Election day in Ohio

[ljw]

I guess I'll be going to the voting polls in the rain today. A lot of people say that voting doesn't really make a difference, it's only one vote. Of course I disagree. There are many issues on the Ohio ballot this year I don't really know what to think about them. I think that if we all took an interest in voting our conscience, all of these issues wouldn't be necessary. Left or right, wouldn't really matter. We all just want a good life. And we have to understand that with 300 million people everyone won't get their way. Isn't there a Bible verse that explains "we must accept the things we cannot change". But think of the message to all if 100% voting attendence instead of 50%. I'll end this now before the polls close. Vote your conscience, but vote. Larry

[Lurker Carl]

Your vote doesn't count when you don't vote.

In Afganistan, most of the adult population registered and voted the first time in their lives in a free election within the past year. Voter turnout was much, much closer to 100% than the typical 50% here and the citizens there risked life and limb to do so. Poeple who have fought for their freedom know the importance of voting. Freedom isn't free.

[freebird]

We have been voting absentee for 2 years now, very convienent....Sitting at home, sipping a cool beverage etc. Mail it the next day!

[George Willer]

We voted today on a bedsheet of Ohio issues... every one important . I can't imagine not voting while we still have a small say in our future.

[Rudi]

Well, I am not in Ohio, and it is not Voting Day in Canada yet, but just might be soon. We have a minority government and --- well it is a Canadian thing. Voting for Harper is like shooting yourself in the foot.. Ouch : Martin isn't the greatest thing since sliced bread, but he is honest. I actually like the man and having spoken to him personally a few times, he comes across as a very well meaning man. I think he has far too much money for his own good, I think he is a bit Liberal for my likes, but at least he is a Pan-canadian Prime Minister. Harper is an isolationist/alberta centred/blame everything east of Manitoba opportunist who can barely lead his party never mind my country.

As for the Bloc Quebequois, I still haven't figured out how a seditionist (traitor) can actually hold elected office in this country... secessionists need to have their heads banged upside a wall a few times and hopefully knock some sense into their heads..

Ohoh... again and it is givin me a headache

However, as most vets do, I believe that excersising one's franchise is the single most important thing we can do next to Honouring God and caring for our families. It is basically what all of us have served for, and it angers me when people are too indifferent or uncaring enough to get off their butts and vote. I don't care how you do it, just do it. Become informed. Stand up and make yourself heard, Get out and vote

It is much like understanding history.

If one does not know where one has been
If one does not know where one is, then
How can one know where one is heading

Voting is the same thing. If you do not inform yourself of the issues, if you do not voice your opinion (by way of excersising your franchise), then one must shut one's mouth, when one does not get what one wants.

Isn't that basic civics? or as we know in Canada - Poly Sci

I was talking to my kids the other night when Rosa Parks died. Oh yes, we Canadians know very well who Rosa Parks is, and probably as much as most Americans on the Civil Liberties and Abolishinist crusades. They always ask why vote, why stand up and be heard it won't make any difference.

Sorry, look at Rosa Parks, all she did was sit and say No.
Sorry, look at Martin Luther King, all he did was speak the Good News and tell his brothers and sisters that they were equal under the law just as God promised them that they were.

One vote, one voice can and has made a difference throughout history.

Make your voice heard, make your vote count -- VOTE!

[YellowPower]

Another Ohio voter here. I never miss an election.

[Bigdog]

Voted today myself. Got to use one of them new-fangled electronic voting machines with the touch screen. The man who doesn't trust today's technology sure doesn't stand a chance.

[johnbron]

I wont use those electronic ballots. I insisted on a paper ballot again today.

[Rudi]

JB:

Haven't seen CNN reports yet, how did the Gubernatorial Race end

[johnbron]

JB:

Haven't seen CNN reports yet, how did the Gubernatorial Race end

Rudi

There was no Governor race or vote here this year but all the initiatives were a disasterous "BLOWOUT". Wish I hadn`t wasted the gas going to vote now.

[Rudi]

K, so is it next year Arnold is up for re-election?

[DuxburyFarmall]

Rudi,

Yes Arnold is up for re-election next year. There were a couple of governor races that took place this year.

Chad

[400lbsonacubseatspring]

Well Gentlemen,

I, at times have said many things which have not been particularly popular with some of you. This will, no doubt, be one of those things.

As a younger man, I voted religiously, not missing an election until 1988. I voted again in 1992, and that will probably be my last time.

The issues, you see, used to seem so important to me. Just as I'm sure they seem so important to most of you. I suppose, in a way, they are. It is important that men of good conscience DO get out there and vote, I'm sure. Please do not, however, make the assumption that everyone who does not vote is merely lazy or disinterested.

It occurred to me, at some point along the way, that by voting, I was CONSENTING and even ACQUIESCING to the actions of our government at all levels. Let me further clarify this for you. When locally, there was a rash of local police involved in sexual activity with minors, I realized that the Borough Councilmen that I HELPED ELECT were the ones who appointed these men, hence, by association I saw myself as guilty as they were. When Pennsylvania began executing human beings under it's penal system again, after stopping since before I could vote, I was horrified, and realized that I HELPED ELECT the governor who insisted upon restarting the executions, and felt, for many months, like a murderer.

A few years later, via the internet, I had a marvelous opportunity to look at america through the eyes of friends and acquaintances from all over the world. I realized how much most nations despise America, and learned some of the reasons for that. It occurred to me then, that through my vote, I was helping to create that hatred. A hatred that claims the lives of many of my countrymen every year.

I no longer vote. It is my privelage. It is my choice and my decision to excercise, if I so choose. By not voting my message is simple: I will not approve, consent, or acquiesce to the madness any longer. Our government at all levels is out of control. Voting in the modern era is merely a mechanism to choose the least of evils, and sometimes the choices are indeed VERY EVIL. I leave it to those of you who have the courage and strength to live with your decisions to make those choices, and I trust that you will always make the right ones.

I am by no means making a "case" for not voting. I am, however, hoping to explain to everyone on the voting bandwagon that abstaining is a right in this democracy, too, and there are other reasons for abstaining besides being disinterested or lazy.

Perhaps one day, there will come a candidate for some office that I can fully support, but likely my skeptical mind will look at him or her with a jaded eye and miss the opportunity out of fear of my own soul.

[Don McCombs]

Certainly an interesting point of view. But, by not voting, you are also acquiescing to the status quo. There is one facet of our electoral system that many other democracies don't have. It's called the write-in vote. If you're not satisfied with the available choices, add one that you could support. There have been write-in candidates elected to office in this country. My two cents.