Alright, who voted?

[thehumanmacbook]

My king is Steve Jobs

[Cerena]

My king is Steve Jobs

 

bahahaha <3

He would be

[anastasia]

Of course I'd rather not have someone vote without an informed decision, but our country has PLENTY of time to read up on the platforms and decide what works best for them. If you don't agree with any of the parties, cast a blank ballot

[thatonekid]

People do not vote because:

 

1. They don't know anything about the parties and don't want to make an uninformed decision.

 

2. They know lots about the parties but do not like any of them.

 

3. They think their vote won't matter.

 

All three are valid reasons, in my opinion. The third could be fixed by proportional representation. Two could be helped by a none of the above option on the ballot. I'm not sure what could be done about the first...

4. They're too lazy to go to a polling station.

 

It's a common reason given when asked why people didn't vote. A BC municipality (Vancouver?) is having online voting in their upcomming election. It'll be interesting to see how well that works.

[Cerena]

4. They're too lazy to go to a polling station.

 

It's a common reason given when asked why people didn't vote. A BC municipality (Vancouver?) is having online voting in their upcomming election. It'll be interesting to see how well that works.

 

That is good to hear. I'm optimistic about this

[K-Doc]

4. They're too lazy to go to a polling station.

 

It's a common reason given when asked why people didn't vote. A BC municipality (Vancouver?) is having online voting in their upcomming election. It'll be interesting to see how well that works.

 

The idea is being brought up, it hasn't been confirmed that this will actually happen since there is a lot of speculation that people may try to cheat the system, since at home, there is no one to verify that it is actually you that is voting.

[thatonekid]

The idea is being brought up, it hasn't been confirmed that this will actually happen since there is a lot of speculation that people may try to cheat the system, since at home, there is no one to verify that it is actually you that is voting.

Oh, interesting. I only saw a little blurb about it on one of the news channels, so I wasn't sure about all the details. I can see where there would be problems though.

[Erk]

We may think that those who don't vote are lazy, but the reality is that voting has not presented enough of an advantage to be seen as worth doing. Whether this is true or not in an ideological sense is irrelevant. Those who answer that they are lazy are self-deprecating morons.

 

This.

 

As a personal anecdote, I live in Calgary and am not conservative. What point is there in going to the polls? This time I could at least hope that my $2 might go to supporting the party I voted for. Next time, I will not even have that. There will be literally no motivation for me to go, besides the frankly insane hope that some 50,000 people will stop voting the way they have always voted, or that out of nowhere another 20,000 will arrive and vote some different way. Not effin' likely. I do not feel there is anyone in parliament who represents me, but I also know that thousands of other voters in my area voted similarly to me. As a result, I feel extremely disenfranchised: this is not my government, in a very fundamental sense.

 

Our electoral system encourages disenfranchisement, and the latest series of political efforts by our politicians (not the conservatives alone; the liberals were every bit as much to blame for this one) focuses on discouraging supporters of a given party from attending the polls, rather than encouraging potential supporters to show up. It's still loosely democracy, but honestly, our current system is almost as far from the democratic ideal you can be and still call it such.

[garret9]

I actually didn't vote out of my own stupidity. I ment to but forgot to go to the advance pollings. I was away camping for Apr 30-May 2nd.

 

I just like to comment on people who say they voice their opinion by not voting: You voice that same opinion louder if you intentionally cast a spoiled vote. These are actually counted and taken into consideration.

 

The government will always tend to consider non votes as apathy.

[Der Kaiser]

I actually didn't vote out of my own stupidity. I ment to but forgot to go to the advance pollings. I was away camping for Apr 30-May 2nd.

 

I just like to comment on people who say they voice their opinion by not voting: You voice that same opinion louder if you intentionally cast a spoiled vote. These are actually counted and taken into consideration.

 

The government will always tend to consider non votes as apathy.

 

One newspaper commenter spun the non-vote as a vote for the status quo. If one's life is pretty good, then there is no reason to change governments.

 

Voting is important in a personal development sense. All individuals should to some extent be concerned with the larger society around them as long as that concern does not involve telling others how to live their life! Of course, therein lies the problem with politics and states in general.

[Erk]

One newspaper commenter spun the non-vote as a vote for the status quo. If one's life is pretty good, then there is no reason to change governments.

 

Voting is important in a personal development sense. All individuals should to some extent be concerned with the larger society around them as long as that concern does not involve telling others how to live their life! Of course, therein lies the problem with politics and states in general.

 

Wow, wonder where he gets the idea for that spin. Typically a vote for the status quo would be voting for the current government. I'd say pretty much all spoiled ballots are people who feel none of the candidates deserve election.

[apache]

ditto with me in edmonton, except i happen to live in linda duncan's riding, an ndp stronghold, she's definitely a blessing to the riding and won the riding on pure hard work on behalf of her constituents.

 

we don't live in a democracy in a true sense (i'm not going to even get into it, i've done enough essays on "democracy" and don't want to have stupid arguments with people), and it's frustrating to know that, when you walk among the naive.

 

let's call alberta for what is, a blue collar stronghold where people vote based on loyalty, emotion, group dynamics, and a sense of shared culture, rather than what's in their best interest. i honestly don't think it's out of place to say the average albertan is an imbecile, not to say that they're bad people, but for the most part they are simpletons who have a distaste for discourse or thought.

 

This.

 

As a personal anecdote, I live in Calgary and am not conservative. What point is there in going to the polls? This time I could at least hope that my $2 might go to supporting the party I voted for. Next time, I will not even have that. There will be literally no motivation for me to go, besides the frankly insane hope that some 50,000 people will stop voting the way they have always voted, or that out of nowhere another 20,000 will arrive and vote some different way. Not effin' likely. I do not feel there is anyone in parliament who represents me, but I also know that thousands of other voters in my area voted similarly to me. As a result, I feel extremely disenfranchised: this is not my government, in a very fundamental sense.

 

Our electoral system encourages disenfranchisement, and the latest series of political efforts by our politicians (not the conservatives alone; the liberals were every bit as much to blame for this one) focuses on discouraging supporters of a given party from attending the polls, rather than encouraging potential supporters to show up. It's still loosely democracy, but honestly, our current system is almost as far from the democratic ideal you can be and still call it such.