@ steephie

Not really. No one accidentally doesn't fill in their ballot paper (well, virtually no one) and since the rules regarding what you have to do to mark your vote were relaxed it has become very tricky to spoil your ballot by accident. It is safe to assume that the vast majority of spoilt ballots are protests

Are they listed as spoilt ballots among the other vote outcomes though? Obama 20%, spoilt ballots 7%?

Well, in Poland it's usually the way to present outcomes: turnout 45%, Party A 40%, Party B 30%, Party C 15%, 3% of votes were "invalid".

Nevada has a "None of the above" option which is almost as moronic as Russell Brand's idea.

In other news, Russell Brand has a new movie coming out in 1 week.

If my missing vote goes unnoticed, surely a wasted vote on a doomed third party is equally unnoticeable. When the candidate, whoever it is, wins and commences to betray the interests of those who voted them in, and betray the interests of the General pooulatjon, they will do so based on the "legitimacy" of their government - that is, based on the democratic mandate of their being elected. They will point to the X% of citizens who voted, a majority of which voted for them.

If you are sure that whoever is elected will not represent even the people who vote for them, but only monied interests, then you will not vote and add your voice to that number and inflate the apparent legitimacy of such a mandate.

Boycotting elections is a legitimate strategy against an illegitimate election.

I might also add that you can influence politics in far more meaningful ways than voting. Voting is a safety valve for the powerful to lull you into complacency much like an ineffectual online petition. Forget voting, take direct action.

Then don't vote and shut the hell up about politics if you refuse to participate in the system. Go find your own country to rule.

Move to Donetsk. Join ISIS. Take to the streets! Totally legit!

Are you taking direct action, Thucy?

Genuine question.

Guys, don't listen to Thucy; he's in the pockets of Big Oranges.

Seriously, though, while I don't think Thucy is right, I'm having a very hard time understanding how his position has generated such a vitriolic response.

"Then don't vote and shut the hell up about politics if you refuse to participate in the system. Go find your own country to rule."

If you could be bothered to read, the point is that not voting is the same as voting in terms of political representation. I can participate in politics if I want, and I do want, you can't negate my point simply by moaning about how you don't like that I boycott sham elections

Yes I'm taking direct action

Care to elaborate?

I am negating your absurd point that "the government" is illegitimate, so therefore you don't participate. Are you a sovereign citizen?

Tell us more about this "direct action" you are taking...

I don't find Internet pissing contests fruitful, so no.

"fruitful"

+1

He's taking direct action by telling the world (well at least the webDip community) not to vote.

Simultaneously, he's promoting Russell Brand's new movie! If the state is illegitimate, at least the corporate world is legit right? Or at least they know how to co-opt Thucy.

If I recall correctly, Thucy's direct action is a lot more hands on.

A lot more hands on? Now you make it sound like he kidnaps everyone in the states who tries to vote or something :P

@abge:

If you're going through the trouble of typing +1, surely you can click +1 on Thucy's post!

But that would be like giving him two +1s.

Surely Thucy's direct action is worth at least that.

Though you could argue his refusal to vote negates whatever else he claims to be doing.

I Stand With Rand 2016. Defeat the Washington machine. Unleash the American dream.

But then again, I'm being overly optimistic. He'll get blacked out by the media just like his father. There was a Republican primary debate in 2012 that lasted two hours. Of that time, Ron Paul only had the floor for 89 seconds.

Thucy is dead wrong about refusing to vote, but he does have a point about plutocracy.

If Chris Christie was running solely on the terrible truth campaign he unleashed not long ago and I didn't know a thing about his past, I might be enticed to vote for him. Too bad I do.

Rand Paul is a joke. Ron Paul could have been decent if he were more compromising. Rand is just a mimic.

@Thucy- surely if the goal is to decrease the mandate of the president elect you are better off voting third party (thus decreasing his percentage of total votes) than not voting at all? Whenever I read about a president's mandate it is about the percentage of votes he received.

Also, voting isn't a local action. Your vote/discussing your vote can influence other votes. But more importantly, establishing a pattern of voting gives one more political power. If you want a pothole fixed on your road and you write in to the local government to get it fixed, it's getting fixed a lot more quickly if you vote in every election than if you don't. Same with writing to/lobbying senators, etc.

Have any of you ever heard of opposition blocs boycotting the elections in other countries? I used to not understand, thinking, well, there's no way you'll get into power now, but then I saw why they do it.

Voting is a tacit approval of the system and government that institutes that style of election.

I will not legitimize an illegitimate government by voting in their sham election. We need a new government, not a new election.

Then pull a Cliven Bundy and go take on the White House.

Opposition blocs boycott elections for 2 main reasons:

1) They don't believe the election is *fair* (their votes won't be counted); or
2) They don't think the *new form of government* is legitimate.

There have been a handful of situations like this recently (post-Saddam Iraq and the Kurds for example), but these are new forms of government, not changes to existing ones.

If you live in a western nation with an established track record for free and fair elections, your votes really do matter. Convince your friends to go out and vote and then you'll have even more say in your future government.

It will exist whether or not you like it.

"Ron Paul could have been decent if he were more compromising. Rand is just a mimic."

Rand Paul *is* the compromising Ron Paul.