I wont vote until i can vote as efficiently as on american idol.

move to Oregon, you could be voting right now! (while watching a rerun of Idol, if you were so inclined.)

Everyone in Michiganistan will enjoy this...

Yo man, F*** voting. I'm tired of picking between Duchebag A and Duchebag B and having any vote thrown at an independant classed as a "throwaway vote". It's about time we had another revolution. Just figured i'd throw that out there. Peace, love and harmony everybody.

if you don't vote, you can't/shouldn't complain. i will dutifully go re-up my right to be a constant complainer.

joking aside, i really am square enough to think that this is a right, a privilege, and a duty that we have. one of the real benefits of living in the u.s. is that we as individuals have a real (if very small) impact on who serves as our representatives in government. the more of your friends of similar political persuasion you convince to go to the polls, the more impact you have.

it's spelled d-o-uchebag... come on.

Steven, I wish i felt that way any more, but i just don't. I really did use to think if i voted, and my friends voted, it would make much difference, but i just don't know anymore. And sorry about the spelling error pen, ill be sure to get it right next time. d-o-u-c-h-e-b-a-g.

Evil, if you are in fact in Chicago, you'll be voting next tuesday no matter what. Is that one vote or two for Stroger (Jr.)?

IF YOU WANT DEMOCRACY, MOVE TO IRAQ

I'll be voting, assuming the Cook County board of elections sends me my voter registration card in time... I even registered as a Democrat, so you'd think they would have sent me five or six cards by now.

I was about to post "If you don't go vote, you don't get to complain", and Steven beat me to it! Is it any wonder we're friends?

And he's absolutely right - if you don't get out and try in some small way to make things better, you're just a grumpy old man yelling at the kids to get off his lawn.

Apurimac, I just heard that 20 million American women didn't vote last presidential election. Twenty million votes would ahve gone a long way towards choosing a more women- and family-friendly administration. If you feel like one vote doens't matter in the scheme of things, rememebr the adage about cockroaches (and mice): if you see one, there are 100 more in close range. If everyone who feels like their "one vote" doesn't make a difference will go vote, then a difference will most likely be seen.

In Portland they did this tiny little community-building thing on election day: at the polls, after you voted, you got a little round yellow sticker to put on your lapel that said "I voted today!". Seeing tons of people walking around with these little stickers made you feel like you were a part of something, an active participant in this country's ideals. Shelve the cynicism, jjust try it, and go vote.

And Apurimac, I'm not saying a revolution wouldn't be a good thing too! But unless you're planning the overthrow in the next seven days. I'd suggest voting this go-round and continuing work on your plans in the upcoming years.

if nothing else, take an extra hour off of work to go vote. get a coffee, head for the polls, and stroll into work an hour late. it'll make it feel worth it if you don't already believe in voting.

Yeah, but the candidates just, uh... I'm tired of voting for the lesser of two evils. I think I'll vote if a candidate comes along that I actually like, but I haven't seen one of those in a long while, but im still young so hey...

Gin, I think just mentioning that you're a democrat will get you into any voting place you want in the city of chicago - (you could even vote in multiple places, so that you can "compare and contrast")

you don't get what you vote for, you get what you don't vote for.

Here is my rule. Anyone with the opportunity to vote and doesn't can stfu for the next 2 years about ANYTHING dealing with politics or what the government is doing to you. oh and FYI if your a student and you don't think it affects you, well good luck paying back your student loans for the next 15 years.

Apurimac voting for Clinton when he first ran was the only time I've ever voted for someone instead of against someone. As Cameron says, you get who you don't vote for too.

And say you're hanging with your friends, and someone asks who you voted for. if you say Candidate A, half the room will be mad at you and half won't. If you say "i didn't bother", everyone will be mad at you, and call you a wuss besides.

Yeah, but, I'm sorry it's like no matter who you vote for they just turn out terrible. I know this affects me, I know this affects us all. These people run our lives from a government perch that was initially designed to be un-intrusive into our lives and now look at the situtation. Our freedom's are being erroded away. This war has turned us into a debtor nation, and for what, so some Iraqi's can know "freedom"? We have a congress that aside from molesting some boys (and i TOTALLY saw that coming) just keeps divvying up the wealth amongst themselves... So where is the white night in shining armor im supposed to vote for? Sorry if my posts are causing controversy, I'm feeling quite apathetic today.

you could also run.

no-one would vote for me, few words of political doom, "legalize it", "stop spending american tax money to drop bombs on brown people we have no beef with", "flat tax"... i really should shut up.

Agreed, it sucks to be voting for the person you think will be the least terrible. But somewhat terrible is better than super horrendously terrible, right?

I agree with everything you post re: our personal freedoms, us beggaring ourselves, politicians only looking out for themselves, etc. as they relate to our federal government.

But on a loccal level - and I mean your local council people, your state reps, etc. - there will definitely be people who speak more closely to your beliefs than others. It takes work to edcuate yourself to their views, but nothing comes easy and as an architect you should be a bit tenacious anyway, right? There will be no white knight - just a slow movement in the right direction brought about by thousands of small acts.

I'd vote for all those things!

Your words seem to be moving me, mayhaps i will check the local mudslingers to see which GOP/dem may actually seem like a half decent human being.

actually, "legalize it" IS on my ballot! Which brings up the point, there is much more on the ballot than voting for congressmen, which can feel hopeless.
Yes I will be voting.

Just checked the local political scene, nobody's up for change in the district im in and the govenor race back home is pretty much on lockdown. Guess i should try to keep my mouth shut till '08.

Mayhaps is an excellent word, Apurimac. Good luck finding someone more human than reptile to vote for!

i think that in america, land of the free, choosing not to vote is a perfectly valid of participating. i also feel that if a majority of eligible voters choose not to vote for any of the candidates then that should be interpreted as some kind of indictment and that specific election should be nullified...an "unbloody" revolution so to speak. i'm not a enough of a political guru to offer any practical suggestions as to how to facilitate such a system but i have a very strong disliking of the current two-party shitfest that we're presently trapped in.

and for what it's worth, i've only voted once in my life and that was in 2004 when i cast a ballot against george w bush (voted kerry) because i hate that little fucker so much.

I once heard in the good ole days: It was vote early and vote often, that was before they closed the bars on election day.

Awww, sorry to hear that (you posted before I did). But even checking your local races is a step toward voting! Good job!

Since leaving boston 16 years ago, i haven't had the privelege of voting for a more polarizing congressional figure then Barney Frank. Now I get to vote for Keith Ellison. The first muslim candidate for US congress.

Just the sort of thorn that the jingoistic 'stay-the-course' evangelicals will hate. YEAH!

and who say's a vote doesn't count???

I was going to vote for Lieberman cause you know he went independent so he could more fairly support the Republican Cause. Then I decided maybe I shouldn't vote for him cause I'm really looking forward to the Next Presidential Election where I think Joe Liberman and Ralph Nader will make a run for the top to spots in the country. If he is elected I'm sure he will not have the energy or time to be an independent party senator and run for the top office or the second top office. I don't think they have figured out who will be the Presidential contender. In fact I hear it will most likely be determined by a flip of a coin.

I think i've heard about that race with the muslim guy. I heard he's trying to keep that very much under the radar. To expand on what puddles was saying, i think it might be interesting if in '08 NOBODY voted and instead we all went out blowing up party officies in a massive form of defiance to the "two party shitfest". It's fun to dream, but people aren't desperate enough these days to do that.

VOTE "V" IN '08!

your vote does count. in washington, the other washington, the dem christine gregoire won the governor's race by 129 votes.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_gubernatorial_election,_2004

more on voting:

Conservative columnist Ann Coulter has refused to cooperate in an investigation into whether she voted in the wrong precinct.

e.. gore won the election kerry won the election....by votes but that doesn't count if you ask the Republican Party.

Check out who the Ambassador to England. If I'm not wrong he was
the point man in Ohio. Then check out the big payback his company recieved for Foreign Dumping. Then check out the number two company, which by the way the number one company owns.

No recount ever happend in Ohio, and well we all know what happened in Florida where the Presidents brother runs the show.

First of all, if you don't vote you deserve the gov't you get. In addition, I'm not a fan of absentee voting. Nevermind the corruption that is possible through absentee voting. I feel if you care about who your elected officials are, you should make it a priority to be at the polls on election day, in person. It's how the founding fathers intended and is a civic responsibility. It makes me sad when people want easy voting like American Idol.

And Treekiller, I would caution a blind vote for Keith Ellison. Your comment scares me because I'm worried people think his race and religion are qualifications while they disregard his questionable affiliations, troubles with the law and weak political background.

That dovetails into people not voting, as I'd prefer a non-vote over uninformed voting that cancels out informed votes.

I will be voting, as usual, and I will be volunteering for my democratic candidates of choice until election day (whom I actually quite like this time around), but the nagging feeling in the pit of my stomach is due to my belief that the Repugnicans have stolen the last two elections and who's to stop them from stealing this one.?!? Clearly they have no regard for exit polls. It makes me sick to be optimistic because I was a ball of optimism last time and then the Wednesday after election day, I felt like I had been punched in the gut.

blind? never blind... worse of two evils? yes. is my vote matching my personal beliefs? no. we don't have a green party worth voting for. So who will do the better job in washington? who will be a bigger bee in the bonnet of the right-wing fanatics? who may distract everybody else, so the corruption may continue as usual?

I didn't say I like Keith, but I like the other guy even less. If I was still in Cali, then I'd have to be dealing with the governator.

My wife has observed that the dems have really bad hairdos while the gops have really good stylists. Any more thoughts about candidates hair?

Actually our local R incumbant has the worst comb-over I've ever seen.

Eddie Murphy was right - we need a none of the above on every ballot - and being out-voted by "none of the above" in an election should restrict you from being in public office for, say, 10 years...

ok, I was wrong- maybe it's just the female candidates

ok, I was wrong- maybe it's just the female gop candidates with good doos

i am voting straight socialist...

no gay socialists, vado?

I will be doing my part...at the F*cking "banana republic" which is S.Florida. Certainly will vote against the all time biggest "d-o-uchebag" Katherine Harris! who was at the center of the "re-cunt"

they haven't done an election right in this country since 1856.

before 1856, the bustling bubbling urbanization of birdville was the county seat of tarrant county, texas. a few miles to the west was a young but already dying former fort that was badly in need of a few settlers and a reason to exist. so someone got the idea to move the county seat there.

they had an election. and birdville's opponents showed up in birdville with a barrel of whiskey -- but aha, you had to vote first.

fort worth: population 750,000
birdville: no longer exists

now that's democracy.

My wife voted today for a new President in Brazil. It is the law you must vote, even if your out of the Country. So she mails her vote in from here in the USA. If you don't vote you get fined. They also Vote on Sunday in Brazil, so it makes it as easy as possible to vote.

i like how they vote in oregon: by mail and only by mail

and voting is mandatory in australia, too