The Best of Reason Magazine: Your Vote Doesn't Count

Why (almost) everyone should stay home on Election Day

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The Best of Reason Magazine: Your Vote Doesn't Count

This week's featured article is "Your Vote Doesn't Count" by Katherine Mangu-Ward.

This audio was generated using AI trained on the voice of Katherine Mangu-Ward.

Music credits: "Deep in Thought" by CTRL and "Sunsettling" by Man with Roses

Comments

[Gaear Grimsrud]

The best huh?

[Stuck in California]

I questioned this a few "Best of" articles ago.

Someone pointed out that, unfortnuately, yes. That is the best of Reason. In the land of the blind, the one eyed man is king.

[Stupid Government Tricks]

Unfortunately, even when they turn their blind eye to the matter.

[MasterThief]

Your vote certainly doesn't count in a Democrat primary

[Social Justice is neither]

If you don't vote your local Democrat machine will vote for you to fortify the results.

[Rick James]

Why (almost) everyone

I'm dying to find out what the exception is here...

[Stupid Government Tricks]

Clickbait.

[Eeyore]

I have to at least take the time to vote no on all of the local initiatives.

[AT]

Reason dot com everyone! Losertarians on display!

Protect your civil rights by... um... abdicating them completely.

I love this part especially: This audio was generated using AI trained on the voice of Katherine Mangu-Ward.

Bro we fakin' the podcasts now! From 2012!

2012!!!!

You seriously think we're all retards, don't you Reason.

DON'T YOU.

[Stupid Government Tricks]

I improved voting in my Chartertopia. Not perfect, just better.

You vote in your district election. The top three winners are elected. When they vote in the legislature, they cast as many votes as they won in their election. I call it proxying.

Every voter can submit the name of any voter, including themselves. One is drawn at random, and proxies all the remaining election votes. I call this one the amateur.

One improvement is it makes vote fraud much less important. Suppose 20,000 people vote: 5000 for A, 4000 for B, 3000 for C, 2999 for D, and various other miscellaneous candidates. If you fake two votes for D, C loses, but A and B are unchanged, and the amateur gets one more vote too. You'd have to stuff 1000 votes to make a bigger difference, and again, the amateur would also get more votes.

Counting votes is better too. All elections are handled by private election companies. When you vote, you get a copy of your ballot with a randomized ballot ID, the election name and the date (no time), all your votes, and nothing else, nothing to identify you. You dip your finger in ink to prevent duplicate voting. When the polls close, every election company publishes all ballots, including the ballot IDs.

This allows everyone to both add up the totals and to check their ballot against the published copy. If only one out of a hundred does check, that's still too risky to change ballots, because if just one voter shows that kind of fraud, a whole lot of other voters will check theirs and show that mythical widespread fraud. Poll watchers count voters, making it hard to add any more than a very few extra ballots.

For those that care, it also makes voting much more important even in solid blue or red states, because all those "losing" votes actually do count in legislatures. Even the amateurs' proxies count, and since people who vote for losers probably want anybody other than the mainstream parties, the amateur is better than nothing, even though odds are the amateur supports mainstream parties too.

Also, in the legislature, it takes 2/3 votes by both proxies and head count in all chambers to pass bills after a 30 day review period, and only 1/2 vote in any single chamber to repeal laws. And if the bill changes during the review period, it is no longer the same bill and has to restart the 30 day review period.

[It's only a paper moon, Nominalists]

I thought Libertarians were federalism advocates. All this about national elections but zero about local school boards and mayors and state ballot issues. The DC maws are so sharp now because of articles like this. Do nothing, get eaten up.

[Stupid Government Tricks]

One of the features of my Chartertopia is that the law hierarchy is bottom up; in effect, a state legislature which doesn't like a federal law can override it, either changing it (like a tax rate) or nulling it, within the state. Same with a county or city overriding a state or federal law.

In addition, I have "direct democracy" elections, where voters submit bills and vote on bills, somewhat like propositions in states which allow them. But these bills override the state legislature. So if the feds pass a law which people in a county hate, and they can't get either the state legislature or the county supervisors to override, they can override it directly.

Another federalism aspect: every legislator election has to include NOBODY or NONE OF THE ABOVE, and if a district doesn't elect anybody to the legislature, that legislature's law don't apply in that district. No taxes, no spending, no definitions of crime; nothing.

One surprise to me, after I'd thought of it for a while, is how it's an obstacle to inter-budget transfers, such as the feds bribing states to do things like limit drinking to 21, speed limits to 55, etc. It also encourages every spendy law to include its own revenue source. Otherwise a district could opt out of a revenue law, like the payroll tax, but not the corresponding spending law, like SS benefits.

That would make it harder for profligate legislation to sneak through without detailing its true cost. You want to pay for day care? Great, where's the revenue coming from? Can't just say "the general fund".

[DaveM]

The first reason why the author says you shouldn't vote is ... "your vote doesn't count". Why? Because winning depends on votes in the aggregate. Unless enough other people agree with you, then your candidate won't win.

Say what?! I never thought of that before! You mean my vote is counted along with everyone else's votes? I don't get to personally, individually, pick the winner? What kind of democracy IS this?

This is such a stupid take.

There is, in fact, exactly just one way you can make absolutely, positively sure your vote isn't counted, and that is to NOT VOTE AT ALL.

[Vernon Depner]

How can I sell my vote?