U.S. Election Day In Progress: What's Been Your Experience? 821
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."
GA- not allowed to vote due to id problems (Score:4, Interesting)
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
VA disenfranchised (Score:5, Interesting)
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.
Voted by mail (Score:5, Interesting)
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
SC - 1 1/2 hour wait. not too bad (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:VA disenfranchised (Score:5, Interesting)
Happened to me as well. I moved a few months ago, went to the DMV to renew my license with the new address and register to vote.
Never got my new drivers license. Never got a registration card. I checked today, I was never officially registered. I'll be checking my debit card records to see if they took the money for it - if not, I will be contacting a lawyer.
I will also be filing a complaint at http://www.sbe.virginia.gov/Complaints.html [virginia.gov]. Might not do much good, but I'll do it anyways.
(Not that my vote would've mattered much - I was going to vote Libertarian)
CA - took ten minutes to vote (Score:4, Interesting)
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 :)
Why I do not vote (Score:3, Interesting)
Why I Do Not Vote by Michael S. Rozeff
http://www.lewrockwell.com/rozeff/rozeff224.html [lewrockwell.com]
I'm voting for Johnson, and I live in a very close swing state, and I truly hope the balance hangs on less votes than the 3rd parties get, but I like Rozeff's article anyway.
Two choice quotes by Mr Rozeff:
"I don't believe in representative government under our Constitution. The Constitution has no legitimate authority over me. I have never signed off on it."
"I do not wish to endorse a system that has produced and continues to produce what I think are pragmatically bad results."
I particularly like the first quote. Kind of mind expanding. The D and R parties want to use the constitution as toilet paper, other than the R have been beating the drum for almost 5 years that Obama is a Kenyan, and that little clause about prez being native born is sacred, but the rest of the constitution and BoR is just used Charmin so don't worry about it. Yet in the long run, what do I care for or against the constitution, Like Rozeff writes, I never signed the damn thing anyway and if I wrote it, it would look a bit different. So as a thought experiment, say he came from Kenya, what do I care, the cleaning lady at work is an illegal el salvadorian and no one cares much and its not my rule, nor do I much care about that particular rule.
There's been a couple other good articles along these lines on zerohedge recently, but I didn't save the links. Oh well.
Been There, Done That (Score:5, Interesting)
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 [washingtonpost.com]
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 [virginia.gov] 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?
Columbus, OH Voter (Score:5, Interesting)
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).
Re:OH - Mentor (Score:4, Interesting)
Not quite, according to salon.com [salon.com], "uncertified, 'experimental' software patches have been installed on machines in 39 counties of the key swing state."
NV - Glad it's OVER! (Score:4, Interesting)
God I hate elections. The one bright side is the place I voted early at had no line and friendly staff!
Re:DC - won't vote, doesn't matter (Score:5, Interesting)
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 [sptimes.com]
Re:UK - Not pressing any buttons today... (Score:5, Interesting)
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.
WI (Score:4, Interesting)
Voted about 7pm. I didn't vote for ANY democrats of republicans. Voted for libertarians if available. If only democrat and/or republican as choices I used the "write in" and put in things like "Bozo the clown" "Mr. Ed" etc.. No I didn't wast my vote - I'm one of the 46%!.
46 percent of Americans want a third party
http://dailycaller.com/2012/09/12/poll-46-percent-of-americans-want-a-third-party/ [dailycaller.com]
WA - It cost me money... (Score:2, Interesting)
...well, the cost of a stamp anyway. Washington is an all mail-in ballot state but it's not postage pre-paid. :( Our state does send out a full voters guide though so you can educate yourself pretty decently if you want to. They send different versions to different regions and despite forgetting a county position in my version, I think they did well covering the issues & candidates.
The conflated reports of voter fraud and the new ID requirements are just covers for organized disenfranchisement campaigns. If voter fraud truly did occur, it seems to me a mail-in ballot state would be more susceptible than in-person poll stations but I've never heard a peep from the voter fraud evangelists in that regard.