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Does Your Vote Count?

This thread is different from the one entitled, 'Do You Vote?' because the focus is on if your vote will have a real impact on who is elected. An example of this is the Electoral College process in the USA where citizens elect people to choose a President. If they have people specifically chosen to do this then why do people in general vote for a President? In your country, does your specific vote really contribute to the eventual process of choosing the Head of State or is it merely a 'ceremony'?

Count Vote Does

Individual votes definitely count, especially in the case of presidential elections. If nothing else, they count in aggregate. This is readily apparent in the 2000 elections, where the media announced that Florida had gone to Gore before the polls had closed in the panhandle.

Now the panhandle area of Florida is strongly conservative. There is very strong evidence that many people would have voted in that last hour of polling. If they had done so, it is quite likely that there would have been no recounts called in Florida.

Gore won New Mexico by 366 votes. Obviously, if just a few had voted the other way, or a few more conservative voters had voted, the outcome in New Mexico could have been different.

On the other hand, the only reason that Florida was so important was because places such as Tennessee, which was expected to go to Gore, didn't.

So, individual votes do make a difference. Even more of a difference in local elections than in national ones, normally, but they can be very important in the national elections as well.

Does Your Vote Count? History & Civil Business Politics

To me there can be a lot of room for bribery in the Electoral system of the US for President. With regards to my vote counted within Trinidad, it is done this way:

The country is divided into Wards (like States) and each one has a certain potential MP (Minister of Parliament) which you vote for in your constancy. The greatest number of constituancies won by a party becomes the new government. The second greatest becomes the opposition and the rest become senators with a voice still heard in Parliament. So my vote definitely counts. However, the process for President is not based on votes, and they are talking about changing that.

Count Vote Does

EDITORIAL: THE LOOMING ELECTION CRISIS

The constitutional process for electing leaders in the United States may be taking a turn for the worse. The same may hold true for democracy on local and state levels, which has generally been a gentlemanly exercise in which losers concede defeat and pledge support, in spite of the irregularities that nearly always pop up.
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Count Vote Does

Definitely, every vote counts. To take it to the extreme, you would be saying that if your candidate didnt win, your vote really didnt matter. I have voted in several US elections and some of the biggest votes I cast were for people that didnt win. HOWEVER, I was not alone and a message was sent to the actual winner.

For instance, Ross Perrot ran for president against Clinton and Bush Sr. While he didnt win, Perrot took A LOT of the vote (nearly 20% I think). Of course, Clinton won the election, but if you look at what he did after the election, you will find many of the issues that Perrot was campaigning on were addressed (even though the major 2 parties brushed them off). Statements can be made even in defeat!

The concern with the Electoral College would be more of a problem for me if the people started to not follow their states "popular voting" result. So far, this has not happened. Should this ever happen, then we have a serious issue.

Just a thought,

Vincenzo

Does Your Vote Count?

every vote counts, and more important one must vote if he/she wants to be entitle to say something latter. If you did not vote, you have no right to say anything afterwords.

People would give their life to gain right to vote and you choose not to ...

I remember the first time when people in south africa voted they stay up to 3 days in line to exercise thir right . That was impressive.

Does Vote Count

I don't think so, because they don't vote in secret. The way it works right now, the state in which you vote has laws regarding how the electoral college vote will go. Perhaps it is possible to stray from that, but I don't think it is, and it hasn't happened in modern times. In Massachusetts, for example, whichever Presidential candidate wins the popular vote, they get all of the electoral votes. Some states will do it so that if you win 60% you get 60% of the votes and the loser gets 40%, some states it is 100%, but still I see no room for bribery, since they must cast their vote for whichever candidate wins in accordance with that state's laws. Now, this is different in the primaries. The delegates their can vote however they choose, but that is fine with me, too, because it is the party's choice which candidate they want to choose to run in the first place.

I don't think my vote in Presidential elections counts much because Massachusetts gives 100% to the winner and Massachusetts is heavily democrat when it comes to Presidential voting. However, I keep voting because some day that may change as long as those who are not voting for the favored party don't give up because they don't feel like they can win. We have had a republican governor, for example, for the past 4 governors even though the vast majority of senators and house representatives are democrat (state and federal).

Does Vote Count Politics Business Civil & History

I vote in any election that comes up. whether it is a special election for some tax measure or the presidential election. Granted I do not think my vote counts in the presidential election because they created the electoral college. IF you read about the electoral college you will see that it was created as a way to make sure the correct person is elected president. They created this because the government did not trust the people to elect the correct person. I would like to see the electoral college abolished. Until it is then the common persons vote will never count.