Poll: Are you registered to vote?

frist prost... i mean, first pirst, i mean...

bah

Oh, grood. I mean good. And great. Good and great.

I just voted in my town's mayoral primary last night.

I saw in this morning's paper that only about 2,000 people voted. In a town of� 28,000 people, that's pathetic.

i there some election coming up?� Is that where the idea for this poll came from?

well, since you're in washington its really and i mean *really* simple to figure out if there is an election coming up. its a two step process...

1. resigistering to vote (which you can do very very easily when you get your license to drive.. just check a box here)

and

2. when you're doing that, you can check another box which says "make all my ballots absentee ballots"

.. and whalah! you get in the mail a ballot every time there is an election. in the major elections you even get a nice little printed book that describes all the things you'd be voting for and pros/cons for each.. as well as descriptions of each of the candidates.

I read in yesterday's paper that there was a 22% turnout. One of the election officials was quoted as saying that it was a good turnout given the rain. PATHETIC.

pathetic isn't a strong enough word for that kinda of pure tripe, actually ... but he's involved in politics, so i suppose we have to give him the benefit of the doubt ...

�-= george =-

I'm not even slightly interested in voting.� I feel like whomever is voted in is fine, I can live with it.

Who gets elected can make enormous differences in people's lives including your own. It can often even be a matter of life and death for some.

A matter of life or death?? How so?

Government policies can be a matter of life of death in many ways. Most people reading this first thought of making war, where the government has clearly caused the death of someone. I was thinking of that but even more so the more indirect things that the government does. For example, during the Carter administration there was an all out effort to erradicate TB in this country through an aggressive vaccination policy. The policy was quite effective and if had continued in a few more years TB would have become a raritly contacted outside the country. Reagan thought the program cost too much money and abandoned it. The chance was lost and with the spread of Aids TB had a huge comeback. The resevoir of the disease wouldn't have been there if the policy had been continued.

There are subtlers ways that that. Poverty kills people in many ways and the government has a huge effect on the economy and on how the wealth is distributed.

Two other big areas are evironmental and safety regulation. There are huge differences on the policies of the major parties on these issues and elections therefore shape the way the government treats them.

Jeebus!� If I remember, I'll register to vote when I move.

I will register to vote when there is a person running that I would want in office. I just don't like the whole "lesser of the evils" attitude.

hopefully you won't take this the wrong way, but you might...

you see, if you don't register to vote and you don't vote (i.e. in the primary of the party that you're registered - alas they just got rid of the blanket primary here) than someone else will pick the the person that will be running for that party (i.e. not you, of course voting doesn't guarentee that you win, but that you at least have a say). more likely than not, these other people will probably not pick someone that you like (not having done it in the past presumably), esp. knowing that you are neither going to help or hurt them because you've already put yourself on the sidelines. so in effect, you are the cause of your own problem.

you don't help choose the people that run for office so nobody you like is running for office.

but hey, at least you can say that you've never had to vote for the lesser of two evils.

I didn't take it the wrong way. Part of it I just haven't really been all that interested in politics. I'm starting to follow things more now and do want to vote in the next presidential election. Another part of it is that I just never cared to look into things that much and some of it has to do with certain views on certain subjects and how I prioritize them. Now that I'm out of school I know I'll have to think more about taxes and all that since it will affect me more now than before.

I can't avoid politics (that whole working for a newspaper thing). By the time an election rolls around, it makes me feel less cranky to vote.

Where's the "Not provincially but federally" option? How about the "No, but I can still vote provided I bring photo ID and a phone bill" option?

what's this about a photo ID and phone bill?

You CAN make a difference.� And of course I wouldn't try to *vote Liberal* influence your vote *vote Liberal* in any way *vote Liberal* at all.

Seriously though, if Ernie Eves gets back in office expect tuition hikes and many more blackouts to come...

Already registered my provincial vote in the advanced poll since I'm going to be out of town on election day. I've never missed a chance to vote since I was old enough to vote :)

from "The Restaurant at the End of the Universe" by Douglas Adams...

The major problem - one of the major problems, for there are several - one of the many major problems with governing people is that of whom you get to do it; or rather of who manages to get people to let them do it to them.

To summarize: it is a well known fact, that those people who most want to rule people are, ipso facto, those least suited to do it.

To summarize the summary: anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job.

that's one of my favorite quotes from the whole series. 200 ZacquesPoints^tm

Whoo!!! I got points!!!

I find that Doug had words of wisdom for just about any situation in life.� So, if I'm in a quandry I always go to him for advice...Such a loss to humanity...

42.

gordon is channelling the voice of my conscience with this poll, as i've been procrastinating about changing my voter registration from CT to OH (or getting an absentee ballot or something), and am about to go to the library to get the necessary info.� all searches on the internet re: changing voter registration have led to *zero* useful results, which irks me.� if we're getting to the point where we can vote electronically, why can't we change our voting profiles electronically?� bah.

but yeah.� i vote.� and i think everybody should.� :D

the reason you can't change voter registration electronically is because of fear of fraud. Perhaps a system could be established but I can't see any way of establishing your identity online that doesn't involve either an in person visit or at least a snail mail letter to prove who you are.

yea, because the electronic voting machines are so secure...

http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=03/09/23/1235245&mode=thread&tid=103&tid=99

this is a good reminder, once i'm back home i need to change my registration to seattle from the boonies :)

What kinds of things do you vote for in the boonies, cow catcher?

i'm in spokane for the week, and the top news stories included a moose on the run on the south hill and a bear somewhere in the valley. i guess i didn't live in the boonies after all ;)

In Dallas which isn't exactly the boonies, the lead stories on the TV news are often the Cowboys and the weather.

hell yes I'm registered to vote. :)

i am registered and i vote, because despite the fact that people seem to think otherwise, each and every vote does matter.� the subjects also matter, whether they directly have an impact on the voter or not, since they could likely lead to other less savory things that -will- have an impact later on.� i won't even get into how important the right to vote is.

rock the vote, y0e.

�-= george =-

Represent, people too young! :P

There's an American election? didn't know. Cool. Maybe there'll be a non-moron President this time.

Only if you vote Libertarian. :)

In practicality, we'll get a moron. Either Bush or one of the nutjob Democrats out there (dear GOD I hope Bush's approval ratings stay strong so we don't get stuck with Hillary running).

I'm registered to vote and vote in every election, even local piddly elections. I tend to vote NO on alot of proposals, unless the proposal involves getting the government out of something.

The person I vote for usually loses by huge margins, but at least I can say that I voted my conscience and didn't vote for whichever yahoo gets elected. Most people are sheep and vote popularity anyways.

I'd like to see a Constitutional Amendment passed that said the following:
"If any public official, elected or appointed, is caught in a demonstrable lie to any person of the public, the offense will be punishable by death."

Maybe then we'd have some honest politicians, or at the very least, keep people in the noose business well employed. :)

I registered as a democrat, but someone in the process registered me in as an independent. Government dollars at work people!