Throwing your vote away

[NerdGirl]

http://theboard.byu.edu/questions/69040/

Seriously people, stop it with the strategic voting! Everyone needs to vote for who they want to win, not who they think is a good compromise because they think that their candidate won't win. Yes, I know I'm Canadian and I don't even live in the States anymore and our political system works slightly differently. But let me tell you a little story about what just happened in the Alberta election. Everyone hates the progressive conservative party (well, not everyone, but they are kind of hated by right-wingers and left-wingers alike). They were in power with a majority government. So then we had an election and along came a party that was even more right-wing than the conservative party. And all the right-wingers were excited. So the left-wingers freaked out and instead of voting for the liberal party or the new democratic party (another left-wing party) like good left-wingers should be inclined to do, they all voted for the conservatives because they thought that it would stop the wild rose party from winning! (Well, I didn't, I voted for the liberal candidate because he was who I wanted!!) So guess what happened? My riding (don't remember what the term for that is in the States, but basically my political area), which is full of left-wingers like me, now has a conservative MLA because everyone lost all sense of reason and tried to vote "strategically" instead of voting for who they wanted.

Moral of the story, vote for who you want to represent you. If they aren't going to get in, well, they really aren't going to get in if no one votes for them. !!!!!!!!!!! Drives me crazy. Stop meta-gaming elections.

[Zedability]

I loved the result of that election. I support the Conservatives in theory, but in practice, they're waaaaay too over-confident in Alberta. The election gave them a nice scare, but my party still won

[Katya]

My riding (don't remember what the term for that is in the States, but basically my political area)

"District," maybe?

[NerdGirl]

Oh yeah, district sounds good.

[Marduk]

I assumed "precinct."

On topic, I'd just like to point out that there are WAY more candidates than just president, and strategically voting in all of them just becomes exhausting.

That said, I plan to vote for Hatch, so there I go strategically voting.

[yayfulness]

After reading a rant on Overheard@BYU about not just thinking about the presidential election when deciding whether to vote, I realize I probably should have put a disclaimer in my answers about how most of what I say doesn't apply to other elections and voting in them is a good idea. Then again, I'm torn between the desire to vote and be a Good Citizen and the innate urge to apply rational ignorance to the situation, since I'd be voting on candidates from and for a state that I've spent less than eight months out of the past four years living in and do not expect to spend more than a couple weeks at a time in for the foreseeable future, possibly for the rest of my life. I'd have to go from total ignorance about even the names of the candidates to reasonably competent knowledge in two months, and then after voting I'd never hear even their names again. I suppose that would be a good argument for why I should get my voter registration transferred to Utah or something, but I don't know what kinds of hoops I'd have to jump through for that (including how much time I'd have to live here), and I have no intention of finding out at 2:30 am.

Clearly my feelings about politics are much more heartfelt under the effects of sleep deprivation. I'd suggest this as a tactic for the candidates to win my attention, except that it turns me into a radical non-partisan and flaming moderate with no tolerance for polarization or divisiveness, not to mention faulty arguments and personal smears.

[Unit of Energy]

but I don't know what kinds of hoops I'd have to jump through for that (including how much time I'd have to live here),

I believe it's about 15 days before the election for the residency requirement. It was super simple to register, you just need to fill out the form. You don't need a Utah ID/DL unless you register online.

[Katya]

I'm in favor of ranked voting, which lets you vote for the candidate you really want while also specifying a backup candidate so that you don't split the vote.

[Craig Jessop]

That said, I plan to vote for Hatch, so there I go strategically voting.

Boo. Vote for Scott Howell. He gave me a free t-shirt.

[Giovanni Schwartz]

Gary Johnson had a rally at my school today, and now I may just have to vote for him. I mean, Romnobama haven't spent any QT with us.