Part 1--Why people say they don't vote (according to a sampling from the Nosebag):

DEAR NOSE: I belong to no political party, so half of the ballot is wastepaper. What about the ballot measures? None compelled me enough. None had the potential to directly fuck me, the state or the rest of us. Let the others decide.

I do vote in "real" elections. I do like to vote against those whom I don't want to govern us. "Real" elections also usually have some cancers grown from Oregon's broken ballot-measure system: Nutty "sales-tax" measures, "anti-homosexual" crap, "crazy B.S. initiatives" (Bill Sizemore). Typically there are a few even worth voting for: "MD assisted suicide," "decriminalizing pot."

James Word

Gearhart

DEAR NOSE: The slogan for the '90s may very well have been "No Fear." Now, it's "No Vote"....

To quote Noam Chomsky on the topic: "75 percent of the population felt that there was no election at all, that it was just some kind of game being played by rich contributors, party bosses and the media."

Voting is just a small part of participating in a democracy. In the meantime, I'll choose other ways to make a difference.

Joshua Dallman

Portland

MR. NOSE: You listed off a lot of different reasons why people like me might not vote, but you forgot the most obvious one--the REAL reason that ALL of us don't vote. I am chugging through life just trying to do a couple of things before I die: make some money, eat some food and watch some TV. That's all.

We watch those campaign ads like you do, and it is pretty clear that you can't trust these people. Do they think that we are idiots? Do they really believe that ads of them bowling or giving high-fives to kids make me think that they are "regular guys?" Give me a break.

Politicians work hard to keep things exactly how they are, whether they are Republicans or Democrats. They keep the people out of the process and represent their campaign contributors. The battles that they fight have nothing to do with representing the rest of us.

So, until they give me reason to, I'm gonna sit right here and watch more TV. They like it like that, anyway. It keeps me quiet and off their backs.

Brad Jacobson

Portland

Part 2--The Nose's opinion: Voting hurts.

With all due respect to the opinions above, the Nose is convinced that something else is at play here: Voting is painful. It's painful because it often seems as hopeless as a Ralph Nader bumper sticker on an SUV. It's painful because the choices often seem no better than that between Smirnoff Ice and Zima. It's painful because it demands that we suspend disbelief about the power of one vote, sort of like believing that PGE employees were really "clueless" when they were helping Enron manipulate the California energy market. It's painful because voting requires real work, which reminds too many of us of school.

And it's painful because we know--deep down--that it's something we should do. Sort of like exercising, eating vegetables, writing "thank you" notes and ending the silly procedure of referring to oneself in the third person.

The Nose can only do so much. But he did vote--unlike the group below.

Part 3--Prominent Non-Voters (according to Multnomah County election records for the May 21st primary):

Art Alexakis, Everclear frontman

Margie Boulé, Oregonian columnist

John and Lucy Buchanan, Art Museum mavens

Kristy Edmunds, head of PICA

Tony Hopson, founder of Self Enhancement Inc.

Dwight Jaynes, president of Portland Tribune

Chuck Palahniuk, author

Caprial Pence, restaurateur/TV chef

Curtis Salgado, blues musician

Albert Starr, world-famous heart surgeon

Victoria Starr, society queen

Gus Van Sant, filmmaker

David Walker, WW film editor

Homer Williams, developer