Have you ever turned a friend into a voter?

[MilesColtrane]

I have a problem.

Most of my friends are musicians and they lead what the New Yorker entertainment listing disclaimer describes as "complicated lives".

As seems to be the case with many artists, they are politically liberal, yet a lot of them don't vote.
They shrug off voting with the excuse that "they're all crooks anyway", "what difference does it make", "elections are rigged", and other generalities.

My problem is that I can empathize with their point of view, especially given the evidence that, indeed, many Democrats are only marginally better than Republicans, and election rigging by companies such as Diebold IS a real problem.

I make my arguments that nothing in life is perfect and that voting for an imperfect Democrat is almost always better than voting Republican or not voting at all. I also point out that the problem of stolen elections won't go away on it's own, and that the only chance of changing this is to try to get someone elected who will do something about it.

I keep hammering away at them in the hope that my disillusioned friends will begin to see that engaging in the stinking cesspool that is American politics is the only hope for improving things.

In the end, my best argument is that it is every citizens outright duty to try and leave this country a better place, with better economic opportunities, a stronger Constitution, and more security for not only us, but those who come after us.

If you aren't at least trying to do this, by voting, you're indifference is ultimately just as damaging as the outright evil few who are actively trying to destroy our freedoms and our future.

So how about it? Have you ever turned a friend, and if so, how did you do it?

[otohara]

1. Yeah, I've Shamed Some

it's inconceivable to me that that some people don't vote. There is NO excuse!
The shame approach works pretty well.

[MilesColtrane]

2. I think my next step involves incriminating photos.

That could do it.

[seriousstan]

3. I turned a friend into a citizen and then a voter. I am a hardcore voting advocate.

I will always inform people about their voting obligation.

[Mz Pip]

4. I have

Appeal to an issue that they can relate to. Choice, the environment, the war, civil liberites (that should have some appeal to the benevolent anarchists)

Rigged elections? Maybe, maybe not. But unless enough people vote then it's easy to commit fraud. What was the voter turn out in 2004 - 40 % - 50% Well, gee, if half the population doesn't vote then we sort of get what we deserve don't we? And we really can't complain about voter fraud if we don't FRIGGIN VOTE.

Duty, responsibilty, more of the same? Maybe, maybe not. But this is what we've got and it, in all of it's imperfections, is a whole lot better than most places.

Mz Pip
:dem:

[momster]

5. Get 'Em Registered

First step -- Get a whole bunch of voter registration forms.

Second step -- Throw a party and the price of admission is one completed form.

Third step -- Tell 'em you don't care who they vote for, what they register as, or whether they vote. You care only that they have the opportunity to vote if they want to.

Last step -- Send the forms in. They'll receive a voter guide a few weeks before the election and a voter card. It may just be enough of a motivator to get them into the polls.

This is the way I got quite a few 'oh, I don't vote -- I let my husband do it' type women to participate in the last election. It's like reading. What's the difference between those who don't and those who can't?

(I wouldn't mention that it also puts them in the jury duty pool. Let that be a wonderful surprise.)

[MilesColtrane]

6. Thanks for the thoughtful suggestions,...

...and for those who bring in fresh troops.

[MADem]

7. I make friends with geezers, and drive them to the polls.

A lot would go anyway, but we make an outing of it, which encourages the otherwise uninterested who have a sweet tooth. See, we stop for treats. The donut shop loves me on election day...I'm in and out of there ten or twenty times a day, with a crew of new bluehairs each time.

[KatyaR]

8. Yes, I have, but it takes finding issues that affect them to get there.

At my last job, I worked with a lovely young woman in another department who had just had her first child. She is bright and smart and has a great deal of interesting in many things, even though she has never gone to college. As my department dealt with a lot of political issues, it opened my eyes up to a lot of things. This was passed down to her, and she finally got it--that inaction would allow the very things she didn't agree with to happen, and that her life and her children's lives would be affected. She's been voting, and voting Democratic, ever since. I'm very proud of that.

I think you have to find a way to show how voting and elections affect them. Speaking as someone who was headed down the road to be a professional musician until life intervened, it's hard for people who work hard and don't see a lot of benefits from that (pay, insurance, ease of life, general well-being, etc.) to understand that elections could possibly make their lives better and easier. It's much like the working poor and the unemployed; that and the fact that those people usually have to work twice as hard to even stay afloat.

Keep plugging away--it's worth it. You and I both know it. If only one of your friends gets out to vote, that's a huge victory for you and for them.

Good luck!