Voter turnout down by 15 million in Most Important Election Ever
Submitted by fire with fire on Thu, 11/07/2024 - 9:08am
2020:
Biden -- 81.2 million
Trump -- 74.2 million
Total -- 155.4 million
2024:
Harris -- 68.0 million
Trump -- 72.7 million
Total -- 140.7 million
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I'm not sure what to make of this largely ignored aspect of this week's absurdity. It is possible that the gross total of votes will grow significantly as the rest of the ballots are tallied, but as of now, the gross total is down 10% from the Covid season numbers of 2020. And fewer people voted for Trump this time out.
Personally, I voted in neither farcical election.
Any thoughts on what if anything diminished voter participation means?
Comments
More and more people
are opting out of the farce. I've been sorely tempted to do so myself, the last several cycles. This time out, I was torn between filling my ballot out with a Hershey bar, or simply leaving it blank.
I will always "vote", because otherwise, my parents will burst out of their urns and throttle me in my sleep. The state mails me my ballot, and I drive directly by the county lockbox (located in the parking lot of the local cop-shop) practically daily. But "casting a ballot" could include leaving it entirely blank and simply stuffing it into the barcoded tracking envelope, so that might be enough to defend me against nocturnal asphyxiation.
Besides, my parents will have to get in line behind the white-flash nightmares. Take a number, Mom.
Here in CO, turnout thus far appears to be 67.54%: 2,729,122 votes cast against 4,040,683 active voters. I voted Green again, and the greens have amassed a whopping 0.45% of the vote, or 12,101 votes. This is insignificantly significant, since it is about 40% higher than last time around, where they were almost as few as the Kanye West vanity ticket. This is closer to being on a par with the Libertarian ticket, which is currently at 0.63%, or 16,916 votes.
But they are "still counting", as always.
The execrable Lauren Boebert won to continue her grift, and that's all I'll say about that.
Now, I'm just waiting for the inevitable 2028 fundraising emails to start coming in. Won't be long- and my email spam filters are just waiting for new things to trash unread. If I could just do something about the text messages...
Twice bitten, permanently shy.
best guess the lesser evil schtick has lost its mojo
parading these obvious losers at the voters
once again as a 'choice' just ain't working anymore
the ptb are slowly losing their grip on the mass mind
in spite of the billions spent to enchant us
if they won't cough up anything good, why bother voting?
Not Voting is the only protest vote USians have
.
...in Federal Presidential Elections. I consider this a giant step in the right direction.
Among Democracies, high rates of non-voting are considered "No Confidence" votes. Don't you want to say "I have No Confidence that voting will change things in my government that are important to the People"? "I have No Confidence in the political choices that are forced upon the People in US elections."
If USians can drop the vote count to below 50 percent in our Federal elections, it will represent a total rejection of our rigged democracy. Rule by minority is opposite of democracy. The world will take notice that the American People are rejecting Neocon and Plutocrat rule — which pushes unilateral policies that create misery and violence throughout the world, and predatory capitalism that is destroying the environment. The lack of a majority vote in a Presidential election is a red flag at the UN, and it elicits calls for a new election. Meanwhile, other countries may refuse to recognize the US election results. Never vote if you don't have a real choice. You are wasting the years of your life and dragging the country deeper into a failed state. Overcome your life-long conditioning to conform.
Communal action will alert people and leaders around the world that your Democracy has failed. You do have a powerful voice. Use it.
IMAGINE if you woke up the day after a US Presidential Election and headlines around the the world blared, "The Majority of Americans Refused to Vote in US Presidential Election! What Does this Mean?"
Some additional perspective:
Plato had already invented Democracy 500 years before Jesus Christ became a community activist in Israel, which was ruled by a Roman dictatorship. Jesus promoted basic human rights. Had he lived longer, democracy woulds have been introduced, and the Roman influence would have withered and blown away.
Instead, the Romans with the consent of the local plutocrats, stupidly martyred him. A huge mistake. It took hundreds years for the official scribes of the realm to attach scrolls filled with nonsensical religious mysticism and ravings onto his legend. The purpose was confuse the People about his socialist message by elevating him into a god. This successfully diverted the public into an organized religion that would collect money from them so they could join Jesus in heaven after they die. The object was to stop them from demanding food and health care from the Plutocrats and Money Changers in Israel and beyond.
Not much has changed for Western civilization since then. The people became meek like little lambs and were exploited and bamboozled by the plutocrats ever since. They even allow the state to execute them. Today, church and state work hand in hand to keep people in a confused state where they've learned to silently beg for help and divine intervention from an invisible god inside their brains. (There are unrealized collective connections in the brain — but dormant in our species. Basically, a toy steering wheel for us.)
I think the reason that the Plutocrats decided not to slow-murder Julian Assange was that they didn't want another Jesus Christ on their hands. They had already created one infectious mind-virus of a religion to dispense with an inconvenient martyr, and that was sufficient. It worked just fine to destroy critical thinking among the masses, and keep them bamboozled and unaware of their intellectual captivity.
The Principle of the No Vote is likely the People's last possible path to change. It is low risk, and everyone can do it. It could work rapidly if Leaders step forward to push this message and guide the People. Of course, at some point it will be outlawed, and not voting will become a felony. That's how you will know how dangerous the No Vote is to your Overlords. If you plan to remain in the US, you may remember this as "what could have been." Because things are going to get much, much worse very soon.
IMAGINE if you woke up the day after a US Presidential Election and headlines around the the world blared, "The Majority of Americans Refused to Vote in US Presidential Election! What Does this Mean?"
My thoughts
I believe the massive drop in numbers from 2020 to 2024 is more a reflection of how FUBAR 2020 was. Biden barely even campaigned, there was Covid, and all of the lawfare and terrible press about it had not even commenced yet. The efforts of both campaigns and the efforts of the media to get out the (Dem) vote this year far exceeded the efforts of 2020. To me, it is just inconceivable that the 2024 turnout was far worse than 2020.
Simplicius
is on fire on this topic, by the way. This makes for some interesting, thought-provoking reading.
https://simplicius76.substack.com/p/election-aftermath-notes-on-the-grand
I can't say much about the "stolenness" of it based upon only this, but this issue definitely deserves further study. Where did all those poeple come from in the middle of a pandemic, and more interestingly, where did they go this year? People were pretty disgusted, it is true- but that would seem to be one hell of a lot of disgust...
Twice bitten, permanently shy.
Very interesting stuff from Simplititicus
It did not occur to me to look at the gross totals before 2020 to see if it were the anomaly. And as noted by Marie below and as I acknowledged in the OP, the gap between 20 and 24 will narrow as the count proceeds.
My quibble with Simpliticus is that I don't believe that Trump is actually going to have the "awesome power" of the Presidency as set forth in the 18th Century document called The Constitution.
I cried when I wrote this song. Sue me if I play too long.
I suspect (and hope) that
he will primarily wield that power to attack his political enemies. With a little bit of luck, he'll stay so focused on vengeance that he won't have time to get us all killed in a voluntary nuclear war.
He's definitely licking his chops to have the DoJ at his beck and call...
Twice bitten, permanently shy.
Why Vote
The reason I vote is mostly because of the amendments. The majority of them are from organizations, and not the government. Here in Florida, there seems to be quite a few every election. I kind of felt personally invested in the marijuana initiative this year because I signed the petition. It's no longer just signing your name on a form. Your voter registration is checked as you sign, and they send you something on your phone to resign.
The propaganda against this amendment was unreal. There were commercials which said that if it passed then people would be smoking pot everywhere, like restaurants, parks, and grocery stores. No one has been able to smoke cigarettes in restaurants or grocery stores for 20 years or more, so I can't imagine they would be able to smoke pot.
In my small, populated county, the turnout was up, the highest it's ever been.
2024 General Election
Election Date: 11/5/2024
(Website last updated at: 11/06/2024 4:34:23 am)
Registered Voters:60,306
Ballots Cast:50,007
Voter Turnout:82.92%
UNOFFICIAL RESULTS
I think you should vote when you see a real choice.
But never for a least-evil President or an elected officials who deals with foreign policy. Not Voting is a protest that takes your action global.
Foreign policy decisions and US military slaughter (direct or indirect) have a tremendous negative impact on People's lives in the US. These decisions greatly diminish the lives of USians, and destroy their environment. That's why the People are kept in the dark about foreign policy. They are told only who they should hate. And then they think they know it all.
IMAGINE if you woke up the day after a US Presidential Election and headlines around the the world blared, "The Majority of Americans Refused to Vote in US Presidential Election! What Does this Mean?"
Approximately seven million CA ballots
have yet to be counted/reported. More will trickle in during the next few days. Not surprising that it's down from 2020 - peak "not Trump." 2016 total votes were 137 million; so, 2024 is already more than 2016.