What would you do if your vote could count more than once?

This is just to see what folks would do in this situation. It goes without saying that many who feel strongly about their candidate do not agree with the "other sides" agenda; and i was wondering if any of you felt so strongly about your candidat that you would cheat to get them in office. If your vote could somehow count as say a thousand votes, and no one would know, what would you do?

Mod edit: Fixed title

[edit on 12-11-2008 by Gemwolf]

reply to post by Enigma Publius


Very interesting question! S&F!

I would guess that perhaps you will get some who will claim that they would never cheat the system. I'd be cautious of those who would say that though.

Honestly, if you really believed a certain person is right for the country, wouldn't you do whatever it takes to get them into office?

I think I would. Then again, everything is different when it actually comes down to doing something like that.

reply to post by nyk537


yes, i thought it was a different kind of question, and i expected more responses than this but maybe it will pick up. anyway for my personal story on this:
10 years ago as a junior in high school, there was a nasty bit of campaigning going on between all the equally snobby prom queen candidates. the school gave us these little ballots that had been printed on a robin's egg type of blue stationary. well i went to the teacher's lounge with the intention to print off many more ballots, but was worried about finding that particular shade of blue. well lo and behold, RIGHT next to the xerox machine was a gigantic pile of you guessed it, robin's egg blue stationary. i had hit paydirt. i copied the first one and ran 4 pages of it so that i could tape 4 at once to a page to optimize the number of ballots per page, never one to be wasteful, and soon i had 200 new ballots. this would be quite sufficient to totally throw the election because my school only had about 350 people that would be voting to begin with. i filled the form out like a fiend and soon had 50 votes for each candidate, and dumped them all into various voting boxes. the whole campaign was void and they had to redo all of it. looking back, if i had wanted i could have only filled out 30 or 40 of them for only one person and most likely no one would have picked up on the difference in actual number of students to votes. i thought about this the other day and it made me come up with this question.
and in real big elections like the recent one i have to be honest: i think i would let my vote count for 1000 votes or whatever as long as i knew i would get away with it, say what you will but i am just being honest. i think many people who feel strongly about a candidate would probably do the same.

I ensure that I vote more than once very easily, but not in the manor to which you speak. I volunteer for political campaigns I believe in, make calls, and drive people to the polls that normally wouldn't be able to go without my help. Then I can make my vote count more than once.

While I've tossed away a lot of the ideals I thought this country was founded on, there is one I will never stop believing in and that is the will of the people, no matter how much they disagree or who I believe is right when it comes to policies. Perverting the vote, in my opinion, should be punishable via treason. Off with there heads!

[edit on 12-11-2008 by Gemwolf]

reply to post by djpaec

yes i do agree with the will of the people needing to be followed, you brought up ways to vote more than once that i had not considered. that's why you are on my friend list, i see things you write in political forums that are intelligent, i try to have a "go to friend" on every topic that is important to me: someone who's knowledge of the matter happens to exceed my own, who i can go to when more in depth understanding is needed. kinda like my own advisers board. you have once again reminded me of why yo are my political guy...or gal, i cannot say for sure actually. either way you have consistently gave me info and ideas to chew on that were not in my current scope of understanding. i never even considered that someone could multiply their vote in a legal, respectable way as the ones you listed. bravo!
and oh yea...could you be so kind as to U2U me a way to get the thread title changed?

here's another one.
what if your candidate (whom you adore and truly believe in) was involved in an illegal, or very shady something or other, but this was the ONLY thing you disagreed with, everything else about them was perfect in your mind. would you blow the whistle still? or would you look the other way?
to take it even further...what if YOU were asked to help cover it up??? thoughts?
i think i would look the other way but it would have to be something that i felt was outweighed by the "good things" exponentially. if it was truly just horrid, i would have to say something. as for covering it up, once again, if this candidate was TRULY in my mind perfect almost except for this one thing (that likely all the other politicians were doing also) i think i would help. i am just being honest, anxious to see what ya'll have to say on this.

reply to post by Enigma Publius


Hah I think you'd have to be more specific as to the illegal or shady dealings that were going on! Good questions though, very thought provoking. And challenging people to think is a good thing.

reply to post by djpaec

thanks! i wish this thread would catch on...i released it at a bad time i guess, and it NEVER appeared in the sidebar for most recent threads...if it had gotten its 10 minutes of fame maybe it would be doing better.
also, i understand the "shady" things would be very relative as to what you would do, so i'll give some generic examples
1.using their power for future personal gain, maybe something that compromised a critical vote on one issue that was farily major...but not THE ISSUE, not a jaw dropping change of stance, but say a shift from a previous promise because it would help them out personally, get someone in their pocket later on
2.misuse of funds, once again...nothing absurdly horrible, but certainly not appropriate
3.an affair in the white house...
i liked bill clinton, and i feel it was a shame that major issues took a backseat to his "little smoking problem"... i think i would have destroyed the blue dress if i had been asked to do so.
does that help?
also remember...the candidate is a saint in all other regards... this is key because even if that candidate isn't a saint (and none are) many people see them this way. that is important in the equation.

reply to post by Enigma Publius

1.using their power for future personal gain, maybe something that compromised a critical vote on one issue that was farily major...but not THE ISSUE, not a jaw dropping change of stance, but say a shift from a previous promise because it would help them out personally, get someone in their pocket later on
2.misuse of funds, once again...nothing absurdly horrible, but certainly not appropriate
3.an affair in the white house...

1) Most politicians do this for themselves anyway, or even lobbyists. Think about it, politicians know the laws they pass, and most likely the outcome of those laws. What industries they would or wouldn't benefit. They know this ahead of time and could buy up stock, or make a Put(I think that's the term, betting if a stock will go down) on a stock for a company.
2) Misuse of funds. If it's something like what Paulson and Bush did with the bailout. Say they were going to buy illiquid assets, then went back on it today. While everyone was paying attention to the bailout, repeal part of the tax code that says, You DON'T get a tax break for buying up companies. And what did the companies do soon as they got the cash? Bought up smaller weaker banks, financial institutions etc... So if it was something like that then i'd be hanging 'em from the gallows myself.
3)I don't see this as a prosecutorial matter. Nor is it anyones business than those that are married. So if it was something as simple as an affair I'd go along with it. As long as I didn't have to kill anyone to keep the secret from getting out.

I don't think I could be part of a cover-up, even if my person of chose was doing most everything right. I think I would disqulify myself from the situation and just slip away. Now, I would not tell anyone about it but I would not help cover it up either. Does that make sense?

Peace and Love,
Grandma