Politics & Current Events
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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
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How to get people to the voting booth?
Seriously? I know that lots of people have asked this question from Federal politicians to Local leaders. How in the world to you get people out to vote?
We have a really tough budget year in town. If only we could get the parents out to vote!
Proud Mom:
Madilyn Louise 9/19/06 and Sophia Christina 12/16/08
Re: How to get people to the voting booth?
Sad but true!
Is that legal?
This, but I'd say make voting a two-day affair - Saturday AND Sunday voting.
I wonder if all the old people who volunteer for polling location duty would like this though.
<a href="http://www.thenest.com/?utm_source=ticker&utm_medium=HTML&utm_campaign=tickers" title="Home Dbut maybe if it were Saturday and Sunday, we could have all ages working.
No free cakes and cookies without a valid photo ID though........
Booyah! The elderly will skewer you alive if you deny them their crumbly store-bought Chips A'Hoy!
<a href="http://www.thenest.com/?utm_source=ticker&utm_medium=HTML&utm_campaign=tickers" title="Home DAnd should we?
Mail ballots for sure. I think online would make more sense than by phone, but that's not happening anytime soon.
I'm not sure how much sway it has on people, but we have a bar in town that offers a free beer when you bring in your "I voted" sticker (that our election's office hands out, not sure how common this is).
I don't see why not. You're not bribing people to vote for a particular person, or giving out $100 checks. But a free Krispy Kreme very well might bring some folks in to vote who otherwise would say "screw it".
Well, as soon as people see an issue that directly, significantly impacts them and/or that they perceive they have the ability to influence, suddenly they are out in droves. I don't think the apathy is not giving a shiit, I think it is exhaustion from seeing the same 'ol shiit over and over.
The only issue with this is you'd have to make double-triple sure that whoever is paying for the KKs is absolutely non-partisan, so no one could ever go back and say, "But-but-but, Company A which is owned by Corporation B which used to be run by the CEO that was the campaign manager for Candidate Z paid for these? Thus they are trying to buy my vote!"
Yes. The American public is very fickle when it comes to what matters to us. For example, deficit spending is a snoozefest to a lot of people and we don't see how it affects us on a daily basis. Hell, even war is not usually something that riles people up because most of us are so distant from what's going on. Not to mention jaded (particularly with the war in Afghanistan).
So really, the question should be, "How can we get the American public to give a fvvck about these abstract issues so that they will want to vote?"
<a href="http://www.thenest.com/?utm_source=ticker&utm_medium=HTML&utm_campaign=tickers" title="Home DCare to know my thoughts on this particular topic?
And TBH, you get people in the voting booth by playing up hot button issues such as abortion. I believe both NB and I called this in a thread a while back and, well, here we are.
The City/County/State.
IIOY (edit: and TTT) nailed it, just keep pumping up the hot-button issues to get them to vote, but do we really want people only voting based on hot button issues?
WRT OP, ouch, sounds like an awful situation. The only thing I can think of is education campaigns, is it possible to get a newspaper or LWV involved for a neutral perspective?
If there was a way to make voting online secure that would be the best way. However, it would be irrestible to hackers to hack the POTUS election. Not to mention all the bad guys, etc.
IT needs to be more accessible, less of a chore and just all around revamped. Quite honestly, getting rid of the electoral college all together and make the POTUS elected by popular vote would go a long way.
my read shelf:
Can of worms. It has been opened.
<a href="http://www.thenest.com/?utm_source=ticker&utm_medium=HTML&utm_campaign=tickers" title="Home DHe he.
my read shelf:
I wonder if all the old people who volunteer for polling location duty would like this though.
This may differ by area, but in my state the workers aren't volunteers. They're paid and probably wouldn't mind being paid for another day. But that's why most people don't have multiple voting days -- it's too expensive for the local/state governments to fund. In my city the rate of absentee ballots returned is extremely high. Over 90% IIRC. I don't see why that program can't be expanded to include more people.
My state mails all ballots. I don't even have to think about it. When there's a prepaid return envelope and about a month to mail it in, I even vote in piddly elections I normally wouldn't care about. I used to just vote in the big ones.
For instance, for my primary ballot, there are 2 judge positions (well, there are more, but they're all incumbents with no opponents), one for county sheriff, and then 2 county measures. That's it. I'm mailing it in anyway.
ETA I can mail, fax, or email my ballot. I don't think there's an online option yet, but I can track the status of my ballot online.
ETAA! There is online voting, but only for a select few "a member of the Uniformed Services or a U.S. Citizen residing outside the United States" I think that's new b/c I didn't see it when we voted in a special election a couple months ago. I guess it technically would only apply to H the way they worded it, but I'm a voter who also does not reside in the state, just like him, so who knows.
Vote by mail, early voting, etc. Lots of people will never vote regardless, but easy no-excuse-required absentee and early voting has made it much easier for me to vote. It's hard predict where I'll be in any given week much less one single day. A month of early voting ensures I always always vote.
Because "I really don't giveashit" is a valid view, and in a democracy, it needs a voice. You would have a much much less polarised system if the big middle ground who really don't care that much voted, instead of just the passionately right and passionately centrists (Dems aren't left)