[Mrjinglesusa]

Any interesting observations when you went to vote today?

Things went pretty smoothly at my precinct. I waited in line for about 30 minutes. There were both McCain and Obama people there handing out "sample ballots" (i.e., ballots premarked with the Democratic or Republican nominees already checked).

There was a volunteer attorney hanging around outside but I didn't get her political affiliation.

Inside, there were two "Poll Watchers", both Democrat (said so on their badges), sitting behind the registration table where they check your ID or Voter ID card to the registered list. The Poll Watchers also appeared to have copies of the registration lists.

One guy in front of me called over one of the volunteers and said to him (paraphrased), "This is my personal information [holding up his driver's license and voter registration card] and I don't want that idiot poll watcher looking at it".

I did not paraphrase the "idiot poll watcher" part. So the volunteer had to go and tell the poll watcher that this guy (he was the ONLY one I saw that made a stink) didn't want him to see his ID or voter ID card. The guy apparently didn't have a problem with the guy at the registration list seeing his ID. I can only guess he was a McCain supporter.

We had our choice of paper or electronic ballot. I choice electronic even though the Obama supporter outside said "our attorneys suggest using a paper ballot so there can be no mistake".

[Shaddim]

It took 10 minutes, nothing unusual happened. Was quite boring.

[Person Man]

Originally Posted by Mrjinglesusa 

Any interesting observations when you went to vote today?

I just got back from voting.

I tried to vote when the polls opened at 6:30. I couldn't. I waited until 7 AM, then left because I had a meeting I had to be at. So, I went at lunch. There was hardly anyone there. The only "problem" I had was that the poll worker was trying to look me up in the voting list under the "S" section. I told him three times that "S" is my first name, and he didn't listen. He finally said, "Well, I can't find you in here."

I said, "Now try looking under 'K.'" He found me under there. Imagine that!

I had a choice of paper vs. electronic, too. I used electronic, despite the fact that the machines obviously used Windows. But the "paper trail" backup that printed out at the end accurately recorded my votes so I'm not too concerned.

I expect they'll get busy again around 5 PM when I get off work.

[BlueSky]

I'm wearing my "I Voted" sticker on my forehead. Watch this space for further developments.

[Mithras]

I waited about an hour at 7:30am, the longest wait I've ever had at my polling place.

In New York, we still use the ka-CHUNK machines with the big red lever. I think it's kind of fun, though I suspect that the ballots might not get well punched as the machines wear down.

I live in a neighborhood that combines a university, the edge of Harlem, and Manhattan, so it was about as Obama as you could get. These were my district's results in 2004:

Kerry: 194,186 (89.7%)
Bush: 20,249 (9.3%)
Other: 2,255 (1.0%)

a few cute little kids "violated the law", one yelling out as she and her mother left, "My mom voted for Barack!", another proudly waving an Obama button to everyone in line.

[ort888]

My wife wanted to vote before work but the line was around the corner at 6am.

Wow.

I have to wait until about 6 to vote and I'm expecting the worst. I'll probably be in line for 2 hours.

[OreoCookie]

I'm still surprised why America doesn't vote on a Sunday like most other countries (or makes November 4th a national holiday) … 

[Dakar V]

I'd take a national holiday.

Or maybe the first national half-day. That'd be awesome. I miss those from school.

[Big Mac]

I went to the polling place and everyone was voting Republican. Then I woke up.

[dav]

overnight someone stole the sign in our front yard.
spent an hour and a half in line (starting at 6:30AM) waiting to vote.

[Demonhood]

voted at 9am. no line. people did seem a lot more excited than in previous elections though.

[TheMosco]

Live in MA, waited for ~25 minutes when the polls opened at 7 AM. Not too bad.

[moep]

Originally Posted by OreoCookie 

I'm still surprised why America doesn't vote on a Sunday like most other countries (or makes November 4th a national holiday) … 

Yeah, I agree. That’s just odd.

[Andrew Stephens]

Originally Posted by moep 

Yeah, I agree. That’s just odd.

Well we in the UK always vote on a Thursday, so it's not that odd.

what was odd was that I couldn't find anywhere in my town where I could cast my vote. I had assumed that because the BBC had given the election so much coverage over the past year that we must be entitled. Apparently not.

Here's hoping there's some huge news event after tomorrow or News24 is going to have a huge hole in its schedules.

[Doofy]

Originally Posted by Andrew Stephens 

Here's hoping there's some huge news event after tomorrow or News24 is going to have a huge hole in its schedules.

You forgot about the endless post-game interviews and all the "didn't he do well" </Brucie>.

[Dork.]

Originally Posted by Mrjinglesusa 

Inside, there were two "Poll Watchers", both Democrat (said so on their badges), sitting behind the registration table where they check your ID or Voter ID card to the registered list. The Poll Watchers also appeared to have copies of the registration lists.

We don't have to produce ID here. We've got a book at each polling station with all our signatures from our voter registration cards in it. We just state our names, then sign the book next to our pre-printed signatures, and we're good to go.

It is kind of a small suburban town, though, and I know the poll workers, and they know me. That's the best type of election security right there, poll workers who know the community (and give a damn).

On a side note, those mechanical-lever voting machines we use in New York State just have a counter tallying the number of times each lever is activated for a vote. Then the election starts, they write all the numbers down, and when the election ends, they write them down again. END - START = votes. Simple, right?

They did an analysis of all the counter values recorded on these machines a while back (not the number of votes -- the actual counter value recorded) and found that a statistically significant number of values ended in "99999" or "999999" or "9999999". They concluded that the old voting mechanism sometimes did not have the power to turn over all those dials from "299999" to "300000", so it might get stuck at "299999" for a while. Cool, huh?

[BigBadWolf]

It took me about 10 minutes. No problems, well organized. The only thing was one idiot dressed head to toe in obama gear. Even his shoes had obama **** on them. I thought that was against the law.

[SirCastor]

I haven't lived in Oregon for several years, so I guess I wasn't doing everything right. If you're not aware, Oregon does election by Mail. You get your ballot, fill in your votes, stick it in an envelope, stick it in another envelope, and mail it out/drop it off.

I registered to vote with my wife quite some time ago, and we got our voter registration cards in the mail just fine. Several days ago, we realized that our ballots hadn't come.

I called up the Elections office, and much to my dismay, the lady on the other end of the phone could not find my registration. I called my wife and had her call (because she was at home and had the registration cards). Even without the cards, whoever she talked to had no problem finding us.

Apparently the Post office returned our ballots.

So today, my wife is trying to get us ballots to vote with. If she cannot, this will be the 3rd consecutive presidential election that my county has managed to screw up my voting. The last two were both absentee ballots that for some reason never made it to me.

What surprised me is how upset I got when it became clear that I might not be able to vote. I vote conservatively most of the time, and in a state like Oregon, that doesn't make much of a difference (esp. Presidential Elections), but I realized how important to me being involved is, and I'm pleased to find that the case.

[ThinkInsane]

I walked in at 9:30, checked in, went into the booth, wrote in my Presidential choice, voted for the poor choices offered for the other elections (Congress, Judges and the like), voted the proposition, pulled the handle and went on my way. Out the door by 9:40 and there was nothing any different than there ever was before. My only commentary would be there was no pen in the voting booth for write-ins, but this former boy scout came prepared.

[Laminar]

The only free time I have today is between 5 and 6. I'm afraid it's going to be crazy busy, so I might end up being late for class, but we'll see. I also haven't re-registered since I last moved, so I'll have to register when I get there. Looks like I might be late for class.

[Dork.]

Originally Posted by ThinkInsane 

My only commentary would be there was no pen in the voting booth for write-ins, but this former boy scout came prepared.

Why would you need to write anyone in? Cynthia McKinney is on the ballot already!

There was an election for Town Supervisor here once which was unopposed.... except for the fact that the only candidate's paperwork got munged up on the way to Albany, and never got corrected before the ballot deadline. Therefore, there were no candidates on the ballot, and every vote was a write-in!

[Rumor]

I was in and out in under five minutes. Went to vote around 1pm PST.

[sek929]

Apparently I wasn't registered, even though I voted in the last two elections and have not changed my address

Filled out a provisional ballot, then peeled out in front of a cop in the dirt parking lot adjacent to the voting area.

[smacintush]

I was in and out in 20 minutes.

The outside smelled like a sewer, the inside smelled like a combination of old musty building and old musty people.

[Atheist]

I'm registered to vote in DC. Didn't bother voting since if you ain't a Dem, you ain't getting elected for anything in DC. I know it sounds lame, but my vote wouldn't have made a difference either way.

[Dakar V]

Originally Posted by Rumor 

I was in and out in under five minutes. Went to vote around 1pm PST.

Man, voting sure is a lot like sex.
including the crying afterwards

[Big Mac]

Black Panther voter intimidation in PA:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=neGbKHyGuHU

[ort888]

Originally Posted by sek929 

Apparently I wasn't registered, even though I voted in the last two elections and have not changed my address

Filled out a provisional ballot, then peeled out in front of a cop in the dirt parking lot adjacent to the voting area.

Where do you live? Hazard County?

[sek929]

Hehe, did I mention the dirt ramp I used to evade capture?

[Dakar V]

Or how your car suddenly stopped in mid-air as someone started narrating

[Rumor]

Originally Posted by Atheist 

I'm registered to vote in DC. Didn't bother voting since if you ain't a Dem, you ain't getting elected for anything in DC. I know it sounds lame, but my vote wouldn't have made a difference either way.

For national elections, I somewhat agree. However, for local elections, that one vote could be the tipping point.

[SpaceMonkey]

Originally Posted by Dakar V 

Man, voting sure is a lot like sex.
including the crying afterwards

Seems like smacintush fared better, except for the part about: "the outside smelled like a sewer, the inside smelled like a combination of old musty building and old musty people."

[SpaceMonkey]

I stood in line and voted. My bowels said no but my heart said yes (yes we can!). Then I ran to the men's room.

[Dakar V]

Well, I left work early to run a errand. There was a line at my old polling place that must have extended down a hallway, a flight of stairs, another hallway, and then outside for at least half a block. I went to my new place, and it was practically empty. In the 5 minutes I was there, however, I think the 5 pm shift let out, and filtered in ad there was already a small line forming.

My only complaint is we now have papertrail-less electronic voting machines this year.

Edit: no wait, I have another complaint; I saw one of my ex gf's mother there

[Atheist]

Originally Posted by Rumor 

For national elections, I somewhat agree. However, for local elections, that one vote could be the tipping point.

The only local election in DC is for Board Members (and the very powerful "delegate to the House of Representatives"). Since I don't actually live in the District, I'm not really concerned about that.

[Rumor]

Originally Posted by Dakar V 

Edit: no wait, I have another complaint; I saw one of my ex gf's mother there

We all know that is a lie.

[OAW]

Originally Posted by Big Mac 

Black Panther voter intimidation in PA:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=neGbKHyGuHU

Before the right-wingers get their panties all up in a bunch ......

A man wearing what appeared to be a black outfit with a beret and holding a nightstick was asked by police to leave a polling location in Philadelphia Tuesday, according to Philadelphia County Board of Elections Supervisor, Bill Rubin.

Rubin says the man left without incident. He says another man wearing similar attire had a poll watcher certificate and was allowed to remain at the polling site at 1221 Fairmont Avenue.

Cathie Abookire, a spokewoman for the Philadelphia District Attorney's office, says the office is not investigating the matter, calling it a "non-incident." Abookire says, "We have had no complaints from any voters that they have been intimidated."

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com...polling-place/

Now having said that, this "non-incident" by no means is comparable to the scale and scope of election problems that are occurring across the country. Which, interestingly enough, never seem to occur in Hicktown, USA. They always seem to occur in metropolitan areas in key battleground states. I wonder why?

As for me personally in the STL area, I experienced the longest line I ever had to endure for a vote this morning. However, things went smoothly and I was done in 90 minutes. Unfortunately, many are facing 4 - 6 hour waits in the area.

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com...st-louis-area/

OAW

[subego]

Just came back. No lines, as has been the case for the 5 years I've lived in this precinct, though the little woman said there was a short line around 3p.

However she didn't tell me that the crazy (and pregnant) lady who works at the pet boutique down the street was an election judge. We had both successfully avoided her since her first rugrat.

When I came home and asked why she let the crazy dog lady ambush me, she said she was worried that if she told me, I wouldn't vote.

Gal knows me too well.

[kobi]

Early voted last week here in TX. Waited in line for about a hour.

Were experiencing record early voting numbers in Dallas County as of Friday over 750,000 had voted. Compare that to the 20,000 that voted early in 2004.

[Powerbook]

Originally Posted by OreoCookie 

I'm still surprised why America doesn't vote on a Sunday like most other countries (or makes November 4th a national holiday) …

No kidding. Especially since those lines just remind me of pictures of 3rd world people waiting to get petrol or corn or whatever. I think I have voted in about twenty different elections and never "waited" more than 30 seconds (the time to prove I'm the legit German that I claimed to be).

PB.

[Mrjinglesusa]

Originally Posted by Big Mac 

Black Panther voter intimidation in PA:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=neGbKHyGuHU

Republicans trying to convince people that Democrats vote tomorrow:

Other issues involved apparent attempts to misinform potential voters: People in Texas, Missouri, Mississippi, Alabama and Arkansas reported receiving text messages telling Democrats to vote on Wednesday, the day after the election.

An e-mail circulated in Arkansas and robocalls in Missouri also told voters they could cast their ballots on Wednesday.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/11/...ems/index.html

It goes both ways.

[finboy]

Originally Posted by BigBadWolf 

It took me about 10 minutes. No problems, well organized. The only thing was one idiot dressed head to toe in obama gear. Even his shoes had obama **** on them. I thought that was against the law.

Took us 45-55 minutes or so, and it seemed very disorganized compared to past elections. Some Obama folks were there voting in their PJs (and talking loudly to everyone about how we needed change, etc., which I also thought was illegal at least in line). Two guys were told to turn their McCain shirts inside out while I was standing there, although the two young ladies (who both appeared to be wearing their Obama shirts OVER another shirt) were not approached similarly.

The three people in line ahead of me had a hard time finding their street on a map to see if they were in our precinct or not (they didn't appear in the rolls unfortunately, so they waited for nought).

The lone Democrat pollwatcher seemed to want nothing to do with watching the poll -- he kept well away from the crowd and was nowhere to be found by the time he left.

The election stuff was set up in an add-on construction trailer at the local elementary school. I guess because of two weeks of early voting they needed someplace out of the way, but it was totally inadequate for actual lines and full numbers this morning at 10 AM. It was the most disorganized and flimsy setup of any election I've seen.

[finboy]

Originally Posted by sek929 

Apparently I wasn't registered, even though I voted in the last two elections and have not changed my address

Filled out a provisional ballot, then peeled out in front of a cop in the dirt parking lot adjacent to the voting area.

Wow, that happened to me in 06. Amazing. I got to be "provisional."

Also saw a bunch of those today. Folks who didn't know whether they'd registered or not.

[Laminar]

No line to vote, same-day registration was easy with my driver's license and a bank statement, since my current address isn't the same as that on my license.

[andi*pandi]

no line at 4pm. We use paper ballot that gets sucked into a big voteomatic thingy, not sure if that's the reader or what.

[ShortcutToMoncton]

I made up two homemade buttons and alternated wearing them around school:

"Bush 08: For Hilarity"

and

"Jeb 08"

Unfortunately, no pictures, but it garnered some laughs...and attacks

[zerostar]

I voted early... but did volunteer for the Obama Florida Voting Rights group. Got to my assigned precinct and there was about a 30-40 people in line.

I got situated, setup my signs (that say "ask me questions..." etc. about voting/precinct info and voter laws. I went and met the inside Attorney (Obama's campaign had Attorneys in 16 of our 32 precincts) check the tally numbers on the scanner, I took a photo with my iPhone and called them in at the assigned times.

I guess that drew attention as I noticed I was being watched despite being dressed just like the inside Attorney and having the same "Florida Voter Protection Attorney" button/hat.

We are not allowed to have any paraphernalia on us, nor do we have ANY interaction with the voters in a partisan way.

So I make my way to the front of the line and begin asking people if they are at the right precinct, have a photo ID and a signature with them, do they know how to use the new ballot, etc. etc. Basically things THEY should be doing instead of not saying anything... but thats ok, this is my town *sigh*

Shortly after this I was approached and told I need to leave. I said "excuse me" and was told again "leave now or we will call the police" Ok I try to stay calm, despite taking all this time out to help and now getting hassled! So I tell them I am allowed to be here and start getting my FL statutes paperwork out.

I was then told they were calling the cops! Well, I start to freak out, not because of the police but because I wanted to be there and it was getting close to the polls closing and wanted to watch the ballots tallied & boxes sealed! I called the Obama main # and told them the situation.

In the meantime the police showed up and told me I had to stand 100' away from the location. I told them they were mistaken and showed them the laws and what I SHOULD be allowed to do. Luckily someone (local Dem party rep?) pulled in and told them to back off I am allowed to talk to the people in line and I could be all the way up to the front door if I wanted! SCORE!! I was watched like a hawk (which is fine with me I would do the same thing!) the rest of the night.

We had a nice turnout and I had to tell many people to take off their Obama buttons/shirts etc. I had to tell one younger lady to take off her McCain shirt, she had a gross pro-life iron-on sticker thing on the back... crazy... We had 53% do Early voting, and I think our turnout was a new record of 97% of RV here!

I sent one lady away to get her ID and she got back with 5 minutes to spare! She was the last one (about 4 people were inside voting still) and the door man said she was too late! I was pissed, and for the first time, barged inside to see the clock, looked at it and it showed 2 minutes! I said she has 2 minutes and you have to take her! He rolled his eyes and then I was fuming!! Luckily the lady at the desk asked her for her ID and got her going so she was off and that was that!

About 15-20 min later they posted the final tally and started to pack up. Everything was watched and seemed to go down without a hitch.

I would recommend to anyone to volunteer when you can, its rewarding to help voters and watch over everyone at the polls.