And again, no one is saying that there aren’t people who say “vote? nah.” and go on with their Tuesday of the first full week of November. I even specifically mentioned them. They should absolutely vote. They should be encouraged to vote. Ads like the one this thread is nominally still about are good efforts, and it’s good that people are making them.
What we are trying to impress is that you can’t lump every single non-voter (even “millenials”) into one big “can but won’t” category, and then disparage them all for not doing so by assuming they’re all just apathetic. There are a lot of people who may be technically capable of voting, but whom external forces prevent from exercising that right. That’s voter suppression, but not necessarily voter disenfranchisement. The two terms are not interchangeable. Suppression is also most effective against demographics that are already least likely to vote for any number of reasons, including younger people and people of color; installing additional roadblocks just makes them stop bothering to try faster.
Anecdotally, I have a friend who lives in Australia who has told me that the country has something of an alphabetical-selection-bias problem, because apathetic people who are still obligated to vote will simply vote for the first listed person in every race just to fill out the ballot as fast as possible. You could try to counter that with randomized ballots, but that complicates printing efforts.
By the by, if you want to see how effective mail-in voting can be, the turnout here in Washington State for the 2016 election was 78.76% (an actual decline from previous years), compared to the national turnout rate of 55.4%. Automatic voter registration in Oregon (which is also a vote-by-mail state) also brought in over 100,000 votes from those who were automatically registered, pushing the state to a new record number of votes cast and a turnout rate of roughly 80%.
And again, I’m not saying there aren’t people who are prevented from voting. They are (again) two separate issues. I am addressing one issue. That doesn’t mean I’m saying there aren’t other issues.
This is for @Edgar_Carpenter, but I’m not replying to your post directly in case it gets eaten. I read the story you linked.
In it, Sam Bee attempts to do something about low voter turnout. We all agree that low turnout is an issue. There’s no reference to voters being lazy, or millennials. And her effort to get people engaged in voting wasn’t enormously successful, which is in line with what a person might expect if they thought that “not fun enough” wasn’t the biggest obstacle to voting. [I misread the conclusion of their experiment. Results aren’t in yet]
Anyway, you seem to have mistaken my calm for condescension, but it’s not. I genuinely think it’s worth thinking about the way “lazy nonvoter” narratives are pernicious for the way they focus attention on blaming and othering nonvoters, instead of on fixing the barriers that make voting more difficult
*Edited to clarify my last sentence. My first attempt was a weird incoherent Frankenstein joining of two different phrasings
Oh, I think about them all the time; about outliving them and figuring out how to survive their terrible, selfish & short-sighted decisions once they are gone.
Sir, your name calling is not going to win me over nor make your statement any less merit-less. If you believe voting has not become a luxury, you have not paid attention to the repeal of parts of the voting rights act or the voting discrimination that has been taking place across the country.
Sorry, I was using the more general “you” in that instance, not targeting you specifically. That sort of attitude has been expressed elsewhere in this thread.
I have. You have to be a registered voter in order to do a mail in ballot though. Ever hear of voter discrimination? You know, the same thing that makes it burdensome and time consuming to become a registered voter?
It’s a fact that demographics which tend to vote more progressive are often less likely to vote. Some among us direct our efforts to rectify this through aid and encouragement.
And some people shake their cane at lazy “millennials” and berate people for not coming to their old white man pity party.
The advantage to unscientific bullshit marketing categories is you can put the goal posts where ever is most convenient to sell your load of horse hockey to whichever target demographic you happen to be peddling it. /s
[Dang. We had frowning purple devil emoji and no one told me!]
Yes, to both those questions, but your “When you are retired you kind of have that luxury” was in response to @Rusty_Blazenhoff post…
“This country belongs to whomever shows up. And do you know who shows up for every election? Old people. But only 46% of people 18-34 years old voted in the last election.”
… which talks about voter age (young vs. old). Your “retired” implies time available to “show up”.
PS: Retired people are also subjected to voter discrimination.
Source on the prevalence of this issue? I’ve worked many shit jobs, yet found time to vote. Honestly it used to be easier because I has less 9-5 type jobs back then, so going before work was much easier than either getting up really early or going by after work - with all the other 9 to 5 plebes.
I’m old. And I’m white. I didn’t have any choice in either matter.
I’m educated. Yes, I had the opportunity, and yes, I recognize that not everyone gets that opportunity. But what good would it have done anyone for me to remain stupid?
I got a lesson in politics in the midterm election of 1974 (I told you I’m old), when my vote was not counted, The particular tactic was to send me my absentee ballot too late. It was postmarked on the day before it had to be returned, and of course didn’t get to me until after the deadline.
In 1976, I missed a couple of days of university classes to travel home to vote in person, because I didn’t want that happening again. (And it’s another sign of privilege that I was wealthy enough to afford the time and gasoline.)
I’ve been a victim of voter suppression, in spite of the considerable privilege that I’ve enjoyed. There’s no way that I’m going to impose that on someone else, knowingly.
But on this site, I’m one of the Old White Guys, because of course we’re all the same.
Not in Michigan. You pretty much have to have strong evidence, say in the form of air travel receipts, that you won’t be in state.
@Mister44: This issue is that there aren’t many 9-5 gigs for the working poor any more (those jobs would have to provide benefits). So people obtain two or three part time jobs to get somewhat close to your old 9-5 gig’s pay, but they have to work many more hours to obtain it. If you happen to get two 6 hour shifts on election day with only enough time between to travel from one to the other, chances are very good that you’re not going to be able to vote. Particularly if you have to rely on public transit.
@kennykb: Hey, just because some other old, white guy decided to make this entire thread about him doesn’t mean you have to join that pity party.
I think that would help, but everything that isn’t emergency services (and remove restrictions on absentee ballots for those workers) would have to be shut down in order for it to be effective, and I don’t see that happening in a country that appears to openly worships Mammon.
/s
