CMV: Voting in elections is pointless

You’ve claimed to be multiple ages in very recent posts. You’re misrepresenting yourself and that means this argument isn’t made in good faith.

I’ve reported this post and encourage others to downvote and report it as well.

In 2017 Virginia had statewide elections. After the results came in the House of Delegates was split 50 Republicans to 49 Democrats with the 94th district still undecided.

The 94th district was incredibly close. If the Republican won, that would cement a Republican majority. If the Democrat won, then the House would be split and they would have to come up with a power sharing agreement.

The Virginia State Board of elections at first certified the results of the election that the Republican won by 10 votes. The Democrat challenged the results and asked for a recount. The recount resulted in the Democrat winning by 1 vote. The Republican challenged the recount and a panel of judges ruled that one of the votes in favor of the Democrat should actually be awarded to the Republican (the ballot in question actually marked both candidates, but then crossed out the Democratic candidate).

So the end result was an exact tie, both candidates getting the same number of votes. The result was decided by drawing a name out of a bowl. This drawing resulted in the Republican winning, giving them a 51-49 majority and control of the House.

In the gubernatorial election that year the Democrats took control of the governor's mansion. If there was a 50-50 split in the House the control of the governor's mansion would have given the majority to the Democrats.

This is an example of a real life election in which 1 vote determined not only who won the seat, but also which party got the majority in the House of Delegates. That's a HUGE difference 1 vote can make.

There are multiple elections won (or lost) by a single vote, but more importantly some elections haveresulted in a tie which means all the votes mattered. If any one person had not voted then the outcome would have been different.

So, to answer the question that you stated would change your mind,

Name one election in which your vote would have changed anything.

Wyoming's 1994 congressional election.

I'm super confused. You are saying it's pointless because millions of people will vote and your one vote (and your student's votes) won't really matter.

Probability and statistics alone can prove your statement wrong if we assume the votes are one for one for each state / electoral college.

Not counting at all and having an extremely small affect are not the same.

Also ideally your vote has a much higher probability of affecting change at local levels in elections aside from major presidential elections.

In fact it would make more sense that those both have a higher impact, your county vote may not even be in the tens of thousands depending on your local area.

We should change the legislative aspect of things more so than the executive as well. Those trickle effects would be where we'd get the most bang for the buck vote wise.

Is it still a small affect? Yes. But way more than a presidential election.

A Good Citizen votes for his own sake first, since it is within his sphere of control and thus responsibility, and the outcome is secondary - accepted whatever the results may be, since it is out of his sphere of control. If a Good Citizen wishes to protest all choices, then he writes in someone, or writes in Mickey Mouse. The lazy citizen who does not vote does not differentiate their protest from those who can not.

Your 1 vote does not mean nothing, it means you took a position, which is not a waste of time in terms of the development of the social and political aspect of your own character. Which is always good for democracy.

What you are teaching your students appears to be the nihilism of inaction, of shrugging personal responsibility in the social-political sphere. Do you want them to remain children or become adults?

It's not pointless. Sure the votes might not really matter due to the system at work and the powers that be... But it can make you feel like you did something important, and the placebo effect is worth like what, 15%?

So go vote and feel 15% accomplished. It helps... Not the problems, but your mindset I mean. And that's gonna need all the help it can get, given the rise of the 4th reich in america is taking place.