For US Residents - Are you registered to vote?

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Time is approaching fast for those in the US who wish to vote in this election. If you wonder why you should vote, here are some good reasons:

1) Your vote does count. The politics of congress can easily change if enough people vote for change

2) The federal government does not decide local policy on issues, the local politicians do. Do you think the school board needs to be understand IDEA better? Do you think the state should have more politicians that understand ASDs? What about a mayor willing to force the police to be trained is issues in dealing with ASDs. Depending on the state you are in, most if not all of the above listed are voted for on Election Day

3) It gives you the ultimate say in the political process. If most aspies/auties/persons who deal with ASDs voted, that would make a voting block that although not huge, would get notice where the votes are very close. Some political parties in certain states also allow persons with disabilities to help shape the parties policies if the persons show interest.

In most states registering is a simple process of filling out a postcard and proving you are not under any guardianship, you are a US citizen, have not been convicted of a disqualifying felonu, and have lived in the state for a certain amount of time. At the polling place, you prove who you are. If you need assistance, the polling place must provide it, including allowing someone you trust to assist you in preparing your ballot. If you have issues leaving your home, you can request and absentee ballot to be filled out at home and mailed in.

Please register to vote.

i'm registerd but i doubt i'll be voting. i just don't care about politics. i will vote in the next presidential election though and more than likely it won't be for a republican.

I am registered and will always vote. I'm just not certain we can have a real election in this country.
I always at least vote for the lesser of two evils. Registered Democrat.

I'm registered. You can also register to vote at a DMV or a post office (I think). There are lots of good places to register. To those who haven't/aren't considering voting: Remember, you'll have to live with whatever happens in this country (unless you have dual citizenship or something), so you may as well have your opinion count for something.

I'm registered to vote.

I really hope the Democrats put forward a halfway decent candidate, but if they run Hillary like I expect them to, I'm going to have to vote Republican as the lesser of two evils yet again.

I am registered and I voted in my state's primary election. My Senate candidate lost.

Interesting that no one here seems to question the majority system used in the US. I mean, if you have a county, where we have three parties, one with 34% and the other two with 33% each, the only representative seat in that county would go to the winner. A system which is working that way is creating a democratic polypoly of two dominant parties.

The other alternative is a proportional system, where representatives are elected according to the percentage of their party in local, regional and national elections, but [possibly] with a 4% limit.

Majority based election systems tend to favour the status quo, as candidates who otherwise would have joined more radical alternatives are almost indirectly forced to join either the Republicans or the Democrats. In proportional system we often have more than five parties sitting in the parliament.

Your voting system is totally wrong. The only way to count votes is simply vote by vote, not with electors. It's also wrong to have to register to vote. It's a civil right to vote, so if you're 18 years old you just'd have to go to the ballot, show them your voting card and vote. Thats how we vote here in bureaucratic Sweden. We do have a proportional system as well, though. Any party that gets 12% or more in a county or voting district gets one member or more to the parliament, proportional to other parties in that district, no matter how many votes the party gets on national level. On national level there is a 4% limit, so its either 4% national or 12% regional for a party to get into the parliament at all. We have a similar system on commune level. Every commune has a small "parliament" and a small "government" to balance each other. We're going to the ballots on sunday, September 17th for national, county/district and communal elections. We do it every fourth year, all elections at the same time. Only referendums on EU matters or partiations of communes might come in between. Or new elections, of course.

I know. I am Swedish as well, and I'm going to vote pirate on sunday

Tyckte väl att du såg svensk ut på avataren.

That's not me, it's Zaphod Beeblebrox. I chose this avatar just to protest at the current Swedish election and how the media portrays it. They have turned it into some sort of presidential race between the leaders of the two biggest parties, where personality is almost more important than issues. The quality of media has been constantly reduced as long as I could remember in fact.

Don't be silly, the real Zaphod Beeblebrox has two heads

I am registered and will vote like the centrist I am, at the state and national level. As for local politics, believe me when I say that my choices are limited.

I'm registered and never fail to use it. As soon as the elections come around I'll be there and you can bank on that.

Yes, but in the movie, one of his heads is hidden below the other. The film is also different from the book, as well as the TV version, and the radio version.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmpS5ubQkng

In Australia, it is compulsary to vote once you are 18 (you can voluntarily register once you are 17). Queensland (the Australian state where I live) just had an election, and hoo boy, if it didn't seem to become nasty. The opposition (the centre-right wing Liberal/National Coalition) really put the pressure on the incumbent government (mild left Labour) because of f***-ups with the health system. (By the way, can any Portland, Oregon readers track down and shoot Dr Jayant Patel for us? Or at least kidnap him and send him express post to Australia? I'm sure many survivors of his ministrations and families of non-survivors will be grateful)

The fighting got real personal. The Coalition rubbed it in that Peter Beattie (our Premier for the state. I think the nearest Yank equivalent is governor) had let these things occur in his government. They even brought in this woman to do an ad where she stated that her husband could have gotten heart surgery that would have saved his life, if it weren't for the long hospital waiting lists. (I thought she looked like a zombie, myself, and while I sympathised with her plight, she seemed like she was just dancing to a tune) Labour hit back, showing footage that the Coalition wasn't united. And after seeing Kim Beazley (the leader of Labour in Australia's Parliament) taking the recent Beaconsfield incident and try and turn it into political capitol, I wasn't going to vote for Labour.

When the time came, there were 3 choices for me: Labour, Liberal, and the Greens. I voted the Greens.

All you Yank Aspies! Register to vote and vote for third parties! Then let's see who's "throwing votes away."