Does My Vote Even Matter?

November is rapidly approaching and this year, despite what all americans want to say are the real issues, terrorism and the war in iraq are at the top of the list of concerns.

everytime someone talks about georgia voters to me, i always assume that my democratic vote doesnt count. i mean, georgia is republican. atlanta is democratic. but the bumpkins far outweigh the normal ITP people, so usually republicans take this state. however, i did a little research and found out some weird shit. Like in 1980, when jimmy carter ran for president, almost every county in georgia voted democratically... after all, carter is from here. we were one of the only 4 states to cast electoral democratic votes that year, and reagan became prez despite georgia. in 1984, the state almost did a complete 180 when Walter Mondale ran against reagan's re-election.

1980 vs. 1984These two pictures show how crazy georgians sway their votes based on the carter situation.

But... in 1992, georgia did it again. they actually voted for another democrat, and it had nothing to do with the candidate being georgian.... he was a governor of arkansas.


So you see, Georgia's votes are not completely lost forever to W in '04. (in 1996, clinton lost in ga by a mere 27,000 votes. ross perot clearly had an impact, taking 146,000 votes away)

Another crazy thing about georgia is, its population is increasing at about 175,000 people per year, most of them being hispanic/russian/asian/indian, aka not white people. if all these ethnic groups got off their fucking asses and voted, i sense that georgia would turn democratic in a heartbeat.

This year, i believe the most people in history will be voting for president. in 1988-2000, georgia barely cracked 45% of their state actually voting. in atlanta, half the metropolitan population is black. HALF! if they vote then kerry is a lock in this state.

Check out these bar graphs of the 4 biggest counties in georgia for 1996 and 2000. Dekalb and Fulton are pretty much the atlanta area. Gwinnett and Cobb are right outside the city... basically stuffy white people who want to become rich beyond their years.

1996 voting results for 4 largest GA counties


2000 voting results for 4 largest GA counties


so the point of all this is, i should move to cobb county to make my vote count. that pretty much blows.

last thing, i swear. check out this website. apparently you find a partner in another state who will vote for your candidate as long as you promise to vote for theirs. i mean, this website pretty much undermines the electoral process but then again, so do hanging chads. pretty crazy concept though...

i guess i will be voting this year after all. Nader in '04!