Patrick Breyer, a staunch defender of digital rights, laments the Pirate Party’s exit from the EU Parliament as a blow to online privacy.

  • @[email protected]
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    325 months ago

    I was considering voting for the pirate party, but they polled at less than 5% in France and it was not a useful vote, which was evidently needed.

    • @[email protected]
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      745 months ago

      I still voted for them, because I could.

      And I’m sick of the useful vote thing, I did it last time in 2022 against Le Pen and all I got was a lousy President.

      • @[email protected]
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        5 months ago

        Better a lousy president than a fascist, hell, boring politicians is what we should aim for!

        • @[email protected]
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          -25 months ago

          both macron and lepen are two corrupted fascists tricking you like a chicken into choosing a side and voting for them instead of “wasting your vote”

          • @[email protected]
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            175 months ago

            No she isn’t? Macron is president until the next French presidential election in 2027.

            • @[email protected]
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              115 months ago

              Prolly their confusion is that Macron called for new elections, but unlike some parliamentary governments Macron isn’t selected by parliament.

                • Kilgore Trout
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                  15 months ago

                  I am not a supporter, I just find very stupid to postpone the inevitable while proposing… nothing better?

              • Mubelotix
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                15 months ago

                I mean yes, Macron was dumb on this one, but he isn’t as dumb as that

          • @[email protected]
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            5 months ago

            Strategic voting is what you’re stuck doing depending on your local electoral process.

            She’s going to become president in 2024, she could have become president in 2022 instead.

            • @[email protected]
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              -45 months ago

              If a party won’t fix the serious issue to let me also vote for who I want, they’re not entitled to my vote.

              • @[email protected]
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                5 months ago

                You can deny the reality of the electoral system you’re stuck with all you want, at the end of the day you’re probably one of the people that will end up suffering the most because of it.

                • @[email protected]
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                  5 months ago

                  Voting for a party I don’t want is also suffering, though I doubt you’d believe that. Keeping the main parties in power via a rigged system ain’t ending this catch 22 cycle.

                  • @[email protected]
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                    5 months ago

                    I don’t know who’s worse, the person making people suffer or the person who could have prevented it doing nothing out of principle?

                    Because that’s exactly what people are doing by letting the right win by refusing to be strategic. Your opponent will 100% act strategically.

    • just another dev
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      335 months ago

      Eh, I’d much rather vote for a party that aligns with my values but might not get a seat, in hopes it will inspire more people to do so next time around.

      • @[email protected]
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        45 months ago

        Vote your conscience while you can. I’m pretty much stuck voting for slightly left of center candidates (in the US) because the opposition is to the right of Kim Jong Un depending on the issue.

    • @[email protected]
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      65 months ago

      Yeah, the greens had a risk of not getting 5% so it was much more worthwhile to vote for them.

        • @[email protected]
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          15 months ago

          There may be even better voting systems but 3-2-1 would be a nice change. This way strategic voting gets at least somewhat mitigated and might force people to actually invest some time and look at the agenda of some other parties too because they have to vote for 3 parties.

          • @[email protected]
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            15 months ago

            There are voting systems that completely prevent the need for tactical voting (e.g. instant-runoff voting, aka alternative vote) but if the system still trends towards having two main parties then not much has really changed.

            A bigger issue is that a single candidate/party is not very good at representing an area in comparison to having more (3, 5, ideally more). If people vote 80% A and 20% B and A gets the single candidate then 20% are misrepresented. With 5 candidates then that could be split 4 to A and 1 to B, a perfect representation.

    • @[email protected]
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      45 months ago

      I would have voted for the Pirate Party if there was a ballot for them.

      Didn’t print it beforehand so I couldn’t.

      Last time I printed my own ballot they just didn’t count it and my vote was considered invalid. Even though I had the exact size required by regulations…

      • NekuSoul
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        5 months ago

        Wait, am I missing something here? Are there countries where you don’t have all options on the ballot, or at least an empty space?

        Edit: Saw your explanation in another comment. Wouldn’t having to bring your own ballot also invalidate voting secrecy, since bringing your own indicates that you most likely intent to vote for an unlisted party (and, in reverse, anyone using the regular ballot voting for a party that’s listed)?

        • @[email protected]
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          25 months ago

          Concerning your edit, not sure about other countries, but I can speak about the process in France.

          We get (normally) ballots with the programs in the mail before the elections, so we can also bring ballots from there. Then the way it works when voting is

          • there’s a table with ballots from all lists that provided them (so missing the ones we’re talking about here) and you can take any number of them
          • then you go isolate in a cabin where you put the ballot you want, or nothing, inside an envelope
          • finally your identity is verified, your vote is counted and you put your envelope in a transparent box

          So there’s not really a way to definitely know you’re voting for an unlisted candidate here.

        • @[email protected]
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          15 months ago

          It affects secrecy a bit but you still have to take at least two different ballots into the voting booth. Obviously you are bringing your own ballot and taking one already printed so it’s not really a secret.

          Also there was taped garbage bags in the voting booth so that people can throw away their discarded ballots but that’s also a great way to show what every else has been voting before me…

          I still think our voting system is quite ok but there are definitely flaws.

      • @[email protected]
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        75 months ago

        And I was right to; pirate party got less than 1% of votes, also due to the fact they couldn’t afford to have their voting paper in most places.

        • @[email protected]
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          95 months ago

          Polls are problematic in that they reinforce their own predictions. It’s especially frustrating in recent years when you’re bombarded with them even when there’s no election in sight. Problem is, governing parties are usually busy governing while populists are campaigning 24/7. Media has made a huge effort to reinforce the trend and get people used to living in a far right era. Polls are unhelpful and destort democracy to a dangerous degree.

        • manucode
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          45 months ago

          Where do you live that you can print your own ballot?

          • @[email protected]
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            35 months ago

            France. The parties have to pay the government if they want their ballot already present at the election place. As a citizen, you may also bring any ballot you want (within some very reasonable rules), so the smaller parties instruct you to print your own to save on costs.

            • manucode
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              45 months ago

              OMG. Here in Germany you sometimes get an entire booklet of ballot papers, if necessary. You wouldn’t even be allowed to bring your own ballot. Otherwise, one could secretly mark their own ballot in some way, thereby undermining the secrecy of the vote.

              • @[email protected]
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                25 months ago

                Yeah, this is one of the seasons the Pirate party is pushing for a unique ballot, because the current format is really unfavorable towards small parties that don’t have the means to print the ballots among other things