Should everybody be allowed to vote?

[AxleIke]

Too true. Congress is for sale, and that never helps the little guy.

[wifesaysimadumbass]

the truly sad part of this whole conversation is that you guys are still thinking that your votes are actually counted and counted correctly ....! with political parties controlling voting districts and electronic voting machines.... you haven't had a real vote in years

[AxleIke]

[conspiracy theory]Aliens Exist!!! They are actually the real ones running the world. We all have mind control implants!!! AHHHHH!!!!![/conspiracy theory]

[BruceTS]

who said I even vote any longer

I found out after years of voting none of my votes were counted since I didn't place a vote on every topic.......card got rejected due to a no vote.....

[Texas Jim]

I like, Bob, and Ike, and you too Bruce, (<three stooges)lol, Feel it a huge disgrace to not vote!! Many and I do mean many fellow Americans have left their blood all over battle fields. I will not let their sacrifices be so idly forgotten!! It is too easy to forget those whose backs, blood and personal belief in freedom be passed away as if it didn't manner.

I am here to say that it has never been forgotten by myself!! I will not allow their memories be discarded in vain!!

I vote to honor them!! To do any less is a down right shame!!! If you don't vote you might as well get out of our country!!!

Go and buy an island, when others start telling you what to do with it, don't call the USA for any help!! Your not worth my time.... TJ

[Bob98SR5]

in the last 2 elections, its been so close that we've come to closely inspect (for a lack of a better word) the whole electoral college system. i forgot about those little details since civics and govt class in jr high and high school. i am sure if the democrats won, republicans would be screaming bloody murder about the electoral college system. but i think the good thing in all of this is that the last 2 elections have forced most americans a real world example of why you should vote and why you need to understand things like the electoral college system, and at a local level, the impact of things like redistricting.

imho, the biggest issue on the political table at the local and national level is the whole concept of "one party wins the whole state". This is a huge proposal going on here in CA where the state's electoral college reps vote democratic, but there are enough republican electoral college votes to make a big impact on the nation level:

California electoral-vote plan could sway 2008 presidential race<

By MICHAEL R. BLOOD, Associated Press Writer

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A Republican-backed ballot proposal could split left-leaning California between the Democratic and GOP nominees, tilting the 2008 presidential election in favor of the Republicans.

California awards its cache of 55 electoral votes to the statewide winner in presidential elections — the largest single prize in the nation. But a prominent Republican lawyer wants to put a proposal on the ballot that would award the statewide winner only two electoral votes.

The rest would be distributed to the winning candidate in each of the state's congressional districts. In effect, that would create 53 races, each with one electoral vote up for grabs.

California has voted Democratic in the last four presidential elections. But the change — if it qualifies for one of two primary ballots next year and is approved by voters — would mean that a Republican would be positioned the following November to snatch 20 or more electoral votes in GOP-leaning districts.

That's a number equal to winning Ohio.

The so-called Presidential Election Reform Act is being pushed by Thomas Hiltachk, a lawyer in a Sacramento firm that represents the California Republican Party and has worked with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. He did not return phone messages left Monday at his office.

A Schwarzenegger spokeswoman said the governor is not involved with the proposed initiative, and party officials said they have no connection to it.

Democratic consultant Chris Lehane called the plan "an effort to rig the system in order to fix the election."

"If this change is made, it will virtually guarantee that a Republican wins the White House in 2008," Lehane said in an e-mail.

Nineteen of the state's 53 congressional districts are represented by Republicans. President Bush carried 22 districts in 2004, while losing the statewide vote by double digits.

Only Maine and Nebraska allocate electoral votes by congressional district.

A draft of the proposed initiative says nixing the winner-take-all system would give presidential candidates "an incentive to campaign in California. ... Many of the geographic areas of the state would be as important to a candidate's chance for victory as many of the smaller states."

"We'll take a serious look at it, once it qualifies for the ballot," state Republican Party Chairman Ron Nehring said.

If it does qualify, Democrats probably would have to spend millions of dollars to defeat it, which could drain money from other races. And there are expected to be additional ballot proposals on abortion and other social issues that could drive up GOP turnout.

The state already moved its presidential primary to Feb. 5 in an attempt to increase its clout in national politics.

In that primary, Republicans will award delegates only to the top vote-getter in each congressional district. A Democrat can qualify for a delegate by winning at least 15 percent of the vote in a district.

***********

this is a huge proposal, and if passed, would radically change the electoral college count at the end of the presidential race.

bob

[BruceTS]

I like, Bob, and Ike, and you too Bruce, (<three stooges)lol, Feel it a huge disgrace to not vote!! Many and I do mean many fellow Americans have left their blood all over battle fields. I will not let their sacrifices be so idly forgotten!! It is too easy to forget those whose backs, blood and personal belief in freedom be passed away as if it didn't manner.

I am here to say that it has never been forgotten by myself!! I will not allow their memories be discarded in vain!!

I vote to honor them!! To do any less is a down right shame!!! If you don't vote you might as well get out of our country!!!

Go and buy an island, when others start telling you what to do with it, don't call the USA for any help!! Your not worth my time.... TJ

Trying to play the Patriotism card to make one feel guilty about not voting won't work, simply because the two don't go hand and foot. The best part about our system is we are allowed to choose and I chose not to participate in our corrupt government.

Give me the money to buy and island and I'd be more than happy to leave

as for using dead soldiers in an attempt to make one feel guilty....SHAME ON YOU

you might as well give up offroading, since your using environmentalist type tactics in an attempt to link unrelated issues.

Our voting system is woefully flawed, until a change is made why should I waste my time to just not have my vote counted?

[AxleIke]

While I agree that our voting system is antiquated and needs an overhaul, I'm curious as to what you think it should be changed to.

Basically, what would it take to make you vote?

Just for clarification, I ask this out of curiosity, not antagonistically.

Many I have talked to favor a direct vote count. I think this is fair, but acknowledge that there are some logistical issues to overcome, one big one being the constitution. Less appealing, but more logistically sound, would be to force all states to utilize what Bob mentioned above: basically you get the percentage of electoral college votes that you won in the popular vote.

While I respect your right to choose not to vote, I hope you'll change your mind.

[Bob98SR5]

i htink most americans are so apathetic to voting because they:

a) dont understand the electoral college process (i.e. the 'my vote doesnt count and candidate x actually won the popular vote!)
b) disgusted with the candidates
c) people dont go above and beyond in exploring political issues

there's probably a much longer list, but those are the three that come to mind.

so what i'm saying is that i believe most people are just plain uninformed and candidates take advantage of it. take any issue and candidates will boil it down into simple one liners that people squalk like parrots to their friends, coworkers, etc, when in fact, the one liner is devoid of any serious research or thought. its too bad so many people put such a half ass effort into exploring the issues and making informed voting decisions

bob

[BruceTS]

With the internet it would be quite easy to set-up a system so people can vote from their homes. The problem I encountered with the system using punch cards is if you don't punch out one item, your card got rejected, so none of the other issues or candidates I voted for were even counted. Over the years if I was unsure, I simply skipped that vote and voted on issues I knew about. I don't have the time to properly study all the candidates or propositions on the ballot, so for me it's a waste of time til the system is changed.