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November 4, 2008
Does Your Vote Really Count? Maybe Not for Obama or McCain, but Maybe So for Jim Shoe or Jane Ishlacosky.
By:
The Dude on the Right
I voted today.
That shouldn't seem that strange, but for the longest time, up until about five or ten years ago, I didn't vote, pretty much with the attitude of "What's the point?" You see, I live in Illinois, and for the most part, especially in national elections, the outcome is set long before I cast my vote with the state being hugely on the Democrat side, or at least so because of Chicago. I voted when I was younger, when I could for the first time in high school because it just seemed so "adult," and I think I voted a couple of times when I was in college because the voting place was across the street, but then it just seemed like a pain in the butt to go somewhere on a Tuesday that I never visit when I had better things to do. And also, for Presidential elections, in Illinois, and with the dumb-ass electoral college process we have, most of the time it just seemed like as much as my vote might count for the "democrat" guy, if I voted for the "republican" guy, it really didn't matter because "21" votes, none of which were mine, were going for one candidate, the democrat. And fine those of you who are in states with only a few electoral votes might like this process because then a candidate has to visit you for a couple of electoral college votes, but really, in this day and age of computers, and the ability to instantly count every vote, is it really fair, if I'm a John McCain supporter (and I'll admit that I'm not), to even vote in a state like Illinois, knowing that my vote is useless because even if Illinois had a 60% Obama, 38% McCain, and 2% for the other folks on the ballot split, the electoral votes aren't split by the percentage, like maybe it should be, meaning Barack would get 12ish votes, John getting nearly 8 votes, and 1 vote spread across the people who when you went to vote, looked at the ballot, and saw peoples names you had never seen before who were running for President, well, it doesn't matter because no matter the percentage split, Obama will get 21 "votes" from Illinois to become President of The United States.
Yes, there are the battleground states they always talk about, like Pennsylvania, Ohio, or Florida, where the race is tight, and your vote sort of counts, but even then, it's all or nothing, which, now, in the 2000's, seems just plain stupid. Polls are taken everyday, by some very reputable poll takers, but in the end it doesn't matter who is getting the most votes, all that really matters is who "wins" what state.
And that just is wrong.
What should be is who actually wins, by people, who vote. It is 2008. I would like to think that we have finally learned how to count, up to at least 150 million.
The polls are closing, the news channels are working to make their mark as the first to "project" the winner, but in the end, in your state, the only place your vote really counts is in your local election, where Jim Shoe will beat Jane Ishlacosky, because you voted. Individual votes are what hopefully matter, and not some old process of "winner takes it all."
See, your vote does count, in the way it should, but sadly, not always for our President.
That's it for this one! I'm The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!
Posted by Rightdude at November 4, 2008 7:03 PM
Comments
For the very reason you mention is why I no longer vote. 8 years ago my 1 vote never counted. :(
Oh by the way have fun driving in the old country. They didn't pass the plate fee to fix the roads. So glad I won't be going back. :))
Posted by: Sister at November 5, 2008 6:16 PM
