[Patrickov]

“If voting changed anything, they'd make it illegal.”

Actually there are two steps in this.

Communist states usually play smart by only doing the first: Render voting impotent (but compulsory) rather than make it illegal.

North Korea is the most extreme example.

Other states make voting a mere formality without any choice even in the mathematical sense (like the People's Congress in China).

[Rich]

I'm one of millions voting. The probability of my vote really counting is close to zero.

In Britain constituencies are normally less than 100,000 electorate. But the key is that if when one's vote does count it is really really important, so on average one's vote does have a moderate effect. Certainly if one only care's about one's self and one's family, then its not worth the time and effort of voting, but if one cares about the inhabitants of the country and indeed the effects on the rest of the world of the country's foreign policy, environmental policies etc then it is worth voting and can be considered a civic responsibility and moral duty.

[Rugoz]

In Britain constituencies are normally less than 100,000 electorate.

With constituents, your vote is more likely to influence who gets to be your representative, but then you have to factor in the probability of your representative's vote being decisive in parliament. All in all, if representation is correct, it should end up being approximately the same.

But the key is that if when one's vote does count it is really really important, so on average one's vote does have a moderate effect. Certainly if one only care's about one's self and one's family, then its not worth the time and effort of voting, but if one cares about the inhabitants of the country and indeed the effects on the rest of the world of the country's foreign policy, environmental policies etc then it is worth voting and can be considered a civic responsibility and moral duty.

If not voting is rational because it doesn't count and I expect everybody else to be rational too and to abstain, then my vote counts, hence it is rational to vote. But if it is rational to vote, it is rational to abstain. Etc. There's no Nash equilibrium with perfectly rational voters. Bottom line: We need dumb fucks for society to function.

[Unthinking Majority]

However, the Republicans are the better of the two.

GOP is a trash party with trash politicians.

[wat0n]

I'm one of millions voting. The probability of my vote really counting is close to zero.

This. Just like a single person not practicing social distancing also has a very small probability of leading to a new outbreak, doesn't mean that it is irrational to do so.

[quetzalcoatl]

In the US, we don't worry so much if our vote will count. We just worry if we will get an opportunity to vote in the first place, and whether that vote will actually be tabulated.

[JohnRawls]

Yes, it does count. Well unless you live in a totalitarian system. You might not like all choices but that is your problem if you have a radical ideology. Make your own party then and agitate for your beliefs.

[Hellas me ponas]

Yes, it does count. Well unless you live in a totalitarian system. You might not like all choices but that is your problem if you have a radical ideology. Make your own party then and agitate for your beliefs.

Wethwr it truly counts or not differentiates a lot depending on which country. I don't know about rest of the countries yet, but I know that in US and in Greece, which party gets to form goverment doesn't really matter because they all serve the same interests. Thus by extension our votes don't count.

Now when you say that your vote counts, say in which country that is true and the why.

[Oxymoron]

No, and that is unfortunate. The right to vote must be walked back moving the age up to 25, and only to people who have paid taxes.
I would keep the women's as I do not really want to hear it right now....

[JohnRawls]

Wethwr it truly counts or not differentiates a lot depending on which country. I don't know about rest of the countries yet, but I know that in US and in Greece, which party gets to form goverment doesn't really matter because they all serve the same interests. Thus by extension our votes don't count.

Now when you say that your vote counts, say in which country that is true and the why.

I live in Estonia and i vote in every election. Our governments mostly consists of coalitions because nobody gets over 50% of the vote.

The 3 last election results were something along these lines:

1) 2011 -> I voted for the "Centrist party" -> Result centrist party not part of government. Reform party + Isamaa/Republic + somebody small i don't remember.

2) 2015 -> I voted for the "Social dems" -> Result social dems are part of the government. Centrist party + Social dems + somebody small again.

3) 2019 -> I voted for the "Reform party" -> Result reform party got the highest vote but not part of the government. Government is Centrist party + EKRE(alt right party) + somebody small.

It is hard for me to explain in full because it would take a long TLDR but the vote matters. My votes are basically for those i think that can do the best and who fucked up less. For example social democrats raised taxes on alkohol and petrol etc in a bad way which made doing business hard. Plus i knew that centrist are gonna make a coalition with the alt-right so i voted Reform. So if there is enough people feeling the same way as me then we shift election or at least show dissatisfaction with parties and they rethink their policies. In 2015 i voted the social democrats because I thought that our country needed more social programs, more pay to teaches/doctors etc and they did so. In 2011 i don't remember now why i voted for the centrists, mainly probably because reform was in power for too long and have done some negative things to the Russian speaking community. Mostly they were okay though.

Explanation a bit:
Cetrists -> As the name implies centrists -> power base Russian speaking community and moderates.
Reform -> Pro business party of sorts. Slightly to the right but i wouldn't call them radicals. Since the earlier generation went away, they managed to become more Russian community friendly of sorts.
SocialDems -> Left leaning slightly socialist but in reality standard social dem party.
EKRE -> Alt right boyz.

On top of that we have local election for local municipalities in between. They are a bit more complicated but they can be used the same way. To show by displeasure with certain parties or to vote for who i think will do the best. But it is a bit complicated in the place where i live because, well, the same party has won for 20+ years. And it is not one of the big parties.