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Because democratic Texans have been convinced that their vote doesn't matter. However that couldn't be further from the truth. Ted Cruz would have lost his last election if something like 6% of registered Dems who did not vote, had voted. Also Greg Abbott would have lost if around a quarter of those registered, non-voting Dems had voted. The propaganda in TX is deeply ingrained in its residents. The state would have voted blue in the last presidential election. Trump won by 8% while over 20 million registered voters did not vote.
IF YOU LIVE IN TEXAS AND YOU ARE READING THIS PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THINGS LIVING, VOTE.
here is a link to verify that you are registered (many residents believe they are registered but are in fact not)
https://www.texas.gov/living-in-texas/texas-voter-registration/
If you are not registered, register here:
https://vrapp.sos.state.tx.us/index.asp
Print out your registration and mail that fucker in today so you'll be ready for early voting in October
YES TEXAS HAS EARLY VOTING AND TIME OFF LAWS. THAT MEANS WORK CANNOT PREVENT YOU FROM TAKING TIME OFF TO GET TO THE VOTING BOOTHS.
There is also the voter suppression.
Don’t forget gerrymandering!
It’s a gumbo of cheatin’!
Voter suppression also includes telling people that voting doesn't matter, and that "both sides are exactly the same".
If multimillion-dollar political campaigns can't generate more enthusiasm for voting than the "It doesn't matter" crowd can suppress it then the politics are bad.
Don't flatter yourself/them, inaction is infinitely easier than action. I don't think the "don't vote" crowd is good at suppression, I think they're just dumb and lazy.
As opposed to the "smart and proactive" people who vote once every four years and pat themselves on the back for a job well done?
I've been doing that my entire life, but politics sure do seem worse now, don't they?
Worse than what? Then the 60s? The 70s?
Go ahead and withhold your vote, I'm sure that will work out great. Everyone knows the Overton window shifts towards the people who don't vote or participate in elections. The Republicans have shifted further and further right because the neo-nazis and alt-right fuckwads and gamer-gate idiots all banded together and simply didn't vote.
Worse than they were when you started voting.
Maybe instead of blaming the nonvoters, you could take a minute to understand their motivations so that you might be able to better convince them otherwise?
Dunno, just seems reasonable to me.
I understand their motivations, but their methods demonstrably and historically do not work, and actively harm the causes they care about. So again, go for it, I'm sure it will work out great. The other side has made progress by doing the exact opposite, and feminists famously campaigned to be able to vote just for some disenfranchised young people to realize the true path to change is...nothing.
So reasonable lol
Again, and please, please listen to me this time.
I'm not telling you or anyone not to vote.
I'm begging you to consider what arguments or incentives will actually be effective at convincing nonvoters to vote.
This smarmy attitude and the reflexive dismissal of nonvoters as people who cannot be helped is counterproductive at best. Risking the further alienation of the people you're trying to get on your side just to satisfy some need to feel morally superior.
You can't reason people out of positions they didn't reason themselves into. Pointing out that the literally opposite strategy by the GOP got us here and that it is not grounded in reality is not some "smarmy" attitude lol
I didn't say anything about reason, this is rhetoric we're talling about, and denying the reality that people don't like being talked down to isn't going to win friends or influence people.
The biggest hurdle for voters is registration in Texas. It is the most effective form of voter suppression followed by the "your vote doesn't matter" propaganda. You cannot register to vote online. You register to vote through a few obscure avenues. The way I linked above is a mail in form. You mail your registration and they mail you back a confirmation and vote location based on your address. God forbid you move or misspelled something on your registration form or get your registration by snail mail sent out too late. If it's time to vote and you end up realizing you're one of the many people not ACTUALLY registered, well now you really do not have enough time to get registered for this voting cycle because the USPS can take 5 business days to deliver, the state of Texas can take 5 business days from receipt to process your registration and then 5 more business days for USPS to deliver your information. 3 weeks... If it's time to vote and you aren't registered, you are not voting.
It becomes significantly easier to renew your registration once you are registered but you have to register first.
And the state party that is utterly incompetent at anything other than shutting out progressives.