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Having Your Say | Pad Patter 10/13

littlekiwi

littlekiwi

I charge by the hour for anything before noon
Joined
Jan 21, 2012
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It has been our General Election today (Saturday) for the election of our government for the next three years so my question is: Do you like to have your say & vote when it comes to politics?
 
I do vote though I generally for central government elections will only vote for the party as the candidate options where I live aren't great (either don't align with my views or aren't very visible in the community or in some cases both)
 
Voting is compulsory in Australia so, yes, I definitely vote in all elections, including the Referendum today.
Trish (G.T.)
 
Yes I vote, and I write to my local Parliamentary representative when I feel strongly about something. We have a Parliamentary petition system which I take part in - if over 1000 people sign to say they want something to be discussed or debated in Parliament then it has to happen. We have local politics as well as national, and I know and talk with my ward representative on a regular basis (he lives round the corner).
 
For many years I didn't.

I do now. I vote in every local, state and government election. I have to know that I'm doing my part.
 
I vote and have also worked as a Poll Worker for a General (National) election. Our local and state elections in my town are much less busy than the every-4-years Primary and General elections are, but I prioritize voting every time the polling place is open!
 
I vote in national and state elections. Many local positions are unopposed so I don't worry about them, however if there are 2 people running I will vote. I also live outside city limits even though I have an address in that city so I cannot vote in city issues. I can vote in school district or township issues. For instance, the mayoral position is open in the city this year and there is only one person running. The big vote for that was in the primary where 3 people were running. So as long as 1 person votes for the person, he has the job. The only thing I could vote for this fall is 2 state issues and with recovering from surgery, I'm not sure I will try to do it.

In my state most of the big elections fall in the even years with very little on the ballots in the odd years.

I do not vote in primaries as my state has you declare a party. I do not vote on party lines but what the person stands for so I have never registered for either party. Guess you could call me an independent.
 
I have always voted but not been extremely involved until my son became really interested in local politics a few years ago. I went out with him putting up signs a few times.
 
KayTeaPea said:
I vote and have also worked as a Poll Worker for a General (National) election.
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I've worked all the elections I can since I turned 18 bar this one (2023) and the last one (2020) - last time I didn't do it because of family issues taking up the majority of my time and this time I wasn't sure my fatigue levels would allow me without a major crash in the days following as it's at least a 14 hour day once you've done the preliminary vote count and reported the results to the electorate headquarters.
 
I always vote. From the time I was 10, I couldn’t wait to be eligible to vote. I vote in all local, state and national elections.
 
Almost always! Those smaller elections are often way more important that the big ones!
Like @HavaDrPepper said, I don't vote in primaries often because we have to declare a party and only vote in that particular primary. I'm a registered Independent, so it kind of rules me out for the most part. I'm not a party line voter, either.
 
I vote in all elections as is my life depends on it.

I research all candidates down to the local city council and school board. If I can’t find info on someone, I will not just re-vote for the incumbent. If there is no one running who I can support, I choose none of these candidates, or leave it blank. The local races and the judges are super important, and they are the feeders for state and federal. They are super important to know who gets in power.

Voting is serious business in our home.
 
G.T. said:
Voting is compulsory in Australia so, yes, I definitely vote in all elections, including the Referendum today.
Trish (G.T.)
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I was surprised to hear that when my friend told me it was compulsory. Do you find that people take it more seriously because they have to, or do they just “do their duty”?
 
Pachimac said:
I was surprised to hear that when my friend told me it was compulsory. Do you find that people take it more seriously because they have to, or do they just “do their duty”?
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90% have an opinion on which way they will vote so compulsory voting gets all of those votes as opposed to only those that really have a definite opinion or want a change (my view only). If you don’t want your vote counted, you can do an informal vote where you don’t fill in the form correctly. And there is a fine if you don’t vote at all.
 
Absolutely I vote! The thought of not voting feels wrong. Lately, here in the U.S., it has also been quite stressful and scary. Also you can't complain about the government if you don't participate.
 
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