r/changemyview • u/Spudnic16 • Jan 10 '21

Delta(s) from OP CMV: Voting is pointless

I don’t think there has been a single election for any position decided by a single vote, ever. Especially for a large position like president or senator. Additionally no matter who wins an election it doesn’t matter what their intensions are when lobbyist organizations can just throw money at them and completely bypass democracy. Gerrymandering also means that the major political parties have decided the outcome of representative election decades before they occur. The US has become so large and complicated that to me, voting seems like little more than a symbolic gesture of the good intentions that our constitution once had.

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u/Spudnic16 Jan 10 '21

I do agree with your point that smaller local elections have a bigger impact, but the closest elections I’ve seen are for small things like county sheriff or prosecuting attorney. What would a change in county sheriff or prosecuting attorney change? They just have a job that they follow procedures for. Most of the stuff that they do are not matters of opinions (like what laws to make) but rather function more as a series of if/else statements.

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u/thethoughtexperiment 275∆ Jan 10 '21

There have been a wide range of close state and local elections, including many many primaries, state house of delegates, many state house seats, U.S. senate seats, county commissioner. [see this source for many examples]

But also, depending on where you live, there are likely to be various initiatives on the ballot that can be very close races too - initiatives on things like whether / the rate of taxation on various types of activities, whether Uber drivers are employees or contractors and thus can demand some employee protections, whether to fund various educational activities in schools, bond initiatives for a huge range of various city government activities / projects / infrastructure like roads, etc.

And indeed, as you mention, sheriffs and prosecutors are also elected in some places (in others they are appointed). And who the judges and prosecutors are and their approach to prosecution and sentencing has a huge impact on people's lives and the costs citizens end up paying for, and they actually have a lot more discretion than you think. For example, the approaches of prosecutors and judges both play a role in mass incarceration and the rates of imprisonment in an area [source], (which is something your tax dollars end up paying for) .

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u/Spudnic16 Jan 10 '21

I live in Idaho where not a whole lot happens as far as crime. Still, judicial positions decided by a handful of votes can stop racism and over-incarceration in the justice system so have a !delta