[etni] Re: Fw: Americans-- VOTE

Ok, I'm about to shock you again.  I'm an American citizen and I'm not
voting.  In order to explain why (well, one of the reasons why), I need to
first give a very brief explanation of the US voting process.
As US citizens know, in the US, you don't vote directly for a candidate.
Instead, your vote goes to the electoral college representatives in your
state, who then vote for their candidate.  The results are an all-or-nothing
deal.  One of the candidates either gets all of the electoral college votes
in a given state or none.  Basically, what that means for people who live in
big states and/or states that tend to vote heavily for one party or the
other is that your vote doesn't necessarily count.

You vote in your last state of residence.  My last state of residence was
New York.  New York is a heavily Democratic state.  In fact, the last time
New York chose a president who wasn't a Democrat was in 1984 (and in 1980 --
it was the same president, Reagan).  The chances of New York state going
Republican in these elections are slim to none.  Every poll I've seen has
shown New York as safely in the Democratic camp.  Could this change?  Well,
yeah, I guess it could, but New York is such a big state, that there would
have to be a LOT of people (like tens of thousands, not a few hundred)
suddenly changing their minds for there to be any change.  Regardless of the
way I would choose to vote, my vote in New York state would mean absolutely
nothing, as all of the 31 electoral votes in New York are going to Obama --
it's pretty close to a "done deal".  This, of course, might not be the case
if I came from another state.

In any case, it's too late to try to change my mind, as in New York state,
you must register to vote at least 25 days before the election.  This is not
the case in every state, but from the quick look that I took at this site:
http://www.declareyourself.com/voting_faq/state_by_state_info_2.html it
appears that most states do require you to register more than 16 days in
advance (which is how long we now have until election day).

For the record, in general, I do believe in voting and I voted in every
election, local and national, when I lived in the US (and I used to send in
absentee ballots, as well, until I decided that I was just wasting postage)
and I vote in every election here in Israel.

Bari



On Sun, Oct 19, 2008 at 6:45 AM, Ask_Etni <ask@xxxxxxxx> wrote:

>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Esther Revivo - estherrv@xxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: Americans-- VOTE
>
> I hope I won't be abusing this forum if I divert attention from our
> professional issues. I was shocked today when another American citizen told
> me she isn't planning on voting in the upcoming American election.
>
>  I am not saying a word about for WHOM you should vote either. in the
> upcoming municipal elections or the US elections. However, in 1990, (when I
> personally believe that Gore won but brother Jeb did some hanky panky in
> Fla. to help brother George steal the election,) we all saw that a mere few
> hundred votes can decide even a major election.
>
> Witness the recent Kadima primaries, when despite the media having made a
> laughingstock out of Mofaz, he almost DID gain the percentage of votes that
> he said he would. And, if every registered Kadima voter had taken the
> trouble to vote, despite the media bias, who knows what the outcome would
> have been???
>
> We teachers know that we are often responsible for molding the next
> generation of our country. People the world over die for the privilege to
> vote. So how in good conscience can any of us be apathetic? It is not just
> a
> right, I believe, but a duty. If you don't vote, I personally feel you
> don't
> have the right to complain about the outcome neither here nor abroad. "Put
> up or shut up," was
> the creed by which I was raised.
>
> On a practical note, I already downloaded the forms I had to ages ago. If
> you haven't done so and wish to vote, contact the American embassy and ask
> what you can do at this stage.
>
> American citizens may contact the American Citizen Service section at:
> amctelaviv@xxxxxxxxx
>
> For further details on the section please visit their Home Page at:
> http://israel.usembassy.gov/consular/acs/index.aspx
>
> For all other questions:
> ac5@xxxxxxxxxxxx
> Esther Revivo
> Netivot
>
>
>
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