Great post, Sean!
the average person can’t tell by looking at the voting statistics whether a person didn’t vote because they are apathetic/don’t care/aren’t involved OR if it’s an active choice to protest the system
That's a really good point. I'm hopeful the overall percentage of people who chose not to participate (for whatever reason) will eventually lead to a generally accepted understanding that those "in power" have no real power and "consent of the governed" is statistically a myth. If only 10% of the people (as an example) actually voted for the "rulers" then why would the other 90% obey whatever the rulers decree? The "didn't participate" percentage is also an important number to show.
The number who don't vote due to active protest may not even be in the single digit percentages.
Curious if you have any data on this or is it just a feeling?
I like the "none of the above" idea (seriously, we should all be watching Brewster's Millions right now for some perspective). In a sense, "none of the above" numbers could be combined with "didn't participate." What if we could actually coordinate something more interesting... maybe write in "no rulers" or something like that? If enough people got onboard, that would be really interesting. That clearly sends the message "I'm not just upset with the choices given to me, but with the entire process of picking a ruler itself."
That, I think, might be worth showing up and voting for. :)
Again though, if you read a lot of @larkenrose's stuff, he makes some good arguments for why voting actually validates the system which is then used to enslave us. I haven't completely written off the idea of voting entirely... but I'm also not super excited about the process as if it matters at all to my daily life.
RE: A mathematical explanation how voting third party in 2016 is the only vote that counts