Republican evangelist Elon Musk didn't bother voting in the 2022 midterm elections

Originally published at: Republican evangelist Elon Musk didn't bother voting in the 2022 midterm elections | Boing Boing

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Good.

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When one buys votes does one actually have to vote?

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I’m not sure why he’d bother. He has ways of influencing election outcomes that make actual voting more of a bothersome afterthought than an actual means of deciding on a candidate.

Eck: @Akimbo_NOT beat me to it while I was slow-writing.

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Citizens United having established that money is political expression, Musk knows he has plenty of votes without having to bother showing up at the polls personally.

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I’d be interested in seeing just how many of the 1% actually even bother.

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I voted Democrat, because they were (mostly) the kindness party. But they have become the party of division & hate

Division and hate, eh? So the Repugnicons (and all your new friends on Twitter) are bastions of societal unity and love?

Hmm. I think not.

Conclusion? Those words do not mean what you think they mean, you lying, hypocritical sack of shit, Lone Skum.

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Very few I suspect. Voting would require them to go to a public place and rub elbows with the unwashed masses.

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Setting aside Musk specifically, I actually find it a bit disturbing that information about whether a particular individual voted is public record. In my opinion, that is part of the record of how you voted and should be just as private as the specific vote.

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Disagree. The ability to track who voted in each election and where they were registered is an important part of the auditing process that Republicans pretend to care about. For example, it is entirely within the public’s interest to know if dead people are voting or if some people voted in more than one place. It can also be an important tool for determining which groups are being disenfranchised from the process.

If a person does not support any of the candidates but doesn’t want that to be public knowledge then they are free to submit a blank ballot.

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Also, if a person wants to be a blowhard and let everyone know that they waited in line just to submit a blank ballot rather than vote for the one qualified candidate they’re free to do that too.

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Mail in voting is a thing, especially in CA & NY.

That said, I also kinda doubt that the ultrarich are very concerned about voting in elections.

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So I take it he’s been naturalized as a US Citizen.

Plus there were other things on the ballot besides candidates. He could have voted on the various propositions and other things that he will later be violating…oh, wait Texas…benefitting from

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Musk holds citizenship in three countries: South Africa (through his birth), Canada (through his mother) and the United States (as a naturalized citizen since 2002).

It will surprise no one that Elon started his first company before he had a green card but was well-connected enough to have a bunch of rich investors pull strings to expedite the process.

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Why vote, when you can buy?

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Not sure why that was a reply to me - I made no comment on his propensity to vote.

But yeah, as others have already noted, earlier, why do the 1% need to vote at all?

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It’s in the public’s interest to know how many dead people are voting or if people voted in more the one place, it’s not important for them to know the specifics of whether an named individual voted or not.

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My bad. Accidentally responded to the wrong comment.

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“These are the right numbers, trust us“ is not how a free, transparent and publicly accountable election system works. Even a well-meaning election board might miss something if no one is able to double-check their results.

The only part of any election that should be kept secret from the public is how each voter filled out their ballot.

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