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All Purpose Election Day Thread

ScarletKnight41 Nov 08 2005 10:40 AM

I voted this morning at my polling place (the firehouse), and then headed over to the post office (cooby - keep an eye on your mail this week), and I noticed a Doug Forrster bus in the municipal complex. Forrester lives in my township, so I assumed he was getting ready to hit the road for some literal last minute campaigning. But then I noticed a couple of trucks with satellite dishes on top, and when I came out of the post office there were even more news vans there. It turns out that our local senior center is a polling place, and my guess is that the cameramen were waiting for the obligatory shot of the candidate going into the booth to vote (presumably for himself). At least this means that the friggin' television ads are almost over.

Nymr83 Nov 08 2005 12:01 PM

i'm only 22 but that was one of those negative races i can remember. i live in nyc and we all know who is winning that race, i wouldnt vote at all but the polling station is in my school so what the heck.

ScarletKnight41 Nov 08 2005 12:07 PM

I think the only election I ever skipped was an uncontested primary last year. I just couldn't figure out the point of bothering with that. BTW, in the past I used to jog on Tuesdays, so I'd fit in voting in the middle of my run. This week I'm on a different schedule, so I didn't run and I was in regular clothes, etc. while voting. All of the old people who man the polling place were giving me a good-natured hard time about not jogging in to vote this time <g>

Willets Point Nov 08 2005 12:17 PM

That must be nice to have the poll workers recognize you. I always have the small irritation that I live on a small street with a name that sounds like one of the major streets in my city so the poll workers are always looking for me in the book on that other street despite my trying to explain that I live on a different street. It doesn't help that they always seem to have the half-deaf woman working at the check-in.

metirish Nov 08 2005 12:23 PM

Well I can't vote but today is a holiday for me...the Jersey race sure was ugly...

SwitchHitter Nov 08 2005 01:55 PM

For me it was all statewide crap, since I don't live in the city. But some of it needed to be voted against so I was there.

cooby Nov 08 2005 08:28 PM

Last year my daughter was excited to vote in her first Presidential election. We went up to the fire hall (two blocks away) where she was smugly told she lives in the OTHER Pine Creek Township. "Uh, no I don't" Damn courthouse screwed up her registration. But then, what kind of lameass county has two townships with the same name. We were both furious, but we drove to the OTHER Pine Creek Township, and she voted. She lives in Delaware County now, presumably they are more civilized.

ScarletKnight41 Nov 08 2005 08:44 PM

New Jersey has something like six Washington Townships. What is it with the naming imparied?

Willets Point Nov 08 2005 09:25 PM

The mayor of our city is running for reelection unopposed and I didn't really feel like voting for him so I did a write-in vote for my wife. She seems pretty flattered.

Nymr83 Nov 08 2005 10:41 PM

Willets Point wrote: The mayor of our city is running for reelection unopposed and I didn't really feel like voting for him so I did a write-in vote for my wife. She seems pretty flattered. willets is trying to invent a new way to get your wife to sleep with you: "hey hunny, how was your day?" "great, i voted for you for mayor because i thought you were prettier and better qualified than the candidates" "really? me? you know, the kids aren't home..."

Willets Point Nov 09 2005 11:14 AM

The incumbent Mayor of my city only managed to get 70% of the vote, the rest going to write-ins and blanks. That's pretty pathetic for someone running unopposed.

Johnny Dickshot Nov 09 2005 11:24 AM

So the Dem guvs win in Jersey and Virginny. In 93, the GOPs won both states just prior to the midterm GOP sweeps. I believe Sergio Ferrer outscored Fernando Ferrer in my district.

sharpie Nov 09 2005 11:44 AM

i got back in town too late to vote which was ok with me. I don't vote for Republicans and I honestly didn't think Freddy Ferrer would've been a good mayor. I'm glad the transportation bond act passed.

Yancy Street Gang Nov 09 2005 12:13 PM

And the school board in Dover, PA, the Intelligent Design gang, got voted out of office.

Willets Point Nov 09 2005 12:20 PM

It should be noted amid the hullabaloo that Virginia's current governor Mark Warner (elected in 2001) is also a Democrat, so this is no tectonic change. I was reading that an article that stated the Republican candidate ran ads saying the Democratic candidate would refuse to execute Hitler. That's about the lowest thing I've ever heard. No wonder he lost.

Edgy DC Nov 09 2005 01:11 PM

Kaine's ads defending himself were pretty funny also.

Edgy DC Nov 09 2005 01:15 PM

Waht's that rule? The one that says that, if, in any argument, you invoke Hitler or the Nazis in order to distort your point, the argument is declared over and you the loser? Virginia press and, subsequently, the voters seemed to practice that.

MFS62 Nov 09 2005 01:25 PM

Here's something that may never have happened on this scale before. The Mayor of Middletown,CT got re-elected. Nothing new you say? Well it seems he was not the candidate of any party (lost the nomination in his own party). But his supporters urged him to run anyhow, and he won as a write-in candidate. Later

Willets Point Nov 09 2005 01:30 PM

]What's that rule? The one that says that, if, in any argument, you invoke Hitler or the Nazis in order to distort your point, the argument is declared over and you the loser? Godwin's Law. You'll remember it bit me in the ass in a totally failed attempt to satirize it.

Nymr83 Nov 09 2005 01:34 PM

sharpie wrote: i got back in town too late to vote which was ok with me. I don't vote for Republicans and I honestly didn't think Freddy Ferrer would've been a good mayor. I'm glad the transportation bond act passed. that is a pretty dumb attitude. People who vote for candidates by party instead of by what they bring to the table are one of the problems with our political system.

sharpie Nov 09 2005 01:51 PM

So, I'm "dumb", Nymr? My answer, granted, was partly hyperbole. I was offended by Bloomberg's massive spending, I think his education "reforms" are rather specious and I don't like it that he gave so much to the Bush campaign. All that aside, he's probably the best mayor we've had in many years. Notwithstanding that, we unfortunately are living through an era of absurd partistanship, and the fault there lies squarely with the Republicans circa the Contract with America where Newt Gingrich opined that Democrats were somehow immoral and bad for the country. I'd like nothing more than to go back to the pre-1993 era when compromising with the other side wasn't viewed as some sort of treachery but unless and until that day happens, those guys wouldn't get my vote for dogcatcher. That good enough or am I still one of the "problems of our political system?"

Nymr83 Nov 09 2005 02:09 PM

sharpie wrote: So, I'm "dumb", Nymr? My answer, granted, was partly hyperbole. I was offended by Bloomberg's massive spending, I think his education "reforms" are rather specious and I don't like it that he gave so much to the Bush campaign. All that aside, he's probably the best mayor we've had in many years. Notwithstanding that, we unfortunately are living through an era of absurd partistanship, and the fault there lies squarely with the Republicans circa the Contract with America where Newt Gingrich opined that Democrats were somehow immoral and bad for the country. I'd like nothing more than to go back to the pre-1993 era when compromising with the other side wasn't viewed as some sort of treachery but unless and until that day happens, those guys wouldn't get my vote for dogcatcher. That good enough or am I still one of the "problems of our political system?" your original statement was dumb, that doesnt make you dumb, if had any legitimate grievances with Bloomberg (as you now say you do) thats fine, i dont have to agree with them for them to be legitimate, but if your sole objection to Bloomberg is "he's a Repblican" i consider that a dumb attitude, yes.

Edgy DC Nov 10 2005 10:01 AM

Ninety-Two Percent of Texans Did Not Vote to Support Gay Marriage Ban; President of Hope for Peace & Justice Notes Marginal Support For Amendment 11/9/2005 3:16:00 PM -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- To: Metro and State Desks Contact: David Plunkett for Hope for Peace & Justice, 214-351-1901 ext. 203 or 214-280-4725 (cell) DALLAS, Nov. 9 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Reverend Michael S. Piazza, president of Hope for Peace & Justice, a faith-based organization headquartered in Dallas, Texas, noted today that only eight percent of all Texans support banning gay marriage in the state. Of the more than 22 million citizens of Texas, only 1.7 million voted in favor of Constitutional Amendment Two, the so-called Texas "Marriage Amendment." The proposition was a last-minute proposal by a legislature that was consistently unable to address actual state problems like school funding. They were, however, able to pass a proposed constitutional amendment that now leaves lesbian and gay taxpayers without the same civil rights as heterosexual taxpayers.

ScarletKnight41 Nov 10 2005 10:24 AM

On Tuesday, about 7:30, while I was in the middle of studying, the phone rang. It was somebody reminding me that the polls were still open and that I should be sure to vote. Even if I hadn't voted, was I suddenly going to stop everything I was doing and rush out just in time to get there when the polls were closing at 8:00?

MFS62 Nov 10 2005 12:28 PM

Correction to my earlier post in this thread. The write-in candidate won in Waterbury (and even larger city than Middletown). Later

TheOldMole Nov 10 2005 02:12 PM

My county legislature went Democratic for the frist time in 30 years, and the second time ever--and by a huge margin. My town, which has 4 county legislators, went from 4-0 GOP to 3-1 GOP. What I thought was interesting, reading local election results, was how little straight-ballot voting their appeared to be.

Nymr83 Nov 10 2005 02:21 PM

thats a good thing, it lets you know that people were hopefully using hteir brains instead of just buying a party line. i think candidates should appear on ballots alphabetically and sans party affiliations.