313
votes
Why allow convicted criminals to vote?
The most trite answer is a civil rights protection against the following algorithm:
Win a legislative election.
Pass any law which disproportionately imprisons the supporters of your opponents.
...
- 21.1k
136
votes
Why allow convicted criminals to vote?
Democracy: Criminals (including those in jail) are affected by the results of the political process. Allowing them to vote gives their an option for their opinions to be heard.
If you want to signal ...
- 31.2k
112
votes
Why am I being asked to vote?
There are two possible interpretations here, the cynical and the optimistic.
Note that I am not naming any specific parties and for the purposes of this answer am not taking any side.
The cynical: ...
- 1,936
104
votes
How do Republicans explain consistently losing the popular vote in presidential elections since 1992?
The predominant explanation, especially since President Trump's victory in 2016, has been that the recent Republican presidential campaign efforts aren't even attempting to win the popular vote, and ...
CDJB♦
- 105k
100
votes
Why is vote counting made so laborious in the US?
Mail-in voting and provisional ballots: In many states, mail-in votes are allowed to arrive well after election day, provided they are postmarked on or before election day. Voters who cast a ...
- 9,056
95
votes
Accepted
Why is it that an American in Timbuktu can vote for president but an American in San Juan cannot?
This is a peculiarity as a result of the federal nature of the USA and the exceptional position of Puerto Rico as a territory but not a state. Within the States and Territories of the USA, your ...
- 115k
92
votes
Accepted
Is there objective proof that recent bills (1st half of 2021) that restrict voting are targeting Democratic voters specifically?
The whole foundation of the strategy that gives rise to these voter suppression laws is to avoid exactly that direct, causal link. The recent Supreme Court case Chamber of Commerce v. New York ...
- 16.4k
90
votes
Why am I being asked to vote?
A democracy derives its legitimacy from voters. When elections are won by tiny margins, but huge numbers of people don't vote then there is a problem.
US turnout is below 60% for presidential ...
- 23.9k
88
votes
Accepted
Paying people not to vote at all
Some problems I can see with this idea:
Unbalanced incentives
In point two, you claim that this system would encourage votes from people who "understand the value of the vote", but is that ...
- 1,464
84
votes
Accepted
Can a polling station in the UK shut early if everyone has voted?
There's a process that's meant to be followed if someone arrives at a polling station to find that someone has already voted in their name or they're recorded as having received a postal vote (a '...
- 1,231
82
votes
Why are "the rich" more able to identify the party which represent their interests than "the poor"?
Why are “the rich” more able to identify the party which represent their interests than “the poor”?
Mostly, because your assumption is just that, an assumption, and is an incorrect one at that.
I won'...
- 91.9k
82
votes
Why are many college towns so Democratic?
Cosmopolitanism leads to social liberalism. It's been proven time and again since at least the 1950's: the more you're exposed to a variety of people and viewpoints, the more likely you are to have ...
- 17.2k
80
votes
Why are "the rich" more able to identify the party which represent their interests than "the poor"?
There are so many false assumptions in your question. But one that wasn't addressed by the other answers is this:
There are a lot of people who vote based on their moral principles. Whether rich or ...
- 2,461
70
votes
Why don't Democrat or Republican partisans register and vote in swing states?
Simply put, because it is a crime. It is not allowed (e.g. in Minnesota) to move somewhere for a month to vote there. Plus, most people can't afford such a disruption to their life.
When I registered ...
- 7,146
69
votes
Can a polling station in the UK shut early if everyone has voted?
Polling hours are set out in Schedule I of the Representation of the People Act, 1983, as "between the hours of 7 in the morning and 10 at night". There is nothing in the Act that allows a polling ...
- 27.8k
65
votes
Why allow convicted criminals to vote?
Here are some actual arguments given in cases around the world, extracted from a paper focusing on the Irish case:
Israel: after Yigal Amir assassinated Rabin, there was a court case asking for Amir'...
- 146k
61
votes
Traditionally, and currently, what stops human vote counters from altering ballots to make them 'Spoilt / Invalid votes?
I think that this risk is greatly diminished by relying on multiple persons doing the counting simultaneously, the so called two man rule.
Because you expressed disbelief in that in a comment, let me ...
- 9,604
59
votes
Was the Texas Photo ID voting law implemented to decrease voting fraud? If so, how effective is it?
the Photo ID Voting Law was put in place because states wished to decrease voting fraud, right?
That is the stated reason, yes.
However, in-person voter fraud (the only fraud that would be caught ...
- 36.1k
59
votes
Why don't all States switch to all postal voting?
This answer is tainted by my German experience and views, but I expect many instances of it to apply to the US, too.
With the traditional concept of an election day, all people have the opportunity ...
- 13.1k
59
votes
Ballot Secrecy - is it a Voter's Privilege or a Voter's Obligation?
At least for those systems inheriting from British tradition and the Ballot Act 1872 the secret ballot was introduced a fraud mitigation exercise to protect against personal bribery & intimidation ...
- 21.1k
57
votes
Accepted
Have Texas voters ever selected a Democrat for President?
Yes, in fact from Wikipedia's article on "United States presidential elections in Texas", we can see that Texas has elected a Democrat for president twenty-two times since 1876, most ...
CDJB♦
- 105k
55
votes
Is candidate anonymity at all practical?
No, this isn't at all practical. You're removing virtually everything a voter could possibly use to decide who to support. If you don't know a candidate's identity, all you're left with is what ...
- 13.8k
54
votes
Accepted
Why are many college towns so Democratic?
Biden did particularly well in two demographics:
Voters under 30 (62% for Biden vs. 35% for Trump)
College educated voters (55% for Biden vs. 42% for Trump)
So the reason why Biden did so ...
- 74.8k
53
votes
Ballot Secrecy - is it a Voter's Privilege or a Voter's Obligation?
Both.
Ballot secrecy is a voters' privilege that prevents others from threatening harm for failing to vote a certain way. No one can know how they voted for sure so they cannot do them harm based on ...
- 3,938
52
votes
What are some arguments for why a "license to vote" is a bad idea?
Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?
One important reason to not implement a license system that it is much more vulnerable to manipulations. Whoever runs the tests gets the power to decide who can vote ...
- 809
52
votes
How could people in Texas erroneously vote when they were ineligible?
The two cases mentioned in the linked podcast are those of Crystal Mason and Rosa Maria Ortega, who were both convicted of voter fraud under different circumstances.
I'm going to firstly focus on the ...
CDJB♦
- 105k
49
votes
Accepted
Did Hillary Clinton win the popular vote by 2.09 or 2.22 percentage points?
Yes - the official totals according to the FEC were:
Trump - 62,984,828 (46.09% of all 136,669,276 votes)
Clinton - 65,853,514 (48.18% of all 136,669,276 votes)
So in terms of difference in popular ...
CDJB♦
- 105k
49
votes
Accepted
Why am I being asked to vote?
Even if some people don't vote, wouldn't the interests of the nation be properly (statistically) represented by the people who do get out and vote?
This might be true if the actual voters are a ...
- 9,276
49
votes
Accepted
Trump was behind on November 5th. Why was he calling for vote counting to stop?
The Trump campaign has launched a number of different lawsuits, some requesting that counting be stopped in certain states, others insisting that counting continue in other states. The CNN article you ...
- 23.9k
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible