What does it take?

I'm okay with the results of this election. I'm not happy about it, but compared to 2000's executive, legislative and judicial square dance, I feel good about the election. A couple of comments though:

- Last night while watching the election results over a beer I decided to see how some of the smaller candidates were doing. I was interested, for example, in knowing how the Socialist candidate did in Vermont. I was interested in how the Libertarian candidate did in Oklahoma. I wanted to see popular vote counts. NOWHERE could I find a count of the popular votes for anyone but Bush, Kerry and Nader. One that I finally DID find was here, at News 8 Austin. In case you're too lazy to click a link, here is what it says (in part):

President Popular Vote
George Bush R 58,319,122 51%
John Kerry D 54,796,258 48%
Others 661,087 1%
Ralph Nader I 390,341 0%
506 of 538 precincts reporting (94%)

"OTHERS"? WTF? So Nader, an "Independant" (read, not nominated by anyone but himself) candidate gets 0%, but commands a mention while "Others" gets almost TWICE the popular vote but no mention? Last time I checked, Badnarik was on at least 48 state ballots. Shouldn't HE at least get a mention?

Speaking of "too lazy" to do something, I was just listening to my local talk radio station and the host mentioned an interesting tidbit of information: 4 out of 5 registered voters between the ages of 18 and 24 DID NOT VOTE.

What the hell does it take? What do I have to do to get people to actually vote. Forget about "you didn't vote, so you can't complain" nonsense. When I turned 18, I couldnt' WAIT to vote. I have voted in every election since then, both local and national. Do I have to spend thousands of dollars to take out a full page ad in the sunday paper that says "Hey, stupid! Get off your ass, put down the Gameboy, turn off the fucking TV and go VOTE! I don't care HOW you vote, JUST GO AND DO IT!"

I'm turning into my father.