Voter turnout

[UltraBudgie]

That is a very good point that it is in local elections that there is still the least disaffection, a hope that true change is possible, the choices aren't all just different flavours of [censored], and votes really do matter. Although party-line "pull the lever" voting by the majority of voters makes this somewhat difficult to believe there, too.

And yes office holding is a responsibility, not a popularity contest! In theory, anyway. In practice it seems to be all about appearances, the entrenched bureaucracy and surrounding apparatus seems to run everything anyway. After all, both with Regan and Biden we had essentially mentally non-functional presidents for much of their terms, and it didn't really seem to matter one bit, as long as people believed they were putting their suit on and sitting at their fancy desk each day.

It does seem this nation was founded on principle of local-up governance giving a foundation of integrity. As Chiefsmom just said "The only way to attempt to get back to that time, is to go vote", but it reminds me of this quote that Albert Einstein didn't say: "We can not solve our problems with the same level of thinking that created them”.

[pianopraze]

I got to the voting location 20 minutes before it opened at 6 am.

There was already a long line.


I think voter turnout is going to be high this year.

[UltraBudgie]

One inversion I have noticed is the label "faithless electors". I don't want to vote for President. That's not how our system works. I would like to vote for a person of integrity from my community, whom I can trust to research all the political garbage and cast their vote in the Electoral College. But, it seems that the laws have been skewed to require electors to abandon their responsibilities and make pledges ahead of time! To me, that's faithless. They're even subject to legal penalty if they don't cast their votes in a certain direction! You can't find the name of the electors you're voting for on a modern ballot. I don't know what that is, but it's not the system of government our Constitution establishes.

[UltraBudgie]

It looks like "Aarrgh No Make It Stop Make It Stop" has won once again, with 87,192,673 votes, soundly defeating Donald Trump's 71,979,150 votes.

Voter turnout was down somewhat from 2020.

Year  Rate    Ballots      Eligible   
2024  64.52%  158,549,000  245,741,673
2020  66.38%  159,738,337  240,628,443
2016  60.12%  138,747,904  230,780,798
2012  58.57%  130,231,296  222,437,494


Source: https://election.lab.ufl.edu/voter-turnout/