One vote makes no difference

davidoco said:
[broken link removed] and a good example would be

..
Click to expand...

Surprisingly this Florida state link doesn't mention one of the most significant close votes of recent times on their own doorstep - when GWB 'beat' Al Gore in the 2000 presidential election - remember the debacle of the hanging chads and pregnant chads and dimpled chads? I bet there are a lot of people in Florida who regret having sat on their asses on the couch that day - just think what they could have spared themselves and the world...
 
i agree with those that said this thread is ridiculus, people died for our right to vote, i think to solve this issue the OP should be sent to a country where the people have no say whatsover as to what happens in thier country and he wont be long wishing he had his vote back to make a change.
 
For those people interested in why one vote makes a difference have a look at this paper:
[broken link removed]

OP - I reckon you have a huge fundamental flaw in your logic. You seem to be missing the point that each and every persons vote carries the same weight and its the sum of the parts thats important. If everyone thought as you did it would make a huge difference! Examples have already been given in this thread where 1 vote did actually make the difference. Read the paper linked to above and see what you think.
 
Given that today's results tell us that there were only 4 votes in favour of the Yes side in Carlow-Kilkenny, it makes all of the OP's arguments moot...

Also I recall several TD's that have been elected with margins of less than five votes, so yes everyone's vote does count, whether it is expressed oor not.
 

Darn, you beat me to it tallpaul

Although I can imagine the OP's logic will be that on a national scale the difference is greater, I entirely agree with what you are saying here, as I pointed out in an earlier aside, PR magnifies votes and frequently gives rise to close contests.
 
Last edited:

.
 
Is it safe to assume that you never clap or cheer at a match or a gig - right? One more clapper makes no difference.


And you make no effort to conserve energy/paper - right? Because the savings of one individual make no difference.
 
rmelly said:
You may have a point there - why am I bothering recycling?
Click to expand...


I think most people recycle to save money, nothing to do with enviroment. If we could just make it so voting saves us money................................
 
DavyJones said:
I think most people recycle to save money, nothing to do with enviroment. If we could just make it so voting saves us money................................
Click to expand...

I live in an apartment block, so pay fixed charge (via management fees) regardless of how much or little I put in rubbish bin versus recycling.
 
All i am saying is this.

The likelihood of one vote being the difference between the swing between one way or the other is literally many thousands-to-one.

From a statistical viewpoint, With those knd of odds, I am very comfortable in not bothering in voting - because it will very likely have no impact.

These are the stats people.

I know some people who travel the length and breadth of the country to cast their vote.
Taking the obvious point that they haven't bothered to transfer their vote aside, I can't help thinlung these peopel are absolute idiots.
And what really bugs me is that they seem to take a perverse sense of pride in this and expect huge pats on the back for this.

like - it certainly ain't worth that !

Lets be honest here - if,say, all of you had to travel,say, a 3 hour round trip to vote, then would you do it?

I'm suspecting most of you would not.

In fact what i'm really saying is this - it's all a trade off.

Is the likelihood of a many-thousand-to-one shot coming in worth the effort of me hauling myself down to the polluing station, then statistically i think anyojne would be mad to do so.
However - if the ballot bvox appeared in my living room then yes, I probably would vote.

In fact - my original point of one vote not making a difference can, in fact, lead up to a broader point - of effort versus likelihood of impact - where voting is a good example in my book.
i.e. is the likelihood of any action. given the effort involved woth the trade off/effort ?

And as for anyone who says - "What if everyone thoght that" - then yes - that may well make a dfferenece.
Well of course if many people thought that then it would make a difference.
But you peopel have a very imoortant word in ur argument with the word "if"
i.e.you are on about a hypothetical situation - i am not !
i.e. this thread aside, if i try to keep my head down and attempt to infliuence no one else about voting then, in reality, it will have pretty much zero impact

And for those of you that point to history where 1 vore was the difference,al i will say there is hat yes, statistically it can happen.
However it is very unlikely.

And that's a gamble i am prepared to take.

And in fact - don't forget that in those instances the likes of me may have voted to make the swing a difference of 2 as opposed to zero !

q.e.d.
 

Like - it certainly is. Many students live away from home and may not transfer their vote as they are in different lodgings each year. Often people can be away from home for a variety of reasons e.g. business, training etc. And you call them idiots for returning home to cast their vote?

qwertyuiop said:
Lets be honest here - if,say, all of you had to travel,say, a 3 hour round trip to vote, then would you do it?
Click to expand...

I travelled a 4 hour one way trip in order to cast my vote.


Says it all really.
 

You still didn't answer my question:

room305 said:
As a hypothetical question, if we were to take the most recent Lisbon Treaty referendum, and I told you I would gladly give you €1 million if it passed, would you still opt not to vote on the same basis as you have already outlined?
Click to expand...
 
Once again qwertyuiop you demonstrate that you only value your vote where it is individually important or decisive. The simple truth is, you don't value your vote.
We are none of us fools, we are quite capable of looking at the mathematics of the situation, I suspect some are possibly more capable than others but chance is a game we play from early childhood and of all the mathematical disciplines it is the one we exercise most. We choose to vote on the basis that it is both a right and a duty, not on the basis that our individual votes carry the weight of the nation's future. We choose to participate. You choose not to. Don't expect congratulations for finding a weak argument to justify sloth.


qwertyuiop said:
q.e.d.
Click to expand...
Quod Erat Demonstratum? .... But nobody asked, you volunteered.
 
Last edited:
qwertyuiop said:
And as for anyone who says - "What if everyone thoght that" - then yes - that may well make a dfferenece.
Well of course if many people thought that then it would make a difference.....
Click to expand...

47% of people didn't vote for one reason or another!



Well actually no, it's not hypothethetical. I don't think there has ever been a 100% turnout. Take the last referendum. 47% did what you did and didn't show. If, shall we say, you changed your mind then it would follow that maybe 10 - 20 % of people (say) would/could change their minds and vote. OK that's a bit out there I admit but that seems to me how trends workespecially in mechanisms such as referendums. That's a hell of a swing. So you see it wouldnt be just you who changed their mind but thousands like you (ie you're in the same boat as 47% of the voting population).
 
An old Roman town's wells and Aqueduct were running bone dry after a drought. The town held a meeting and all agreed to pour one barrel of red wine into the aqueduct to have running wine instead of water. However, one selfish roman said to himself "Oh well, if I don't pour my wine in then that means I will get to keep all my barrels and have more free wine"...

The next day he excitedly ran outside to get some wine; the aqueduct was completely bone dry...
 
just to throw in my tuppence worth.... i wanted to vote. was gona vote... but got too tired after work to drive the hour... i dont think my vote would have been the be-all and end-all to the election. it would have just added a notch to the side that i was voting on... which now looking at the stats would have made very little difference...

I'd be more curious as to why people made their decisions (Y or N) based on what? I tried reading it and i couldnt make head nor tail of ALOT of it. so i spoke with my father who is one of the most intelligent men i know (hes too bloody knowledgeable) and he advised me what i should do, and that made my decision for me. But i suppose afterwards it didnt matter as i put down a crap day in work and headed home to my hubby-to-be with a bottle of wine... instead of doing the hours drive.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Menu
Log in
Register