12 Young People on Why They Probably Won't Vote

[pinkdutchtulips]

My bf joined the USMC bc he viewed that right to vote as something that should be defended at all costs. Needless to say folks who don't exercise that right or whine about how 'difficult' it is to exercise that right ... piss.him.off

[mrshandy]

While plenty of these people are lazy and stupid, I think that we are missing the message from some of them that it is difficult to vote in many places. The lady from Arkansas would have to take 4 hours off of work to vote. That is unacceptable.

I missed voting in college because I voted in one gubernatorial election and then I forgot to register absentee ballot for the next election by the deadline. So I had to vote in person. But it was over 3 hours away and I had no car and it was in the middle of the school year.

There are plenty of barriers to voting and if we dismiss all nonvoters as stupid then we are missing the fact that voting should be as easy as fucking possible for people

[Chuppathingy]

I am too young to hate young people as intensely as I do after reading that.

[WOT?*]

Best comment:

Samantha: voting bummed me out in 2016 because my candidate lost so I'm not going to do it again.

Reese: I was a lefty and now I'm a libertarian and I pretend that makes me some kind of above-it-all intellectual even though what I really am is unwilling to commit to anything.

Tim: envelopes are scary! My parents paid a doctor to say I have ADHD so they wouldn't have to think the reason I got a C in algebra was because they were bad parents.

Megan: I don't know how to put reminders in my phone calendar. OMG stamps are so 90s.

Drew: I'm a spoiled brat if you don't give me a candidate I can 100% signal with I'm just going to say to hell with it.

Laura: Like, I didn't have time to fill out a form. Like, I knew it was important but, like, I went out with James but I think he's still seeing Brenda and, like, I have Sociology exam and, like, it probably took longer for me to type this than it would have to fill out the form, but, like, I went to a private school and my parents have connections and I'll get a decent job so like, who cares I'll probably vote in 2020 but not this year because why hasn't hasn't James texted me it's been like three days!!?

Aaron: I'm the target demographic for Russian disinformation programs! I think governing is an all-or-nothing business and if I don't get everything I want I become disillusioned, take my ball and go home!

Anna: I'm going to bond with Tim over our shared inability to deal with the postal system.

Thomas: feelz are more important than results! I bonded with an old Hispanic woman at the community garden. Yeah, they paved it over to build a condo tower but I spent a whole day helping plant tomatoes and she made some tamales that I ate even though they had chicken and I'm a vegan and they were delicious and I made some posters so I feel GREAT!

Jocelyn: my "chronic illness" makes a convenient excuse for not doing things I don't feel like.

Maria: I care about immigration, access to health care, and women’s reproductive rights. But not enough to actually lift a finger. When people ask me why, I talk about waiting in lines as if California doesn't offer mail-in voting. I've only had eight years to do the vote-by-mail application! Give me some time!

Nathan: I'm almost thirty but I can't figure out how to google "California voter registration" even though I'm online 24/7. It's so confusing can't they integrate voting into instagram so I can do it without having to look away from my feed for five minutes!? (me: Hey, Nathan, psst. The candidates have actual WEBSITES and VIDEOS and stuff, you dolt. It's not just the crap you get in your mailbox. But that's a start so you know how to and who to, you know, GOOGLE or Bing or Yahoo or whatever.)


and a close second:

So summing up:

* I have anxiety.
* Filling in a two-sided form is hard.
* I have a chronic illness.
* I don't like to wait in line.
* Mailing things is very difficult and many of us college students don't know what a postmark is.
* I voted once before but didn't win so the system failed me.
* OH NO IT'S KILLARY!!1!
* It's too hard.
* They don't allow mom to do it for me, which makes it hard.

Okay then: Death to America.

[heyjude]

Since anecdotes count as measures of how frayed our nerves should be go follow Taylor Swift’s Instagram stories because she keeps profiling young people who were super excited to vote for the first time.

[eclaires]

Oct 30, 2018 15:29:11 GMT -5 Velar Fricative said:

The first election I was able to vote in was the 2000 POTUS election and my guy lost. I didn't know I was supposed to be SO UPSET that I'd just never ever vote again. Such dummies.

And yeah, good luck with being an informed non-voter. That'll definitely make a difference.

If anything, that election made me more interested in voting. It was such high drama for my first presidential election and I was young and dumb enough (just turned 19) to be invested in the outcome and everything going on to tune in without being like omg the world is over. I stayed up until 3am that night watching results!

[heyjude]

Oct 30, 2018 15:50:32 GMT -5 heyjude said:

Since anecdotes count as measures of how frayed our nerves should be go follow Taylor Swift’s Instagram stories because she keeps profiling young people who were super excited to vote for the first time.

Two phrases I never thought I would use: insta stories and Taylor Swift.

[heyjude]

And voting in Ca does practically require a masters in public policy. Our ballot IS redic.

[VillainV]

Oct 30, 2018 15:43:58 GMT -5 mrshandy said:

While plenty of these people are lazy and stupid, I think that we are missing the message from some of them that it is difficult to vote in many places. The lady from Arkansas would have to take 4 hours off of work to vote. That is unacceptable.

I missed voting in college because I voted in one gubernatorial election and then I forgot to register absentee ballot for the next election by the deadline. So I had to vote in person. But it was over 3 hours away and I had no car and it was in the middle of the school year.

There are plenty of barriers to voting and if we dismiss all nonvoters as stupid then we are missing the fact that voting should be as easy as fucking possible for people

Yes, there are real barriers for some people.  Which means the people who don't have "real barriers" and still don't vote ought to be ashamed of themselves.  Having "postal anxiety" can't even be compared to people whose names are being removed from voter registration rolls because of a missing hyphen or apostrophe (which is straight up racism), or the seniors who were pulled off a senior center bus that was taking them to the polls, or who legitimately can't get time off work from their employer.    

Yes, voting should be as easy as possible for as many people as possible.  But people still have to make the conscious choice to get out and exercise their rights.  We don't have a lot of civic obligations as Americans, but voting is one of them.

[Susie]

Well aren't these just the most special snowflakes to ever fall from the sky.  FFS.

[msmerymac]

Oct 30, 2018 15:54:37 GMT -5 heyjude said:

And voting in Ca does practically require a masters in public policy. Our ballot IS redic.

But they do have that fabulous permanent absentee ballot program. AND they send you the 200 page voter guide.

Of course, that's not helpful if you don't know how the post office works. In which case, fine. I've voted in every election and I will yell at friends who complain they just don't know enough about the candidates to vote (because Google is a thing), but at some point, it's just a waste of energy to convince people who are making up excuses for not voting to actually vote.

[heyjude]

Oct 30, 2018 16:03:37 GMT -5 msmerymac said:

Oct 30, 2018 15:54:37 GMT -5 heyjude said:

And voting in Ca does practically require a masters in public policy. Our ballot IS redic.

But they do have that fabulous permanent absentee ballot program. AND they send you the 200 page voter guide.

Of course, that's not helpful if you don't know how the post office works. In which case, fine. I've voted in every election and I will yell at friends who complain they just don't know enough about the candidates to vote (because Google is a thing), but at some point, it's just a waste of energy to convince people who are making up excuses for not voting to actually vote.

Yeah but we ask voters to make split second decisions on huge public policy measures that take a legislative body a year or more to grapple over.

[sakoro]

Oct 30, 2018 16:05:30 GMT -5 heyjude said:

Oct 30, 2018 16:03:37 GMT -5 msmerymac said:

But they do have that fabulous permanent absentee ballot program. AND they send you the 200 page voter guide.

Of course, that's not helpful if you don't know how the post office works. In which case, fine. I've voted in every election and I will yell at friends who complain they just don't know enough about the candidates to vote (because Google is a thing), but at some point, it's just a waste of energy to convince people who are making up excuses for not voting to actually vote.

Yeah but we ask voters to make split second decisions on huge public policy measures that take a legislative body a year or more to grapple over.

And imperfect propositions that should have been tweaked by experts on the subjects. I'm still undecided on the rent control measure. Not a good long term solution but probably should be available in short term emergency situations.

[cherryvalance]

I bet Laura wrote "learn politics" in a furry blue notebook with a pen with a pompom on top.

Also, "I didn't want to help something that might be wrong," so I didn't vote and enabled something that was horribly wrong. K.

[notsopicky]

I have a different take on this article, clickbait or not. I wonder if all of these attitudes is what we, the general (sane, anti-GOP/-Trump) population, needs to start with. Like the mail thing. Like the "my guy lost so fuck the process". Like these kids--yeah, I called them kids--saying that they are having a hard time discerning what moderate/liberal/socialist/progressive even means. Like getting "new" voters away from the "everyone gets a trophy" mentality.

I don't have any answers to these obstacles, I just wonder how we educate folks better to combat what amounts to a bunch of stupidity.

[curbsideprophet]

well, that made me want to throw things.

I was surprised at how old some of these people are. I was not expecting responses from 28/29 year olds.

Does it really take 4 hours to vote in Arkansas? It seems like they have early voting which should make things easier to schedule.

[HRH Queen Dick I, Orphan]

Poli sci majors not voting is just..I don't have a word.

ETA I now have a word. Dilettante.
Also, jackass.

[cattledogkisses]

I'm appreciating my mom's mantra of "I am not raising you to be helpless" right now. Not knowing how to mail something (seriously?) is blowing my mind.


These people are where the unflattering millennial stereotypes come from.

[goldengirlz]

Did they interview anyone who isn’t white? Because more than laziness or stupidity, what I’m picking up is privilege.

[sporklemotion]

www.washingtonpost.com/news/opinions/wp/2018/10/30/why-i-a-young-person-probably-wont-vote/?utm_term=.c1b0a24c2c4dI

[wildrice]

Oct 30, 2018 15:29:11 GMT -5 Velar Fricative said:

The first election I was able to vote in was the 2000 POTUS election and my guy lost. I didn't know I was supposed to be SO UPSET that I'd just never ever vote again. Such dummies.

And yeah, good luck with being an informed non-voter. That'll definitely make a difference.

Right? I've voted in 5 presidential election now. 3/5 of them have been disappointing. Two were heartbreaking, actually (the first Bush election I was not engaged enough to understand fully what it meant at the time). That doesn't mean you just give up!

[racegrrl714]

Oct 30, 2018 15:40:13 GMT -5 ESF said:

Oct 30, 2018 15:39:48 GMT -5 ESF said:

It's also a direct consequence of Bernie fucking Sanders.

And white privilege.

this is the first thing I thought of.

[rosiebear]

An acquaintance of mine, in her 20s, posted on Facebook about how the constant “harangue” to JUST GO VOTE! makes her and her generation not want to vote. She stated that her generation notoriously hates being told what to do, so knock it off.
SO MANY people her age chimed in to agree.

Very disheartening.

Eta: all white people. Some folks did chime in to say what a privilege it was they felt they could just sit it out because they don’t like being bossed around. Those call-outs seemed to make no difference.

[ESF]

Oct 30, 2018 17:47:16 GMT -5 sporklemotion said:

www.washingtonpost.com/news/opinions/wp/2018/10/30/why-i-a-young-person-probably-wont-vote/?utm_term=.c1b0a24c2c4dI

I DIE

Greta, 23: I was going to vote, but instead I thought I would build myself an entire house out of avocado and then Instagram it. I AM THE NIGHTMARE MILLENNIAL DESTROYER OF WORLDS! As a millennial, my only joy is in destruction. Killing golf was not enough for me. I wish to destroy democracy next. I AM A CRONUT.

[isabel]

Oct 30, 2018 15:07:08 GMT -5 cville said:

I'm going to scream.

Aaaaand this is why I did not read the article and am going to leave this thread immediately.

[pinkdutchtulips]

Oct 30, 2018 15:54:37 GMT -5 heyjude said:

And voting in Ca does practically require a masters in public policy. Our ballot IS redic.

CA is advanced citizenship ... they don't make it easy

[Deleted]

The one thing I did think was salient from these stories was the woman who had moved a lot. As someone who has moved a lot, I definitely get that being a barrier. Fortunately I currently live in a state with same-day registration. I would like to see other states adopt it. And of all the reasons given, that is also the least white privilege-y one.

[mbcdefg]

[mrsukyankee]

You're disillusioned, that's fine, vote anyway

[VillainV]

Oct 30, 2018 15:43:26 GMT -5 pinkdutchtulips said:

My bf joined the USMC bc he viewed that right to vote as something that should be defended at all costs. Needless to say folks who don't exercise that right or whine about how 'difficult' it is to exercise that right ... piss.him.off

I still encounter a bunch of people in the military who refuse to vote in any election for someone in their chain of command (President, also Governor for people in the Guard).   They feel like there would be an inherent conflict of interest in serving someone if you voted for their opponent.  I think this viewpoint was perpetuated several decades ago, and I usually see it in older people.   Every time there is an election, we have huge information campaigns to educate people on how to register to vote, and they always emphasize that it's perfectly acceptable for service members to exercise their rights as citizens and vote at all levels.  

ETA:  I was serving in Afghanistan in 2009 when they had their first open election.  We flew air cover over several polling places.  People travelled long distances over bad roads and unreliable transportation to get to their polling place on election day, many of them facing certain violence.  Each voter dipper their finger in dark ink to indicate that they had already voted, to keep people from voting twice, and the worry was that people would be killed if they were found with ink on their fingers.  Especially women.   Yet people STILL VOTED.