Vote!

[carl1951]

I hope all the news about the possible problems concerning electronic voting machines doesn't turn out to be so.

The adage: "Vote early and vote often," would have a whole new meaning.

Polling opens at 9:00 am and closes at 8:00 pm.

(Take a box lunch, folding chairs, iPod, umbrella (in case of rain), deck of cards (for solitaire) and a good book, or a portable DVD player (with earphones) and don't forget 2 forms of picture ID. Those long waits can be very, very long.

Party affiliation may determine length of wait.


Later, Carl

[Deleted]

vote......

FOR ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[mlm828]

IT'S ELECTION DAY! VOTE!

[shmeep]

Carl,

carl1951 said:

Party affiliation may determine length of wait.

Sometimes you just kill me. Karma!

And to everyone else...vote!

[housemouse]

Alice Paul and the Suffrugettes starved themselves and were imprisoned fighting for a woman's right to vote. Pay them the honor they are due and:

GET OUT AND VOTE!!!

[maggiethecat]

You bet I voted. I consider it the renewal of my bitching rights. I say if you don't vote you have to keep your dainty mouth shut until the next election . . . and who can do that?

[hoosier]

maggiethecat said:

You bet I voted. I consider it the renewal of my bitching rights. I say if you don't vote you have to keep your dainty mouth shut until the next election . . . and who can do that?

That is what my mother always said and when people tell me they can't make the time then don't complain!

We had our second time using the electronic machines and, happily, all went smoothly. We were at the polls at 8AM, no lines, all the machines were working and we were in and out in probably ten minutes. The new voter ID rule was no hassle--a gal I went to high school with was manning the polls and she said she would vouch for me--if my ID was current! Had to take a little ribbing! Big improvement over the primaries where there were all kinds of problems. All polling places are closed here now--one county did get an extention because of problems--and thank goodness all the political ads are now history. You want dirt and mudslinging, come and see Indiana politics at its finest!

[bump]

I'm not sure if this is done all over the country, but in Florida you could vote at all public libraries starting 2 weeks ago. It's so convenient to be able to go on the weekend. I went on Saturday and it was a breeze.

I'm not sure what all the fuss has been with the electronic voting. It was great!

[shmeep]

What a fabulous election!

But I want to respond to this:

rmiro13 said:

I'm not sure what all the fuss has been with the electronic voting. It was great!

The act of voting on the machines wasn't what was at issue (although there were technical difficulties at various locations--particularly in 2004). The problem was that these machines are mostly new, many of them are untested to the degree necessary for such a large scale, and most do not leave any sort of a paper trail. Oh, and they can be hacked. In Ohio in 2004, there were some weird numbers in the voting results and some obscure party candidates got unusually large percentages of votes and when the machines were tested after the fact, some were found to select a third party candidate when the voter voted Democrat across the board. Just a nice little glitch. Or not. Nothing was definitively proven, but there are still investigations going on about these machines. Suppose there needs to be a recount and it's impossible to tell how everyone voted because there's absolutely no record? I think this system is weak and needs to be done with more care and with better safeguards in place.

I haven't heard of any suspicious numbers from last night yet, but a couple of those races might end up in the courts because of how close they are and if there's no paper trail...hard to say what's going to happen.

[inuvik]

admin said:

The act of voting on the machines wasn't what was at issue (although there were technical difficulties at various locations--particularly in 2004). The problem was that these machines are mostly new, many of them are untested to the degree necessary for such a large scale, and most do not leave any sort of a paper trail. Oh, and they can be hacked. In Ohio in 2004, there were some weird numbers in the voting results and some obscure party candidates got unusually large percentages of votes and when the machines were tested after the fact, some were found to select a third party candidate when the voter voted Democrat across the board. Just a nice little glitch. Or not. Nothing was definitively proven, but there are still investigations going on about these machines. Suppose there needs to be a recount and it's impossible to tell how everyone voted because there's absolutely no record? I think this system is weak and needs to be done with more care and with better safeguards in place.

In Canada all elections are paper, and there has never been a problem! I know our population is just more than 1/10 the size of the US, but still--I think paper is best, for all the reasons Shmeep mentioned.

Modified to add: another reason for paper is some people are intimidated by technology. If paper helped the minority who are intimidated to feel comfortable voting again, it would be worth it.

[inuvik]

My colleague just told me Rumsfeld just resigned, 5 minutes ago--we are on top of things here!


Also a real live filibuster that happened yesterday in our Parliament too over the softwood lumber agreement--my this is an exciting time for us political junkies!

(That's it. I'll try to stay more on topic now).

[Deleted]

It seems that the Republicans got their you-know-whats kicked!

Looks like we'll no longer be living in Pottersville!!!!!!!!!!!!

It IS a wonderful life!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[shmeep]

divinemrse said:

It seems that the Republicans got their you-know-whats kicked!

Looks like we'll no longer be living in Pottersville!!!!!!!!!!!!

It IS a wonderful life!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I share your glee. I haven't had so much fun watching election returns since 1992. I was especially glad because Maryland had me a bit worried this time. I couldn't figure out what was going on. We're just about the bluest state there is and yet those Republicans were really too close for comfort. Steele ran a very good campaign and his commercials were very humorous and endearing. The first time I saw one, I didn't know who he was and I sincerely hoped he was on my side because I knew it would be hard to beat that--AND he was an African-American Republican running in a very political Black state. Of course his ads--and those of his opponent--turned ugly before too long, but it was a very well-fought race. And I'm thrilled that our Republican Governor got the boot as well and now O'Malley is in. I saw O'Malley's big campaign bus parked outside the Baja Fresh in Silver Spring last week when we were there and I really wanted to meet him, but I didn't get to.

I know it is still too close to call in the "Makaka" Allen/Webb race. I heard it was decided for Webb, but that Allen hasn't conceded. It really is so close that there may not be an answer until December so we may have to wait until then to know who will control the Senate. Good luck with that recount! And it looks like Joe Lieberman will suddenly be extremely important in such a tight Senate. Part of me really dislikes him and wishes Ned Lamont had won while another part of me is kind of glad he got to stay in. I can't explain why.

This is the one race that made me sad:

In Illinois, Democrat Tammy Duckworth, the fighter pilot who lost both her legs in Iraq, conceded defeat just after midnight, losing her bid to take over the district that had been represented by retiring abortion foe Henry Hyde. During her concession speech, the crowd chanted: "2008, 2008."

I saw this woman at Borders in Silver Spring while she was going through rehab at Walter Reed and then I saw her on CSPAN not to long after that and was very impressed by her as a person. I was even more impressed when I heard she was running for Congress as a Democrat so I'm saddened by her defeat.

[Eyphur]

Yesterday was my first time using the electronic voting machines. Previously I had used the punch cards. I prefer the old method although I didn't have any problems using the electronics. I guess I prefer the tangible things.

[mlm828]

Last night was the first time in a long time I didn't go to bed on election night totally depressed. It is so encouraging to see the pendulum swing back after all this time. I only hope that in the next two years some of the damage done in the past six years can be remedied.

Closer to home, I'm not looking forward to another four years of "Ahh-nold," and Brian Bilboob -- who may not even live in the district, by the way -- was re-elected to Congress from California's 50th Congressional District. The only good thing that can be said about him is that he isn't as bad as "Duke" Cunningham -- at least, not as far as we know.

Where I live, there was electronic voting, but people had the option of paper ballots on request. After some hesitation, I went ahead and voted electronically, since there would be a "paper trail" of my votes. But I wonder whether the paper trail would be any good if the system was hacked. It seems that anyone who wanted to manipulate the system could manipulate the paper trail, too. I'll be interested to see what, if any, problems come to light in the coming days and weeks.