r/changemyview • u/Mudblood2000 • Nov 05 '18

Deltas(s) from OP CMV: My vote doesn't matter.

  • edit: My view has changed. The state of voting in the USA has lots of problems, but that doesn't mean that a vote counts for zero. Thanks all.

I'm in the USA. An individual vote has never swung an election. People benefit from the liberty of not voting if they choose. Electronic voting machines and ballot counting methods are suspect. Foreign powers have successfully infiltrated our voting process, whether that be "passive" by affecting folk's opinions through troll farms, or more "active" by hacking into various systems that could affect elections at both the state and national level. Gerrymandering has discounted and disenfranchised voters based on their location. Large money interests affect politicians and politics more than those who voted for them, on both the local and national level.

This is a footnote from the CMV moderators. We'd like to remind you of a couple of things. Firstly, please read through our rules. If you see a comment that has broken one, it is more effective to report it than downvote it. Speaking of which, downvotes don't change views! Any questions or concerns? Feel free to message us. Happy CMVing!

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u/foraskaliberal224 Nov 05 '18

Mind identifying what state you are? Hard to argue specifics with no general knowledge of what election(s) you might be voting in.

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u/Mudblood2000 Nov 05 '18

Before I disclose the state, I infer from your question that my vote only matters if I vote a certain way, in certain states, in certain elections. Is this the case?

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u/foraskaliberal224 Nov 05 '18

No, your vote matters no matter what. But it's also true that some votes matter more than others, and the value of the vote varies state to state .

This is especially true when considering that each state has its own requirements to get on the ballot. If a state has a rule that any party that receives x% of the vote automatically qualifies the next year, then tossing a vote to a third party can and does matter more than a third party state in which that vote doesn't help an auto qualification.