If the Electoral Vote Predictor is remotely accurate, it’s going to be a long night ((if that link doesn’t work, change the number in the domain so it reads any number between electoral-vote1.com and electoral-vote8.com). The predictor currently has 262 electoral college votes for Kerry, 261 for Bush. Yesterday, Kerry had a bigger lead, but some new polls came out narrowing things down (you can see an animated map of the states polls here). Regardless, he’ll be updating the calendar as the night goes on.
Couple things I would like to say here: Regardless of your views on who will win, at least get out there and vote today. Your opinion on things means nothing if you don’t exercise your right (the electoral college is flawed, but that’s another debate entirely).
Also, I want to wish a good luck out there to all the journalists out there who will be covering this mess tonight. I’ve done all-nighters covering smaller elections before (running the show online), and it’s no picnic. Order pizza, take care of everybody on the staff, you’re all in this together. If you don’t already have a plan of attack for the evening, you’re screwed. Also, if you work for a larger newspaper, befriend the food critic, and have him bring the booze. There is a great deal of helpful information for journalists at Poynter’s Election Coverage site, so read through it while it’s still slow this morning, and get ready to rock and roll later tonight.
Comments
Hello Jake, I don’t mean to intrude on your weblog here (I do check your RSS feed with my aggregator and enjoy many of the articles), but I was hoping you would clarify what you meant by saying that my “opinion on things means nothing” since I exercised my right not to vote?
I chose not to vote based on personal and intellectual reasons which I feel are sound. Do you mean to say that therefore my “opinion on things” means nothing? Should I still bother to enter opinionated discourse with my friends? Have I forfeited my ability to reason by not voting in an American presidential election?
Or did you simply mean that my opinion won’t be manifested in the outcome of the election? But that would be stating the obvious, and I’m sure the majority of people who chose not to vote did so for that very reason.
The attitude that people who don’t vote are somehow responsible for an evil is pervasive, especially in this election, and I find it both offensive and destructive.
Thanks for letting me use your weblog as a sounding board.
… I should have used HTML to format my comment… and at least previewed… sorry :-[
Fixed your comment formatting, Chris. No worries.
What I meant when I said your opinion on things means nothing was in regards to this election, primarily, but in life in general. My thoughts are that if you have a problem with and you are legal age to vote, you should vote on those matters. That’s the strongest opinionated statement you can make.
Having discourse with friends is all fine and dandy, but unless you’re doing something with those opinions (if indeed you do feel strongly about them), all they’ll ever be is opinions, and things won’t change. I don’t think people who don’t vote are responible for evil by any means, but the people who really think their views are correct, spout off that their views are correct, but aren’t willing to do anything about it (voting or otherwise), they’re quite a bit more responsible for it (Note, Chris, that I’m not saying you’re evil by any means, but I’m just using your word).
And apathy is no reason to not vote. Maybe so in the presidential race where the electoral college is the biggest bunch of crap out there, but it does matter in everything else.
Vote? hehe.. matters? lol 🙂 You know as well as the rest of us how counterproductively superstitious voting is. Voting is like a compound question, since no matter what you vote for you are endorsing the system.
For instance, if a madman kidnaps your family and asks you “Who should I let live, your wife or your child?” it does not impune how strongly you feel about the situation that you avoid answering the question.
But that’s where we are today. No matter who you vote for or what ballots you weigh in about, the same oganizations continue to run the country and control how every law is executed. It strengthens their hand if Bush wins by a landslide. It strengthens their hand if Kerry wins by a landslide. It strengthens their hand even if the race is close and difficult to call.. perhaps even moreso. However, it weakens their hand if fewer people vote.