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Academic VC

Atlanta native, academic capitalist, technology professional, spaceflight amateur. Stephen Fleming's blog is at home at http://academicvc.blogspot.com/

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Rules for Voting

Posted by: Stephen Fleming on November 4, 2008 at 11:49AM EST

"If you are part of a society that votes, then do so. There may be no candidates and no measures you want to vote for ... but there are certain to be ones you want to vote against. By this rule you will rarely go wrong."
—Robert A. Heinlein

Personally, I'm a fan of the "One man, one vote" philosophy as embodied by Lord Havelock Vetinari... he is the Man, he has the Vote. I want that job!

Short of that, it's Election Day, and ballots get long and complicated. Here are my simple rules to figure out how to vote once you make it to the polling place:

If there are any candidates you actively support, from any party, vote for them. That's usually not a problem; that's why you went to the polls in the first place.
Don't be afraid of "throwing your vote away" voting for a third-party candidate. The lesser of two evils is still evil.

But there are zillion other races on the ballot. You can drastically simplify your choices now:

Don't cast any votes for anyone running unopposed. (This seems to be incredibly prevalent in Atlanta and Fulton County.)
If there is an opposed race where you don't know anything about any of the candidates, vote against the incumbent.
If there are any amendments that include the word "authorize," vote NO unless you've done your homework.
Any races not covered by these rules, leave blank.

There! Franchise exercised, you can exit the polls and enjoy your felonious Starbucks and Krispy Kreme!

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