enough already

[kitanzi]

Yep, I voted - I got an absentee ballot and sent it in weeks ago.
Good fucking thing, too, because frankly the number of people on my friends list who are haranguing everyone to get out and vote is giving me a strong contrary urge not to.
Say you voted - say you think voting is a good thing, it is. It's vital, and that's exactly why I got an absentee ballot and made sure to get mine in, but enough already on the strident shove-it-down-your-throat approach. I really doubt I'm the only contrary person around right now resisting the urge to do just the opposite of what I think is reasonable and sane simply because I'm feeling nagged half to death.

Comments

[otherdeb.livejournal.com]

I wish I had thought of getting an absentee ballot and mailing it in. Maybe next time.

I cannot mention how strongly I agree with you about those on my flist who not only insist you vote, but either say or imply that you are an idiot who should be committed for your own good unless you vote the way they think you should. Last I looked, the mandate is to vote, not to vote the way anyone else thinks you should.

It's almost enough to make me stop reading my flist for a few days; especially those who I know are going to harangue others both during and after the elections.

[redaxe.livejournal.com]

Sorry you're feeling that way. As a fellow contrarian (ask me sometime how long it took to read HHGG, of which my college group had one copy, meaning I'd already heard it quoted for weeks before I even had a chance at it), I grok. (three years, FWIW)

On the other hand, so many people feel so strongly about this election AND know that there are folks who need as many reminders as possible before voting that we keep putting out reminders for your polar opposites.

Most importantly, before I forget, thank you for voting.

[jhayman.livejournal.com]

Guilty. Sorry. No, not sorry. Hey, we have elections next Monday. Feel free to return the nag (not that *I* need it).

[technoshaman.livejournal.com]

Election? Is this provincial, or...?

[jhayman.livejournal.com]

All the municipalities in this province. I don't know about other provinces. If "all politics is local"... but their not. Nonetheless even fewer come out for municipal elections than for the others.

[poltr1]

Thank you for voting. It wasn't my intention to nag.

Now that you have voted, you have the right to bitch about the results. :)

[madfilkentist]

That is precisely what gets to me: the claim that if you find both/all of the candidates totally disgusting and don't grant approval to either of them, you have somehow forfeited your rights.

This "logic" "proves" that everyone approves of one or the other of the candidates, or else does not have the right to express an opinion. Thus, the Lootercrats and the Repugnicans have 100% approval between them -- by those who have the "right" to an opinion.

Nice little game. I'm not buying into it.

[joyeuse13.livejournal.com]

That's why I wish there was a "none of the above" option on the ballots. I bet more people would vote if they could express their utter disdain for all candidates.

[autographedcat.livejournal.com]

There are few places where you are restricted to the cantidates listed. Most ballots have a write-in provision. So nothing's *really* stopping you.

[joyeuse13.livejournal.com]

Yes, but it's not an officiallly recognized position. It gets counted as "voted for x," not "voted for no one."

[autographedcat.livejournal.com]

But the complaint is "There's no one on the ballot I want to vote for". So vote for someone you like. Surely there's someone in the wide world you'd WANT to vote for?

[joyeuse13.livejournal.com]

No, that's not the complaint--the complaint is, "There's no way for me to say, 'all of your candidates stink!'" I don't want to offer a better candidate--I want to say that the major parties--the ones who actually have a chance of winning--should come up with some better ones themselves, or they won't get my vote.

[autographedcat.livejournal.com]

At the polls is the wrong time to send that message. You want to get involved in the mechasism of the party of your choice and work with that organization to help cultivate the good canditates and advance them.

Participatory democracy is hard work, and requires a lot of time and effort on the parts of the participants. Voting is quite literally the *least* you can for the system.

[joyeuse13.livejournal.com]

Right, in my copious spare time, I'll beat my head against *that* brick wall. I don't see why the polls is the "wrong time."

[autographedcat.livejournal.com]

Good grief.

Let's just agree to disagree, at this point.

[technoshaman.livejournal.com]

Sorry if the rah-rah was a bit much for you...

I was quite seriously contemplating just what to do if we lost. Fortunately, I don't think I'll have to come up with the details.

Thanks for doing your bit... and thanks for keeping us firebrands straight. We do get a little wound up. :}

[madfilkentist]

That was my reaction too. I made a few changes to my friends list, which I'll probably revert when the disgusted reaction subsides.

Yesterday was the first time in many years I had voted. I voted for only one candidate, a write-in, and on two questions. The reason I voted was that I've become very interested in the potential of voting machines for fraud, and wanted to experience voting first-hand to see how much it may have changed. (In New Hampshire it hasn't changed much. By law there must be a paper trail, and I marked a paper ballot which was fed into a reading machine. No Diebold machines with secret proprietary software.)

Elections in the US have become a means by which people try to grab other people's money, or control other people's lives. The Democrats do a bit more of the first, the Republicans a bit more of the second. But either way, it's gang warfare by mutually accepted rules to avoid overt bloodshed (and isn't even succeeding so well at that these days). By voting for either participant in such a battle, I'd just be granting legitimacy to their power-grabbing.

If people want to disagree with me on that, fine. When they demand that I vote and call me "idiot" if I don't, I'm not going to waste my time reading anything else they have to say.

[annonynous.livejournal.com]

a) Nagged only half to death? Wait a week or so 'til the pollyticks are gone and the holiday hucksters get into full swing. The papers are getting full and fuller of ads (as, I suppose, the TV is), but the hucksters are just getting going. At least they'll be obnoxious but not slinging mud.

ii. Someone (autographeddoc?) recently posted about the responsibility to vote. I'm not sure about that. It's a right, and a very basic one, but not one that *has* to be exercised. There are, of course, consequences if one chooses not to exercise that right. :(

3) All this being said, Chosen One and I voted yesterday (Tuesday, actually), by hook or by crook. Or should I say by wheelchair and walker? But we voted. And a reward trip to Dairy Queen followed. :) Chosen One was already sick, and I took her to the Emergency Room that evening. She stayed overnight and was then admitted in-patient, where she is now, and doing a bit better.

IV. To all who *did* vote, regardless of whether I agree with your votes, thank you for voting. It's a little thing that can help keep America from becoming Something Other Than What It Has Been. Sleep well, but with one eye open.

Ann O. [stepping down off soapbox]