--- title: Hillary Clinton Doesn't Forgive People Who Didn't Vote description: Hillary Clinton says she does not forgive people who didn't vote in the 2016 presidential election and now say they regret it canonical: https://time.com/4940877/hilary-clinton-what-happened-voters/ author: Joseph Hincks article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-09-14T05:43:08.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T17:25:00.291Z article:section: Politics og:title: Regret Not Voting? Hillary Clinton Doesn't Forgive You og:description: "No absolution," she said on CNN og:url: https://time.com/4940877/hilary-clinton-what-happened-voters/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt310f1fe7ce95950f/6988ddc1196cf4e155041ed1/gettyimages-846076020.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3984 og:image:height: 2241 og:image:alt: US-POLITICS-CLINTON-BOOK-SIGNING og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Regret Not Voting? Hillary Clinton Doesn't Forgive You twitter:description: "No absolution," she said on CNN twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt310f1fe7ce95950f/6988ddc1196cf4e155041ed1/gettyimages-846076020.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Regret Not Voting in Last Year's Election? Hillary Clinton Doesn't Forgive You > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Joseph Hincks](https://time.com/author/joseph-hincks/) ## Joseph Hincks Sep 14, 2017 5:43 AM UTC  Hillary Clinton kicks off a book tour in New York on Sept. 12, 2017. Hillary Clinton kicks off a book tour in New York on Sept. 12, 2017. Timothy A. Clary—AFP/Getty Images by [Joseph Hincks](https://time.com/author/joseph-hincks/) ## Joseph Hincks Sep 14, 2017 5:43 AM UTC Hillary Clinton says she does not forgive people who didn’t vote in the 2016 presidential election and now say they regret it. In[ an interview](http://edition.cnn.com/2017/09/13/politics/hillary-clinton-anderson-cooper-2016/index.html) with CNN Wednesday, the former Democratic candidate told Anderson Cooper that more than two dozen women apologized to her for not voting or otherwise helping to advance her campaign. Clinton appeared on Cooper’s show 360° to discuss her new memoir about her loss to Republican Donald Trump, titled _What Happened._ “When it first started happening, it was so soon after the election,” Clinton told Cooper. “It was hard for me to comfort somebody who was coming to me and saying, ‘Oh, I wish I had done more,’ or, ‘I’m sorry I didn’t vote’ because I think this was one of the most consequential elections that we have faced in a long time.” “So, no absolution,” Clinton added. “But I just hope people will take what happened this time seriously and be ready and willing to vote the next time.” Despite a concerted push to mobilize women, ethnic minority and young voters, [Clinton ](http://time.com/time-person-of-the-year-2016-hillary-clinton-runner-up/)and her campaign team failed to garner sufficient support among the base that propelled her Democratic predecessor Barack Obama to victory. **Read more:** [_Hillary Clinton Says Ivanka Trump Needs to Be ‘Held Accountable’_](http://time.com/4937204/hillary-clinton-ivanka-trump-held-accountable/) One anecdote in _What Happened_ recalls a young woman whose mother had forced her to apologize to Clinton for not voting. “I wanted to stare right in her eyes and say, ‘You didn’t vote? How could you not vote? You abdicated your responsibility as a citizen at the worst possible time! And now you want me to make you feel better?'” Clinton writes. “Of course, I didn’t say any of that.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4940877/hilary-clinton-what-happened-voters/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4940877/hilary-clinton-what-happened-voters/"},"headline":"Regret Not Voting in Last Year's Election? 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