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Did You Vote? Now Your Friends May Know (nytimes.com)
A look at VoteWithMe and OutVote, two new political apps that are trying to use peer pressure to get people to vote. From a story: The apps are to elections what Zillow is to real estate -- services that pull public information from government records, repackage it for consumer viewing and make it available at the touch of a smartphone button. But instead of giving you a peek at house prices, VoteWithMe and OutVote let you snoop on which of your friends voted in past elections and their party affiliations -- and then prod them to go to the polls by sending them scripted messages like "You gonna vote?" "I don't want this to come off like we're shaming our friends into voting," said Naseem Makiya, the chief executive of OutVote, a start-up in Boston. But, he said, "I think a lot of people might vote just because they're frankly worried that their friends will find out if they didn't."
Whom Americans vote for is private. But other information in their state voter files is public information; depending on the state, it can include details like their name, address, phone number and party affiliation and when they voted. The apps try to match the people in a smartphone's contacts to their voter files, then display some of those details. The data's increasing availability may surprise people receiving messages nudging them to vote -- or even trouble them, by exposing personal politics they might have preferred to keep to themselves. Political campaigns have for years purchased voter files from states or bought national voter databases from data brokers, but the information has otherwise had little public exposure outside of campaign use. Now any app user can easily harness such data to make inferences about, and try to influence, their contacts' voting behavior.
Whom Americans vote for is private. But other information in their state voter files is public information; depending on the state, it can include details like their name, address, phone number and party affiliation and when they voted. The apps try to match the people in a smartphone's contacts to their voter files, then display some of those details. The data's increasing availability may surprise people receiving messages nudging them to vote -- or even trouble them, by exposing personal politics they might have preferred to keep to themselves. Political campaigns have for years purchased voter files from states or bought national voter databases from data brokers, but the information has otherwise had little public exposure outside of campaign use. Now any app user can easily harness such data to make inferences about, and try to influence, their contacts' voting behavior.
I will vote when my options aren't a bowl of shit looking itself in the mirror.
http://progressquest.com/spoltog.php?name=Son+Of+Son+Of+DarkRookie
I'm in a state with vote by mail, so I did it weeks ago.
Still can't get my friends to vote. They're convinced it gets you jury duty
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Drives like this always make me think something along the lines of "hey I know you're so disconnected and ill informed that you didn't know today was voting day so please go out and make an ill informed decision"... Still, maybe in aggregate it these things are for the best.
"I think a lot of people might vote just because they're frankly worried that their friends will find out if they didn't."
If that's your only reason for voting, then you might as well just stay home. People voting on heuristics or based on what pop singer posted is what got this country into it's current mess. If you aren't willing to make the time and effort to research candidate positions (or even who the candidates are) then you are doing more harm to good when you vote. Democracy and effective government can only exist with an informed electorate. Put pressure on our politicians to campaign on actual, thought out policies and then hold them to those policies if they are elected. Do your research yourself, go to each campaign's website, watch debates and speeches, etc-don't just listen to talking heads or what your preferred candidate says about their opponent. Voting is a right just as owning a gun is a right. Uninformed voting is the electoral equivalent of waving a gun around in the air-when exercising a right, you have a duty to exercise that right responsibly.
The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for it to be pitted against a slightly greater evil
. . . they're probably not the kind of person that should be voting anyway.
My wife registered as preferring one of the parties here in our state. And she has gotten over 100 pieces of mail from that party urging her to vote for their candidates. I did not register a party preference, and have only gotten a couple of pieces of mail urging me to vote. Her voting history has been blazoned across multiple cards in the mail in blatant attempts to shame her into voting. Mine was on one of the pieces of mail that I got. It seems like pretty soon we'll be getting mail telling us that it's time for us to buy more toilet paper because we'll be out next week...
OK Alex Jones, loosen the tin foil hat a little.
> "I don't want this to come off like we're shaming our friends into voting," said Naseem Makiya, the chief executive of OutVote, a start-up in Boston.
It doesn't "come off" like that at all. It comes across like you're a start-up with a useless, non-monetizable product and you're willing to attach yourself to nearly anything in order to gain your desired career trajectory.
Some day you're gonna get your ass kicked, you elitist prick, and you will deserve it.
I didn't care for the tone of the ops post but I don't think you could have chosen a better response to add weight to his opinion...
My roommate is delivering our ballots to the polling station since he drives that way to work.
The apps try to match the people in a smartphone's contacts
All I have is a dumb flip phone. Aww, too bad you don't get to harvest my information for your use.
They are not for the best. Basically these types of things just turn the electorate into a mob. We are not picking the next American idle here; this is serious. I think every citizen should be able to vote but those who don't want to take it seriously should do everyone a favor and butt out.
Voting is a right; however if you choose to exercise it you have responsibility to take it seriously. Frankly if election day rolls around you still need to be told, that it is election day, where to vote, and what the names of the candidates are - you have not done so. You have no business going to polls at this point IMHO.
Repeal the 17th Amendment TODAY! Also Please Read http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read.html
>> You gonna vote? If you express yourself with words like "gonna", please don't vote.
If you think the target audience is concerned about slang, might I remind you that we now have a full compliment of emojis built into our desktop operating systems.
Just saying. These guys must have a business plan behind their app and my guess it is to sell data to marketing companies. "The apps try to match the people in a smartphone's contacts to their voter files, then display some of those details." and no doubt phone the correlated data home to the mothership. One more in the category of creepy social apps to stay away from.
Average Intelligence is a Scary Thing
FTFY
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
With all the voter suppression happening and voting machines flipping votes, you will not have to worry about it any more. Next election, You might not be given the option.
Obama's legacy: (N)othing (S)ecure (A)nywhere and (T)error (S)imulation (A)dministration
With friends like that, who need enemies?
Who voted probably needs to be public information, with all the finger pointing and insinuations out there about fraud. This can be abused by people with deep pockets and agenda, but it is probably not a huge problem right now.
Shaming your friends into voting can only backfire.
Agreed.
We needs some laws on this quick, the privacy your political affilitation and if you vote is now just as important to keep private as it is on HOW you voted.
Things are getting so divisive that we may see things spill over into the workforce....were if your declared political affiliation is known, you may be let go from your job if it doesn't fit into those views carried by your immediate boss, or the company in general.
It is sad, but this is coming.
No one needs to know your leanings, unless YOU tell them, and if you vote or not, is no ones business.
This is supposed to be a free country and privacy on such personal believes and decisions, is a big part of that, to prevent you being coerced one way or another.
Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
I actually feel a little better that this kind of public information is out in the open rather than being purchased only by the parties. Maybe it will drive greater participation in democracy and may expose shenanigans where perhaps publication is selectively withheld or delayed by whoever is in control of the elections or even help identify voting irregularities.
Nullius in verba
Shouldn't we first find out if people have an informed view of the issues on the ballot before we encourage them to go out?
Taking guns away from the 99% gives the 1% 100% of the power.
what a dumass, obv. not from here
An old Asimov book used Multivac to question a single randomly chosen individual a number of seemingly random questions. From his responses it determined the proper outcome of the election for all districts. Obviously Asimov believed as you did but took it to an extreme level for a fictional story.
Amusing part is I read it Oct 2008, the story talked about the presidential election in Nov 2008. Think it was written in the 60s.
Just thought you might like to know is been a common theme for a while.
He did in fact misspell "complement." Nevertheless, you understood and received his intended meaning; therefore, communication was successful. Anything beyond that is useless pedantry.
The sent me a card telling whether or not I voted for the past years, along with the voting record of other people on my street with their names and addresses redacted for privacy. There are only TWO houses on my street!
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
"I don't want this to come off like we're shaming our friends into voting," said Naseem Makiya...
Proceeds to create app that shames friends into voting.
Voting for Trump doesn't make you a bad person. Not admitting by now that voting for Trump was a mistake -- THAT makes you a bad person! Obama didn't meet our (unrealistic) expectations either. I'm a liberal, but I believe fiscal conservatives still have some good ideas that we should listen to. The fear and hate mongers? Not so much.
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
Depends on where you live. Here, there's no point in voting because the Democrat will win, every single time, by more than +30%.
It's thinking like that which gave us Brexit.
The Democrats are still ashamed when they are caught lying, but many Republicans no long even bother to try to hide the fact that they are lying. In other words, they are emulating Trump.
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
Depends on the media company, i.e. Fox has an obvious Republican bias.But yes, most media outlets have a liberal bias. I just try to be aware of the bias of the messenger and adjust their message for their known biases. Other than going back to the "equal time" doctrine, I'm not sure what can be done about it.
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
What you say makes sense. However, there is another property of voting that has some effect: if you vote, you get some stake in the goverment.
Proof of concept? Alabama 2016. Roy Moore.
Bad example. Ole' Roy was the candidate because another candidate split the republican vote in the primary, not because he was the darling of the party. Trump campaigned for another republican in the primary you know. This is uniquely a republican problem, where better candidates split the vote in the primary, leaving the less desirable candidate in the general (Hello? Remember how Trump got nominated?). THAT'S the issue here, or it was the issue with Roy. I don't see democrats doing this as much, though it seems to be happening more often of late.
That the rank and file vote for their party's candidate, is NOT unique to either party. In fact, it's pretty much a given for both sides. This is why turnout tends to be the focus of campaigns, you have to get your rank and file out to vote, or you are done, in most places where the race is even marginally competitive.
"File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
A random sampling of a mere 10% of the population will give you the proportions to an acceptable level of accuracy.
Something like 50% of people vote, which means we have very high confidence as to what the correct proportions are.
The problem with your theory is that 50% is not a random sample. It is skewed older and more conservative.
The idea is to start building a habit, and applying pressure so that people feel they need to vote. Which results in them paying some attention to what they are voting on in subsequent elections.
It's plausible, but obviously unproven at this point.
Look at how well THAT has turned out.
I've been a poll worker three times in California. We had several printouts of the names and addresses of registered voters in our precinct. We had to put one of those printouts outside the polling place. Once an hour until 5 pm, on that public printout, we had to cross off the names of the people who had voted.
I asked someone why the list of voter names and addresses, and whether they'd voted, should be made public like that. She replied that it was to help political party workers get out the vote.
For me, that's not a good enough reason. My name and address, and whether I've voted, should be kept private.
Apps like these, and public voter printouts, hurt people's privacy.
Voting history and registration should be private.
Bonus captcha: "flagged"
Why? As long as we maintain that how they voted is secret, publish this information.
I think who voted is generally public record for a reason. Knowing who's registered and who cast a ballot has the effect of making vote fraud more obvious and thus more risky for those who would try it. It also allows independent public auditing of total votes cast vrs total votes counted, which tells us something about how accurate the count is, that it's not been fudged.
The deterrent effect it has on vote fraud is worth it to me.
"File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
I received a form letter showing me the voting status of everyone on my street (names redacted, addresses intact, but since I know my neighbors and where they live, it's hardly good enough to redact the names) and a warning that if I didn't vote today they would start calling me on the phone to explain myself. They didn't put it like that, of course, because that borders on harassment, but that's exactly what the entire letter implied. "If you choose not to vote, we'll be calling you in the next few days to discuss your choice." Yeah, I don't think so. The only response you're going to get from me is a big "Eff You".
It suggested that I may want to "talk to [my] non-voting neighbors to help them understand why voting is important]." and that they would be doing the same by calling them after election day (if they didn't vote), too.
Yes, you should vote. But whether you vote or not is still a choice and no one has the right to harass you for it.
"Tell me doctor, with all of your defenses, are there any provisions for an attack by killer bees?"
I'm sure Democrats will totally reach out to registered republicans in their networks and urge them to vote...likewise the other way around.
Shaming is working great so far. We keep reminding fat people they are unattractive and lazy. See how the world is now skinny?
Wow... An NPC from older days before "faggot" was removed from the acceptable dictionary. Wish they'd also push an update to say it's not ok for bots to tell people to fuck off and die. I'm sure they're busy though. They'll get around to it when they can.
This so stupid. Don't even pretend the Democrats have some kind of advantage in virtue here.
Trump's lies - some tall tales about turnout out events
Meanwhile we just watched Dianne Feinstein tell the whopper that nobody from her office leaked Christine Fords identity. Which is crazy because how else could it have become public? Now the truth might be she does not know who, but she said it was not her or her people. - Almost certainly a lie. Next we spent three weeks watching a good man get dragged thru the muck while the lefts political leaders did their damnedest to conceal all the statements Ford made to them that conflicted with her story du jour.
Oh how about when right before the 2012 election when Obama's people (Hillary included) try to sell us all on the idea that Bengazi was the response to a youtube video....
Or "If you like your plan you can keep it" - when all the research into the expected effects of the ACA indicated otherwise and Obama knew that!
Please - People who are upset with the "lies" Trump tells better damn well be libertarians, greens, etc, otherwise they just hypocritical partisan hacks.
Repeal the 17th Amendment TODAY! Also Please Read http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read.html
In the last 3 months I have seen this exact technique described and reported in 6 different books on Psychology and persuasion.
The technique, sometimes called "voting report card" depends on the assumption that people can be "nudged" into "responsible" behavior by adjusting the ways in which they are given choices, either through policy or environment. Although the book, "Nudge" by Richard Thaler https://www.amazon.com/Nudge-I... advocates a more free choice approach to shaping peoples' behavior, it can easily be abused, especially if the targets are somewhat vulnerable. Thaler's work has influenced many authors who write books on self-discipline and personal achievement. An example of where it is being used to great effect is in the UK, in what is referred to as the "Nudge Unit" https://www.amazon.com/Think-S... . This unit has also done some successful consulting in the USA. The book, "Think Small" is a pretty good introduction and a very interesting read.
But what then? Let's suppose you are able to get an additional 10% of the voting population to vote: Is that good or bad? Are these people qualified to vote? (Eligible, yes. Qualified, who knows?) In over 40 years of asking I've only found 2 people (who were not lawyers) who knew the Declaration of Independence, and the Constitution of the United States of America. The majority of the US population is woefully ignorant about US History and Economics https://www.amazon.com/dp/B007... . Most of them (WARNING! GENERALIZATION ALERT!) are unable to recognize and adjust their thinking to the 22 main rhetorical fallacies. Are we a more free country when we let idiots vote?
"The mind works quicker than you think!"
I REALLY respect the Republican Tea Party. They made changes in a matter of years. Because they mobilized and went for their goals.
I don't know if it is just my perspective, but it seemed that the religious right lost a lot of steam since the Tea Party popped up. I think it is the focus on economics and liberalism. Granted, the Tea Party still has a religious tinge to them which further split in Libertarians. It was probably the best thing to happen to the party in recent memory. Granted, I'm still not crazy on hyper conservative liberal polices... I still think there needs to be government controlled regulation and safety nets if for nothing else than to prevent people becoming so desperate as to commit.crime.
It is probably also why I've become more critical of the left and the Democratic party. The left has embraced a Marxist viewpoint, only replace class with race/sex/etc. When growing up the left was more about liberty and making sure we had the same starting opportunity. Nothing points to this more than Hilary talking about "deplorable" people, and the Kavanaugh hearings which focused on "listen and believe" more than any of his shitty support of NSA surveillance! Come the on!
Please back candidates that support ranked choice voting. It's the only easy to get out of the closed loop we are in.
There is a lot of effort to stop people voting, so encouraging them to overcome the barriers is a good thing.
Even if they are less than ideally informed now, participating is a good step towards more engagement and learning.
Recent elections and referendums have made people realize that their votes do count.
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
Anyone with a red hat, you need to vote next month as it's national red hat month and you'll get twice the voting power if you save it up.
Hey! What do you have against Linux users?
http://www.geoffreylandis.com
What the flying fuck business does the state have in knowing which one of the 8 significant political parties you're affiliated to? If any. Or several. I mean, it's perfectly possible for you to have valid grounds for affiliation to 4 political parties here, without one word of hypocrisy and only considering where you grew up and where you live now. If you've had a more mobile history, it could be 5, easily.
But hey, America's problem, so there's no reason to expect a solution. It's obviously convenient for the "powers that be", so the voters can go hang.
Birds are not dinosaur descendants;birds are dinosaurs, for all useful meanings of "birds", "are" and "dinosaurs"
...Party affiliation is a good example. If you live in a strong blue or strong red district and you vote the other way, that's none of your friends business.
Keep in mind that "party affiliation" does not say who you vote for in the election. It only says which of the primaries you vote in.
The solution to this is not telling people not to vote, it's trying to make sure as many voters are informed as possible. Otherwise you get rule by the most angry minority.
I'm in favor of mandatory (automatic) registration, of ensuring the pool of voters is as wide as practical (none of this Jim Crow era sanctions against people convicted of a crime) and I'm in two minds about whether we should have Australian style mandatory voting (you can always spoil your ballot, but you have to turn up to the election at least)
But... I'd also like to see the importance and responsibilities of the people voted for increased. It's ludicrous that my ballot paper had 20-30 things to vote on, including Florida state constitutional amendments proposing things that do not belong in a constitution, questions about keeping judges, and that's not to mention the local races. Thankfully I didn't need to vote for a dog catcher, but still.
This isn't "local democracy", it's ensuring only those most passionate about subjects control them, which isn't always for the best. My ballot should have had at most five positions this year: US Congress (Senator, Congressman), Florida State Congress (ditto), and local county commissioner. And that's it. There were, perhaps, two constitutional amendments that were legitimate, and those were the only two I've seen since I moved here (about who gets the vote, and removing a constitutional bar to lowering sentences) and perhaps if we weren't trying to shove high speed rail (I support HSR, don't get me wrong, just the constitution isn't the way to get it) and anti-off-shore drilling mandates, and mandates about casinos, and other similar BS, into the constitution perhaps these would have been resolved decades ago.
Make it simple. Make it understandable. Make it important. Give people something they can understand and they will make worthwhile choices. And let them make those choices.
You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
From the OP: "Whom Americans vote for is private." - Largely NOT true AND IT SHOULD BE. "But other information in their state voter files is public information; depending on the state, it can include details like their name, address, phone number and party affiliation and when they voted." - None of this information should be public knowledge. And it is actually much worse. In my state in the US for example, the following information is publicly available, just by entering a first and last name into the State voter search page: Your Address, County, Registration Status, Voter Reg Num, Party, Race, Ethnicity, Gender, Registration Date, NCDMV Customer (Do you have a driver's licence?). They also helpfully provide your Voting History, to include: Elections you voted in, Voting Method, Voted County, Voted Party (which appears to be gathered from the ballot type you chose to vote on, depending on the type of election). So basically, everyone on the planet can know, who you are politically and who you voted for (at least party-wise). In today's political climate, is it really appropriate that this type of info is made public?
Over 18, must be on the roll. Must vote.
Means lots of poling places everywhere, no queues, the electoral commission comes to your house if you have a reason you cant travel there.
Also set an independent body to set electoral boundaries so gerrymandering is a thing of the past.
Don't want to vote for anyone? Draw a giant cock on the ballot sheet.
Seems to work extremely well in Australia. Sure we have our political problems, but when everyone has to vote it naturally pulls the political representation towards the center as dog whistling to get people out to vote isn't required. You can see a correction coming in australia now. The current ruling party tried to lurch to the right on social and economic policy. There was a byelection that had the highest swing against the government in history and come the general election in may they are going to be wiped out. They will sit in electoral purgatory until they move back to the center.
Really? Binary sort? To the best of my knowledge there is no such sorting algorithm and a brief search found nothing as well. Binary insertion sort exists, but even that is not good CS 101 material, because it has bad complexity (O(n^2)) and is not even the simplest algorithm with that complexity (that would be bubble sort).
With the turnout to a typical election less than half.... who wins Is all about who is motivated to vote.
See, all parties have "apathetic voters" who didn't care enough to show up to the polls ---- Selectively prodding ones with certain demographics or
certain party affiliation basically amounts to tampering with the outcomes of elections.
Frankly... This should be illegal. At a personal level, sure, you should encourage your friends to vote, and that should be perfectly fine as long as you are not discriminating based on their party affiliation, etc --- But gaining access to party rosters and using selective pressure or systematic discriminatory aid to different groups (e.g. Republicans, Democrats, people who live in a certain neighborhood are of a certain age range, class, race, gender, etc) - is something that should be banned for fairness in elections.
This phenomena may discourage more voter registration than it encourages the vote.
I got a postcard in the mail that listed names, addresses and voting percentages (with a letter grade) of a half dozen of my neighbors. Some listed as voting 100% of the time, while I having only voted 68% of the time was given a D grade for not voting enough. I've also received multiple texts in the past week extolling my poor voting record, asking me to be a responsible citizen and vote, even though I had already early voted. I guess the app does not update current information after all. Every on knows unnecessary harassment always helps persuade.
Strangely lacking was the over 50% of my neighbors who likely never bothered to register, so if I get a D for not voting in useless primaries, while the non-registered adults get a free pass, exactly why does this encourage marginal or non-registered voters to participate?
Thank you for your service.
You're a force-multiplier for all of the votes from people who do cast ballots.
It's simple math. If there are 100 voters and all of them vote, my vote is only 1 in 100. If only 50 vote, it is twice as powerful. Now I've just got to convince the 49 other voters not to vote too.
Maybe we should discourage people from voting, but let's not make it hard to vote.
depending on how you run the numbers and if you consider $1000 in the bank paycheck to paycheck (I certainly do).
They can't afford to take 1-3 weeks off from work making $12/day. Some would lose their cars or homes. Very few companies pay you while you're on Jury duty.
Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
Didn't even pause between those non-sequitur. Sure as hell didn't see the irony. Since then I've been opposed to Juries. The possibility of jury nullification saving me is dwarfed by the chances that somebody would send me up the river because they don't like the cut of my jib; especially since I'm a nerd.
Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
the prosecution gets to pick jurors too. Also, you're probably not going to get peers unless you're in your 50s since most people who work have to beg and plead to get out of it thanks to that joke of a per diem.
Plus, think of it this way, do you really want to be judged by a panel of folks too dumb to get out of jury duty?
Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
Greed did. Greedy aristocrats plunging us into pointless wars to retail their every growing power and wealth.
Folks aren't nearly as stupid as you think they are. But they _are_ beaten down. If it takes a singer to get them out of bed and to the polls, so be it. Folks know what's what. But America isn't a functioning Democracy. Gerrymandering and Voter suppression have wrecked it more than the occasional moron every will. These things were done by the very wealthy as part of a long, 40+ year campaign to shut down democracy, worker's rights and better pay for workers.
Like I said, Folks in general know this, but it's exhausting to face it head on. Whatever floats your boat to face reality is OK by me.
Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
but voting is stressful, exhausting and in many states just plain hard (thanks to Voter Suppression).
Things like this are designed to counter act that stress and exhaustion. They're good things. These people aren't any less informed than the useful idiots that the American Aristocracy has deemed allowed to vote. If anything they're _more_ informed. That's the problem. When you know how well and truly fucked the worlds is it's easy to get discouraged.
Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
I agree with privacy for political affiliation, but I would prefer the did/did-not vote data remain public. It is of statistical interest to me.
The "Starship Troopers" system basically says that, to vote, you must have some skin in the game.
Well, guess what? I already do. I pay taxes to my city, (sales tax,) county, (property tax,) and the national government, (income tax.)
If you're going to disenfranchise me, then you better damned well not expect me to pay any taxes. That would be "taxation without representation." Our ancestors fought a war over it, supposedly.
I earn my right to vote every year between February and April.
"Get out the vote" drives are always partisan........one party or the other has made the calculation that "apathetic voters are more likely to vote for me than the other guy, so it's in my favor to get out the vote." It's not worth mentioning either party, since both would do it when the calculation falls in their favor. Of course the other party will try various methods of voter suppression....."your vote does't matter anyway."
"First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
This kind of information should be held confidential, it is a serious problem that states are giving out this confidential information to campaigns, pacs, corporations, and individuals.
The rampant abuse this midterm cycle and now apps like these highlight this.
Has anyone ever considered that some of us don't believe in the system and don't want to add legitimacy to the results? It creates the illusion that the turd or shit sandwich you put on the podium was actually elected and represents the people which they most certainly do not. I don't support EITHER of your parties and I don't support the strawman alternatives you supply either. Bernie Sanders is the only one I've seen get traction with any integrity and look what they did to his campaign. There is no lesser evil there.
These efforts mirror efforts by the Kremlin to push voters to the polls and give legitimacy to Putin.
I wouldn't mind the vote/no-vote thing IF that information was anonymized.
I don't think it is the business of anyone whether a person votes or not....they have their reasons.
Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
In my case I need it to not be anonymized. I'm working on an inner join of voter data against death certificates to see if anything interesting comes up. I doubt it will, but I'd like to put the old "Cemetery votes for the incumbent" adage to rest.
(You can do this too. I'm only looking at my tiny county. There is a whole country of data out there if you want to play with it.)
Bet you don't think the same thing about people that voted against Trump.
I'm in a 'safe state'. So I voted FOR Vermin Supreme. The best candidate running in 2016.
Your just a pinhead with no understanding of realpolitik. More than 50% of D and R voters have never voted FOR anyone.
John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
Fair point, and yet... not really IMO.
You pay taxes for the niceties that you have; roads, police, welfare, educated populace. I understand you want some feedback on how that is spent and want to see where that money goes.
At the same time... congratulations on doing next to nothing to maintain the minimum of civility! You really "earned" that one, right? The reason why it was a bigger issue during those times were that the taxes were being collected by a essentially a foreign government to oppress the local population. Don't get me wrong, there are some libertarians that basically believe that of current taxation, and they are right in a way, but you have to choose what level of community that you want. Just like you are happy for "representation" to mean voting for people who are basically hand picked by a two party system.
The Starship Troopers model has that, but you have to go through a program to be able to have the vote. Anyone can not go through the program and live a perfectly fine life, they just can't vote or hold office. Anyone, ANYONE, can go through this program to earn the right to vote and hold office... but they make the program hell so that you are forced to earn it (in the books and movies it is high militaristic, but that's because it is following a soldier; there are other paths to citizenship). It is highly liberal and in fact much more individual than our system with a de-emphasis on party lines.
Maybe a compromise is to make anyone who wants to hold government positions go through some training. If every politician is locked up for 6 months in prison they might appreciate the same rights that they seemingly want to erode for the rest of us.
Well, you'd still not need live voter info it they voted or not.
Just simply scan for voter with dead....as that no one that is dead should even BE on the active voter list, you know?
If they're dead, they should not be on the voter list to begin with.....eh?
Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
The "records" are wrong, so they may think they know, but they don't. If anyone asks, I'll tell them that whether or how I voted is none of their, (or anyone else's but mine and the secretary of state in my state who runs the voting system,) goddamned motherfucking business, and that they can fuck off if they don't like it.
I consider the right to vote to imply the right to abstain in protest, which is itself a form of voting. I will not be shamed or intimidated into either not voting, OR voting.
Fuck you if you don't like it. My vote is MINE, to bestow or NOT as I fucking goddamned well please.
Sick of this fucking bullshit.
Our reign has gone on long enough. Indeed. Summon the meteors.
Please back candidates that support ranked choice voting. It's the only easy to get out of the closed loop we are in.
I would say approval voting but it is irrelevant because neither party supports an alternative to plurality.
Drives like this always make me think something along the lines of "hey I know you're so disconnected and ill informed that you didn't know today was voting day so please go out and make an ill informed decision"... Still, maybe in aggregate it these things are for the best.
I'm too well informed; I know my voting is a waste of time.