If "Not Voting" was a candidate for President, he/she would win big!

[TomSea]

https://www.attn.com/stories/14329/map-reveals-problem-voter-turnout-america

In fact, voter turnout was so low that if "not voting" was a presidential candidate, he or she would have won in all but eight states in the U.S., according to voting data from the United States Elections Project, which Reddit user taillesskangaru turned into a map. In the majority of the states, the number of eligible American voters who didn't vote actually outpaced the number of votes cast for either presidential nominee.

People don't vote, those who come here, in part at least and other similar message boards are political junkies.  In 42 states, chances are one can get their candidate to win if they can get those eligible to vote.

In a recent year, only 71% of those eligible, registered to vote, 68% of that 71% actually voted.

Now, the cut here, is we don't know how those people might vote, they could be liberal or conservative or other.  Just as an observation, in 2008, it really does seem blacks turned out for Obama yet, the African-American population is only about 12-13% of the country as a whole.

Voter turnout per state:


Millions don't even turn out to vote. It appears Hawaii has the worse turnout.

The Jones/Moore election in Alabama appears to be a good example where one side turns out heavily to vote, the Jones side while at the same time, apparently, Moore lacked turnout.

[EasyAce]

[W]hen we oust the rascals, do we not, as a matter of course, invite a new crowd? It all adds up to the fact that by voting them out of power, the people put the running of their community life into the hands of a separate group, upon whose wisdom and integrity the fate of the community rests.

All this would change if we quit voting. Such abstinence would be tantamount to this notice to politicians: since we as individuals have decided to look after our affairs, your services are no longer needed. Having assumed social power we must, as individuals, assume social responsibility — provided, of course, the politicians accept their discharge. The job of running the community would fall on each and all of us. We might hire an expert to tell us about the most improved firefighting apparatus, or a manager to look after cleaning the streets, or an engineer to build us a bridge; but the final decision, particularly in the matter of raising funds to defray costs, would rest with the townhall meeting. The hired specialists would have no authority other than that necessary for the performance of their contractual duties; coercive power, which is the essence of political authority, would be exercised, if necessary, only by the committee of the whole.

There is some warrant for the belief that a better social order would ensue when the individual is responsible for it and, therefore, responsive to its needs. He no longer has the law or the lawmakers to cover his sins of omission; need of the neighbors' good opinion will be sufficient compulsion for jury duty and no loopholes in a draft law, no recourse to "political pull" will be possible when danger to his community calls him to arms. In his private affairs, the now-sovereign individual will have to meet the dictum of the marketplace: produce or you do not eat; no law will help you. In his public behavior he must be decent or suffer the sentence of social ostracism, with no recourse to legal exoneration. From a law-abiding citizen he will be transmuted into a self-respecting man.

---Frank Chodorov, "If We Quit Voting," analysis, July 1945.

[truth_seeker]

The four states with the highest turnout (MA, NH, MN, CO), figure prominently in my own family history. Probably has something to do, with me becoming a political junkie from the Nixon-JFK contests, and thereafter.

(Certainly nothing to be proud of, but I was that HS kid who in Nov. 1963 clapped when Kennedy's death was announced over the intercom. It wasn't fatal for me however, since it was a fairly widespread sentiment in historically ultra-conservative OC, CA)

I was punished for my bad behavior by having to watch non-stop B&W TV coverage of all things JFK, for the next few days. I just wanted to go surfing. 

[guitar4jesus]