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U.S. Election Day In Progress: What's Been Your Experience?
Today is Election Day in the U.S., and polls are open even in Hawaii now. The current Slashdot poll gives a snapshot of how many readers have voted or plan to vote; more rigorous and wide-based polls are easy to find. If you're taking part in today's election, what have you found? Did you or will you vote electronically, or on paper? How long did you wait to vote? Did you vote weeks ago by mail? How much time did you put into making your choices? It would be helpful if in comments you start the subject of your post with your 2-letter state abbreviation, like this: "TX - About to go get in line to push some buttons."
Voted first thing this morning... Based on the number of commercials running in Ohio, and the tight margin between the candidates, I've been watching the news online expecting to see some controversy start brewing. Fortunately, I've been disappointed thusfar.
My drivers license expired in 2005, and I never bothered getting it renewed. So I don't have a "valid ID" even though I'm on disability.
I was turned away not allowed to vote for not having a valid id :)
I said oh well, not like voting matters anyhow due to electoral college bullshit and went home
"So," said Arthur, hoping he wasn't sounding ridiculously obtuse, "why don't the people get rid of the lizards?"
"It honestly doesn't occur to them," said Ford. "They've all got the vote, so they all pretty much assume that the government they've voted in more or less approximates to the government they want."
"You mean they actually vote for the lizards?"
"Oh yes," said Ford with a shrug, "of course."
"But," said Arthur, going for the big one again, "why?"
"Because if they didn't vote for a lizard," said Ford, "the wrong lizard might get in.
VA - Filed registration 45 days ago, didn't take effect, told yesterday by three election offices to vote where I was previously registered, two hours of driving, turned away, told to file provisional ballot where I live, provisional ballot where I live must be defended.
Apparently these guys made their money and did their job:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/decision2012/virginia-voter-fraud-case-expands-to-focus-on-gop-firm/2012/11/02/76285252-24eb-11e2-ac85-e669876c6a24_story.html
I've read about this happening to other people but can't believe it happened to me. Understand what voter ID laws are. They are voter fraud laws - they create voter fraud. Can't believe it happened to me.
For me the kicking and screaming and foaming was all over a coupla weeks ago.
The best of it: Gave me time in the privacy of my own home to leisurely read through the pro and con positions on things, choose local officials, flip coin, etc.
The worst of it: Didn't stop the junk mail or advertising. :P
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
i used the provisional ballot at a polling place by my house, then by my kid's day care and at work during lunch
just to make sure at least one will be counted
http://www.sos.georgia.gov/gaphotoid/default.htm
A Georgia Driver's License, even if expired
My postfix server has been voting all day in NJ.
maybe get Gary Johnson above 5%? It will change the national discourse even if you don't agree with him 100%.
your thin skin doesn't make me a troll
> what have you found?
The usual: three elderly ladies at a table in the town hall, our 100 year old ballot box, a voting both, and an electronic voting machine (a new one: the manufacturer of the $6000 original went out of business and the machine could not be used without their support).
> Did you or will you vote electronically, or on paper?
Paper, of course. I could have voted "electronically" but I'm not that stupid.
> How long did you wait to vote?
Wait? I suppose if we had delayed until after supper we would have had ten minutes or so to chat with the neighbors.
> Did you vote weeks ago by mail?
I don't approve of that other than for extraordinary circumstances where a voter cannot possibly get to the polling place.
> How much time did you put into making your choices?
I made my decision long ago.
Warning: this article may contain humor, sarcasm, parody, and perhaps even irony. Read at your own risk.
No one in line ahead of me. Filled out paper ballot, fed ballot into Sequoia machine. My ballot was three pages, double sided - over ten propositions to vote on in California! Spent more than a hour doing research on them last night.
Oh yeah, this is my first election! Newish American citizen - proud to exercise my right to vote :)
Waited 15 minutes in line and then voted electronically on a diebold machine with no apparent problems.
That's the biggest issue with those machines: Any problems with them aren't apparent.
VA - Filed registration 45 days ago, didn't take effect, told yesterday by three election offices to vote where I was previously registered, two hours of driving, turned away, told to file provisional ballot where I live, provisional ballot where I live must be defended.
Apparently these guys made their money and did their job: http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/decision2012/virginia-voter-fraud-case-expands-to-focus-on-gop-firm/2012/11/02/76285252-24eb-11e2-ac85-e669876c6a24_story.html
I've read about this happening to other people but can't believe it happened to me. Understand what voter ID laws are. They are voter fraud laws - they create voter fraud. Can't believe it happened to me.
In Northern VA myself. Voted thrice in Minnesota and many times in Virginia. Have to say that Virginia requirements are ridiculous for voting and are almost designed to stop people who don't have their shit together from voting. In 2000 on the U of MN campus I was walking around campus on election day and outside they had a big thing setup for me to vote. I had my student ID and driver's license and that was all they needed to register me, take my vote and give me a voter registration ID! They asked if I had a utility bill and I told them I was living in a dorm room on campus. No further questions needed, just had to fill out a form.
... totally different story. After producing my birth certificate and about five other forms of documentation at a Virginia DMV, I get my VA license. A month later I check out what I have to do to vote. Guess what? You have to register 22 days before the election SO I was basically shit outta luck. Good thing I was able to absentee ballot for Minnesota (having recently moved).
I arrive in September of 2004 in Virginia
Seriously, I check five or six times each election year that my stuff isn't messed up on the VA voter website because if that stuff isn't accurate down to a T you aren't voting. One of my friends moved across town, showed up to his old precinct with his last residence on his voter ID card and his new residence on his driver's license. Aaaaaaand they wouldn't let him vote. The real kick in the pants was they told him that if he hadn't shown them his driver's license and he could have recited his old address, they would have let him through.
So my experience today? Showed up at 5:45 am today. Waited until 7:15 am in line to vote. Voted on paper (line was much shorter than the electronic line) and was out. I only saw one advertisement on my way to vote: a portly fellow came in through the doors and removed his jacket to reveal a Romney/Ryan shirt upon the vast real estate of his chest. As he walked by he looked large and in charge. It should be noted he was only the former.
Can someone tell me why voter registration can't happen at the polls?
My work here is dung.
I was in and out in about 20 minutes, so my experience was fairly quick. There was a Somali lady in front of me who might have had a more interesting time of it however. I made some small talk with her, and she told me it was her first time voting, as she had just married her husband, an American. I asked her if this was the "F - K" line and she nervously told me that yes it was, but kept repeating "This is the line, be careful, be careful!" as though they wouldn't let me vote if I accidentally got in the wrong line. She was both proud and afraid of the whole process. The interesting bit of this is that when her time came there was some activity, and I made out that she couldn't read the ballot, and wanted to know if her husband (who was also in line) could read it for her. I didn't hear the rest though, as it was quickly my turn at the polling station.
I haven't had a chance to look up the pertinent law regarding whether someone else is allowed to read the ballot or not, but I would imagine this same scenario has played out many times over (This isn't an argument for or against ballots in multiple languages, just an account of a polling incident).
God, schmod. I want my monkey man!
President isn't the only position, local, state and congressional positions matter just as much.
Get your ass out and vote for the sake of your country!
You can't be bothered to look up referendums and local races, so I can't be bothered to do it for you, but often there's school funding bonds and school boards and stuff like that to vote for where you might have an impact even if, as you say, the presidential portion of the ballot is, for your location, utterly meaningless.
If it is meaningless, I think you should vote Johnson like I'm going to. You've obviously got nothing to lose. I respect the decision, although disagree, with a friend who's voting for the Green Party candidate. Anybody's better than the D's and the R's so any vote for someone other than D or R is always good vote.
"Science flies us to the moon. Religion flies us into buildings." - Victor Stenger
live with him for 4x more years ruining your country.
LOL I'm not voting for the guy, but the R party really shot themselves in their foot by spending 4.5 years of every village idiot emailing and FB and G+ stuff about, sure, the kenyan marxist muslim hasn't grabbed our guns and sent in the UN troops YET, but I heard next week he's gonna start... and 200 odd weeks of the crying wolf stuff absolutely makes them a laughingstock. I suspect if "O" wins we'll have to suffer thru another 200 weeks of weekly emails about how "O" is gonna open up the UN concentration camps for gun owners starting "next week".
He's got issues... He's just a lapdog of the 1% banking elite, they say "jump, O" and he says "how high, master?". His R opponent is even worse being a corrupt 1%er himself. So, the devil's tame quisling lapdog, or the devil himself? I'll vote Johnson instead.
"Science flies us to the moon. Religion flies us into buildings." - Victor Stenger
Voting went fine, but they ran out of "I voted!" stickers! How could this happen?? How else can I vent my smug satisfaction at having exercised my same-freedom-everyone-else-also-has?
Everything is better with chainsaws.
A teacher (junior high, I think) told me years ago that who your mayor is will have a bigger impact on your life than who your president is. So if anything, read the local stuff and don't worry about the presidential race.
BTW: Central Florida suburb, voting was at a retirement home, two people in line in front of me. I spent longer walking to and from my car (I parked in the front, not knowing the voting was in the back) than voting. Around 10am. Used the electronic machine because the trees I save in my lifetime will probably have a bigger impact on the world than who wins any particular race. Look, the whole system is a black box. Paper votes can get lost, mishandled, or ignored just as easily as a voting machine can get hacked.
http://www.sptimes.com/2004/11/16/Tampabay/Pinellas_ballot_box_s.shtml
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One and a half hour?!? In a developed country, that has had democracy for more than two hundred years?
How is this even remotely acceptable in what is supposedly a bastion of democracy?
I voted Johnson, but only because my state is solid for Obama. I really think we all need to focus on getting the ignorant religious conservatives out of our government, and getting some reality-based people in.
Yeah, I'm a fiscal conservative, don't like government constantly getting bigger, and so on. I voted a straight Democratic ticket all the way down this time, because I just can't stand these ignorant jackasses that have taken over the "conservative" side of the dialogue. Sigh.