Depressed my vote doesn't matter...

[Frangible]

The more I think about how much Bush has to go, the more depressed I get. Due to how the electoral college system works, and the fact that my state (Montana) always, always votes Republican, I really can't honestly say I can even make a difference in getting rid of him.

From 2000:
HELENA (AP) — George W. Bush won Montana's three electoral votes soundly Tuesday, even though nationally the presidential race remained up in the air early Wednesday. With 100% of the precincts reporting, Bush had 58%, while Al Gore had 33%

I'll still go and vote, just on the general principal of it, but I just feel like it won't matter one way or the other.

But man... I just don't want another 4 years of him.

[Dookus]

1. actually....

BECAUSE of the electoral college, your vote for President weighs a lot more than MY vote for President (I live in California).

[Blitz]

2. You have some options

You can give money to the candidate that you support, you can campaign for your candidate in battleground (neighboring?) states and, of course, you can move, if it bothers you that much. If it's any comfort, tht vast majority of the country is in exactly the same boat. A relatively small percentage of the population lives in battleground states. Besides, you could live in D.C. Their votes don't matter (the Democrats would have to run Osama Bin Laden to even think about losing D.C.) and they get no voting congressional representation.

[sandnsea]

3. Missoula went green

Alot of Dem votes in Missoula went green. That would have made that Bush/Gore margin a little slimmer. I'm not attacking greens, just saying don't be so discouraged by the vote disparity. Montana has a long Democratic tradition, we've just got to talk louder on traditional issues and cross the environmental divide. And, I think, old-time Montanans need to know these new Californians are actually Republicans, NOT California liberals. I think they hate them so much, but are confused and automatically react against preconceived ideas of Californians and vote Republican thinking they're counter-acting these Californians. Might be helpful to do a little education there too. Don't give up! Montana needs to go Democrat just as much as the country does!

[Frangible]

5. Yeah

Missoula is kind of like, a little bastion of liberalism in Montana, heh (where I live). I did donate some money to Dean, will donate some more later if I can. Not too sure about trading votes, or moving though (hard to find another job).

Perhaps there's hope for MT as a whole though; Burns was narrowly reelected and we do have Baucus in there. I'm not sure it will change enough before election day to influence the electoral college, though.

And yeah, my vote might matter more than someone in California's in theory, but dunno, guess it's just a whacky part of living in our little republic.

[redqueen]

4. You can also trade your vote.

If your state is safely in the hands of another party, then you can use your vote as a protest, and connect with someone in another state which is closer. They agree to vote for your candidate in the close race, and you vote for their protest candidate (who most likely wouldn't have a chance in your state anyway).

Since I'm in Texas I've been asked about doing this before. :)