[USA] Tuesday is Election Day - Go Vote!

[ancestral]

Just a reminder to those of voting age and who are United States citizens, Tuesday, November 2nd is Election Day.

GO VOTE!

Why? Because there are some nasty politicians who don't deserve to be [re-]elected, and all the same there's some people who are actually trying to do some good in this world. You have the power to help choose who you want to represent you; people in many countries don't get this right.

• Don't know where to vote? Try this Google link.
• Who to vote for? There are many resources, one of which is the League of Women Voters. Also check your local newspaper (and perhaps their web sites) for voter guides. And try searching online for information about the candidates.
• Don't know when to vote? You can find times searching online for your state's voter web site or through a voting hotline. Polls open very early in most states. If you work Tuesday, in many states, employers are required by law to allow you enough time to go vote, and often you get paid for it, too. (In my state, it's 2 hours.)
• Need a ride to the polls? Ask a friend or neighbor! If you still need help, contact your political party (because they want your vote!) or check with your state's web site for non-partisan organizations.
• Not registered to vote? In some states you can register on Election Day just by bringing in a photo ID and proof of residence (electric bill or pay stub should work). Often another person can even vouch for you.

If in doubt, do a search online! You can learn a lot about a given race by spending a couple minutes reading about it.

(And if you're not of age or not a U.S. citizen but still interested in the races then check out the FiveThirtyEight blog for some awesome statistics-crunching.)

[Gambit]

I approve the colors in this case. It's very important. Even if you don't like any candidates, still go vote for the least evil (or least stupid if you live in Delaware). Not voting at all is just so dumb. If you don't vote then you can't whine later.

[pauxlo]

So, can I post a similar post when there are elections in any other country? Or is the US a special case (since they are the only superpower left)?

[doofus-01]

So, can I post a similar post when there are elections in any other country? Or is the US a special case (since they are the only superpower left)?

No. We're a special case.

On a more serious note, the predicted results for today's elections are highly influenced by the filter of "likely voter" versus "registered voter". The future will be decided in part by people just not bothering to vote, which is unfortunate. It's true that not everyone has the time to follow politics, but most of the choices aren't that subtle.

Another resource is ballotpedia.org. As a starting place if nothing else.

[Zachron]

I approve this message.

[johndh]

It's amazing how much voter turnout is affected by dumb things like whether or not it's raining. I'm not voting because I'm halfway across the state from where I'm registered, and it's too late to do an absentee ballot.

[ancestral]

It's amazing how much voter turnout is affected by dumb things like whether or not it's raining. I'm not voting because I'm halfway across the state from where I'm registered, and it's too late to do an absentee ballot.

How about voting in your current state? Some states (like, say, Minnesota) let you register the day of voting. (I'm confident you can be registered in multiple states, as long as you only vote in one.)

[Dunno]

And can I ask you (out of curiosity) who are you choosing now? President? Gee, your fancy American system is very confusing

[Anonymissimus]

The house of representatives (always for 2 years) and 1/3 (for 6 years) of the senat are elected as well as many governers in the various states. I wonder whether US press writes such a lot about elections in Germany.
The federal and election system in Germany is about as confusing as that one however.

@Gambit, your anti-tea-party stuff was fun to read; why did you remove it ? Have you been told to do so ?

[Joram]

The elections were intentionally broken up to prevent a sudden and dramatic shift in power. Right now it varies from state to state, but we've got senatorial elections in some and/or governor elections. We've also got Representative elections every even numbered year, and presidential elections every other even numbered year (so only those divisible by four; not this year).

Sadly, we're stuck with Obama for at least another two years. Not that anything would be gained by shoving him out early, since his replacement would probably be only marginally better at best (look at me! Aren't I so cool for hating all of our politicians? )

[lmelior]

It's amazing how much voter turnout is affected by dumb things like whether or not it's raining. I'm not voting because I'm halfway across the state from where I'm registered, and it's too late to do an absentee ballot.

How about voting in your current state? Some states (like, say, Minnesota) let you register the day of voting. (I'm confident you can be registered in multiple states, as long as you only vote in one.)

He's still in the same state, but his home precinct is likely far away. He could try a provisional ballot (I believe all polling precincts must have them), but chances are it would get tossed out. Not sure how it works since the local issues are probably different.

And can I ask you (out of curiosity) who are you choosing now? President? Gee, your fancy American system is very confusing

It is indeed! As others have said, we have elected positions in the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of our state and various forms of local governments. Further, we have various proposed laws at the state and local levels.

Me, for example, at the federal level I'm voting for:
- one of our two Senators
- the Representative from my district

At the state level, I'm voting for:
- Governor
- Secretary of State/Vice-Governor
- Attorney General
- Senator and Representative from my particular district
and several others

At the local level I'm voting for various district judges, local school board members and several others.

As far as proposed laws go I'm voting on whether or not to legalize medical marijuana in my state, and nine other state-level propositions. I'm also voting on whether to raise property taxes in order to increase local funding to my city's school system.

[johndh]

How about voting in your current state? Some states (like, say, Minnesota) let you register the day of voting. (I'm confident you can be registered in multiple states, as long as you only vote in one.)

He's still in the same state, but his home precinct is likely far away. He could try a provisional ballot (I believe all polling precincts must have them), but chances are it would get tossed out. Not sure how it works since the local issues are probably different.

Yep, that's the story. I live in a long state, and my hometown is a few hours away from where I'm going to school. I just need to pay better attention to the calendar in 2012.

[Gambit]

@Gambit, your anti-tea-party stuff was fun to read; why did you remove it ? Have you been told to do so ?

I didn't want to 'jack the thread. I reread what I posted and I realized that if someone else had done that I probably would have kicked them out of the thread. Unacceptable to take this neutral thread and turn it into a political debate when its actual message is so very very important.

But I could not live with myself if I didn't keep spreading some awareness of just how dumb the tea party is, (Hey the election is over! It's truth time!) so I kept the jab at O'Donnell because she is the dumbest of the dumb.

So to recap my original for you guys; the tea-partyers almost universally believe the following:

-Abortion should be illegal with no exceptions. Not for rape. Not for incest. Not if it would kill the mother. Not even if it would kill the mother and the child! What kind of sense does that make?
-Muslims attacked America on 9/11.
-Medical birth control should be illegal.
-We should attempt to impeach president Obama and block anything else until we get that done.
-Net Neutrality is the government trying to take over the internet.
-Being gay is a choice "like alcoholism" and is pretty much equal to adultery.


Some of the crazier ones believe things like this:

-If not elected we should form a militia and rebel.
-If not elected my state will secede.
-Scientists are crossbreeding mice and humans to get mice with fully functioning human brains.
-Masturbation is adultery.
-Evolution is a myth because we don't see monkies giving birth to humans.


How these people got nominated is just... mind boggling. Really $faithinhumanity--

There were some idiot dem's too. Alvin Greene got stomped, as he should have. The guy answered every question any reporter ever asked him with "Jim DeMint started the recession".

[ancestral]

@Gambit: It's alright, I like to think that people who don't live in and aren't from the U.S. might be able to gain a little bit of knowledge about how U.S. elections work, and sharing a little bit of opinion is fine.

One of the good things about the election system is that it's always on the same day every year (the first Tuesday of November, unless that's November 1). Despite the voter issues that invariably happen here and there, it generally works well — volunteers staff the polls, political parties are aggressive with reminding and helping their voters to get to the polls, and ballot machines typically work fine.

Also, I think there's merit to voting for people directly to the office they're going for, which doesn't happen in parliamentary governments.

[doofus-01]

There were some idiot dem's too. Alvin Greene got stomped, as he should have. The guy answered every question any reporter ever asked him with "Jim DeMint started the recession"

I don't think Alvin Greene is good for making equivalences. Unlike O'Donnell, who bumped off the establishment candidate and blew the election for her party, Greene just wandered in off the street and beat some other nobody who wasn't going to win anyways. Greene didn't have a campaign or a base and didn't represent anything but the incompetence of the SC Democratic Party.

There may be Democratic/Liberal O'Donnells, but I'm not aware of them. Hopefully things will calm down and the O'Donnells of either side will go away (the ones that didn't get elected, at least).