Sick and tired of the LAME and PATHETIC excuses for not voting. Don't vote? Then don't BITCH!

[LBM20]

Last edited Mon Oct 15, 2018, 06:34 AM - Edit history (2)

Enough of the excuses. It is BULLSHIT. Young people and whomever else need to quit this sickening, sad, pathetic and totally inexcusable apathy, get off their asses, and go and VOTE. If that rotten piece of SHIT in the White House can't motivate them, then to heck with them. They absolutely deserve the SHIT they get.

MANY states have early voting in various forms. In Maine I have already voted. Put in for a mail-in ballot with a one-minute online form. They sent it to me. I filled it out in my kitchen. Sent it back in. DONE. SIMPLE. People here can also go vote early at their town/city halls from now to election day, and some places also have special early voting days at large community centers.

Even if you vote on election day, there are rides to the polls. Polls stay open until 7 or 8pm. Plenty of time. You can take kids. Or have someone watch the kids for a little while as you go vote.

Registering to vote is not hard. Know the deadlines and just stop by your town or city hall or DMV. Some states like Maine have same-day voter registration and voting. If there are any glitches, there are provisional ballots.

Not hard. ZERO excuses. I voted absentee overseas in the service arting at age 19 and then absetee when out of state all through college and grad school. NOT HARD.

[qazplm135]

1. Noooo

They have to be inspired!!!!

[LBM20]

2. Seriously? We have candidates all over "inspiring" them and Herr Trumpenstein in the White House.

Enough. They need to turn off xbox and get off their asses!

[qazplm135]

9. No

Not seriously in that I think that makes sense.

Yes seriously in that it appears to be the only way to motivate them.

[LBM20]

14. With every respect, if all that is going on can't motivate them then nothing will.

[qazplm135]

23. Probably

Which is why chasing after the youth vote is often problematic.

[Hortensis]

40. Perhaps Trump's promise to resume child-family separations

on a large scale the other night will inspire some, among those who notice. Being driven to the polls, as opposed to our chasing, begging, and coaxing with uninspiring promises of such things as higher wages and affordable college.

22 days now, and we find out.

[bearsfootball516]

3. Other than Vietnam, young people have NEVER voted.

It’s not a “this generation” thing, which is why attacking this current generation of young people makes no sense.

It’s ALWAYS been this way with young voters.

[qazplm135]

10. Prior generations

Didn't pretend to be woke or political.

If you talk but don't walk, criticism follows.

[violetpastille]

31. Oh yes.

Yes they did.

Oh my goodness yes, they did.

[qazplm135]

32. not to the present degree

nor were they courted to the present degree.

[violetpastille]

33. My Perspective

On those born from 1946 to 1964 is that they have been the subject and object of "courting" their entire lives.

There is a new cohort in town.

And they are the direct descendants of the first.

If scolding your kids in real life gets no purchase, why think it will work online?

[qazplm135]

35. Nothing works

I'd concentrate elsewhere.

[violetpastille]

36. There is a force

Coming up.

The oldest are about 24 now. They are the kids that have never lived without internet.

They are shrewd (wary) observers of Millennials. I think we ask 15 year olds. Put them in charge of some focus groups.*

They know a lot more about the subject than anyone else.

Who do you think Millenials are spending all their time on Tumblr with? It's not Mom and Dad. It's High School kids.

*(In example: The Parkland Kids are not Millennials. They are very different. They are Gen Z.)

[LBM20]

38. The problem is way too many are coddled instead of scolded. It's LAZY INEXUSABLE SHAMEFUL APATHY.

[LBM20]

15. "Always been this way" is still no excuse. If you don't vote, don't complain.

[RobinA]

41. Do You Have Some Numbers

for this? I'm not being snarky, I am genuinely interested in the young people voting trends and have not been able to find anything that really sets it out. Coming of age in the '70's, we all wanted to vote, so my experience my not be indicative of the rest of history. I have a niece and nephew in their 20's and they have voted since they were able, but I understand that is no longer the norm.

[EffieBlack]

4. When I first started voting, my parents and elders would have laughed in my face

if I whined about being "inspired" before I would vote.

I never expected to be inspired it to have a candidate kiss my ass. I just paid attention and voted for the person I thought would be better.

Since when did elections turn into young people encounter sessions?

[radical noodle]

6. Same here Effie!

There are always enough issues to make an informed decision about who to vote for.

[LBM20]

16. Exactly! I voted absentee the first time at age 19 when I was overseas in the service. NO EXCUSES!

[LBM20]

22. I hear ya! "Inspire me! Insprire me! Inspire me! Wah Wah Wah...!" as they pound fists. PATHETIC!

[marble falls]

5. Somewhere in a pre-iron-age cave this exact paragraph was carved by beating a piece of granite into

the limestone walls. Then they schmeered each other in red ochre and ate a mastodon.

First political campaign picnic.

[elocs]

7. I absolutely agree.

It seems that Republicans tend to look at voting as their duty. Who knows how many hundreds of thousands of Republicans who didn't like Trump but still voted for him because nominations to the Supreme Court were important to them and that worked out well in their choice.
Way too many voters on the Left are like little children and need to be excited or motivated to cast their ballots. We've been hearing about how so many young people are fired up now but unless they show up and vote next month it is just hot air.

My state of Wisconsin got handed over to the Republicans in the 2010 midterm election when it was totally controlled by the Democrats when too many voters on the Left just couldn't be bothered to turn out and vote. Walker was elected governor and Russ Feingold lost his Senate seat.

When we abdicate our responsibility to vote in every election then those who choose not to vote do get what they deserve along with the rest of us who did vote and don't deserve what we are getting.

[LBM20]

19. Thanks!

[Mariana]

24. Actually, in 2016, Republicans were very inspired.

They didn't vote for Trump out of any sense of duty, or just because he had an "R" after his name. Not at all. They absolutely loved Trump, and they love him still. They'll enthusiastically vote for him again if given the chance.

[RobinA]

42. Anecdotally Speaking,

I know plenty of people who voted for Trump because of the (R). Those people nowadays are pretty quiet, but i have no doubt that they will vote for him again. They were brought up that you vote R and never D. I have actually convinced my mother that R isn't what it once was (she came up in the '40's) and gotten her to reregister. She HATES Trump. But she does come from a background where voting D was just something you never did. That was for Catholics and unionists. My area is actually purple these days because it used to be mostly people like my mother, but they aren't wingers so some switched to blue when the Rs went nuts. I am in PA in Montgomery County, which I never expected to go Trump. However, I noticed when I voted that between him and anti-Hillary, all kinds of trash I had never seen at my polling place came out of the woodwork.

[NewJeffCT]

47. That is what Fox News does for Republicans

I knew plenty of Republicans in 2004 that held their noses and voted Bush because Fox News and RW talk radio had so successfully demonized John Kerry (and John Edwards) that they were afraid not to vote for Bush. I remember talking to a Republican leaning guy the next day after the 2004 selection that said he disagreed with Bush on almost every issue, but voted Bush because he hated trial lawyers even more and John Edwards was a trial lawyer. One issue to him was more important than the Iraq War, privatizing Social Security, exploding deficits, etc.

Same thing with 2016 - Republicans were so scared of Clinton because of 20 years of hit jobs from Fox News and RW talk radio that they were afraid not to vote for Trump. (And, for the record, they would have demonized Bernie Sanders as well had he won the nomination)

[marylandblue]

8. Democracy is a rare form of government

And maybe it's rare because people don't actually want to participate in government. It's work, it requires thinking, it's messy, it requires commitment. Rather than berate people for not voting, we need to make the act of participation a valuable end in itself. Something worth the effort that is beyond "Trump will get you if you don't."

[qazplm135]

11. I generally think

Do this or get eaten by a bear pretty inspiring on its own.

I don't really need much more.

The value of voting is the best possible government.

There's no more value you can slap on their to entice people.

[marylandblue]

13. That's just not consistent with historically

Historically, people have tended to feel that their voice didn't matter and that the powers that be made it so. Which is why monarchies and oligarchies are by far the most common forms of government in history. The idea of democracy as the best form of government did not emerge until the early nineteenth century, and even then, lots of people were excluded by people who already had the vote.

[LBM20]

20. Well, if Traitor Don can't tell them that their vote matters then nothing will.

[qazplm135]

21. Nope

SOME people feel that way, others do not...e.g. old white people.

Thus why old white people continue to control this country well out of proportion to their numbers.

Yes there's voter suppression. Get past it. Stop whining about it and overcome it and that takes folks getting invested.

[marylandblue]

25. True, but I was speaking in context of those who don't vote

It would have been more clear I'd said "some." But I think the idea of participation in democracy was stronger in the past. Even with that, millions of people in every generation don't vote. If we don't keep it strong for the next generation, they will not see it's worth and it will be gone.

[qazplm135]

28. I guess my point is

it's time for those voters to get self-invested.

Young voters have been feted, courted, sought after, begged, pleaded, cajoled, talked up...and nothing changes unless an Obama is running.

It just feels like wasted energy better spent elsewhere.

[LBM20]

17. Then get off the video games and check out the candidates online. Sorry, no excuses. None.

[RobinA]

43. I See An Excuse

and I believe it is education. I'm the first one to roll my eyes at the "voting is too hard" vibe. And YES, I know it is a problem for some people. I also don't think any group should have to be lured to the polls with treats in order to get them to vote. If you don't know how social security affects you you've missed the boat entirely. But by the same token, I don't believe our schools have given more recent generations enough understanding of the basic world around them for them to catch the boat without an above average amount of attention. They whine about how SS won't be there when they retire, but they don't see the connection between it not being there in 40 years and what happens now. This is the job of education, and it's falling down on the job.

[JonLP24]

12. What about the people that vote Republican

We criticize voters more than we do our politicians. That is terrible outreach good luck with that strategy.

[LBM20]

18. Thanks for helping my point. If people are concerned about Republicans, then GO VOTE. And these

non-voters should sure as hell care about them making their decisions for them because they are too lazy to put down the video games and cell phones and go vote. If they can spend countless hours staring at cell phone screens, and you know most do, then they can go vote. Zero excuse zone here.

[JonLP24]

26. I'm posting at DU on a phone right now

I also play the newer systems looking forward to Red Dead Redemption.

I do vote too but I can only vote once and it hasn't done me my much good since every time the electoral votes in this state go to the Republican.

I think it is more complicated than that why people don't vote than lazy most common reason is busy. We should have a national holiday for voting or follow Oregon's lead and do all mail in ballot. Then there is voter suppression.

---

The biggest reason given by non-voters for staying home was that they didn’t like the candidates. 2 Clinton and Trump both had favorable ratings in the low 30s among registered voters who didn’t cast a ballot — both had ratings in the low 40s among those who did vote. That’s a pretty sizable difference. So why was Clinton hurt more by non-voters? Trump was able to win, in large part, because voters who disliked both candidates favored him in big numbers, according to the exit polls. Clinton, apparently, couldn’t get those who disliked both candidates — and who may have been more favorably disposed to her candidacy — to turn out and vote.

---


More harmful for Clinton was which young voters stayed home: minorities. Among white voters, voters 18-29 years old made up 30 percent of voters who did not participate in the November election. Among young Hispanic voters, that climbs to 43 percent. Among young black voters, it was an even higher 46 percent. That generally matches the findings of the voter data released in some Southern states showing that young black voters were especially likely to stay home in this election. Younger black voters were far more likely to support Bernie Sanders in the primary, suggesting that there simply was not the enthusiasm for Clinton’s candidacy as there was for Obama’s in 2012. Clinton’s favorable rating, for instance, was about 10 percentage points lower among the youngest black voters compared to the oldest black voters in the SurveyMonkey poll.

Perhaps most important is the group that voted in much larger numbers than in 2012: white voters without a college degree. (Trump won this bloc 63 percent to 32 percent.) Generally speaking, college graduates are more likely to vote than non-college graduates, even when controlling for race. According to the Current Population Survey, whites without a college degree made up 44 percent of voters who cast a ballot in 2012, and 58 percent of registered voters who didn’t vote.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/fivethirtyeight.com/features/registered-voters-who-stayed-home-probably-cost-clinton-the-election/amp/

In any case I will vote as soon as the ballot arrives in the mail which should be any day now. I will check it a little later today. Might be here today.

I think this is more important because it affects those that want to vote.

2013 was pivotal for two reasons. First, it came after President Obama’s re-election, which shocked many Republicans and which depended—like Trump’s victory four years later—on new blocs of voters turning out in record numbers. According to Carol Anderson, author of One Person, No Vote: The Impact of Voter Suppression in America, the Obama coalition brought in 15 million new voters, mostly young people and people of color. 2012 was when the demographic writing was on the wall.

Second, 2013 is when the Supreme Court decided Shelby County v. Holder, which eviscerated the Voting Rights Act and made it much easier for states and municipalities to enact discriminatory measures. Prior to Shelby County, states with a history of racial discrimination had to secure advance clearance from the federal government before changing voting processes. But Shelby County did away with those requirements, opening the floodgates to voter suppression. In the case of polling places specifically, pre-Shelby County, states had to notify voters if their polling places had changed, but that requirement was removed in 2013.

Since then, a study by the Leadership Conference Education Fund found that 868 polling places had been closed in Alabama, Arizona, Louisiana, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Texas. A second study found 214 polling places (8 percent of the state’s total) have been closed since 2012 in Georgia, where Secretary of State Brian Kemp is now the Republican candidate for governor. He’s running in a dead heat with longtime voting rights activist, Democratic state representative Stacey Abrams.)

While there are legitimate budgetary reasons to close polling places, where they are closed tells a different story. In one Georgia county, local election officials announced plans to close seven of nine polling places in an overwhelmingly black area, plans that were stopped after a statewide protest arose. But according to a Pew Institute investigation, “10 counties with large black populations in Georgia closed polling spots after a white elections consultant recommended they do so to save money.”

https://www.thedailybeast.com/republicans-have-a-secret-weapon-in-the-midterms-voter-suppression

[LBM20]

39. Again you make my point for me. If there is time to stare at screens and play video games there is

time to go vote. And you darn well know that TONS of the time on the screens is non essential time.

I'm fine with having voting day be a national holiday, etc., but many states have early voting, mail-in voting, etc.
It's not hard. Even on a Tuesday election day, voting happens after work, usually up to 7 or 8pm. PLENTY of time to go to the polls.

It is SIMPLE and doesn't take much effort.

I voted for the first time when I was 19 in South Korea in the service. Absentee ballot. NOT HARD! Did the same in college in my early 20's. Just stopped by my town hall before returning to college, put in for an absentee ballot, they mailed it to me at college, I voted and mailed it back. SIMPLE. Doesn't take much time.

I am sick to death of hearing that "My vote doesn't matter." Don't like the politicians and and election results? Then mobilize, organize, and VOTE.

Sick to death of the excuses. Sick to death of the whining and bitching about things and then not even voting.

I still vote early. Just did. Go online. Fill out a quick online form. Takes one minute. Ballot comes in the mail. Fill it out, mail it back, DONE. My spouse and I vote in the kitchen. SIMPLE. QUICK. EASY. NO EXCUSES. Anyone can do it.

These people need to take a few minutes off the devices and VOTE. If there is time for all that, there is time to VOTE. No excuses.

[JonLP24]

45. I got my ballot!!

I'll be voting today.

[nycbos]

27. Here here

[keithbvadu2]

29. Not voting? Surrender

Not voting? Surrender

[Freddie]

30. My late MIL

Refused to register to vote because she didn’t want to get picked for jury duty. Then complained constantly about politics. Wanted to smack her. I believe PA picks jury duty by drivers license now.

[RobinA]

44. I'm From PA, Too

And I remember this well. My mother let her registration lapse for this reason. I got her to register this year aided by the fact that she HATES Trump. I don't know what she's going to do, though, because I don't think she can vote D. I think she registered Independent.

[Joe941]

34. The fact is most people don't follow politics much...

They are too busy living their lives. But yes I agree with the premise.

[LBM20]

37. Which is sad, pathetic, and inexcusable. Busy lives? Ok, but PLENTY of time to LIVE on devices. It

doesn't take much time. And plenty of people bitch, whine, and moan about things but can't take a few minutes to go vote.

I have zero sympathy and there are zero excuseses. As the old saying, if you don't vote then don't complain!

[ChazII]

46. Ballot arrived on Saturday and I dropped it

in the mail box Sunday morning.

[LBM20]

48. Mine came last Thursday and turned in to the city hall Friday. NO EXCUSES!