Comments on: Wasting Votes

By: Busy is good. Slow is bad. « Broke

Busy is good. Slow is bad. « Broke — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 15:55:48 +0000

[…] decided that this blog needs to be wittier. I don’t know what to do. I can be witty, see here. But perhaps because I look at this blog like a diary, jotting down notes and keeping track of what […]

By: Tim Baer

Tim Baer — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 18:02:18 +0000

I’m thinking our founders set up the electoral college for a couple reasons.

Perhaps hand counting all those ballots would be hard.
Some states, like Maine, split electoral college votes. So this isn’t a federal thing, it’s a state thing.
Perhaps they thought that big states, like New York or Massachusettes wouldn’t be able to control the Federal Government. Giving all votes from one state to the winner would offset a large state’s influence.

By: A. Roenburg

A. Roenburg — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 17:14:17 +0000

We ~~Americans~~ U.S.ians live in a republic but want to pretend we live in a pure democracy. That’s why we have a strange, strange system like the electoral college. What were the founding fathers thinking? Weirdos.

Tongue-in-cheek doesn’t translate well over the internet.

By: Tim Baer

Tim Baer — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 16:09:06 +0000

Actually, Mr./Ms. Roenburg, this actually started as a comment on the “Why I don’t Vote” post but it grew so long I decided to make my own posty.

In the interest of full disclosure the above story is completely false. I made it all up. There was only one sign waver, a heavy-set black woman that was enthusiastic, and I did get coffee. In fact, I got three “I voted” stickers in case I needed to turn them for coffee or Chick-Fil-A sandwiches.

I guess the point, if there is a point, is that democracy is weird.

By: A. Roenburg

A. Roenburg — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 23:52:41 +0000

I’m not sure if my comment belongs on this post or “Why I Don’t Vote”, but I wholeheartedly agree with Daniel. Don’t want to vote for president? Read up on your local school board members instead!

By: Daniel

Daniel — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 22:43:13 +0000

Ha, Soma, you are a trip. You are correct though that voting in non-contested states is wasting your vote on the presidential election. It’s actually one of the reasons I never voted when I lived in Maryland. But if you live in a place where the local elections matter(normally urban areas, I didn’t live in them) then your vote can count for something… it can count in helping to put good people on school board or getting someone good on city council… or some state post. Unless those people are running unopposed. 8-/