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My wife, who recently became an American, asked me what she should fill for her voter registration forms. My response was, "Living in the SF bay area, Your opin

by zebnyc 7y ago

My wife, who recently became an American, asked me what she should fill for her voter registration forms. My response was, "Living in the SF bay area, Your opinion would count only if you vote for the Democratic party primaries. The general elections don't matter". I am happy to be proven wrong but sadly I think this is the state of affairs now.

hannibalhorn 7y ago
You're getting downvoted, but I think it'd be quite interesting to know how many people don't bother just because they are registered where (in a federal election) it's basically a foregone conclusion. I live abroad but as my last residence was Texas, that's where my vote winds up counting (federal elections only) and it's a serious pain: - my ballot has to mailed back - I'm actually given multiple mailing addresses (it's unclear which I should actually use) - I live in a country without a traditional postal service and thus have to hand deliver my ballot to the the embassy or use an expensive private courier service (UPS, FedEx, etc.) - I have no way to know if my ballot was actually counted (did I fill some field out wrong, not print the "security envelope" right, use the wrong number of envelopes, etc. - the instructions are very unclear) And in the end ... well, Texas is pretty much a foregone conclusion anyway. It's discouraging, to say the least.
toast0 7y ago
For the presidential election in California? Yeah, really only the primary matters, and only for the two major parties, and only one of them has a real field of candidates this year. For other offices, many of these are highly contested, and the top two primary system makes primary voting more important than it used to be; especially since there are fewer voters, your vote has more weight. For all of measures and propositions, many of those are highly contested, and you should vote on those. Especially in California, where anything enacted by voters cannot be changed except by voters, unless its found unconstitutional by the courts. (Washington state legislators are apparentlty sometimes able to modify or repeal voter passed measures; other states may vary)
clSTophEjUdRanu 7y ago
Why do you think your vote doesnt matter?
mjevans 7y ago
That could very well change if enough states enter the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Popular_Vote_Interstate_Compact https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Popular_Vote_Intersta... There's a CGP Grey video about it too. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tUX-frlNBJY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tUX-frlNBJY

by zebnyc 7y ago

hannibalhorn 7y ago

You're getting downvoted, but I think it'd be quite interesting to know how many people don't bother just because they are registered where (in a federal election) it's basically a foregone conclusion. I live abroad but as my last residence was Texas, that's where my vote winds up counting (federal elections only) and it's a serious pain: - my ballot has to mailed back - I'm actually given multiple mailing addresses (it's unclear which I should actually use) - I live in a country without a traditional postal service and thus have to hand deliver my ballot to the the embassy or use an expensive private courier service (UPS, FedEx, etc.) - I have no way to know if my ballot was actually counted (did I fill some field out wrong, not print the "security envelope" right, use the wrong number of envelopes, etc. - the instructions are very unclear) And in the end ... well, Texas is pretty much a foregone conclusion anyway. It's discouraging, to say the least.

toast0 7y ago

For the presidential election in California? Yeah, really only the primary matters, and only for the two major parties, and only one of them has a real field of candidates this year. For other offices, many of these are highly contested, and the top two primary system makes primary voting more important than it used to be; especially since there are fewer voters, your vote has more weight. For all of measures and propositions, many of those are highly contested, and you should vote on those. Especially in California, where anything enacted by voters cannot be changed except by voters, unless its found unconstitutional by the courts. (Washington state legislators are apparentlty sometimes able to modify or repeal voter passed measures; other states may vary)

clSTophEjUdRanu 7y ago

Why do you think your vote doesnt matter?

mjevans 7y ago

That could very well change if enough states enter the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Popular_Vote_Interstate_Compact https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Popular_Vote_Intersta... There's a CGP Grey video about it too. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tUX-frlNBJY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tUX-frlNBJY