Dont Ever Listen To Those Who Claim "Voting is Pointless"

I mean I voted but I live in Alberta and don't live in Calgary or Edmonton. Tell me my vote mattered.
Here's a link to the results https://globalnews.ca/news/11130642/canada-election-2025-results-leduc-wetaskiwin/
- That vote increases funding to the area for progressive outreach and causes. You won't change the entire province with a wole new order but you are part of showing that Alberta isn't a lost cause to the left.
  Seriously, this shows left wing lobbiests, charities, politicians, etc. That they can do something in the province. In the end all it may mean is easier access to insulin pumps or less cuts to medical services but that definitly matters.
  It's easy to look at the big picture and grow hostile but your vote does matter.
  
  I understand what you're saying, but a 50 point margin is definitely in "lost cause" territory.
  I do try to remind myself when seeing results like this that there are still thousands of people who aren't inbred hicks though.
- If you voted, it mattered
- How many people didn't vote in those counties? Did they not vote because they were made believe they got no voice or because they would've voted republican but didn't think they were needed?
- “Oh wow, a statistical golden goose! Welp, that fully justifies my beliefs surrounding this. Looks guys, this one time, voting mattered! That means it always matters! And anyone who tells you otherwise is a bad person! Shame!”
  I didn’t vote for Harris or Trump
  My county still went blue by thousands
  My state still went red by tens of thousands
  Me protest voting didn’t matter.
  My vote didn’t matter.
  
  If you're in a fucked up country with first past the post ballot counting, I can see where you're coming from. The #1 thing people in Canada or the USA should be fighting for is electoral reform.
  
  Me protest voting didn’t matter.
  It's funny, because I'm deep in the beating heart of blood red Texas. But every time I fail to vote for a Bill White, Henry Cuellar, or Kamala Harris, I'm told it is my fault that Democrats can't keep control of Congress, the Presidency, or the Courts.
  When I ask for a candidate that isn't shamelessly corrupt and favorable towards genocide, I'm told that I'm a purity troll who has been tricked by evil Chinese/Russian/Iranian bot farms into opposing The Most Progressive Ballot Since FDR.
  After I campaign for candidates I like, I'm a do nothing heckler. After I march in rallies, I'm told I didn't show up for minorities or women or immigrants. After I donate tens thousands of dollars to sympathetic campaigns, I'm told that there's no place for broke loser dropouts in the party.
  Can't imagine why liberals keep losing, though. They're such a progressive Big Tent party.

If somebody tells you voting is pointless, they are voting for somebody you wouldn't vote for.
- Casting a vote is as effective at achieving political objectives as using Purell a couple times a week is at eradicating COVID.
  Voting isnt pointless, it's just not nearly enough.
- I don't really think that's the case. If you live in an exceptionally partisan area then there's little impact to voting.
  
  That depends on your voting system.

Any time someone claims "my one vote doesn't matter" I reply with this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_close_election_results
Yes, there are a lot of elections that are decided by a very small number of votes.
As the saying goes: "The only wasted vote is the one left uncast."
- And I'll reply with this which is .uch more likely. https://globalnews.ca/news/11130642/canada-election-2025-results-leduc-wetaskiwin/
- Wayne Gretzky
  
  Fuck that guy

Canada out there making us feel jealous with their "multiple parties" and "meaningful votes"
- I'm worried our multiple parties could disappear after this election :( I understand why it happened but I hope the trend doesn't continue to a two party liberal vs conservative system in Canada
  
  The Bloc isn't going anywhere and the NDP will likely gain seats back next election with a fresh leader, especially if they pick a charismatic one.
  
  Ya I don't think it will. Also remember we started with a two-party system. Political parties come and go.
- Keep dreaming. There's only 2 parties that matter, Nazis and thieves. Everybody else Is just cosplaying
  
  The Dems threw out powerful elected officials like Cuomo and Franken.
  Trump's GOP just went to the mat for an actual human trafficker, Andrew Tate.
- "don't ever let anyone tell you voting is pointless uwu"
  imagine saying this to people who took off work to vote in the Pennsylvania Fetterman vs Dr Oz race
  
  Voting did make a difference. But sometimes brain damage turns people into fascists. Can’t control that. Can’t not vote because it could happen.

Yeah, so the Conservatives won with like 80% in my riding. I voted, but I also wondered why while doing it. Man, I wish we had proportional rep.
- In your riding? Is canada just larping yorkshire?
  
  I mean, at least York is.
  We also call the Conservatives Tories, and if you do crimes you get charged by the Crown.

"One vote never changed anything," said ten million people.
- "me reducing my carbon emissions won't change anything" said ten million people.
  
  80 Percent of Global CO2 Emissions Come From Just 57 Companies, Report Shows
  Let's stop blaming individuals for this.

I vote in every election but it sure as hell never feels like my vote does anything at all or is even recorded.
TBH i don't think there's a way to vote our way out of a lot of our issues.
- If voting changed anything, they’d make it illegal.
  ~ Emma Goldman
  Incidentally, a lot of US districts have made voting increasingly difficult to the point of illegality.
  But I rarely see Votey types grapple with that fact. They either dismiss the disenfranchised as lazy/stupid or ignore this cohort entirely.

Yeah, there were a lot of close ones this time.

When will the liberal party pass the electoral reform they were elected to pass?
- how come no one remembers that WE had a referendum for voting reform and WE voted it down? everyone keeps blaming the liberals when it was the dumb ass population who fucked that up.
- They won't
  
  They will with enough pressure. This negative attitude is useless.
  
  precisely why voting is pointless
- Its a stretch but I'm hoping with a liberal minority there is chance the NDP could advocate for electoral reform as negotiation point. Its a stretch but I feel like its the only way it could happen.
- Thats the fun part, they never do. Then we Anarchists get blamed for not voting hard enough

35 difference in Terrebonne riding in QC, Liberals won.

I'm Indigenous and I have family and friends who live throughout the north.
I couldn't believe the recent Ontario election for the representative for Mushkegowuk-James Bay ... the NDP candidate won it by 9 votes
And I have a ton of people in all those northern communities who all don't vote because none of them believe that it is worth it because they are Native.
- I heard that there were some communities where voting closed super early. Under circumstances like that, I can sympathise with people who feel that there's no point in voting; there were people who went out to vote but weren't able to, and that must be so demoralising
- Please show them these margins. it's crazy to me how small the number of votes are per riding and really puts everything into perspective
  
  I'm in a riding that is consistently held by the conservatives, and not by a small amount. There are something like 40-50k votes cast in my riding and the reference between lib and conservative was about 6k.
  I still go out and vote, because some day the 6k difference might be 12 individual votes....
  If the conservatives win by a handful of votes, and I didn't vote, I don't think I could forgive myself.

I have family in this riding so I was watching it closely. It was very nerve-racking to see how close it was. It was conservative several times while they were finishing counting all the votes.

Those anarchists, tankies, fascists and authoritarians who claim this are just trying to sabotage democracy.
- Or it's people who feel disenfranchised.
  
  I'm a disabled dude with a family. I live on less than half of what is considered extreme poverty for a single person in my area per year not including my wife's income. I have no extra healthcare, dental or vision care and pay out of pocket even though I worked for ~20 years before my disability and was a part of a union. I am not disabled enough according to my government but too disabled to work according to all medical professionals I have seen, so I get no more than basic CPP. I have chronic pain and neurological damage that affects Ballance and muscle control as well as my ability to walk somewhat and do basic tasks. But I can walk and drive and from the outside look "normal" to most people.
  My wife works for the federal government in a public facing seasonal position. It is a contracted position now, that used to be permanent. This avoids unions, healthcare payments, full time employment, benefits and more. Again, she works for our federal government but there is not one politician suggesting that this is no better than what private industry does to people by treating them like wage slaves.
  There is no politician in this country that cares about me and my family. I have three choices on my federal ballot. The politicians would all rather I be dead. I can MAID whenever I like but I am not permitted respect or a decent life and neither are my kids. My wife doesn't deserve a full time job or benefits that would really help pull us out of poverty even though she is highly educated in her field and uses it for her work for our government. Even if I could try to work my way out of my hole I lose all support when I hit a very low income threshold ($6900/year) and should I somehow work past that threshold by convincing a public employee to allow me, on a case by case basis, I can be assured to be watched extremely closely as if I were commiting a crime and having to report regularly not just on my taxes on a yearly basis like every other citizen.
  I have spoiled every single ballot I have cast for more than a decade in every single election at every single level of politics in Canada and I get derided for it. I voted against fascism this time and held my tongue but you better believe I'm on my MP already. I'm sure my email address will be banned internally and I highly doubt my calls and emails will ever get a response.
  People could give a fuck though. They prove it time and time again. Tell me again who I should vote for? And why I should give a fuck about you and your politicians? People have a lot to say but it's all bullshit. They care about themselves.
  As of 2022 there are over 320,000 people on CPP disability in the country. It has risen significantly since then. That's certainly not 22 million but we deserve as others do.
  
  Not voting makes it easier for politicians to ignore them.
- anarchists, tankies, fascists and authoritarians
  Spot the odd one out!
  I've definitely seen anarchists describe frustration with electoral politics, especially when people limit their political engagement to simply voting once every so many years. However, I've never seen one advocate against voting.
  Anarchists are generally aware that, despite elections not being the thing that will overthrow the bourgeoisie, some parties result in less suffering for oppressed peoples than others.
  
  There's a long history of anarchists who oppose voting
  https://libcom.org/article/why-anarchists-dont-vote-elisee-reclus
  https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/aotearoa-workers-solidarity-movement-why-we-don-t-vote
  https://apps.lib.umich.edu/online-exhibits/exhibits/show/debatedemocracy/anarchism---anti-voting
  
  The anarchist argument is that voting somehow endorses the state and is consent to being governed. It's not a very good argument, but it is an argument nevertheless.
  
  Libs will do anything they can to avoid understanding anti-electoralism
- I live in Illinois. If somehow the heavens and earth move such that Illinois turned red, then there would be absolutely zero chance it would be the tipping point in the presidential election. The vast majority of people in the US live in safe states.
  And for the record, I do vote in down-ballot races, the ones that actually matter, but none of you care because it's all about genuflecting before the leader of the blue tribe. Which, frankly, just gives me more reason to refuse to.
  "Democracy" doesn't need our help to be sabotaged, it's falling apart on it's own. Every time someone says that the voters have to change en masse to meet the policies of politicians rather than politicians having to respond to what their constituents want, they are the ones taking the axe to democracy. Why the hell would anyone care about upholding or defending a system that we have no say in? Somehow, insisting on popular demands and trying to turn the will of the people into policies that protect the rights of the vulnerable gets translated into "trying to sabotage democracy" equating Anarchists and Marxists alike with fascists.
- Congratulations on four more years of a milktoast centrist liberal, is he going to acturally fix the problems? Or is he going to be like Biden and make the big talk of peace and prosperity while sending weapons to fund genocide?
  
  FYI the word you're so desperate to use is milquetoast, not milktoast.
  
  Unlike his Conservative opponent, Carney has a resume of fixing problems more than talking. He has done a lot of talking during the campaign, as one should to get elected, now Canadians have a part in holding him to account as PM.
  
  I have the feeling that you would be inclined to deny the distinction between the Biden presidency and the trump presidency that followed it.