Wasted Votes?

[xrated]

So I will admit my wife is a die hard republican.

I'm fairly conservative myself, however I am not dead set that I will vote for McCain.

I'm actaully entertaining the idea of voting for a differnt party if I see something I like.

She is all pissed and worked up saying any vote not for McCain(or obama) is a wasted vote and a vote for the Obama(in her mccain case).

I tell her I strongly disagree, THE ONLY WASTED VOTE is one not cast.

What do you guys say?

 

[Mooseknuckle]

Do you want to win or vote your heart/mind? Unfortunately we have a cruel dichotomy in our political system, in that the best candidate isn't always offered as a viable choice. If you vote for Mr. Paul, you will certainly back a losing candidate. However I don't think that your vote was wasted. That is unless you have an aversion to Mr. McCain being elected. In that case the pragmatic thing is to vote for Mr. Obama.

Do you what to represent your position/belief or do you what to limit the real or precieved damage a candidate might do to your political position. No matter who you vote for, most of the same people will still be in Washington DC, doing what they have done for since who flung the chunk.

 

[savedbygrace]

Would you go to your kid’s football game, and root for the opposing team, just cause you thought they might win?

 

[jsledder]

I'd have to say that there are A LOT of people who are in your situation this election. I'm not 80% happy with either one of them and haven't heard enough from Nader to know what he has to offer, but I know one thing for sure, I don't want Obama so the vote will be for the McCain/Palin ticket. I hear more things from them that I like than I do from Obama and I just don't get the warm/fuzzy feeling from Obama that I need to feel like I can believe him and trust he will do what he says he will do rather than just use it to get votes and then when he gets in it'll be like, we'll, I'm here, what do I do now and the next thing you know 4 years will be gone.

 

[Sambo11]

Your wife is correct. A vote for a 3rd party, though it may make you feel good, is a wasted vote.

Wow! Your wife is a conservative, you say you are "fairly conservative" and you are undecided?

Don't be fooled by Obamas smoke and mirror show!!! He will tax and destroy middle class America with his liberal socialist/communist ways.

I am getting SOOOO sick and tired of the Obama campaign trying to make everyone feel like a RACIST if you DON'T vote for poor little Obama.

Vote McCain/Palin, you I and the rest of us will be the better for it!

 

[ericbigbore]

I think you should vote for who best fits you and your country in your mind. Doesnt Minn always go to the dems anyway? Here in Washington my vote is for Obama even though I'm for McCain (kinda) so my vote is wasted either way. I think I'm going to write in moosenuckle. My vote is meaningless anyway.

The key is to get involved local, that's how people like Miss Palin get to DC.

 

[milehighassassin]

Bottom line that until we go to a popular vote, many of our votes are a waste reguardless of who you vote for.

If you are really serious about maximizing the power of your vote, you have a few options. The best thing you can do would be to move to a state like Wyoming, which has the most relative representation of electoral college votes to citizens. Of course the total number of electoral votes Wyoming has is piddling, but your vote still "counts" more than someone who lives in a heavily populated state like California, whose ratio of electoral college voters to citizens is much less.

If you're not willing to move to Wyoming, you could move to a swing state, where there is a greater chance your vote would make a difference because the contest will be closer. Of course, if you choose the wrong side, you may as well have voted for an independent or stayed home, but that's okay, because you drank the Kool-Aid and still think your vote matters.

If you happen to be particularly enamored with the state in which you currently reside, and it's already polling pretty strongly one way or the other, your options are limited. The best thing you can do is research, research, research. Read up on the issues, and study the policies of each candidate. Search your soul and decide which guy (or gal) is strongest on the issues you care about. Do you value experience? Congeniality? Perceived intelligence? Know the candidates inside and out, because the best thing you can do is be an informed voter on election day.

So after you've casted your vote for who you believe is the person to lead America both at home and abroad for the next four years, try not to take it too hard when you realize your next door neighbor Bubba effectively rendered your vote null and void by choosing the other guy because he'd be more fun to go bowling with.

 

[ruffryder]

If you are only considering how it effects the winner then it seems unimportant.. But if you consider the effect of a growing population not voting for the big red or big blue candidate.... Vote for whom you think is the best and it is never a waste..

I think if more people did this, we would see very different primary results, and presidential results..

People that say it is wasted are only perpetuating the two party system. It is just another means of keeping everyone in line and to make sure a third party or some other group doesn't get into power...

All the people that have died for this country and for democracy all over the world, and people won't vote for who they want.... I don't get it... Stand up for what YOU believe to be the right decision with your vote. Democracy only survives if that is what people do......

 

[shortstop20]

Good post ruffy.

Good point milehigh, the electoral system is not needed nowadays. Popular vote should decide the election.

I say vote for whoever you think would do the best job. What if there were 100 million people(just throwing numbers out here) that thought the same thing you did but decided to vote for someone else just because they thought the candidate they liked best couldn't win. If you think a candidate from a minor party is the best candidate you should vote for them and then maybe someday when one of them becomes a major party because of the number of people's votes that they get we can get rid of this two party BS. The more people that vote for the minor parties the more publicity they will get, plain and simple. Which will help turn them into a "major" party, like the D & R.

On a side note voting for the other parties has hurt the Democrats more than the Republicans, or so the media says. Whether that is true or not I don't know.

What is a waste is the people that don't vote, millions died so they can vote(among other things) and they just blow it off. Ironically many of these same people ***** and moan about how bad the country is. There are alot of people in this world that would love to have the freedom to vote for a candidate and not just be forced to have someone as their dictator.

 

[AZ800]

If one of ya' is vtoing R and the other D, then they're both wasted votes, cancell each other out. Spend the hour down at the local wateing hole, it'll make you feel better!
No really, go vote, previous post explains why.

 

[xrated]

Wow! Your wife is a conservative, you say you are "fairly conservative" and you are undecided?

Don't be fooled by Obamas smoke and mirror show!!! He will tax and destroy middle class America with his liberal socialist/communist ways.

Now I never said i was voting Obama....not a chance. Just not sure I'm going McCain.

People that say it is wasted are only perpetuating the two party system. It is just another means of keeping everyone in line and to make sure a third party or some other group doesn't get into power...-that's what I tried explaining to my wife but she won't buy it.

The only way we are gonna change the 2 party screw up we have is to stop voting it. As much as I hate him Ventura did that in a way here in MN.

 

[Blu Du]

I'am not voting. i will vote for mccain and my dumbass wife will vote forosama, to cancel out my vote

 

[The Fourth Wolf]

Bottom line that until we go to a popular vote, many of our votes are a waste reguardless of who you vote for.

Good point milehigh, the electoral system is not needed nowadays. Popular vote should decide the election.

Gentlemen, in all seriousness you need to read up on the history of this issue. The popular vote is the WORST thing that could possibly happen to this country. Our country's founders were wise, brilliant men who understood that public opinion was volatile. We have survived for 232 years because we are a Republic and not a pure Democracy. The Electoral College was devised (along with the Senate: see Great Compromise) to specifically protect the interests of lightly populated states (like where you live & ride). If not for the EC Presidential elections would be decided by the 10 most populous states which happen to be overwhelmingly liberal.

So if you want your "western" way of life dictated to you by New York, New Jersey and Massachusettes etc. go ahead and persist with this utterly retarded idea.

What is a waste is the people that don't vote, millions died so they can vote(among other things) and they just blow it off. Ironically many of these same people ***** and moan about how bad the country is. There are alot of people in this world that would love to have the freedom to vote for a candidate and not just be forced to have someone as their dictator.

HERE HERE!! We have the crap government we have because not enough people vote. Voter apathy sends the signal to Washington that the public isn't paying attention so they're free to do whatever they want.

Vote your heart, vote for someone who's "good enough", or vote against someone you totally disagree with but get off your a$$ and vote.

The only way we are gonna change the 2 party screw up we have is to stop voting it. As much as I hate him Ventura did that in a way here in MN.

This is a myth.
We have like 30 registered political parties in this country, but being a free society that encourages competition...the top two parties usually end up in the "championship game." Our whole society is a two party system---American League vs National League, AFC vs NFC, North vs South, East vs West etc. etc.

We have the same two parties because the essence of politics is compromise. When we vote we compromise. If our ideal candidate is not on the ticket we vote for the the one who's close, or we vote against the one we can't stand.

 

[ruffryder]

Gentlemen, in all seriousness you need to read up on the history of this issue. The popular vote is the WORST thing that could possibly happen to this country. Our country's founders were wise, brilliant men who understood that public opinion was volatile. We have survived for 232 years because we are a Republic and not a pure Democracy. The Electoral College was devised (along with the Senate: see Great Compromise) to specifically protect the interests of lightly populated states (like where you live & ride). If not for the EC Presidential elections would be decided by the 10 most populous states which happen to be overwhelmingly liberal.

So if you want your "western" way of life dictated to you by New York, New Jersey and Massachusettes etc. go ahead and persist with this utterly retarded idea.

Great post and very good points....

 

[SnowSnob]

Now I never said i was voting Obama....not a chance. Just not sure I'm going McCain.

People that say it is wasted are only perpetuating the two party system. It is just another means of keeping everyone in line and to make sure a third party or some other group doesn't get into power...-that's what I tried explaining to my wife but she won't buy it.

The only way we are gonna change the 2 party screw up we have is to stop voting it. As much as I hate him Ventura did that in a way here in MN.

I'm in the same boat as you, but like South Park explained you'll always have to choose between a douche and a turd sandwich.
Right now I'm with Blu, I'm not voting cause if I vote Republican my wife will divorce me.

 

[xrated]

good point spindrift...never thought of it as playoffs.

 

[brushwolf]

There is no wasted vote unless you are voting for osama, I mean obama... Seriously, Your vote is not necessarily wasted if you vote for a third party canidate. It depends upon your particular state. Here in Mn if a party can muster 5% of the vote total they are then recognized as a party on the ballot and their canidate will get His or her name on the ballot next to their party affiliation. So, you can see where you can help get a third party recognized and that can onmly be a plus for democracy. If a third party canidate never gets eleced but gets enough of the other paarties attention then it's likely they will pay more attention and we can get some things done that we would not otherwize realize.

 

[brushwolf]

p.s. sometimes this recognition helps to bring the third party canidate to the debates and adds another voice that may not otherwize be heard.

 

[mattymac]

If there was a third joker running that didnt have even a close shot then thats who to vote for in this scenario (like when ross perot sp? ran)

Because the two front runners and their politcal campaign team will look at it as a truely lost vote and will work harder to get those votes next time.

 

[SAWYER]

It's election year? huh guess I should climb out from under my rock