Rants

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Please Vote

Posted 20 October 2004

OK, this rant is really only addressed to the American citizens who visit my site, but that's a good percentage of you. In case you hadn't guessed from the title, this rant has one simple message: please vote!

Now, I'm not going to try to tell you who to vote for. I'm not a political analyst. And, frankly, if you're taking election advice from someone whose sole qualification is that he likes to wave his dick around on the internet, then I truly worry about our democracy. :) But I do hope to convince you that's it's vitally important that you get out to the polls on November 2, or that you mail your absentee ballot, or take advantage of the NASA downlink from the International Space Station, or whatever.

Every Vote Is Important

I won't say "every vote counts" because we know that's not true. Every year thousands of votes don't get counted. In Presidential elections, some votes count less than others thanks to the electoral college system. Elections are percentage games. Your single vote probably doesn't make a huge difference, but millions of single votes do.

If you live in one of the "battleground" states, you're probably already aware of how important your vote is this year. But even if you live in one of the states where the outcome is a foregone conclusion, your vote may prove more important than you think. I'm willing to bet that there will be at least one "surprise state" this year -- a state that was sure to go to Bush will go to Kerry, or vice versa. This phenomenon happens because people believe the polls (which are notoriously innaccurate in high-voter-turnout years), and think their vote won't make any difference. The supporters of the candidate who is sure to win stay home, while the sure loser's supporters rally to the polls in surprising numbers. Yes, up until the polls close on November 2, any state can still go any direction.

"But I Don't Like Either Candidate"

Hey, join the club. Ask most people at the polls why they voted the way they did, and most will tell you they chose the lesser of the two evils. But there's a better alternative to staying home:

Throw your vote away!

That's right. Throw it away. It's far, far better to go to the polls and write in a Disney cartoon character than it is to not vote.

The reason is this: political parties always look at what votes they didn't get. When the election is close (which the polls predict this one is going to be), those "thrown away" votes force the parties to wonder why the people who threw away their vote didn't vote for their candidate.

In the 2000 election, Ralph Nader pulled more votes than George Bush won by. Many people believe that if Nader hadn't run, all those people who voted for him would have voted for Gore, and Gore would have won. (I'm more inclined to believe that they simply wouldn't have voted, but we'll let the parties believe what they want.) As a result the Democrats were forced to consider what parts of Nader's platform appealed to voters, and that analysis pulled the party more in that direction. The same phenomenon occurred in 1992 with Ross Perot and the Republicans. (O.K., I couldn't vote in 1992, but I was still paying attention.)

And this year there are plenty of third-party candidates to choose from. For a full list you can visit Politics 1's 2004 U.S. Presidential Election Page, or here's a short list of the ones who are on the ballot in enough states that they could conceivably win the election:

Michael Badnarik (Libertarian Party, 49 states)
Michael Anthony Peroutka (Constitution/American Independent Party, 36 states)
Ralph Nader (independent, 35 states)
David Cobb (Green Party, 28 states)

You never know, if enough other people throw their vote away on that third-party candidate, they may actually win!

But whether you're leaning toward one of the two major-party candidates or a third-party candidate, take some time to learn about the positions and track records of all the candidates. Then vote for whoever you think would make the best President.

Oh, and for those of you who don't really know how do define yourself politically, there's a Libertarian group called Advocates for Self-Government that publishes The World's Smallest Political Quiz. It takes about a minute and it's surprisingly accurate and informative. The quiz concludes with a breakdown of what they consider to be the five basic political philosophies. And don't worry, even though it's a Libertarian organization, they don't try to sell you on their philosophy unless you wander into other parts of the site. :)

Remember the Initiatives

So, let's say you've researched every candidate on your ballot, and you still can't bring yourself to vote for any of them. There's one last reason to go to the polls: the ballot initiatives.

Every election (here in California even the primaries) contains some additional ballot measures. Do you want your taxes raised to pay for more emergency rooms? Vote on it. Do you want the city to re-zone the waterfront to allow for a giant sports stadium? Vote on it. Do you want the town to go a million dollars into debt to put a $100,000 addition onto the high school? Vote on it. It's your home. It's your money. You should have something to say about it.