Progressive here. I vote in every primary and try to rally support for the most progressive in my coalition. Come November, I vote against fascists which means voting for Democrats because they’re obviously better in every way.

This.

Not voting or voting for a third party hands a win to people you don’t want winning. The system is not fair, at all – but that doesn’t mean we should operate in a way we know will lead to a bad outcome. We have plenty of evidence that third parties in the US don’t really make a dent, but they do sway elections (and generally not how you want). The rest is idealism.

It’s also a good example of why single-issue voting means you’ll almost always get more collateral damage, even if you get representation you want on that specific issue.

You must have a really good memory of who is who, by name, face, political opinion, background, etc, on people that for the most part you’ve probably never even met in real life.

I do not have such good memory. If you took me to a church next Sunday and introduced me to every single person by name, then by Monday I’d be lucky if I remembered your name alone.

I think it’s what they consider a form of nominal aphasia, I’m really bad at remembering who is who in a sea of people I’ve never met or spoken with in person multiple times.

TL;DR - If I went to vote, I wouldn’t remember (except the most well known names like Turnip), who is who, so I might as well be voting as if I were picking out lottery numbers.

Sorry, I just don’t have the memory banks to be a voter.

This is the most insane argument I’ve ever heard. Write them down!

You can’t write down photos of faces and voices of people dipshit, do you not comprehend what it’s like to forget the identities of unfamiliar people the next day when you wake up?

What kind of ballot are you using that is just photos and voices?

If I cannot associate the face, voice, campaign speeches, etc along with the name, which I barely can, then I do not consider myself a well educated voter.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m quite intelligent in a number of math, science and engineering fields, but I probably wouldn’t recognize half my remaining family in the local convenience store if I saw them in person.

So what am I supposed to do, just vote blue down the line? Well that implies I trust everyone on the blue side, and ignore their politics and opinions.

I do not have enough memory banks to remember all these people I’ve never met or spoke to before, and I refuse to vote blindly by blue/red color.

Like fuck, if you’re gonna vote by color, you might as well be voting by tan/brown…

It’s an open-book test. You don’t have to memorize anything. Everyone else has this figured out.

No, really we don’t. I’ve never met a person that’s ever voted in my life that I got to speak to for more than three minutes, at least not to my knowledge.

But even if you toss me all the links and all the information how to perform the action of voting, I’ll still refuse to be an UNEDUCATED voter that simply votes for color.

I’d rather know who I’m voting for, what they represent, what office they’re running for, what their expected job duties are, etc…

You’re giving excuses that make no sense. No one is saying to vote a straight party ticket. Do your research, take notes on the candidates, go vote. Why are you inventing this memorization nonsense?

You’ll find that, while each candidate can have positions that you are with and that you don’t, but you probably have a pretty good idea which of those matter most to you, so you can focus on those issues. If they say things you agree with about things you care about, and they don’t seem like liars, vote for them. You’ll probably find one party’s platform aligns with your preferences, and you only need to keep track of the ones not in that party if you really want to memorize the candidates. Or, find an organization you agree with and start from their recommendations.

But just bring your notes to vote, if you’re allowed. My state is 100% mail-in voting, so I can fill out the ballot as I research. How many candidates are in your elections that is causing you to panic like this?

How many candidates? How the fuck am I supposed to know?

I’m from Mississippi, and literally signed up for our Congressman Mike Ezell, he’s literally too busy patting himself on the back to bother with voters opinions…

“I was honored to join Admiral Lunday, the Austal USA team, and our Coast Guard partners in Mobile this week for the keel laying of the USCGC Pickering, the first Heritage-class Offshore Patrol Cutter to be built at Austal. A keel laying is more than a shipyard ceremony — it marks the beginning of a vessel that will help defend our nation, protect our waters, and support Coast Guard missions for decades to come.”

Don’t get me wrong, it’s good to keep the wildlife habitat sustainable, but how the fuck am I supposed to answer how many candidates we have? Beyond Mike Ezell and Tate Reeves, I don’t know who is running for what…

There should be a free voters guide that gets mailed to all registered voters, and is available at the library.