Polls don’t mean shit. Vote. Write in your fucking grandma for all I care but vote, and bring your friends. Make a party of it. Or sign up for mail in ballot if you still can, and tell your friends, family, strangers in the grocery line, coworkers, scream into the black void. VOTE.
Imagine my shock of the voting process when moving from Texas to Oregon. From pulling teeth to vote to getting it delivered on a silver platter. It feels so unconstitutional down there.
Funny I lived in Texas for a while and had no problem voting. In fact I found it quite pleasant as my polling station was like a 5 minute walk from my house. Granted, I lived in a fairly affluent area which certainly gaffs the scale, but I’m curious as to what you’re experienced was.
Without giving too much away, how racially diverse would you say the folk were at your local polling station. And what kinda neighborhood did you cast your vote in?
I voted in Houston, Austin, San Antonio, Beaumont, Garland, and Amarillo. Not all in the same year of course but over the course of a decade. And I’ll tell you, not every polling place is staffed the same. I waited 5 hours to walk into a church lobby with only 3 polling staff and 8 poll booths for what looked like hundreds of folk. And I waited a half hour to vote in a gymnasium that might as well have been a straw poll for how it had so many staff and more polling booths than I could count.
Some sources for those outside of the Lone Star state
I don’t recall really thinking about the racial makeup of the polling station, but certainly my zip code is pretty racially diverse, which white people just making up the majority. But again, a relatively wealthy area so much of that diversity was not economic.
But it was a gym, it had a reasonable about of polling booths, and I waited only a brief time. Each time I went to vote. My biggest complaint about voting in Texas is the overwhelming number of things that are up for elections.
Good to hear y’all were able to vote in the way it’s intended to be. It’s not like that everywhere in Texas.
And yeah lots of positions in local government are elected, especially problematic are the judges and coroners elections, also I’d rather we appoint judges. Sheriff’s should be appointed and vetted for short 4 year terms instead of electing them.
The poster made the claim like it was a statement of fact for all of texas, I explained how my experience was different, even giving reasons why that might be the case, and you still felt the need to be a douche about it.
Pointing out that I’m unsurprised that you’re able to vote easily because you’re an affluent area doesn’t make me a douche. The fact that you reacted like that because I pointed out the obvious that makes your experience the exception to the rule means you should probably be pointing that accusation inwards friend.
Maybe don’t be so sensitive just because you’re one of the lucky ones?
Pointing out that I’m unsurprised that you’re able to vote easily because you’re an affluent area doesn’t make me a douche.
Agreed. It wasn’t that you pointed it out, it was how you pointed it out. Or do you really not realize how your sarcasm comes off as douchy?
I pointed out the obvious
Lol. The whole point of me bringing it up was the point out this might explain it. I even explicitly said it probably gaffs the scale. You didn’t point it out, I did.
Maybe don’t be so sensitive and hostile just because you’re one of the lucky ones?
I think you’re inadvertently revealing what the issue is here: you’re being hostile to me because you think I’m lucky.
Arguably the first time Trump got elected the polls saying he couldn’t win played a large part in that. People felt safe not voting in protest of Hillary because “there’s no way Trump can win anyway.”
The polls were generally within the margins of error…. Dems need at least 5% more than repubs to win electoral college. The polls were not that far off, they were within the margins of error
Hillary got a little too cocky and assumed it was her birthright or whatever weird shit that was
I cannot speak for the whole of Lemmy, but anything but exit polls tend to have multiple issues. The way that they’re used in popular media tends to fuel horse race politics.
Polls don’t mean shit. Vote. Write in your fucking grandma for all I care but vote, and bring your friends. Make a party of it. Or sign up for mail in ballot if you still can, and tell your friends, family, strangers in the grocery line, coworkers, scream into the black void. VOTE.
Uh don’t commit voter fraud wtf
Edit oh you probably mean grandma for president. I’m in
Yes I was referencing a standard write in ballot with <Grandma’s Name> being the independent candidate
Illinois just mails me a ballot before every election. Super convenient, it’s a shame more states don’t do it.
Same in Oregon
Imagine my shock of the voting process when moving from Texas to Oregon. From pulling teeth to vote to getting it delivered on a silver platter. It feels so unconstitutional down there.
Yep, that’s by design.
Funny I lived in Texas for a while and had no problem voting. In fact I found it quite pleasant as my polling station was like a 5 minute walk from my house. Granted, I lived in a fairly affluent area which certainly gaffs the scale, but I’m curious as to what you’re experienced was.
Without giving too much away, how racially diverse would you say the folk were at your local polling station. And what kinda neighborhood did you cast your vote in?
I voted in Houston, Austin, San Antonio, Beaumont, Garland, and Amarillo. Not all in the same year of course but over the course of a decade. And I’ll tell you, not every polling place is staffed the same. I waited 5 hours to walk into a church lobby with only 3 polling staff and 8 poll booths for what looked like hundreds of folk. And I waited a half hour to vote in a gymnasium that might as well have been a straw poll for how it had so many staff and more polling booths than I could count.
Some sources for those outside of the Lone Star state
https://www.aclutx.org/en/news/5-ways-texas-suppresses-vote-and-how-make-your-vote-count
https://www.cnn.com/2021/05/30/opinions/texas-ominous-voter-suppression-obeidallah/index.html
https://www.houstonpublicmedia.org/articles/news/politics/election-2020/2020/10/28/384854/voter-suppression-blunts-historic-turnout-in-texas/
I don’t recall really thinking about the racial makeup of the polling station, but certainly my zip code is pretty racially diverse, which white people just making up the majority. But again, a relatively wealthy area so much of that diversity was not economic.
But it was a gym, it had a reasonable about of polling booths, and I waited only a brief time. Each time I went to vote. My biggest complaint about voting in Texas is the overwhelming number of things that are up for elections.
Good to hear y’all were able to vote in the way it’s intended to be. It’s not like that everywhere in Texas.
And yeah lots of positions in local government are elected, especially problematic are the judges and coroners elections, also I’d rather we appoint judges. Sheriff’s should be appointed and vetted for short 4 year terms instead of electing them.
https://hls.harvard.edu/today/in-new-book-shugerman-explores-the-history-of-judicial-selection-in-the-u-s/
Sure I understand that, which is why I was seeking their experience.
Hmmm, wonder why…
Well, that twist was entirely expected.
The poster made the claim like it was a statement of fact for all of texas, I explained how my experience was different, even giving reasons why that might be the case, and you still felt the need to be a douche about it.
Amazing.
Pointing out that I’m unsurprised that you’re able to vote easily because you’re an affluent area doesn’t make me a douche. The fact that you reacted like that because I pointed out the obvious that makes your experience the exception to the rule means you should probably be pointing that accusation inwards friend.
Maybe don’t be so sensitive just because you’re one of the lucky ones?
Agreed. It wasn’t that you pointed it out, it was how you pointed it out. Or do you really not realize how your sarcasm comes off as douchy?
Lol. The whole point of me bringing it up was the point out this might explain it. I even explicitly said it probably gaffs the scale. You didn’t point it out, I did.
I think you’re inadvertently revealing what the issue is here: you’re being hostile to me because you think I’m lucky.
I’ve never waited more than 20 mins to vote, and never more than 5 on early voting.
I live in a big city. It could be better, but not much better.
They mean something but there’s a thing called polling error, which news outlets studiously ignore.
The race is essentially tied currently. The danger of the new reich is very real.
I still remember all the polls saying Hillary was gonna win and how confident the Dems got.
Completely unrelated question but are you still selling those posters?
I’ve asked this before, what does Lemmy have against polling? You guys know that people aren’t using polls as a substitute for voting, right?
Arguably the first time Trump got elected the polls saying he couldn’t win played a large part in that. People felt safe not voting in protest of Hillary because “there’s no way Trump can win anyway.”
The polls were generally within the margins of error…. Dems need at least 5% more than repubs to win electoral college. The polls were not that far off, they were within the margins of error
Hillary got a little too cocky and assumed it was her birthright or whatever weird shit that was
I cannot speak for the whole of Lemmy, but anything but exit polls tend to have multiple issues. The way that they’re used in popular media tends to fuel horse race politics.
Here’s the Pew Research Center, likely the largest polling organization in the US outside of the US Census. https://www.pewresearch.org/methods/2023/04/19/how-public-polling-has-changed-in-the-21st-century/
Here’s how they can fuel partisanship when that bias is not taken into account by the media https://phys.org/news/2020-10-political-scientist-negative-partisanship-voters.html
Here’s what I mean when I say horse race politics. https://journalistsresource.org/politics-and-government/horse-race-reporting-election/
Ptsd. We have been burned before.
Polls are bullshit and cause stupid. Also they are getting increasingly biased as time goes on, seriously some still only use land lines.