Your vote

[LMNO]

Do you vote?
Will you vote?
If not, why not?
Do you think voting is a civic responsibility?
Do you think your vote matters?
Should Independent voters be allowed to vote in primaries?

Yes, Yes, N/A, Yes...

If it's a local election, then yes.  If it's federal, only partially.  I live in MA, which is solid blue when it comes to the electoral college (Scott Brown was more of a fucked up laziness on the part of the Dems, rather than a solid Republican win).  I do feel I can have an effect with third parties by at least giving them a high enough percentage to be recognized as viable the following year (if they get 5% of the national vote, they qualify for federal funding).  So while the candidate I usually like won't win, they will at least get my support, which can help.

Primaries are good because if we just went straight to the general elections, we'd have 5 Dems, 5 Reps, and then at least 5 Third Parties.  The third party candidates would get drowned in the noise.

I think it might be nice if independents could vote in every primary.  So the primary candidates wouldn't be forced to go extremist in towing the party line to win the primary, and then go running back to the center for the general elections.  I'm probably missing some vital element here, but I would hope it would make them at least more consistent.

[Adios]

Do you vote?
Will you vote?
If not, why not?
Do you think voting is a civic responsibility?
Do you think your vote matters?
Should Independent voters be allowed to vote in primaries?

Yes, Yes, N/A, Yes...

If it's a local election, then yes.  If it's federal, only partially.  I live in MA, which is solid blue when it comes to the electoral college (Scott Brown was more of a fucked up laziness on the part of the Dems, rather than a solid Republican win).  I do feel I can have an effect with third parties by at least giving them a high enough percentage to be recognized as viable the following year (if they get 5% of the national vote, they qualify for federal funding).  So while the candidate I usually like won't win, they will at least get my support, which can help.

Primaries are good because if we just went straight to the general elections, we'd have 5 Dems, 5 Reps, and then at least 5 Third Parties.  The third party candidates would get drowned in the noise.

I think it might be nice if independents could vote in every primary.  So the primary candidates wouldn't be forced to go extremist in towing the party line to win the primary, and then go running back to the center for the general elections.  I'm probably missing some vital element here, but I would hope it would make them at least more consistent.

Here in conservative Kansas Republicans need to say two things. "I am pro life and Pro guns." Since I am Independent I can't vote in a republican primary but even though I lean left I would choose to vote in the Republican primary, for the more centrist candidate.

[Placid Dingo]

The sex party just shot out of nowhere recently. Very exciting.

Also I'm very pleased about the Greens looking at an increased vote.

[AFK]

Do you vote?   Every election since I turned 18
Will you vote?  I'm the Cal Ripken Jr. of voting!
Do you think voting is a civic responsibility?  I think so, yes. 
Do you think your vote matters?  Sure.  It matters more the more local you get. 
Should Independent voters be allowed to vote in primaries?  I wouldn't say should.  I mean, it is their party.  I was faced with that this year.  A Democrat I really wanted to win was in a 4-man primary.  In the end, I valued my party-independence over being a part of the Dems to vote for the guy.  And he lost, but he was going to lose anyway.  But if independents were allowed to vote in primaries here I certainly would participate. 

[Triple Zero]

Do you vote?
Will you vote?
If not, why not?
Do you think voting is a civic responsibility?
Do you think your vote matters?
Should Independent voters be allowed to vote in primaries?

Yes,

Yes,

This one time we had to vote for the city council and I had an afternoon nap and got distracted until 10 minutes before the booths would close, I grabbed my voting card, jumped on my bike, drove as fast as I could, only to find the door just being locked in front of me, rules are of course pretty strict when it comes to voting. I felt like such a dumbass..

Yes, I like the way Roger put it, taking part in the state just means three things, you gotta pay taxes, you gotta vote and you gotta do jury duty. Except we don't have juries. I feel like voting is not too much to ask, getting a bit informed, and because of our coalition system we have loads of parties and there's usually some pretty-okay and/or not-really-that-bad ones to pick from, for most political positions.

Kind of. I think discussion politics and talking points with your friends before the elections matters more. With more parties, people get swayed easier, as they often have multiple favourites anyway. Unfortunately I don't get the Geert Wilders voters that way, because none of my friends are that dumb.

And I cant really give an informed opinion on the independent primaries thingy.

[tyrannosaurus vex]

Do you vote?
Yes.

Will you vote?
Probably.

If not, why not?
n/a

Do you think voting is a civic responsibility?
Yes, but it's also a civic responsibility to be educated about the issues and the consequences of your ideology. If you can't do that, you shouldn't vote.

Do you think your vote matters?
Yes.

Should Independent voters be allowed to vote in primaries?
Absolutely not. Party primaries should be reserved for members of a party. A primary is a party function, not a State function. Parties should not enjoy State-sponsored privileges such as access to State funds to hold primary elections, no matter their size or popularity. If you want to have a political party, that's great, but the national election system should be completely party-agnostic. Allowing independent voters in primaries blurs the line that should absolutely separate political parties from governmental entities.

[Cramulus]

Do you vote?

Yes but unless its a really close race, I vote by die roll

RANDOMOCRACY, BITCHES


Do you think voting is a civic responsibility?

only if you care. if you can't be arsed to educate yourself about the issues, it's probably best that you don't vote, as your vote will be informed by stupid things.

Do you think your vote matters?

definitely not. I think it's largely arbitrary participatory wanking. That's why I vote by die roll.

Never once in my life have I said, "Thank god I voted for that guy." Might as well choose randomly.


Should Independent voters be allowed to vote in primaries?

I do. I change my party affiliation based on what elections I want to vote in. I am a registered republican just so I can vote against people like Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee whenever I can.

[tyrannosaurus vex]

Most people are saying that voting is a civic responsibility if you're educated about the issue. Maybe there should be a short quiz at the beginning of every ballot just to make sure the person is qualified to have an opinion.

"If demand for a product goes up, the price of that product (a) increases (b) decreases."

"A 'Flat Tax' on income of 10% results in wealthy people paying a (a) higher (b) lower percentage of their income in taxes than poor people."

etc.

If you fail the quiz, your vote isn't counted.

[Cain]

I hear Libertarians have similar ideas about money and voting.

[AFK]

I think it is a civic responsibility but I wouldnt' walk down the road of talking about being educated, etc.  I think it would be nice if more people would research candidates and ballot initiatives, but I'm not comfortable using election law to encourage, institutionalize, or mandate that.  Because when you go down that road, you invariably end up disenfranchising voters. 

[Adios]

I think it is a civic responsibility but I wouldnt' walk down the road of talking about being educated, etc.  I think it would be nice if more people would research candidates and ballot initiatives, but I'm not comfortable using election law to encourage, institutionalize, or mandate that.  Because when you go down that road, you invariably end up disenfranchising voters. 

I agree.

[No u]

Do you vote? Yes

Will you vote? Yes

If not, why not? N/A

Do you think voting is a civic responsibility? Yes

Do you think your vote matters? Yes

Should Independent voters be allowed to vote in primaries? No.  Each party, IMO, should have the exclusive right to have the members of that part cast a vote on who will represent them.  Opening primaries to independents allows a voter to cast a vote for the less qualified candidate, increasing the odds, however slightly, of the less qualified candidate to represent a party they have no interest in in order to advance their own agenda of having a lesser candidate run against the independent.

[Cuddlefish]

Do you vote?
Will you vote?
If not, why not?
Do you think voting is a civic responsibility?
Do you think your vote matters?
Should Independent voters be allowed to vote in primaries?

YeS
yeS
??
yEs
hrMM...
SuRe

VoTing iS oNE pArt oF CiVic reSponSibiLity. But OnE VoTe Is NoT alL YoU hAvE. IssueS ShOuld bE discuSSed regUlarly WiTh YoUr pEIrs. ReaCH ConcenSuS wIth OthERs WhO aRe ActiVE iN ThEiR oWN lIVEs, as OppOseD tO SpeCTATorS = GET MOAR VOTES!

[Adios]

Do you vote?
Will you vote?
If not, why not?
Do you think voting is a civic responsibility?
Do you think your vote matters?
Should Independent voters be allowed to vote in primaries?

YeS
yeS
??
yEs
hrMM...
SuRe

VoTing iS oNE pArt oF CiVic reSponSibiLity. But OnE VoTe Is NoT alL YoU hAvE. IssueS ShOuld bE discuSSed regUlarly WiTh YoUr pEIrs. ReaCH ConcenSuS wIth OthERs WhO aRe ActiVE iN ThEiR oWN lIVEs, as OppOseD tO SpeCTATorS = GET MOAR VOTES!

Fix your damn caps key.

[Cuddlefish]

YeAh! AllRIGht! i wILl Fix my damn caps key.