On Not Voting:
Today, I intentionally abstained from voting for the first time (as far as I recall). As we live directly across the street from the polling place, a friend came by on his way to vote, about as distraught over this election as I was. (His direct quote was “I hate everyone running.”)
I shrugged and said, “Don’t vote.”
He said, “But… it doesn’t feel right! I have to vote! It’s just… It’s what I do! YOU VOTE!”
“Not today, I don’t,” I replied. Then, I read a quote from a buddy (slawson01 over on LiveJournal):
Congratulations on not voting. You have succeeded in refraining from selecting someone to use force on your behalf, and robbed the thug who does win from having your sanction. They always claim a mandate to do whatever it is they do. When voter turn out is 15 total, they will know they do not have it.
I’m not saying I’ve retired from voting. But, when there was literally not a single person on the ballot I could vote for, and I knew my write-ins (i.e. The Inconvenience) wouldn’t even be counted, I was not about to legitimize this election by upping the voter turnout numbers.
I think, perhaps, that will be my new voting policy. As long as there is at least one candidate or issue on the ballot I can actually pull the lever for, I’ll vote, and ignore or write-in for the others. If there is a write-in candidate with a chance of garnering enough votes to win, or at least making a statement, I’ll vote.
If the election is a complete farce, like today’s, then I’ll take slawson01’s advice and deny my +1 closer to a mandate.
Oh, and that friend who dropped by went home without voting, either.
Check your law. In some states, if you don’t vote you’re dropped from jury rolls, so you may want to turn in a blank ballot if you want to be called up to jury duty.
On the other hand, I think any competent prosecutor would remove you during jury selection anyway ;)
Wait a second. Waaaaaaait a second.
Not voting = ‘get out of slavery’ card?
I should have stopped voting a long time ago!
(And c’mon… as long as the prosecutor didn’t ask for my opinion on jury nullification, I’m sure I’d be fine. ;p)
Or your opinion on police…or your opinion on guns…or, half the time, your opinion on the law in question…pretty much most of your opinions would get you selected out.
As I said, check your state laws. Voting usually doesn’t change much, but with jury duty you might have a real chance of actually impacting someone’s freedom that it’s worthwhile to go.
Yes, being forced to do jury duty is slavery.
However, you still have a duty you should willingly undertake to sit in a jury.
I checked into rescinding my voter registration in Florida, because I think it’s worthless. Let me tell you, it’s a much easier process to register than it is to get rid of… it took a few phone calls to finally pull the information out of someone (who made it a point to try to talk me out of it).
I haven’t gone through the process yet of sending the notarized letter because:
A) I’m waiting to see if Ron Paul will run in 2012, because I would write him in/select him.
B) If he doesn’t run, then I want to make sure that I do it in a presidential election year, to make a statement of how little I care for either party.
In the United States, the Australian Secret Ballot is one of our most cherished possessions. Folks in Australia keep their votes secret, but are REQUIRED to vote.
Thankfully, you and your friend have more freedom.
Question, not trying to be a smartass… if they keep them secret, what’s to stop you from sending in a blank ballot?