Stunned... regarding voting

[radfringe]

A woman at work told me she wasn't going to vote. She's a registered republican and doesn't want to vote for mccain

I asked what the problem was, I was expecting something along the lines of being disillusioned with mccain and not liking Obama therefore she had no reason to vote.

BUT - this was not the case. She likes Obama but thinks she can't vote for him because she's a registered republican. She's under the impression that in a general election you can only vote for your party's candidate.

I explained the difference between PRIMARIES and GENERAL ELECTIONS. She was relieved. I'm still "stunned".

now I'm wondering how many other people are out there who think they can't 'cross party lines' during a general election.

[BattyDem]

1. Wow!

:wow:

That's very troubling. :-(

[roguevalley]

22. someone needs to send this to the obama campaign so they

can get infomercials out about it.

EDIT: I just did.

[slampoet]

2. This is why it really does matter what schools do. In Michigan there's none of this, WHY?......

....because in Michigan, Government is a required course that you must pass to graduate high school

[immoderate]

3. Kick for what could be a serious problem.

Imagine if a lot of Republicans believe this. :shrug:

--IMM

[shadowknows69]

12. I wonder how many are told this in registration drives.

[elocs]

4. Never be stunned at people's stupidity.

It's like the optical scan ballot used where I live where you are supposed to simply connect the line by the candidate of your choice. This is evidently too complicated for some people to understand because they will write an X in the space while some simply circle the name. You could show people a video about how they should cast their ballot and some would still get it wrong.

[amdezurik]

5. I have to wonder who told her that

some RNC hand-out probably...

[SammyWinstonJack]

6. ...

[shraby]

7. This should be sent to Olbermann and

Rachel. Maybe they can get the word out.

[malaise]

8. Should be sent to the Obama campaign as well n/t

[dccrossman]

9. K & R

Yes, it should be obvious. No, we shouldn't have to tell people... However, politics is nowhere near the top of the priority list for the vast majority of people. So understanding the process and their right to vote also ends up lacking. Course with all the media hype about Republicans for Obama and Reagan Democrats...

My wife tells me to stop assuming everyone can be logical just because I can.

Hear, hear, on the forward to Olbermann. Even if he just hits it on Oddball, at least it would get hit.

[tismyself]

10. but wait, there's more

A couple of years ago a friend was telling me that at a large university the professor was teaching that the electoral college was just a theory, that there was no "real" group of people.

[shadowknows69]

11. I'll bet too many

Thanks for this post because I'm going to remind my mother of that fact. Mom's not stupid but trusting. If someone maliciously told her this she would proabably buy it.

[radfringe]

13. I don't know where she got the idea

I doubt it's something she was told recently, from the way she explained it, I have the impression this notion was something she had for a long time.

[progressoid]

14. Maybe it was some GOP thing to keep the troops in line. And she bought it.

teh stupid is like a virus with them.

[radfringe]

20. don't think it came from GOPer

more likely "the stupid"

[Gregorian]

15. Why aren't voters informed? Don't we already have a voter info organization?

This should be forced upon the airwaves. Fox news can spew their bs, but they should also have to inform voters, as part of a government agreement.

Hell, I don't need to confirm what many already know, but I had no idea what a primary election was until after Bush was in office. The drug war drove me away from politics. I hated government. I hated politics. Even having grown up in a highly political family/town. Shit, I know someone who has Pat Paulson's old bandwagon in his backyard. I'm just saying that if I don't know, then most of the country probably doesn't know. There are many reasons for ignorance and or apathy.

And I don't think what Australia does has any improvement on the quality of voting. But something must be done. We've already sunk too far, thanks to people like me. But thanks to Little Hitler and his Broken Hearted Timebomb, I'm paying attention like there's no tomorrow.

Back to the subject. What are we going to do? TV it seems, is the real answer. My mother is one of dozens who walks in her garden every morning with the New York Times. The rest of the country is watching whatever garbage is on tv.

[Dems4me]

16. kick n/t

[Fleshdancer]

17. I wonder if she received any mail that gave her that impression

It never occured to me that people would think this.

[spinbaby]

18. I've only heard this once before

But the person I heard it from was a recent immigrant. It's really alarming that an American would think such a thing.

[frebrd]

19. Even if it were true that a registered Repub couldn't vote for Obama.....

surely there other issues on the ballot on which she has an opinion. She could just skip the "President" position and vote on everything else.

I don't think this is stupidity or ignorance or even gullibility; it's determined avoidance of the thinking process and it's endemic in this country.

Edited for spelling :(

[moondust]

21. A similar ignorance issue.

I suspect, though I don't know for a fact, that many voters think they have to make a selection for every race and issue on the ballot or their ballot will be "incomplete" and their vote won't be counted. Hence a lot of downticket votes may be cast in ignorance by voters who may not have a clue as to whom or what they are voting for.

I hope I'm wrong.