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I Voted!

themetfairy Nov 04 2008 05:59 AM

Well, not yet. I just got in from my jog. But as soon as I shower I'm going to walk to my polling place (it's less than two miles away, and I've been trying to get as much exercise as possible lately) and cast my vote. When I get back I'll report on how the lines were, etc. Report in from your local precincts!

HahnSolo Nov 04 2008 06:26 AM

Mrs. Solo reported long lines when the polls opened (about a 20-minute wait) at 6 AM. When I went at about 7:15, lines were much shorter. I waited less than 5 minutes. Our polling place is in a large hall, so even if there are a lot of people there, it doesn't feel too crowded.

Vince Coleman Firecracker Nov 04 2008 06:43 AM

Took me ten minutes this morning, about half of which was spent trying to make sense of the non-VA proposition in Nassau County. I would up abstaining from that one.

John Cougar Lunchbucket Nov 04 2008 06:57 AM

I went with WarGames and The Breakfast Club. Feels great.

metsmarathon Nov 04 2008 07:05 AM

i voted. it was quick, easy and electronic. my one complaint was at the very end, is said to push the red "Vote" button after i reviewed my ballot. i looked all over the screen to find it, and then, after a brief moment of supreme clarity, i realized that it was the big blinking "Vote" button above the screen on the frame of the voting machine, and not on the electronic screen itself. i felt as if that should've been mentioned in the instructions. regardless, i've avoided disenfranchisement for this year. yay.

Benjamin Grimm Nov 04 2008 07:08 AM

Now go to Starbucks and get yourself a coffee! I'm going to try to head over there at around 10:30. (To vote. I don't know if I'll bother with the coffee.)

metirish Nov 04 2008 07:11 AM

I've still not become a citizen , shame on me. No free coffee for me .

Benjamin Grimm Nov 04 2008 07:13 AM

Actually, I just found out that Starbucks had to revise the promotion. Now the free cup of coffee is available to anyone who asks. Apparently it's illegal to give any kind of payment for voting. And that includes coffee.

seawolf17 Nov 04 2008 07:16 AM

Done, and done. (Voting and coffee.) (MiniWolf says he voted for Abby, the Count, and Cookie Monster.)

holychicken Nov 04 2008 07:31 AM

Did you all get the day off? My bastard boss is scared that if he gives the day off, all democrats are going to vote 8 times. I will vote after work, I hope the lines aren't too long.

metirish Nov 04 2008 07:32 AM

It's a floating holiday at my hob so I worked today and am using it to take off the day after Thanksgiving, and there is no one else here so things are very quite.

Rockin' Doc Nov 04 2008 07:58 AM

Voted last Thursday on my lunch hour. Waited no more than 5 minutes to get my ballot and an open polling booth.

Methead Nov 04 2008 08:00 AM

Voted around 6:30 this morning. Much longer lines than I remember from previous elections, but still only 10 minutes or so. It will probably be pretty crazy after work though.

OlerudOwned Nov 04 2008 08:02 AM

Voted through Georgia's Advance Voting system during the daytime on Halloween. Long line, but I was there with friends and we passed the time. I think I was written in for county coroner.

Benjamin Grimm Nov 04 2008 08:08 AM

Pennsylvania doesn't have early voting, so we all have to vote today. Early voting is a great idea. Maybe weeks early is a bit much, but the polls should have been open everywhere this past weekend.

themetfairy Nov 04 2008 08:23 AM

My neighbor and I walked to the polling place. There were two polling districts there. The other one had a line, but it couldn't have been more than 5 minutes long. My district had two lines, broken up alphabetically - I walked right up to the front of my line, while my neighbor (whose last name begins with a letter at the back of the alphabet) had to wait 2-3 minutes. D-Dad reports that he had a minimal line when he voted, which was an hour before I did. Our daughter voted in her first election via absentee ballot. Gimme my Starbucks!

Willets Point Nov 04 2008 08:37 AM

Went to the polls around 7:30 am and there was about a 45 minute wait. Nice people in the line who enjoyed watching Peter pull off his shoes and socks. I let Peter pick my Presidential vote, and since he kept saying "Ba-ba" I voted for Bob Barr. Oh wait, maybe he was saying "Ba-ma". D'oh! Anyhow, I really voted for John Kerry. I didn't get a sticker and feel ripped off.

Benjamin Grimm Nov 04 2008 09:13 AM

I was in and out of there in about 20 minutes. A lot of people, but the lines were moving along. Everything seemed to be well-organized. And I got my free coffee. I'm drinking it now!

Gwreck Nov 04 2008 09:15 AM

20 minutes is about what it took in my district, too. 100 degree fever couldn't keep me away, even if there are essentially no contested races in my district.

John Cougar Lunchbucket Nov 04 2008 09:36 AM

Dispatch from Wifey's blackberry: ]The line is v. Long. ... I came by at :8:30 and people said they had been waiting for an hour. I am something like #37 from the door. No idea how many people are inside. The news is indicating that lines and broken machines will get worse as the day goes on, so I decided to stick it out now. My advice would be to come out to the polls as early as possible.

metsguyinmichigan Nov 04 2008 09:45 AM

I spent about 45 minutes in line. Not too bad. The polling place is in a church were I used to be on Church Council, and our family left because of disagreements with the pastor, so it's always a bit of a bummer going back in there.

Rockin' Doc Nov 04 2008 11:07 AM

metsguyinMI -"I spent about 45 minutes in line. Not too bad." 45 minutes is not bad? Really? I don'trecall ever waiting more than 10 minutes to vote in my life (and I've been voting since the late 70's). There are 60,00 people in the city limits and the city is divided into 7 voting precincts. Long waits (> 15 minutes) are extremely rare. There is something to say small city, southern efficiency.

Nymr83 Nov 04 2008 11:08 AM

metsguyinmichigan wrote: The polling place is in a church were I used to be on Church Council, and our family left because of disagreements with the pastor, so it's always a bit of a bummer going back in there. I don't think a church is an appropriate place for polling. Use the local high school's gymnasium.

Farmer Ted Nov 04 2008 11:12 AM

Waited 15 minutes to vote. Thoroughly bummed that is was a fill-in-the-dot scantron vote. Toddler Ted loved the touchscreen. She freaked out. The poll monitor asked if I needed help. I said "yeah, the kid wants the modern technology back. You're freaking her out with this antique." Voted no on a $400 million bond referendum to improve sewer and water lines. I thought water came in plastic bottles at Wal-mart?

themetfairy Nov 04 2008 12:13 PM

Rockin' Doc wrote: metsguyinMI -"I spent about 45 minutes in line. Not too bad." 45 minutes is not bad? Really? I don'trecall ever waiting more than 10 minutes to vote in my life (and I've been voting since the late 70's). There are 60,00 people in the city limits and the city is divided into 7 voting precincts. Long waits (> 15 minutes) are extremely rare. There is something to say small city, southern efficiency. I remember voting in the 1992 election on the Upper West Side with my 3-year-old daughter in tow. We decided to let her vote with us on our way to preschool. I can't recall exactly how long we stood in line, but it was somewhere between 30 and 60 minutes. At least she enjoyed pulling the lever when we finally got into the booth. BTW, since the time that we moved they made our old building a voting district unto itself, with voting in the lobby (it's a HUGE building). That would have been very useful back in 1992.

Frayed Knot Nov 04 2008 12:14 PM

I vote in a little firehouse (size of an extra-large two-car garage) that's around the corner where there is never more than a handful of people there at any one time. Most years I go from my couch to vote and back to couch inside 10 minutes. This morning there were 3 people in front of me and for some reason it took 15+ minutes to get them all through - and as far as I can tell it didn't even involve any corruption.

DocTee Nov 04 2008 12:35 PM

My wife spent 45 minutes in line at 7am... I slept in, arrived at 9 and was whisked through in under 10. Yay for laziness!

metsguyinmichigan Nov 04 2008 12:59 PM

My wife just went to the same place I did, and was done in about 20 minutes. Guess it's all a matter of timing. I usually bring the kids and let them do the actual filling in the dots. My daugher spoiled a ballot once, but we got over it. But now that they're both in secondary school they get up too early, and afterschool hours, I think, are going to be mobbed. I used to love it when my parents let me come voting with them, back when they had those massive machines where you'd pull the giant lever and the curtin would close. I used to be allowed to pull the little levers inside. These new optical scan ballots just aren't as fun. BTW, my parents live in Palm Beach County, home of the infamous 2000 butterfly ballot. They have a voting machine set up in a local museum, and three or four years ago we went there. I had each of the kids stand in front, and I said, "Say you wanted to vote for Al Gore. Which hole would you punch?" Both of them got it right. Didn't seem that complicated.

Benjamin Grimm Nov 04 2008 01:03 PM

Maybe they should have only allowed children to vote.

Nymr83 Nov 04 2008 01:07 PM

maybe they should use 3 types of ballots at all polling stations. if you dont vote for the same person on all 3 your vote doesn't count because you're obviously a dope. not legal, just a fun idea.

TransMonk Nov 04 2008 01:15 PM

I voted over lunch (about 12:45 local time). I was the only voter at my polling place and I was already registered, so from walking in the door to walking out the door was under 5 minutes.

soupcan Nov 04 2008 01:33 PM

I wanted to close the office but my office manager disagreed. I took the day off anyway. Voted, no wait time whatsoever. Starbucks in hand.

Fman99 Nov 04 2008 01:57 PM

Voted at 7:15 AM. The line was one person in front of me.

A Boy Named Seo Nov 04 2008 03:08 PM

I went at 11am and was done by 11:10. My voting place was the small garage attached to a small house with (I think) 5 voting stations. Ran into my old neighbor and his wife and baby. Spent longer chatting them up than I did voting on our craploads of propositions. Edit: Then cashed in on my free cuppa Pike coffee at Starbux. Never get their coffee. That's a tasty roast, man!

soupcan Nov 04 2008 03:13 PM

We had two propositions that I was unaware of until I was having to vote on them. #1 was - Should people who are under 18 years old be elgible to vote in primaries if the general election is held after they turn 18? I voted 'fuck no, you can only vote if you're 18.' #2 (if I understood it correctly) was - Should their be a public referendum to amend the state constitution? I voted 'no' on that too because my quarter came up heads. A Boy Named Seo wrote: That's a tasty roast, man! Yeah, right? I agree!

themetfairy Nov 04 2008 03:25 PM

I'm opposed to the Pike blend on principle. I go there for the high test. Unless you're telling me that it's really tasty....

metirish Nov 04 2008 04:00 PM

I feel like a total tool asking this but as I understand it felons are not allowed to vote but I just saw on the News a story about ex-cons voting. What is the difference? Am I terribly mixed up on this?

Nymr83 Nov 04 2008 04:03 PM

well you might have been convicted of a misdemeanor and done time in jail (thus making you an "ex-con") or perhaps there are laws restoring voting rights to certain categories of offenders. It could also be a fraud story.

metirish Nov 04 2008 04:05 PM

The story was on NBC 4 and the guy had served 17 years , lives in NYC.

A Boy Named Seo Nov 04 2008 04:05 PM

Damned ACORN.

Frayed Knot Nov 04 2008 04:18 PM

In Chicago being a felon means you get to vote twice. Three times if you're also dead.

Vic Sage Nov 05 2008 08:36 AM

i voted in an elementary school in New Rochelle, after work, around 7pm. I walked in, voted, walked out. Waiting time = 0 minutes. the voting both is still the old "pull the big lever to close the curtain" kind, which i like. I love this country.

metirish Nov 05 2008 08:47 AM

] Chris (Mad Dog) Russo, Sirius XM sports radio: "I voted for McCain. Tough call. Eenie-meenie-miney-moe thing. I have no problem redistributing wealth, but I think there is an element of people sitting on their fannies. 'Lets go tax the wealthy up and down to make sure the guy on Main Street can sleep until 10 o'clock in the morning.' That kind of thing. I think that element steered me to McCain."

John Cougar Lunchbucket Nov 05 2008 08:49 AM

Russo I'm sure included his disgust over famous people like Bruce Springsteen daring to make their political beliefs known. Dope.

Edgy DC Nov 05 2008 09:17 AM

It looks like those forearms are attached to a different body.