Voter Registration
Amidst an article about registration trends I learn: “Today is the deadline for new voters to register in many of the battleground states that will probably decide the election, including Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Florida, Indiana and Colorado.”
Because the United States is unfair, I don’t get to vote for a member of congress or any Senators. And also because the United States is unfair, a huge swathe of the population lives in places (DC, California, New York, Texas, Idaho, Mississippi, South Carolina, etc.) that “don’t count” for the purposes of presidential politics. If you do have the privilege of living someplace where the political system deigns to allow you to impact the course of national events, you really ought to register and vote.
36 Responses to “Voter Registration”
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October 6th, 2008 at 11:09 am
Matt - that’s why you really need to live in VA, because your vote would matter here.
October 6th, 2008 at 11:11 am
“Because the United States is unfair”?
Pull up your socks, man. Democracy is about process, not specific results. Those states “don’t count” because they’ve decided they want to be counted one way or the other; sometimes democracy gets messy, and maybe we wish a state would vote a different way, but that doesn’t make it unfair.
DC is its own thing. You have to remember that the country was formed by the states, and that the district was set aside to keep any one state from gaining undue influence over the federal capital.
If you want to live in a “state that counts”, move across the river to Virginia.
October 6th, 2008 at 11:11 am
On the other hand, if you live in a non-competitive state you don’t get inundated with campaign ads.
October 6th, 2008 at 11:12 am
Battlegroundgame Report.
As long as I’ve been paying attention, I’ve lived in a battleground state that gets a lot of political attention during, and only during, Presidential election cycles. Candidates and proxies sweep in shout “jobs jobs jobs!” every four years in front of a shuttered steel mill, somebody eventually wins, and everybody goes back to ignoring the Rust Belt until the next cycle. I’m used to the robocalls, signs, patronizing ads, motorcades, and whatnot. But this year I’ve noticed something very different. The Obama ground game is here in full force registering voters. Almost every time I walk outside some kid with a clipboard comes up and asks me if I’m registered. They are legion. The same thing is happening all over the state.
I thinks this bodes well.
October 6th, 2008 at 11:18 am
We’ll that’s not me. My registration history so far: Cambridge, Ma
Washington, DC
Chicago (Hyde Park), IL
New Haven, CT.
So I’ve had the pleasure of voting, among others, for Tip O’Neill and Joe Kennedy, Obama in his race against Bobby Rush, and Rosa DeLauro. My sister could vote absentee from abroad in Ohio, but she never gets around to it (and it is harder than you think).
But no, no close races ever outside of primaries and the Joe Lieberman-Lamont primary race last in 2006.
October 6th, 2008 at 11:21 am
While canvassing up in New Hampshire, I came across one man who supported Obama on all relevant topics, but would not confirm that he would vote come November “because of what happened in Florida.” On one hand, it’s obvious madness; on the other, I think that debacle’s role in delegitimizing the process perhaps has been understated.
October 6th, 2008 at 11:23 am
Two thoughts- either lets make DC whole again and free our brothers and sisters in NoVa then come in as a full state or retrocede everything residential to Maryland. Get a Dem DC, a Republican VA, or the most Dem state ever in Maryland. Either way I get a real vote for real live Congresspeople for the first time in my life
October 6th, 2008 at 11:26 am
Ohio here- not only registered but already voted. My absentee ballot went in the mail today.
October 6th, 2008 at 11:28 am
The odds of your individual vote determining the outcome of the election even if you live in a “swing” state are still astronomically low.
But that’s not why you should vote. You should vote because it is our collective duty to vote (this ends up being a classic free rider proble,), and perhaps because expressing your preferences may be a meaningful action for you even if you don’t ultimately get your way in the election.
October 6th, 2008 at 11:32 am
Then again if you do live in a state deemed critical to the election Republicans have already arranged for NSA IT specialists to fix the results. Ohio could go for Obama by 100,000 votes and the officially sanctioned tally would show McCain 52% and Obama 48%. I really hope Nov 4th is a landslide for one of these two, something with numbers beyond suspicion of shenanigans. If it’s as close as the 2000 ballot there will be a lot of damaging mayhem in the aftermath.
October 6th, 2008 at 11:37 am
Californian here. If all you battlegrounders GOTV for Obama and your Dem downtickets, we will do the same for NO ON PROP 8. There are vital reasons to get to the booth in most states, even the ones that “don’t count” at the top of the ticket.
October 6th, 2008 at 11:39 am
Michigan is also today.
October 6th, 2008 at 11:42 am
That’s why all the smart people live on the other side of the river. You should consider it. You’ll feel right at home in the People’s Republic of Arlington!
October 6th, 2008 at 11:51 am
The notion that your vote only matters in a battleground state is false. Aside from all the interesting state and local elections and ballot initiatives, you’ll also be giving your candidate the popular vote mandate, readily translatable into political capital. You’re influencing the national zeitgeist.
October 6th, 2008 at 12:01 pm
DC is a special case, of course, but the other “don’t count” states have Senate and House elections whose outcomes will affect the new president’s ability to enact legislation and appoint judges and cabinet members. An Obama administration with a 60-Democrat Senate would be quite different from one with a 55-Democrat Senate. That difference will be determined in presidentially non-competitive states: Alaska, Oregon, Minnesota, Kentucky, Louisiana, Georgia, Mississippi, Texas.
October 6th, 2008 at 12:09 pm
I don’t get to vote again for representation rights for DC (on no taxation without representation, the alternative would be no income tax for DC residents, and I’d rather let them have representation than let them get off without paying income tax) …
… but if DC is going to get only one representative, it should be a Senator elected for a four year term in each midterm. Forget this “one safe Republican House seat, one safe Democratic House seat” business, and eliminate the threat of a tied electoral college result.
If Rhode Island, Delaware, Alaska, and Wyoming get two Senators, why doesn’t DC have enough people for one?
October 6th, 2008 at 12:11 pm
… and please, please, proportional distribution of Electoral College votes, for candidates attracting votes in the double digits, so Ohio goes down to having two or three electoral votes in play rather than being a winner take all “battleground” state.
Every time you turn on the TV it seems there is another lying attack ad from McCain.
October 6th, 2008 at 12:25 pm
Every time you turn on the TV it seems there is another lying attack ad from McCain.
True dat. His campaign Treasurer has got be having kittens. Speaking of which, everybody gets their 401K reports this week. Not good news for McCain.
October 6th, 2008 at 12:30 pm
Hey, at least South Carolina got to decide the presidential election this year, back in January. That was fun.
October 6th, 2008 at 12:45 pm
Stefan–I’m abroad too. http://www.votefromabroad.org makes it pretty easy.
October 6th, 2008 at 12:50 pm
I’m registered in a major battleground state, but unfortunately, I’m also abroad, in a place remote enough that mail takes at least two weeks to get here. I’ve already accepted the fact that I’m going to have to pony up $100 to DHL my ballot back so that it will be in in time to be counted, but I’m still really angry that my state is taking its time in putting the ballot in the mail.
October 6th, 2008 at 12:50 pm
the district was set aside to keep any one state from gaining undue influence over the federal capital
It seems to me like this was a legitimate concern when they were writing the Constitution — under the Articles of Confederation the states were a lot more powerful, and there wasn’t any tradition of the federal government controlling much of anything directly. I think in the intervening 200+ years we’ve adequately demonstrated that the federal government can control property and run its business within states.
So the point of having a federal district doesn’t wash any more. Retrocede DC back to Maryland; you’ll have representation from Maryland’s Senators and a new Representative.
October 6th, 2008 at 1:39 pm
Texas counts! Register to vote and donate to Rick Noriega: ricknoriega.com
He is still lagging John Cornyn but far closer than a Democrat has any right to be in Texas. Register! Vote! Give money!
October 6th, 2008 at 1:53 pm
Peter @ 3,
Because Northern Virginia is part of the Washington, DC media market, DC residents are inundated with campaign ads.
October 6th, 2008 at 2:06 pm
Another reason might be some at least of the Founders had read and/or experienced capital cities grown too arrogant to rule well. They might’ve feared the influence of DC arrogant legislators.
And, they were right about capitals growing arrogant, weren’t they? I’m looking at YOU, Paulson.
Now that we’re up to 50 states and have anti-imperialistic moral standards about popular voting rights, I think it’s long past time to reverse the decision. At least in Puerto Rice, they don’t have taxation to balance the nonrepresentation.
October 6th, 2008 at 2:31 pm
As a NOVirginian it’s nice to have my vote count in the last couple of elections.
And to echo what RoboticGhost said, the voter registration drive here has been very impressive.
October 6th, 2008 at 4:07 pm
Why can’t every state have the civilized rules that we do in Wisconsin. Register at the polls, day of election (though often wait in a long line if it’s a “big” election and you’re not already registered.
Who are these deadlines supposed to help? Certainly not the voters.
October 6th, 2008 at 8:37 pm
Image how voting will work after the Republican Party completes its collapse and the U.S. is left with one relevant political Party. Every 20 years or so, an incumbent will retire and several people will run in the Democratic Party. The winner will probably win with less than 50% of the vote but be reelected without real opposition until that politician decides to retire.
You can also assume that as the U.S. becomes a one party state that the Democrats will be very thorough in eliminating term limits and any state run initiative process.
I wonder what all of the the people who have expertise in elections will do for a living.
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