Right or Civic Duty

Even political scientists get tired during election season. I know that I am certainty no exception to this. The funny thing is we don't get tired from ads or debates; we get tired from the stupidity that works it's way around.

DISCLAIMER: Now, since I don't know you, the reader, I can't claim to number you amongst the stupid.

One of the biggest things we see is people's responses to voting. Some people say it's a right to vote, others a civic duty, others simply a choice. Then there's the matter of whether your vote matters, does it have any power, does it even count.

Let's start with the first. What is voting? In the United States it is a choice to vote. In some other democracies it is mandatory to vote and punishable with a fine. Therefore, people that don't like the candidates or feel their vote doesn't carry as much can choose not to vote. Some non-voters actually see this as voting.

Is voting a right? Yes, the government has the right to take away your vote or to withhold it. For instance, felons have had their vote taken from them and non-citizens have their vote withheld.

Now you might be asking about voter intimidating or voter suppression. This is not the same as this is caused by citizens. Voter intimidating is when voters are forced to vote for a certain candidate or party due to coercion or threats levied against the individual. Voter suppression is when voters are prevented from voting, once again due to threats, coercion or even demonstrations that are without a permit.

Lastly, is voting a civic duty? This is not something that I can answer, but you yourself. The reason being that it is a personal and moral conclusion.

Now to the matter of your vote itself, if you choose to vote. Does your vote count? Yes, every vote counts. No vote properly submitted is ever removed.

What about whether your vote matters? That depends... a candidate only needs 1 vote more than the highest leading competitor or an obvious amount of votes that make all other votes insignificant.

To illustrate the point let's use the city of voters, population of George, Thomas, James, Alexander & John.
First, if George and Alexander vote for party A while Thomas and James votes for party B, John now has the deciding vote.
But if George, Alexander, and James vote party A and Thomas votes party B, it doesn't matter which party John votes for. Party A has already won and thereby made John's vote insignificant. Let's take this a step further. If George, Alexander, and James vote party A before Thomas and John vote, then there is no point to them voting.

Since voting is done blindly there is no way to determine whether or not your vote doesn't matter. Also if you know your state is strong party ground for a party - i.e. you live in California which is predominantly Democrat or Texas which is predominantly Republican - your vote won't matter if you are of the opposite party.

Now to the power of your vote. A vote does carry power in relation to what you are voting on or who you are voting for. A local election gives your vote more power than a state wide or national election. Your vote has the least amount of power in a presidential election.

In a presidential election, your vote does not go towards the presidential candidate. Your vote goes to the electoral college. The electoral college then votes for the president. Your vote simply tells the state who you want the state to vote for.

Lastly on the power of voting, while your vote may not matter in respect to who wins, votes can also speak to policy. Even though your vote may not matter you and others can "tell" lawmakers that you don't agree entirely with someone or something given the closeness of the votes.

If it's 51% to 49% lawmakers understand that there need to be adjustments, especially if they want to keep their office. But if it's 85% to 15% they don't care about the 15% and will do what pleases the 85%.

Now that you understand voting, get out and vote if you so desire.