Have you ever failed to vote?

• stlouiedipalma

  Has anyone here ever failed to vote in an election in which they were registered? If so, what was the reason why you didn't vote? To the best of my knowledge I have missed only one election since I was old enough to vote, and I'm 58. It was in 1998 and I forgot to obtain an absentee ballot for the general election.
• believer

  

  stlouiedipalma;730895 wrote:It was in 1998 and I forgot to obtain an absentee ballot for the general election.

  Why an absentee ballot? Couldn't you have called ACORN for a free ride to the polls? I kid.
• Swamp Fox

  My first Presidential vote was cast in 1968 and I voted for Richard Nixon. It was the Viet Nam War and it was just starting to go badly. My other choices were Hubert Humphrey or George Corley Wallace. Despite all of his domestic "issues" which wouldn't really begin to surface until after the 1972 Election, Nixon was a man of extensive experience and at the time, I thought that he was better equipped to handle the tensions of the era.To his credit, he did do as he promised in eventually initiating the American exit from Nam even though his resignation would remove him from office months before the final American troops and civilian personnel were evacuated. Gerald Ford would be the sitting President when America finally completed their exit from Viet Nam.
  
  I can't specifically remember missing a vote unless it might have been a local option election or something of the sort. I've always taken the right to vote pretty seriously. Plus, I'm a political junkie who stays up all night on major election nights to see who won, who lost, and how well my chosen candidates did. The old adage is that if you take the time to vote, you have every right to complain, but if you don't vote because you are too lazy, you absolutely deserve what you get.
• Con_Alma

  Swamp Fox;732189 wrote:... but if you don't vote because you are too lazy, you absolutely deserve what you get.

  I would suggest to you that there are plenty of people who vote that get exactly what they deserve also.
• Belly35

  

  I have never missed a Presidential election. I have missed a few local and state elections. I was younger and road trip, sailing or enjoying my family was more important than voting for some local or state issues. Thinking back I don’t think I have ever missed an election at any level from the mid 80s.
• Swamp Fox

  You are absolutely correct, Con_Alma. I should have phrased it a little differently. Sometimes we assume that people vote after informing themselves about the issues and trying to select the person who best personifies the qualities and positions the individual voter prefers. Others use a coin or a ouija board.
• fish82

  

  Swamp Fox;732199 wrote:You are absolutely correct, Con_Alma. I should have phrased it a little differently. Sometimes we assume that people vote after informing themselves about the issues and trying to select the person who best personifies the qualities and positions the individual voter prefers. Others use a coin or a ouija board.

  
  I vote for whoever has the coolest yard signs.
• O-Trap

  

  When I was in college, the only election in which I voted was the Presidential, and I've never missed a Presidential election. Other than in college, I've not missed a State or Local election, either.
• FatHobbit

  

  I've never skipped and election on purpose, but it wouldn't surprise me if I missed a local election or two and didn't know about it.
• Thread Bomber

  

  I have "never failed to vote". The people I have voted for however, have failed miserably.
• O-Trap

  

  Thread Bomber;732231 wrote:I have "never failed to vote". The people I have voted for however, have failed miserably.

  
  +1.067
• Con_Alma

  Thread Bomber;732231 wrote:I have "never failed to vote". The people I have voted for however, have failed miserably.

  Lol. I bet we can all say this somewhere in our voting lives.
• Belly35

  

  Thread Bomber;732231 wrote:I have "never failed to vote". The people I have voted for however, have failed miserably.

  
  I voted for Carter and Clinton Oh My!
• BGFalcons82

  

  Belly35;732289 wrote:I voted for Carter and Clinton Oh My!

  
  Belly - Did that take special courage to admit this to the OC audience? LOL
  
  I might have missed a local one here or there, but I've voted pretty much every year and most primaries. In my Pickerington district, they have school levys and bond issues on the primary ballot all the time, so I have to vote
  
  My first presidential ballot (absentee variety) was for John Anderson. Some douche liberal do-gooder at BG convinced me that he was for gun control and that was the most important issue in the 1980 presidential election. Man...I've grown up since then! LOL
• O-Trap

  

  Belly35;732289 wrote:I voted for Carter and Clinton Oh My!

  Clinton I could live with. Carter???
• FatHobbit

  

  I'm almost 100% positive that Belly is saying ThreadBomber voted for Clinton and Carter, not that he did it.
• Thread Bomber

  

  Then He would be wrong... I voted for Ford, the Reagan..... Once.
• Footwedge

  I don't vote anymore.
• believer

  

  I haven't missed a presidential or mid-term election sine a I first voted in 1976. I voted for Ford that year knowing full-well that after Watergate he had no chance of beating the wussified peanut farmer from Plains, GA.
  
  Since then I've voted for Reagan twice, the Bush's twice each, Dole, and McCain. The only Dem I voted for was my liberal brother-in-law when he ran for local city council. Never made that mistake again....lol.
• stlouiedipalma

  I started this thread in part to remind myself that today is Election Day out here. Aldermen, school board candidates and many important issues are on our ballot and I am leaving soon to go cast my ballot.