VOTE EARLY !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[yllus]

Originally posted by: ShawnD1

Originally posted by: sportage
Since election day is not a national holiday giving people all the time to stand in lines and vote

You need to stand in line? Canada had an election about a week ago and I didn't need to stand in line. I should add that I live in a city with roughly 1 million people, so it's not some rural thing.

I stood in line for roughly twenty minutes. Voted at 7 PM or so and live in downtown Toronto.

Freakonomics had a piece on voter turnout and how electronic/mail-in voting actually decreases voter participation:

Why Vote?

The Swiss love to vote - on parliamentary elections, on plebiscites, on whatever may arise. But voter participation had begun to slip over the years, so a new option was introduced: the mail-in ballot. Whereas each voter in the U.S. must register, that isn't the case in Switzerland. Every eligible Swiss citizen began to automatically receive a ballot in the mail, which could then be completed and returned by mail.

Never again would any Swiss voter have to tromp to the polls during a rainstorm; the cost of casting a ballot had been lowered significantly. An economic model would therefore predict voter turnout to increase substantially. Is that what happened?

Not at all. In fact, voter turnout often decreased, especially in smaller cantons and in the smaller communities within cantons. This finding may have serious implications for advocates of Internet voting - which, it has long been argued, would make voting easier and therefore increase turnout. But the Swiss model indicates that the exact opposite might hold true.

But why is this the case? Why on earth would fewer people vote when the cost of doing so is lowered?

It goes back to the incentives behind voting. If a given citizen doesn't stand a chance of having her vote affect the outcome, why does she bother? In Switzerland, as in the U.S., "there exists a fairly strong social norm that a good citizen should go to the polls," Funk writes. "As long as poll-voting was the only option, there was an incentive (or pressure) to go to the polls only to be seen handing in the vote. The motivation could be hope for social esteem, benefits from being perceived as a cooperator or just the avoidance of informal sanctions. Since in small communities, people know each other better and gossip about who fulfills civic duties and who doesn't, the benefits of norm adherence were particularly high in this type of community."

In other words, we do vote out of self-interest - a conclusion that will satisfy economists - but not necessarily the same self-interest as indicated by our actual ballot choice. For all the talk of how people "vote their pocketbooks," the Swiss study suggests that we may be driven to vote less by a financial incentive than a social one. It may be that the most valuable payoff of voting is simply being seen at the polling place by your friends or co-workers.

 

[CallMeJoe]

SC, no early vote and strict restrictions on absentee ballots. I'm scheduling the day off so I can go mid-morning when the lines should be shortest.

 

[Born2bwire]

Eh, I voted a week ago.

 

[robphelan]

1st day of early voting in San Antonio.. 29,119 people voted eclipsing the previous record of 15,075

 

[chcarnage]

Originally posted by: yllus
Why Vote?

Apologies if this can be considered off topic, but I follow Swiss politics closely and maybe some of my conclusions about early vs. late voting apply to the American election, too...


First I doubt that the mail-in ballot accelerated the voter's disinterest. It is true that the Swiss society has changed and I think that by now very few cast their vote because of social pressure. By the way, to cast your vote at the voting place is very easy and a matter of sixty seconds, even before mail-in voting the places were always nearby but if you were unlucky you had to wait twenty minutes.

My opinion is empirically supported by the participation figures of the last national parliament elections (source in German but it's mostly statistics anyway). The one state that doesn't offer mail-in voting has no exceptional participation rate. (Tessin/Ticino 47.4% vs. national average 48.3%).


Second the statement that voting is economically irrational because the chance that one vote will be decisive is slim is economical tunnel vision. A legislative proposal that gets voted down with 52% is likely to re-enter the political process later in a modified form, but the political cost to do this after a 64% rebuttal is unbearable. To a certain extent this also applies to candidates.

Maybe the voters recognise this because participation is higher in national and controversial votes, than routine and municipal and state votes.


On a sidenote, one Swiss state has made voting mandatory mandatory and has constantly higher participation rates than the other states (65.3% in the last national election). The fine for abstinence is $2.60 per vote (3-4 times annually).

 

[Craig234]

Originally posted by: loki8481
well, if it's in all caps it must be true

never been a fan of early voting myself, something just seems weird about forgoing the ritualistic tradition of the entire nation voting on a single day.

Not as strange as all the things Republicans do to suppress the vote. Millions of votes go uncounted, thousands are supressed various ways. Vote early.

 

[Craig234]

Originally posted by: evident

Originally posted by: nixium
I never understood why voting days weren't on holidays. Wouldnt that be a way to get maximum voter participation?

they should make election day a holiday.

Yes they should, but one party doesn't want 'maximum voter participation'. Might get passed anyway at some point.

 

[Craig234]

Originally posted by: rudder
I just went ahead and scheduled to be off Nov 4th. Ever since joining ACORN they have been running me ragged and there is no way in hell I am going to try and squeeze in 25 votes after a long day at work.

Too bad you are a liar since ACORN is a great organization that has done nothing but register voters, nothing wrong.

 

[sportage]

something just seems weird about forgoing the ritualistic tradition

But here, there is no difference. You go in, get the ballot, stand in the little booth, make your selections, and as you leave you look at the others waiting in line to do the same.
Only difference its that you do it on October 15th, or 20th, or 21st, or 31st. You pick the day.
Same ritualistic tradition enacted.

Once I vote they don't give a shit what I think anymore

That too! You?re done. You can sit back and laugh at all the others.
Have a coke, relax, and take in a movie. :laugh:

That's a lot of exclamation marks. This guy is serious.

Probably was the film UNCOUNTED: The new math of American Elections 2008, that sunk in.
Watching people discover only two of the 15 voting machines were working at their precinct. Waiting in line for hours, then having to leave without voting to get to work or get the kids from school.
Watching the effect of power outages on voting at voting places, again with most not getting to vote.
Having voted all your life at the same place, then on Nov 4th being told you are not in the records as registered. A little late to correct things at that point.
Having to cast a "Provincial ballot ", only later to find they were not included in the final tally.
And who knows what Bush will have up his sleeve on Nov 4th to rig things for his side?
War, national guard, another attack, heart attack, national power outage, gas hike to $25 a gallon, stock market crash on Nov 2nd...?
The election of 2000 was not THAT long ago. Not to mention 2004.
And why risk another post from me on Nov 5th heading "I told you so". :roll: