This is the epitome of lying with statistics.
Clearly the office of President should be left vacant.
Good ol’ Iowa, one of the few shamelessly voting Trump. 😓
Back in my day it was an up-and-combing purple state… and remember how quickly they permitted all-gender marriage?
That’s what I moved here looking for. I blame Trump, honestly.
- baller-ass username
- Is Trump to blame or are his voters?
yes
And just fyi I would have asked the opposite question if you blamed Iowans bc I have no fucking idea how this version of the fall of Rome works
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Thanks!
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I see Trump as a flim-flam man playing on people’s fears and frustration with the system. However ignorant his rubes are, he’s still selling snake oil and that’s the real crime. I mean, he’s done it many times in many different venues and markets, can you blame poor simple Iowans for falling for something he’s clearly a pro at?
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Since I moved from a red state to Colorado it’s been mind blowing how painless and accessible it is to vote in this state.
Before every election all registered voters automatically get a mail-in ballot, as well as a detailed book explaining every issue & candidate on the ballot with sample arguments for & against. You can then either mail the ballot or drop it off in very convenient drop boxes that are usually less than 10 min from your place. In some ways it’s difficult to not have at least some idea of the political landscape for most voters.
Since I moved from a red state to Colorado it’s been mind blowing how painless and accessible it is to vote in this state.
I think that is something we need to stress here: A lot of people in America don’t vote not because they are apathetic but because, well, they often don’t have access because they have to work and can’t get time off, and it doesn’t help that certain states cut and limit the amount of voting places to prevent people from voting.
I remember seeing the images from Georgia in 2020 where there were queues around the block, hell, some fucking states have laws preventing people from offering water for people waiting in line, knowing that people will be waiting in line for a long time. And the fact the places where those polling stations tend to be set up in ways to stop certain demographics from voting is another thing. There’s laws there to prevent students from voting in some states, there’s laws making it hard to vote by mail, you fucking name it.
Meanwhile in the UK, I just had to fill in a PDF form and send it to my local valuation office and I could get a postal vote. No restrictions on who can do this, you can just apply.
Thats insane, here in Germany voting is always on sunday and (at least in my state, we may have some small time variations in others) I can go vote from 8-18:00, or I could do a postal vote, although I never bothered to do that because its just easier to vote in person, the lines were never really long or even existant at all.
Right now I just have to walk 200m to the next primary school and vote there, its very easy and relaxed.
In New Zealand we have a “voting day” which is a Saturday, but you can vote before the day, there is no restriction. You can vote for a week before the election.
The last two elections, I cast an early vote because it fit better with my schedule.
So fun fact: In the UK, elections and votes are always on a Thursday because it was the furthest day from Saturday (when people went to the pub) and Sunday (when people went to church, this rule was instituted when people were more religious).
Now my local polling place was my local school (which changed with Covid because they didn’t want to interrupt education even more) so when I was a kid when there was an election we always got election day off. :)
in Colorado you don’t even have to apply for a postal vote, it is the default voting mechanism (though in person ballot boxes are also available)
Yep! It’s real bad, I had to wait in a line around a building on a Tuesday morning the first election I voted in. One of the big things too is that there are fewer polling centers in the city, and usually more in the suburbs (proportional to the amount of people there).
So while you have a quarter of the eligible voting population in a city go to a single voting center, in the suburbs you have a much smaller group with a less crowded (& usually more convenient) polling area.
Yeah but you see, the suburbs vote for the people in power.
You’re also automatically registered to vote here as well. There’s a reason that Colorado is on the first chart.
Colorado has so many props on the ballot as well since I believe anything affecting taxes has to be voted on that way. I really like the direct democracy.
One odd holdover from TABOR (giant tax structure from the 90s that is still around in one way or another) is that any issue affecting taxes MUST BE PRINTED IN ALL CAPS FOR THE ENTIRE TEXT. It’s so funny to see
It’s also very manipulative. TABOR is the worst thing about Colorado honestly.
For anyone like myself that was interested in 2020:
Found it here (Although the data source is shown on the chart)
I think the most interesting thing about these two maps, is that Georgia kind of proves the people wrong who don’t vote “because it wouldn’t make a difference in my state”.
Oh good, Iowa sliding back into apathy where it belongs…
I think trump woke a lot of people up. clearly there’s still ground to cover but it looks like clear progress in voter turnout
2020 was the highest US voter turnout in over 100 years (percentage wise), and it was still atrocious. Also worth noting, trump got the second most votes of any presidential nominee in US history, thankfully beat by Biden, but it’s not like all of the new voters were purely against trump.
Everyone was also at home/working from home/on flex schedules due to covid in 2020. People had time to vote, they had time to research things and take part in political discourse. Everyone always forgets that little historical tidbit.
2024 may hit record low voter turnout as the nazi’s ratchet up anti voter laws, removing polling places, and companies keep putting the economic screws on their workers with stagnant pay and forced return-to-office so citizens don’t have time to think about the political process.Can Biden just say fuck it and declare a national holiday? Would that help at all? What about making voting mandatory like we have in Australia? You get a small fine if you don’t vote which is usually enough incentive.
Having a national work holiday would do wonders for voter turnout. Most people in states who are required to vote in person can’t get the time off to visit a poll booth while they’re open.
It wouldn’t really help I think, I think what needs to be done is a change in the verbage and communication, nov 5th should be communicated as the deadline, and early voting should be renamed to just be the voting period.
In my state early voting starts on Oct 17th, meaning you have more than two week for in person voting.
Absentee ballots (mail in) can be cast as soon as you get it, which is typically almost 2 months in advance.
Besides, the people who would get ‘national vote day’ off as a holiday are the people who probably already have the means to get to a ballot box.
In most of the countries of the World elections are on Sunday and Saturday for this exact reason, US could change to weekend voting days as well:
Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/MapPorn/comments/46ukem/so_camerons_eu_referendum_is_on_a_thursday_which/
Another confirmation that Russia is European country.
Also, US, please fix yet another thing you are worse at than Russia.
Who debated that. Historically, culturally Russia is European. Most of the population of Russia lives on the western side of the Urals.
But using it as a good example of elections, well… In the US you can choose from 2 candidates. In russia you can select from 1…
Yeah, I’d love voting on a Saturday tbh. There’s still a lot of people working service schedules who wouldn’t be able to, but that could also be fixed by universal vote by mail, or make it two separate days even… really the answer is just to make it a damn mandatory holiday and call it.
People had time to vote, they had time to research things and take part in political discourse
Which is precisely why it should be mandatory, otherwise politicians can just go about making life difficult for people to suppress votes. There is no place for political disengagement in a democracy
The problem I have with mandatory voting is, besides the fact that it would require a national holiday and changes to timing that would already drive up voter participation… given current political behavior in the US it’s going to drive a lot of apathy voting to just avoid the consequences that could be more harmful than not.
I absolutely think every citizen should be voting, but it’s also not really right to just force them to do it- Give them the resources (time off) and the reason to actually do it, and we’ll have turnout of 70%+.
we’ll have turnout of 70%+
That’s not good enough. Are you afraid of people having their opinions be heard? Without 100% participation you do not have democracy. Voting should be done on the weekend or on a public holiday or held over the course of a week or two. If people don’t want to vote they are most welcome to move to Russia. American democracy is hanging on by a thread anyway. If Harris wins January 6th might happen again and the MAGAs will know what they’re doing this time. If Trump wins he’ll abuse his power and set back international relations (I would like him to tear up the AUKUS “deal” because it sucks for Australia). And with the assassination attempt against Trump we might have the crazies from the other side take matters into their own hands.
Both sides think America is over if the other guy wins. I’m lucky I don’t have to deal with this shit in my country (though we are certainly on that path)
Another shout out to all the states that have at-home voting through the mail. You get a pamphlet with their stances and websites and you have a long time to get it in. It’s an amazing thing.
This is an example for the primaries in August: https://voter.votewa.gov/genericvoterguide.aspx?e=888&c=99#/
That’s why Colorado is on the 2016 chart with such good turnout. It’s incredibly easy to vote here. You’re automatically registered. You automatically receive a blue book weeks ahead. You automatically get a mail in ballot. And there’s thousands of drop-off locations. Mine is literally two streets over. Takes like 4 minutes to walk there, I don’t even bother to mail it in because it’s almost just as much work to do that as drop it off.
I live in Oregon and can vouch for this system. Voting is super easy. You get mailed your ballot, you can fill it out and mail it back at your leisure, or turn it into your local county drop box if it’s too close to election day. The system is secure, all ballots are verified locally and create their own paper trail. No voter fraud, and anyone who claims there is is just a piece of shit.
Seconding your vouching. It really is painless.
Thanks for posting the link separately 🙏
This is why voting needs to be really easy. If a phone app/website is good enough for banking, it is good enough for voting.
How would that not just make them vote due to whatever bullshit commercial they saw the day before?
How is that any different to now, beyond just more people being disenfranchised from voting due to not being able to stand in line for hours?
Its different in that they actually have to take effort to vote so that would tend toward more educated voters and ones that actually care and are not just swayed for a moment while laying in bed.
more educated voters
Yeah, no - that’s not how it works in the US.
There is only one political party intent on making it harder to vote (GOP), as they have long deduced that they are unable to win when voter turnout-out is high. Reminder that the only time a Republican president won the popular vote in the last 30+ years was in 2004 - and required both 9/11 and the incumbency advantage to get it done.
Conservatives don’t want educated voters, they just want to incense their (gullible) base and disenfranchise everyone else from voting.
If conservatives are the ones that dont want educated voters, why do the democrats directly seek to get younger people to vote and even want to lower the voting age?
Why are you conflating age with intelligence?
I CORRELATE age with knowing what is going and being deceived less. So now see above question.
No one is trying to get the voting age lowered. Could some people be talking about it and some media hacks focus on that talk? Sure, but not anyone with any power to do anything. It’s like those on the right who want to increase it again to 21. Are there some talking about it? Sure. Will anything be done about it? Not anymore chance than it would be lowered to under 18. It’s a BS media talking point click bait
Sorry man but you are wrong. It was a couple years ago, but they had an actual vote on this and about half of house democrats voted to lower the age, and virtually no republicans did. Democrats would like to lower the age because they would get more votes. I can look it up if you wish, but its a thing they want.
I disagree that we need to cater to the laziest people in the country to get their vote. Voting is already very easy, especially in states with a mail-in ballot. If you can’t even be bothered to open a letter, fill in a couple of bubbles, sign your name, and drop an envelope in your mailbox, then idk that we actually want your opinion on who should run the country.
By “you” I just mean anyone, not actually you.
Disabled people exist so it wouldn’t just be “catering to lazy people.” And like you pointed out, not all states have mail in ballots. An online option would be good for people who literally can’t stand in line for hours.
As someone who works in IT, an online option is a terrible idea for a number of reasons. Instead, every registered voter should get a mail in ballot automatically sent, and if you prefer to vote in person you can do that instead.
I like your idea better. It makes waaay more sense and more people would probably vote that way honestly
I knew it would be that Tom Scott video
Yeah, I think it’s the best detailed, but beginner-friendly, overview of why electronic voting is a bad idea. Heck, I’m Australian too, and we treat pens as too high-tech for our elections because they could be switched for ones with disappearing ink.
IMO analogue is just better for elections. Whether mail-in or not, there’s a physical object with your vote attached, not just a few bytes in a computer. It is far, far harder for a bad actor to control an election when they have to contend with faking thousands of bits of paper.
I’m not an American so I’m not sure I understand. Wikipedia says voter turnout in 2016 was 59.2% of the voting-eligible population. Even if we count is a percentage of the voting-age population (i.e. including people with felonies or without citizenship or barred from voting for other reasons) it’s still 54.8% voter turnout.
But that bar at the top of the graph makes it look like only around 15% voted.
Can someone explain?
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Does the top graph not just show that all the gray states had people that did not vote be the largest percentage.
So if for example 30% voted for Biden and 31% for Trump, you still have 39% that did not vote thus making the non voter ‘candidate’ win.
In this case the voter turnout is 61% yet the non voters represent the biggest share.
40.6% is bigger than half of 59.2%
It’s cause by FPTP. If the largest share of voters in a given state were people that didn’t vote, all the electoral college votes should go to “did not vote.” That doesn’t happen IRL because they just ignore low voter turnout.
It’s true but for the broader picture one should add that many people don’t bother to vote if their state is predicted to be a landslide victory for either candidate.
Should be illegal or some other incentive to vote.
Nah, that’s a violation of the First.
Which is why we need to spend our energy this election on motivating voters who are already on side but think voting is pointless, rather than bothering to convince fence sitters who aren’t already convinced by a Trump’s behavior.
Get your friends in swing states to vote! Get them to get their friends to vote! Harris has this, especially if we can motivate even like 5-10% of non-voters!
And this proves that a popular 3rd party candidate can win. Too many people, rightfully so, refuse to vote for the Democrats and Republicans.
I mean…… no. Not really. 50% (more than) of the country would need to vote en masse for the same person.
Don’t get me wrong, I agree that if we could get that level of unity we’d be able to fix everything. But not being that unified is why we can’t in the first place.
Why would more than 50% need to vote for the same person when the last few elections have been won with around 37.5% of the vote?
Because the electoral college is broken.
Because the electoral college is what needs to have a majority, not the general election.
Wow this diddnot voté guy seems wildly popular 🫨
No one for president.
I’d love to see something like ballot included in tax returns (for folks who don’t otherwise request a ballot). Near-mandatory voting, with abstaining being allowed.
Leaving the office empty for a term is the only democratic outcome.
… at least we voted! (Wisconsin)
