I've voted in safe districts, states, or constituencies before, and there's no thrill in it- you don't really feel you're contributing to something bigger. You tell yourself that every vote counts, but the fact is that some votes don't matter that much, if we're being honest with ourselves.

It has been really strange to get to grips with my own apathy. The most thrilling political experience I've had during the past two years of the election was giving money to the Obama campaign.  That felt the way voting is supposed to feel. You know your small contribution isn't single-handedly going to push him over the top, but you feel you are adding your small bit to this growing movement.  A great feeling which I never have had from actual voting.

I've been following the election obsessively for the past two years, I supported Obama from the first days, I contributed to the campaign- and if EVEN I can't be bothered to register to vote, what does that say about the thousands of people out there who might have been less engaged in the election than I have been?

Yes, I know there are other candidates further down the ballot, propositions that hang in the balance, but still, that didn't get me fired up enough, maybe because I don't live there.

I don't think the answer is 'make politics more exciting!' This election has been historic in so many ways, unique in so many ways, and so much hangs on it.  It couldn't get any more exciting or relevant to people's lives. It is just such a shame that so many votes won't really matter, and so many people will leave the voting booth with a slightly empty feeling inside, a sense of anti-climax.  People are not stupid, they know the odds of a super-safe state going the other way.

It hurts us for great swathes of the country to feel that they didn't really have a say in the election, and only 'those folks in those special 15-20 swing states' did. Sure, most people got the primaries, but given the more important choice between McCain and Obama, most people's votes are taken for granted.

Would a purely popular vote tally increase turnout, because voters in safe states would feel that they had a real voice?

Should we introduce compulsory voting? Don't vote, get a parking ticket sized fine? And in the voting booth you can choose 'None of the above' if you think they're all scumbags.  I have several friends from Australia, and they are quite proud of their compulsory voting system- it has actually made voting more important to them, it is a civic duty. Not voting seems to them like harmful anti-social behavior, on the same level as double parking or littering.

I repeat, I'm not proud of my apathy. I'm just being open about it, and I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of politically engaged people in safe states feel similarly. Any democracy where one individual's vote is worth infinitely more than another individual's vote is fundamentally unfair and leads to people disengaging from the political process.