congressmen are appropriated by populations of the state as a nod to the individual. The two together strike a balance. Not perfect, but more perfect than anything else done before or sense. And this was before super states like California were imagined. Now- if you don’t like it, and you want your one vote to count as one vote- talk to your state about how they apportion their electoral votes. If every state did the same, it would be very close to your ideal while still protecting states rights. Probably gonna happen though because the party in power in each state would be giving up influence. There would need to be significant pressure put on by the voters- and perhaps by the minority party. 

Voting tip: Optimize time at the booth by marking up a sample ballot and bring it with you.

Sometimes I forget what the propositions are or who I liked for city council.

Actually, we have a representative republic. But everything else is true.

If we had a democratic republic, we as voters would vote on everything brought up.

In reply to Boost_Crazy :

Apparently I didn't convey my thoughts clearly enough. To hash this out would take more effort than it's worth, so it's probably best to just chalk this one up to the challenges of text based communication.

.

On topic: Both of our households ballots have been confirmed as counted. We're a mail-in only state, so no feel-good stickers for us.

I'll be in Indy the week of voting so I mailed mine in a few weeks ago, my duty and an honor.

A lot of people seem to be voting. Turnout is high. I'm happy for that - beats apathy and blame. 

Rons said:

Well I voted not your election but BC has a Provincial Election on Sat the 24th. I voted on Monday in the advance poll and there was no line line up (5 12 hour days of advance polling). I made my that I was eligible to vote and received my paper ballot.

To be fair no particular election was in the topic.