Primary v General Elections


Posted On: Friday - May 22nd 2026 9:55AM MST
In Topics:   Elections '16 - '26  Artificial Stupidity  The Neocons

NOTE: I really would like to give many more details, but Peak Stupidity will still try to keep low-keyed as far as location on other IDing info. This makes this harder to write and probably more boring.



I couldn't find a better image yet for this post. From this pretty good interactive site, I screenshotted just the 10 States seen alphabetically. I'd cropped out the legend, so, the open circles are Primary election turnout*, and the solids are for the General. This site is only about Presidential I spent some time with AI for info for this particular candidate last time around - it did eventually help, if I can trust it.

After discussing Primary Campaign Monkey Business of 4 decades ago in national political history and locally as of this week, I wanted to add this point about Primary elections.

Complaints have abounded ever since I've been reading and listening - it's a choice between the lesser of two evils. The evils usually make it to the top, because that's what these people are good at. The time to pare it down to one evil vs one maybe not so bad a guy is during the Primary elections.

Your vote makes more of a difference in the Primary. From AI and about 2 minutes of nuclear power generation, we get a general range of 18 - 39 % turnout in Presidential Primary elections v 56 - 68 % in the General elections. That was not exactly what I was looking for, but it's not called Artificial Stupidity here for nothing.

I find it hard to believe that anywhere NEAR that percentage come out in the primaries that are in off years, when all Congressman and 1/3 of Senators are elected. I doubt 10% of ordinary Americans know the date, which is why it's put on the signs I've been sticking into the ground. I'd guess 5 or 10%. For this candidate, I finally found, it was just over 12% last time around. Some people really, really don't like him, even though he's NOT a cocaine dealer.

I've been trying to get my friends to vote against this NeoCon I mentioned yesterday, and that's one selling point. Your vote matters 10x as much.

Why not come out and try to oust this guy now, rather than bemoan about the fruitless choice later?

I think I will make up my own signs, aligned just slightly more with my take on the long-term NeoCon and immigration traitor. I'll have more time in the week before this election, so this oughta be fun at least.



* "Turnout" means vote count as a percentage of registered voters. Many people don't bother, and this post is probably a lesson in why - we'll see in a few weeks.

Comments:
Moderator
Friday - May 22nd 2026 3:10PM MST
PS: "I would be cool with bringing back the requirement to own property to qualify for the franchise, but then I am an old White dude with property." Yep, probably all Peakers plus the entire iSteve Community (- one) would agree.

I had forgotten about Memorial Day until your comment. Thanks.
The Alarmist
Friday - May 22nd 2026 12:51PM MST
PS

Good evening, all.

Mr. Smith said, โ€œ Because the kinds of people who are drawn to politics (let's call them political operatives for lack of a better word) tend to be very dishonestโ€

Iโ€™d call them sociopaths, because they tend to be sociopathic; dishonesty is just one of the arrows in their quiver.

I would be cool with bringing back the requirement to own property to qualify for the franchise, but then I am an old White dude with property.

Happy Memorial Day weekend or WhitSunday/WhitMonday to all you Peakers.

๐Ÿ•‰

Adam Smith
Friday - May 22nd 2026 12:15PM MST
PS: Happy weekend to you too, Mr. Moderator! โ˜ฎ๏ธ

Moderator
Friday - May 22nd 2026 11:14AM MST
PS: Thanks for the interesting comment and your links, Adam. It's pretty obvious that Massie's opponent get a whole lot of votes from people who don't normally bother voting, at least in the primaries. That was a whole lot of outside money, but it's because of your point about the literacy level that the money even works to begin with. The money itself doesn't vote.

Now, I do remember the Kentucky Lobster video(s) this time.

Have a nice weekend!
Adam Smith
Friday - May 22nd 2026 10:51AM MST
PS: Good afternoon, Achmed,

๐ผ ๐‘“๐‘–๐‘›๐‘‘ ๐‘–๐‘ก โ„Ž๐‘Ž๐‘Ÿ๐‘‘ ๐‘ก๐‘œ ๐‘๐‘’๐‘™๐‘–๐‘’๐‘ฃ๐‘’ ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘Ž๐‘ก ๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘ฆ๐‘คโ„Ž๐‘’๐‘Ÿ๐‘’ ๐‘๐ธ๐ด๐‘… ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘Ž๐‘ก ๐‘๐‘’๐‘Ÿ๐‘๐‘’๐‘›๐‘ก๐‘Ž๐‘”๐‘’ ๐‘๐‘œ๐‘š๐‘’ ๐‘œ๐‘ข๐‘ก ๐‘–๐‘› ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘๐‘Ÿ๐‘–๐‘š๐‘Ž๐‘Ÿ๐‘–๐‘’๐‘  ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘Ž๐‘ก ๐‘Ž๐‘Ÿ๐‘’ ๐‘–๐‘› ๐‘œ๐‘“๐‘“ ๐‘ฆ๐‘’๐‘Ž๐‘Ÿ๐‘ ...

https://i.ibb.co/YTXZshjH/Voter-Turnout.jpg

I too find it hard to believe.


๐‘†๐‘–๐‘›๐‘๐‘’ ๐‘–๐‘ก๐‘  ๐‘–๐‘›๐‘๐‘’๐‘๐‘ก๐‘–๐‘œ๐‘› ๐‘–๐‘› 2017, ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘‰๐‘œ๐‘ก๐‘–๐‘›๐‘” ๐‘‰๐‘–๐‘™๐‘™๐‘Ž๐‘”๐‘’ โ„Ž๐‘Ž๐‘  ๐‘๐‘Ÿ๐‘œ๐‘ฃ๐‘–๐‘‘๐‘’๐‘‘ ๐‘Ž ๐‘๐‘Ÿ๐‘ข๐‘๐‘–๐‘Ž๐‘™ ๐‘๐‘™๐‘Ž๐‘ก๐‘“๐‘œ๐‘Ÿ๐‘š ๐‘“๐‘œ๐‘Ÿ ๐‘’๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘–๐‘๐‘Ž๐‘™ โ„Ž๐‘Ž๐‘๐‘˜๐‘’๐‘Ÿ๐‘ , ๐‘Ÿ๐‘’๐‘ ๐‘’๐‘Ž๐‘Ÿ๐‘โ„Ž๐‘’๐‘Ÿ๐‘ , ๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘‘ ๐‘ ๐‘’๐‘๐‘ข๐‘Ÿ๐‘–๐‘ก๐‘ฆ ๐‘’๐‘ฅ๐‘๐‘’๐‘Ÿ๐‘ก๐‘  ๐‘ก๐‘œ ๐‘–๐‘‘๐‘’๐‘›๐‘ก๐‘–๐‘“๐‘ฆ ๐‘ฃ๐‘ข๐‘™๐‘›๐‘’๐‘Ÿ๐‘Ž๐‘๐‘–๐‘™๐‘–๐‘ก๐‘–๐‘’๐‘  ๐‘–๐‘› ๐‘’๐‘™๐‘’๐‘๐‘ก๐‘Ÿ๐‘œ๐‘›๐‘–๐‘ ๐‘ฃ๐‘œ๐‘ก๐‘–๐‘›๐‘” ๐‘ ๐‘ฆ๐‘ ๐‘ก๐‘’๐‘š๐‘ . ๐ผ๐‘› 2019, ๐‘Ÿ๐‘’๐‘ ๐‘’๐‘Ž๐‘Ÿ๐‘โ„Ž๐‘’๐‘Ÿ๐‘  ๐‘–๐‘›๐‘๐‘™๐‘ข๐‘‘๐‘’๐‘‘ ๐‘œ๐‘ฃ๐‘’๐‘Ÿ 100 ๐‘š๐‘Ž๐‘โ„Ž๐‘–๐‘›๐‘’๐‘  ๐‘–๐‘› ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘๐‘Ÿ๐‘œ๐‘”๐‘Ÿ๐‘Ž๐‘š, ๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘‘ โ„Ž๐‘Ž๐‘๐‘˜๐‘’๐‘Ÿ๐‘  ๐‘ค๐‘’๐‘Ÿ๐‘’ ๐‘Ž๐‘๐‘™๐‘’ ๐‘ก๐‘œ ๐‘“๐‘–๐‘›๐‘‘ ๐‘Ž ๐‘ฃ๐‘ข๐‘™๐‘›๐‘’๐‘Ÿ๐‘Ž๐‘๐‘–๐‘™๐‘–๐‘ก๐‘ฆ ๐‘–๐‘› ๐‘’๐‘ฃ๐‘’๐‘Ÿ๐‘ฆ ๐‘ ๐‘–๐‘›๐‘”๐‘™๐‘’ ๐‘œ๐‘›๐‘’. ๐‘Šโ„Ž๐‘’๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’๐‘Ÿ ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘Ÿ๐‘œ๐‘ข๐‘”โ„Ž ๐‘›๐‘’๐‘ค ๐‘œ๐‘Ÿ ๐‘๐‘Ÿ๐‘’๐‘ฃ๐‘–๐‘œ๐‘ข๐‘ ๐‘™๐‘ฆ ๐‘๐‘ข๐‘๐‘™๐‘–๐‘ โ„Ž๐‘’๐‘‘ ๐‘š๐‘’๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘œ๐‘‘๐‘ , โ„Ž๐‘Ž๐‘๐‘˜๐‘’๐‘Ÿ๐‘  ๐‘ค๐‘’๐‘Ÿ๐‘’ ๐‘Ž๐‘๐‘™๐‘’ ๐‘ก๐‘œ ๐‘๐‘œ๐‘š๐‘๐‘Ÿ๐‘œ๐‘š๐‘–๐‘ ๐‘’ ๐‘Ž๐‘™๐‘™ ๐‘‘๐‘’๐‘ฃ๐‘–๐‘๐‘’๐‘ , ๐‘Ž๐‘™๐‘™ ๐‘œ๐‘“ ๐‘คโ„Ž๐‘–๐‘โ„Ž ๐‘Ž๐‘Ÿ๐‘’ ๐‘๐‘’๐‘Ÿ๐‘ก๐‘–๐‘“๐‘–๐‘’๐‘‘ ๐‘“๐‘œ๐‘Ÿ ๐‘ข๐‘ ๐‘’ ๐‘–๐‘› ๐‘Ž๐‘ก ๐‘™๐‘’๐‘Ž๐‘ ๐‘ก ๐‘œ๐‘›๐‘’ ๐‘ˆ.๐‘†. ๐‘—๐‘ข๐‘Ÿ๐‘–๐‘ ๐‘‘๐‘–๐‘๐‘ก๐‘–๐‘œ๐‘›...

https://www.bladetechinc.com/news/can-electronic-voting-be-hacked


Because of my own tinkering and experimentation with the GEMS software, I have zero faith in the legitimacy of any election that uses electronic vooting as a means to tally the voots.

Because the kinds of people who are drawn to politics (let's call them political operatives for lack of a better word) tend to be very dishonest, I have zero faith in the legitimacy of any election. (One might say this is one of the flaws of human nature. Or, perhaps it is just my lack of faith in others?)

And, even if we could somehow get around these two (in my opinion, massive) problems we still have this...

https://i.ibb.co/Q3nL5fNT/The-average-American-voter-reads-below-a-sixth-grade-level.jpg

I think universal suffrage democracy is a failed experiment.

I know I've said this before...
(Or, I think I've said it before?)

๐ผ๐‘› ๐‘Ž ๐‘‘๐‘’๐‘š๐‘œ๐‘๐‘Ÿ๐‘Ž๐‘๐‘ฆ, ๐‘–๐‘ก ๐‘š๐‘Ž๐‘ก๐‘ก๐‘’๐‘Ÿ๐‘  ๐‘›๐‘œ๐‘ก ๐‘คโ„Ž๐‘œ ๐‘ฆ๐‘œ๐‘ข ๐‘ฃ๐‘œ๐‘ก๐‘’ ๐‘“๐‘œ๐‘Ÿ.
๐ด๐‘™๐‘™ ๐‘ฆ๐‘œ๐‘ข'๐‘Ÿ๐‘’ ๐‘”๐‘’๐‘ก๐‘ก๐‘–๐‘›๐‘” ๐‘–๐‘  ๐พ๐‘’๐‘›๐‘ก๐‘ข๐‘๐‘˜๐‘ฆ ๐‘™๐‘œ๐‘๐‘ ๐‘ก๐‘’๐‘Ÿ...
https://i.ibb.co/8LZFYjk3/Kentucky-Lobster.jpg


Happy Friday! โ˜ฎ๏ธ

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