I just voted.
Have you voted yet or are you all too busy standing in front of the polling place wearing berets?
Consider this an open thread for any voting stories.
Reader Interactions
315Comments
Comments are closed.
Come for the politics, stay for the snark.
So it was an October Surprise A Day, like an Advent calendar but for crime.
Hi god, it’s us. Thanks a heap, you’re having a great week and it’s only Thursday!
Too often we hand the biggest microphones to the cynics and the critics who delight in declaring failure.
A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals
There are some who say that there are too many strawmen arguments on this blog.
Someone should tell Republicans that violence is the last refuge of the incompetent, or possibly the first.
A democracy can’t function when people can’t distinguish facts from lies.
Baby steps, because the Republican Party is full of angry babies.
Damn right I heard that as a threat.
There is no right way to do the wrong thing.
Another missed opportunity for Jamie Dimon to just shut the fuck up.
There’s always a light at the end of the frog.
Live so that if you miss a day of work people aren’t hoping you’re dead.
The line between political reporting and fan fiction continues to blur.
Be a traveling stable for those who can’t find room at the inn.
Innocent people don’t delay justice.
An unpunished coup is a training exercise.
An almost top 10,000 blog!
We cannot abandon the truth and remain a free nation.
They were going to turn on one another at some point. It was inevitable.
Nothing worth doing is easy.
Quote tweet friends, screenshot enemies.
Their boy Ron is an empty plastic cup that will never know pudding.
There are a lot more evil idiots than evil geniuses.
MMonides
My polling place was moved this time to a small, woodland elementary school staffed exclusively by centaurs and shy wood nymphs. Only got lost once and nearly hit a deer (or perhaps a Sasquatch) trying to find it.
Otherwise all went well.
jwb
I voted two weeks ago. I do think I’ll don my election intimidation beret, however.
Tom Hilton
If anyone needs any additional motivation, this instructive video might be helpful.
Comrade Dread
No, I’m gathering my secret illegal alien armies now.
We have mobile vans full of fake mustaches, wigs, and costumes, set up outside the polling places, so they can run out, change clothes and run back in and vote again.
Tim
I’m feeling awesome: Not participating in a corrupt process, and at the same time, withholding my vote from my former and very worthless party (Dems) feels great.
Especially while millions of silly zombies go to the polls and pretend it matters. Tools.
lamh31
On my way into work today, I noticed that ALL the 4 largest nationally syndicated urban radio programs (Tom Joyner, Micheal Baisden, Rickey Smiley, Steve Harvey) were doing Election Day coverage. At least one of them has all of their usual morning crew personalities calling in from different cities and states to let listeners know what’s going on.
Like I’ve been saying for a while, Af Am are engaged this for this midterm election. The DNC/OfA strategy of concentrating on Af Am voters will work I believe. It’s really all up to the “average” white voter to GOTV. Of course, we won’t know til maybe early Wednesday exact nubmers, but I’m just saying don’t be surprised to hear that Af Am voting numbers for midterm elections increased!
Steve
I voted after dropping off my daughter at school. Since New Jersey doesn’t feature the “Rent Is 2 Damn High Party,” I had the alternative choices of the “Gravity Buoyancy Solution Party” and the “Politicians Are Crooks Party.” Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to go reanimate some corpses for the afternoon session.
TheMightyTrowel
I voted last week…. by email! Madness!
hedgehog
Mailed mine in 2 weeks ago. Fingers crossed for Hickenlooper and Bennett.
morzer
Like a good, small-town American should, I wore my SS Wiking uniform so that no delicate white folk would have conniptions.
Perry Como
I’ve been cage fighting voters. Amidoinitrite?
Max
Voted for Patty Murray, Denny Heck and to allow private stores to sell hooch in Washington State. Voted against the state income tax on high income people.
My husband (yes, I’ve gotten married), voted the same, with the exception of the hooch. For some reason, he wants to keep liquor sales under state control. He hasn’t voted since Clinton, so my gentle nagging closed the enthusiasm gap in at least one Washington household.
CT Voter
I voted just now in CT.
There were many elderly people there, and some who seemed to be new to the voting process.
No berets, though. Just a few campaign workers shivering in the cold outside the school, and a bunch of 10 year old munchkins trying to sell Girl Scout cookies. I think I’ll call the voter fraud hotline and complain about how our children isn’t learning.
Shinobi
I voted. One of my friends is not voting because she ” honestly doesn’t believe in any of the candidates.” First people deny global warming, and then they deny that the candidates for office even exist! What is next.
Seriously though she’s a libertarian, so I guess I don’t really mind.
jrg
I early voted.
Odie Hugh Manatee
Done voted over a week ago so today is being spent setting up a newer linux distro, Apache, Samba, a bunch of little crap and my six gameservers. Then I get to put the interior back in our Mustang since I finished my electrical system modifications. After six tonight I get to call a number and see if my jury duty number has been called. I already know that if I get called in I will be sent home.
The prosecutors don’t like guys with pony tails to their waist. That’s ok, I don’t like assholes and that pony tail of mine is my asshole detector.
It has never failed me yet. If they don’t like it they always turn out to be assholes of one form or another. Being a DFH works for me.
James E. Powell
Like I’ve been saying for a while, Af Am are engaged this for this midterm election.
I want to believe this, but I have not heard or seen any evidence of it. I do wonder, in that kind of uncomfortable way that white guys wonder what Af/Am people are thinking, how teh great mass of Af/Am voters have felt about the relentless attacks on Obama, explicit attacks on his ‘otherness’ ie blackness, and how that affecting voting behavior. In that uncomfortable way I am totally clueless.
geg6
Good morning at the polling place.
No Teabaggers in sight. The only people outside of the polling place handing out literature were Dems. The only people inside voting were Dems. We all know each other and we all smiled at each other. Poll workers seemed cheerful and upbeat. Saw a new poll worker, much younger than our usual senior citizens who do that job every other election. That was the only thing that felt different and it might be a good thing.
chopper
just got back at 11. new machines. crazy.
LindaH
I voted last week. I LOVE Ohio’s early voting system. Now I have to force my daughter to the polls today, I could NOT get her to fill out the absentee form and get herself voted.
celticdragonchick
I’ll b voting right after my mineralogy class, then I am off to do some campaihn volunteer work ay another polling place.
Tom Hilton
Got to the polling place (in SF) minutes after it opened, and there were already 3-4 people ahead of me. Not like 2008, but it seems like more people than the garden variety elections they have (seemingly) every couple of weeks in this state.
Uloborus
@MMonides:
I am EXTREMELY fond of wood nymphs. I vote next to a bunch of Labavich. I will totally trade.
Anyone know a good site for election results?
david mizner
I’d have to be uncommonly apathetic not to vote: my polling place is in the lobby of my building.
ACORN told me to vote ten times so I did, three times for Van Jones.
Lev
California lets you be a permanent absentee voter, which is what I am, and I voted for Brown and Boxer. I have to say that I’m proud of my state: things are really fucking awful in California–unemployment is at about 11.5%, way more than the national average–but instead of getting pissed off at Obama and voting in Republicans, we’re sticking to our guns, electing good Democrats to the top spots. My only concern is that Brown/Boxer coattails won’t pull Jim Costa and Jerry McNerney across the finish line. I guess we shall see.
MattR
Voted in my condo complex in New Jersey while out walking the dog. No line at the polling place, but it did seem that I saw more cars pulling in and out of the lot than usual. (Or maybe I just picked a different time to vote this year)
geg6
@James E. Powell:
Just anecdotal, but other than the poll workers, my white face was the only white face in my polling place. I live in a small Western PA river town 30 miles north of Pittsburgh. The black population is about 8% of the population here. I’d say that’s a good sign. But, as I said, only anecdotal.
aimai
I voted a week ago. I vote a straight dem ticket these days–started my career voting for Anderson in the primary but since then I stay with the big guns–why can’t they make an ezy pass style voting form and just bank my vote for the foreseeable future. Like every two years they’d just count my vote for the dems and leave me out of it?
aimai
Rommie
My polling place wasn’t busy when I made my pre-dawn visit. Just me, Orion in the sky, and a couple of other half-awake folks when I got there. I was expecting a long line of righteous tea-
baggingpartying patriots. I guess Saving the USA could wait until sunrise.Sue
I was voter number 78, 20 minutes into the day. Even though I could have just done straight ticket, I took my time filling in each candidate’s circle. It felt good.
If Feingold pulls this off I will be so, so happy, but I’m bracing for the worst.
Glocksman
Voting took about 10 minutes waiting for the elderly voters already at the polls to figure out the electronic voting machines and less than a minute for me to cast my very first straight ticket vote (along with my vote on non partisan candidates and state constitutional questions).
I don’t mean to be condescending, but the iVotronic machines seem to me to be as simple to use as can possibly be, so why do older voters seem to take forever to use them in comparison to the time it took to vote via our old punchcard system?
Uloborus
@James E. Powell:
All I have are anecdotes, but I’m helping transport poor Af American voters to polling stations in their neighborhood. The only slow polling station I’ve seen was at the college.
Alwhite
I work too early to vote before so will hit it on the way home. Did drive past my polling place on the way in & there were about a dozen people waiting 15 minutes prior to open. Local radio had report at a polling place in an mostly AfAm neighborhood who reported people queuing up 40 minutes early! Probably just trying to get my hopes up before the big crash.
Anyone want to do an over under? The Rs need 40, have predicted 100 so lets draw the line at 70 net. Over or under?
I’m picking under but I’m an optimist 8-{D
El Cid
I’m still looking for my truncheon.
Vlad
I’m putting it off, because I still can’t figure out whether to vote for my awful Dem Rep (Altmire) or go with a blank ballot line. I know I shouldn’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good, but he’s a Blue Dog of the first water, and the only issues he’s been campaigning on are his vote to kill the health care bill, his attempt to get the border fence built with local steel, and his lack of interest in doing what Nancy Pelosi wants. I’m not even convinced that he’ll support Pelosi for speaker, if the House ends up close.
Wat do?
lacp
Got there about 7:15 and there was already a line. Wanted to stay and intimidate people after I pushed the button, but had to get to the office.
Culture of Truth
taking a break from black panthers duty
Emily L. Hauser/ellaesther
Anyone in Ilinois?
Here are the Independent Voters of Illinois endorsements: http://bit.ly/9b0Gwf
Here are the IVI’s policies: http://bit.ly/ct3xqS
ruemara
I’m proxy voting, since I’m the defacto voting explanation person for a circle of people. Sigh. I just need $1k to become a citizen but it might as well be a million. All I get to do is work on GOTV efforts. And there are no wood nymphs in my polling area, wtf?
VAdem
Voted – it seems like there were more African American voters at the polls than usual and it was busier than usual for a midterm – but it’s hard to tell.
Brachiator
I haven’t voted yet. I’m in California, and so had to mull over all the crazy ballot propositions.
I miss real newspapers. It was hard to find any reporting on the judicial nominees on the ballot, or much substantive discussion of any of the other offices besides senator and governor.
By the way, there is a poison pill initiative on the California ballot. If people want to vote for redistricting, Proposition 20, they should also vote against the counter measure, Proposition 27. Whichever one gets the most votes will become law, and Prop 27 seeks to negate Prop 20.
Dennis SGMM
First, I voted as Ray. Then I drove across town and voted as Jay. Headed north to vote as RJ and then down by the freeway I voted as Mister Johnson.
Silver Owl
Voted this morning.
geg6
@Vlad:
I feel your pain there. I, too, am cursed with this asshole as my rep. But I held my nose and took one for the team, even if he’s not sure which team he’s on. It’s a Dem seat and we need every fucking one, even asshole Altmire. The alternative is Speaker Boehner. It may be what we get anyway, but don’t leave any Dem votes by the wayside.
Martin
@Vlad: Well, with speaker Boehner, we’ll be fucking joyous if we get bills only as bad as what the Blue Dogs would pass.
Remember, Blue Dog >> Minority Party, at least in practical terms. I agree that it doesn’t always make it easier to vote, though.
Nied
A little food for thought: The consensus seems to be the Republicans will get a house majority somewhere in the teens. If Obama can pull the economy around (and with QE2 and further currency work on the way I’m actually feeling pretty bullish about that) and get’s GDP growing by 5-6% by 2012 he’d be doing as well as Reagan in ’84. In that election Reagan swung 16 house seats in his favor.
machine
Voted at 0712 Central. It’s a predominantly Hispanic neighborhood, but lo and behold there were two elderly, white poll watchers. One was interrupting the station staff, complaining a lot. He didn’t like that one of the staff was showing a guy how to dial up the Spanish version of the ballot on the e-Slate.
Myself and the other white boy there were unmolested.
BGinCHI
@Emily L. Hauser/ellaesther: Always a pleasure to vote for Jan Schakowsky.
And against Brady and Kirk.
Kirk Spencer
Voted at about 8 am. A poll count was done while I was there, so I know I was the 52 voter through the door. I was told that’s about normal for that time.
That’s north Georgia in an area where McCain barely beat Paul for second place. (Huckabee was the runaway leader here), and which went over 70% McCain against Obama.
Uloborus
@Vlad:
Vote against him in a primary. Right now he’ll still vote better than any Republican, who’ll be a zero percent vote-with-dems. Bitter pill to swallow, though.
Trinity
@lamh31: My sister is a journalist in SE Michigan. She went to the salon this morning and called me afterward to say it was the first time in her 15 years as a reporter there that she heard so many in the AA neighborhood talking about voting outside of a presidential election. She is pretty much a cynic but that really made her feel good. She is hopeful!
gbear
Voted before work in my heavily Dem district. Very calm. Didn’t have to stand in line but most of the voting booths were occupied, which is a good sign. We still use ballots where we fill in an oval with a marker. It is a pleasure to vote.
Wiesman
I just voted. This will most likely be the last time I vote at the polls, even though I really enjoy it and have resisted becoming a permanent vote by mail. (I’ll miss the sticker!)
I did my part to GOTV this year but I was distressed when I got a call on Saturday night from ANOTHER volunteer who called ME to make sure I voted. Ugh! That is one less person he could have called, and would have if I had been listed as voted by mail.
Sasha
Drove halfway to work, realized I forgot to vote first, drove back, voted, drove to work.
Florida should provide yet more political entertainment this election cycle.
Xecky Gilchrist
Early voted two weeks ago. Happily, the university campus where I work has been running a good and fairly well-publicized set of voting stations. I haven’t gone by and looked today, but there was a steady trickle of early voting all along.
Then again, I live in Utah, so the best we’re going to do is send Blue Dog Matheson back to congress along with (overwhelmingly likely) uberwingnut new senator Lee and the dipshit governor who replaced our now-Ambassador-to-China rare sane Republican guy Huntsman.
catclub
@Odie Hugh Manatee:
I have so far ( knock on wood) never been called for Jury Duty,
but if I decide I do not want to serve, I will generously offer to explain jury nullification to the rest of the jury pool.
dmsilev
@Emily L. Hauser/ellaesther: Chicago here. At about 7:30 this morning, I was voter number 30 in my precinct. My first time voting in this precinct (moved a few precincts over a couple of months ago), so I have no idea whether that’s a good or bad turnout for the morning.
Walking into work after voting, there was a guy standing at a major intersection asking every passer-by whether they had voted. He had some OFA paraphernalia and a list of nearby polling places, so there’s some evidence of your GOTV campaign in action.
dms
Mnemosyne
@Tim:
Yeah, look at these fools, getting themselves killed just because they thought voting was important. What idiots. They should have just stayed home.
And it’s not like anyone still tries to suppress votes in the 21st century. That’s just crazy talk!
Peter
I’ve got a friend with a problem. She wants to vote, but she just got back from living in Japan and she forgot to tell them not to mail her her ballot to Japan. Is there something she can do, or is she just screwed?
Eric S.
Nothing interesting happened when I voted this morning but my drinking buddy sent me this email.
FYI, this is in the DePaul neighborhood of Chicago.
curious
weather.com shows clear weather pretty much everywhere except louisiana, texas, and alabama. let’s hope the electoral predictions are as off as the dire rain predictions of last week.
Steve
@Vlad: In a close context, control of the chamber trumps all other considerations. Even if the Speaker was some Democrat other than Pelosi (I personally think that is a fantasy scenario), having Democrats in charge of all the committees and setting the legislative agenda is huge.
I’m not thrilled with my own representative over his opposition to net neutrality and other corporate-cozy positions, but if I do anything other than vote for him I’m basically helping Darrell Issa get subpoena power. No thanks.
Mnemosyne
@Peter:
She should check with her elections board and see if there’s a provisional ballot she can fill out. Otherwise, I’m afraid she may be screwed.
JGabriel
I heart Roseanne Cash:
.
Tonybrown74
People started flowing into my polling place (primarily African American) around 7:30 this morning. So I am cautiously optimistic.
Also, traveling to work afterward, one polling place in the South End had a nice long line of young professionals waiting patiently to vote.
I live in Massachusetts, so we may be a different breed here.
Very Reverend Crimson Fire of Compassion
Voted before work this a.m. No drama. Lots of cars in the lot, smiling volunteers, lots of folks voting. Only one teabagger-type scowling at me from across the room (they can tell).
Chat Noir
Voter #125 in my precinct (my Congressional district is MI-9). Straight ticket Dem although I filled the oval for each candidate. I can’t imagine not voting. The first election I was able to vote in was in 1986 at my dorm at Michigan State University; haven’t missed a primary or general election since.
Catsy
@Tim:
On behalf of everyone who actually gives a shit about the country and their civic duty, I’d like to both cordially invite you to go fuck yourself, and thank you for removing from the political process someone who is clearly too stupid to deserve the vote. The law forbids us from establishing a literacy and civics test for the franchise, so it’s always nice when the illiterate and ignorant voluntarily surrender their rights.
Whatever damage the Republicans do for the next two years isn’t on Obama, Jane Hamsher, or even Joe Fucking Lieberman. It’s on assholes like you who can’t tell the difference between bad and worse.
And to the topic, I just voted by mail.
Punchy
So my wife raises a ruckus by asking for assistance interpreting the wording of some f’ed up state consty amendy. All the polling judges go apoplectic b/c one volunteer didn’t know he couldn’t help her out, and he tried. Meanwhile, I got 15 mins to a company CC and there other voters in line a mile long, and everyone’s barking at each other.
Damn women.
You Don't Say
I am about to leave to vote, and I want to say that if Sharron Angle wins, I vow, as one of her constituents, to do something at least weekly, if not daily, to convey to her my utter contempt for her wingnut policies and prescriptions.
tamied
It took me all of 6 minutes to vote and that included walking across the parking lot to get into the building (ignoring the teabagger waving at me from across the lot).
Jewish Steel
I am wearing a beret outside my poling place but since I am also smoking Gitaines it’s pretty obvs that I want to discuss Derrida.
geg6
@Mnemosyne:
I’m with you. Nothing so disgusting as some asshole crowing about not voting, as if it was something to be proud of. Dick. When people have fought and died for the right to vote, the biggest assholes are those who act as if they fought and died for nothing. Sorry to all the good white males out there, but only a white male would say or do such a thing. Because only white males have no fear of ever losing their franchise and have never had to fight to get it, either.
BGinCHI
@dmsilev: North side. Voted at 10:30 and I was # 175.
Quiet there but it always is at that time.
sstarr
Everyone get ready for a frustratingly slow count in Washington!!!! If control of the Senate comes down to Patty Murray we may not know for weeks. The rules state that you have to mail your ballot so that it’s postmarked today, so ballots could trickle in to the election board for three or four days.
In the past the late ballots have always leaned towards Democrats. Part of the problem is that small Counties count ballots quickly, but in the Seattle area they are chronically understaffed and count very slowly. If Rossi (the Republican Senate challenger) is ahead by a small margin on election night he will likely lose as late ballots are counted in King County. Get ready for the great Washington State Ballot Counting Scandal!
gogol's wife
@JGabriel:
Great story. I’m about to go vote.
Brien Jackson
I’m usually the first to make fun of the “Republicans and Democrats are exactly the same” types, but, in my case, all of our county commissioner candidates are promising they won’t vote for increased property taxes on McMansion owners, so our county will continue to have no money, my two Republican state legislatures are running unopposed, my Blue Dog Congressman votes with the Republicans everytime it matters anyway, and voting for our Democratic governor and senator would be superfluous.
So I’m probably not going to the trouble of dragging 3 kids to the polling place. Yay irony.
Odie Hugh Manatee
It’s supposed to be in the mid 60’s to low 70’s here on the Oregon coast today. Nice and sunny this am, the kitties out front of the house sunning themselves. I just might put some stuff on hold this afternoon and pull the motorcycle out for a ride. It’s a nice way to get away from things for a few and concentrate on something I really love to do for fun.
hedgehog
@Mnemosyne:
Thank you.
BGinCHI
@Jewish Steel: I studied with Rodolphe Gasche, so what do you need?
I got all kinds of the end of metaphysics.
catclub
And yes I voted for a worthless blue dog. He is only riled up by accusations that he might vote with (not even for) Pelosi.
Accusations of pederasty roll right off.
morzer
@Dennis SGMM:
Mister Robert Johnson? Was there a crossroads in your itinerary?
Nick
@Vlad:
Vote for him, because if Democrats have some say in redistricting, Altmire will get a more favorable district where he either has to start voting like real Dem, or he would be vulnerable in a primary.
Also, ask yourself this…did he take one vote, just one vote, this year that you can point to and say “A Republican wouldn’t have done that”
If so, give him your vote.
Suffern Ace
@Jewish Steel: I think threatening people with discussions of Derrida that they probably don’t want to have should also count as voter intimidation of some sort.
Steve
@geg6: The comedy is people who believe they’re “sending a message” by not voting, as if politicians have any idea that a non-voter even exists.
geg6
@Brien Jackson:
This might be almost as stupid as Tim’s comment. Not quite, but almost.
And again, something only a white male could say.
dmsilev
@BGinCHI: I’m in Hyde Park. It wasn’t too crowded, but this was a pretty small polling place (only two precincts). There were a steady stream of people coming in, but no real lines, and plenty of room to accommodate everyone.
dms
JenJen
I voted a week or so ago, thanks to Ohio’s early mail-in voting system. Even called the Hamilton County Board of Elections to make sure my ballot was received and everything was in order.
I’m feeling optimistic, especially about the race nearest and dearest to my heart, ensuring John Kasich is never, ever the Governor of Ohio. Go Ted Strickland!
I’ll be out most of the day; heading up to Columbus to see the Blue Jackets play my beloved Habs (Montreal Canadiens). Spending Election Night in a hockey barn sounded a helluva lot more appealing to me than watching the blah, blah, blah Villagers.
Have a wonderful day, all, and keep your spirits high. Also, as an Ohioan who lives just a few miles south of his district, I apologize in advance for John Boehner. Really, really sorry about that.
Violet
I’ve received three GOTV phone calls from Dems in the last several days. I’m impressed. I do not remember being phoned like this at all before, not even during the 2008 election.
Haven’t voted yet. Off to do it soon. I’ve been sick and am summoning up the energy.
meh
girl I work with, 25 years old, very politically active, volunteers, etc who is a registered Democrat is PA – works in the DC area – not voting because she forgot to get her PA absentee ballot. I am considering dumping her body in a hole in the forest somewhere. I mean, really, FFS, you have an election between Sestak and Toomey and you forget to get your absentee ballot? WTF is wrong with you. All the oddly positive feelings I had about today potentially not being a bad as everyone says just evaporated in that moment. omg. we. are. fucking. doomed.
morzer
@You Don’t Say:
Read a good book, visit the library, have an intelligent discussion. Any of those would be perceived by the Madame Defarge of Nevada as a mortal insult and sign of your liberal elitist contempt.
Tim
@geg6:
Fighting and dying for an illusion doesn’t make the illusion any more real.
Amanda in the South Bay
People actually going to a polling place and voting seems so archaic and backwards. I voted by mail a long time ago in CA, and since I’m from Oregon and young enough, have never voted in person.
Why the rest of the country can’t get as civilized as the PNW always amazes me.
dmsilev
@Steve: I think most politicians know, at least at an intellectual level, that non-voters exist. They just don’t have any incentive to care about them.
And since there’s no way to distinguish between “sending a message about the corruption inherent in the system” and “was going to vote, but didn’t want to miss favorite TV show”, it’s kind of hard to blame the politicians for that.
dms
Uloborus
@Catsy:
I read that as a satirical post making fun of nihilistic pouting, but lord knows it’d be nice to keep a thread on-topic.
Tim
@geg6:
You are clearly a racist sexist pig.
Linda Featheringill
@Alwhite:
Definitely under 70. Probably close to 40.
Which side of 40? Dunno.
freelancer
I just voted. Too bad Ben Nelson wasn’t on the ballot.
And I sent this out to almost everyone in my email contact list last night, contra my wingnut relatives e-activism:
Subject: Apologies in advance for the political email, lord knows you get enough of these already
but please, remember to go vote today.
My Aunt Kim’s super-heroine and former half-term governor Sarah Palin recently said:
Two years. Two years of governing, to arise from 3 years of an economic disaster and the last 12 years of corporate welfare, deregulation, and malfeasance.
And in that time, the President has done more, legislatively than any President since LBJ, in a much worse an economic climate. This is beyond dispute.
http://whatthefuckhasobamadonesofar.com/
There are many complaints that I have become aware of from the Left of why this President has been crappy, and on many, I happen to agree (Which is why I tend to ignore the heckling I get as the family “liberal”. I’m much more centrist than you would believe).
I disagree with Obama on not agreeing to apply spending cuts to the Defense Budget (Laser Missile Defense Programs and other Cold War strategies have been ineffective since the Reagan years, and sometimes are cancelled due to RAIN [see also F-22].)
I disagree with Obama on his policies regarding indefinite detainee treatment. If we have terrorists in our custody, put them on trial, let a Jury of Americans hold them accountable, sentence them to death and kick them off the damned planet.
I disagree with Obama on his continued policy of not reigning in the gigantic intelligence presence and covert information behemoth that has been active in this country for a decade with no democratic, legislative, or judicial oversight or accountability.
I disagree with Obama on not ending Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell or at least suspending its implementation until a legislative solution can be brokered. There already ARE gay and lesbian servicemembers in every branch of our military. Asking them to hide or keep secret an integral part of who they are violates the oath we ask them to take with regard to integrity and honesty. As for the BS thing about showering, a lot of us went on RAGBRAI, was there a person at the entrance of every High School locker room asking us if we were gay? How do you know you weren’t showering with a gay or lesbian cyclist? Oh that’s right, it didn’t matter, because RAGBRAI can get dirty, and all you (and anybody else) cared about was gettin’ clean. Stop thinking everyone’s dying to sneak a peek at your junk, you’re not that special. And your junk is probably gross.
So those are just a few of the areas where I disagree with this president that I so very proudly voted for.
As for a quick reminder, if you think that you’re just voting for gridlock or maybe a slight check on the Executive, here’s what the opposition has in mind, in case you don’t remember the last decade or what Republicans tried to do during the last 4 years of the Clinton Administration (and I say this as a guy who doesn’t really like any Clinton, Bill, Hillary, nor the one who married the Goldman Sachs broker guy.)
A Republican-controlled House will try to undo everything Obama has done, including everything that you might consider to be a good idea. They would rather have no legislation than some beneficial happenstance Democratic accomplishment. They will investigate the White House for nonsense reasons, and I will bet you everything I own that between 2010 and 2016 they will find some bullshit, invented reason to introduce Articles of Impeachment. When the Democrats were predicted to take the House in 2006, Pelosi, to the chagrin of many liberals, said upfront that impeachment proceedings were “off the table”. For torture, for illegal spying, for starting an illegal war based on conjured up intelligence. They wanted to look forward. Fine, we said. Like Ford pardoning Nixon, it might well be good for the country, and it might keep us from being more divisive. I can promise you that the GOP does not think this way, even strategically. Mike Johanns, Governor Heineman, and Lee Terry from Nebraska might be pretty low-key as far as representatives go, and may not be on Fox News or talk radio with all the other wingnuts, getting compliments from Mark Levin, Rush Limbaugh, or Glenn Beck, but they certainly are not going to find it politically expedient to cross batshit members of the House like Louie Gohmert and Michelle Bachmann or Darrell Issa, who says he’s already drawing up subpoenas.
To quote John Rogers, “I miss Republicans”:
That was written in 2008, and the organization has only become more unhinged. As for the Tea Party, they are simply the hardcore Republican base voters, under a newer, supposedly less toxic brand, and I can’t argue with them anymore, they are beyond reason:
http://thegreatamericandesert.com/2010/10/27/im-done-for-now/
Please, go vote, even if this email does nothing more than piss you off because you don’t agree with me in the slightest, I agree that your voice counts and it does matter. To those that maybe agree with me, and are perhaps thinking “Hmmm, he’s kind of rambling, but he has a point.” Remember, the people I’ve rankled with this email are going to vote. Are you? Seriously, go and hold your nose if you need to, but please make it a point of it.
Cheers,
Nick
BGinCHI
@morzer: co-sign.
Maybe this election will be a turning point. Where smart, reasonable people who have never been politically active become so, and where low info folks taste the shit sandwich and start learning about its contents.
Dennis SGMM
@morzer:
Yep. Before that I couldn’t play minor chords worth a crap.
Ross Hershberger
Alright, already. We’re going now.
Town is 96% white, 85% D and small enough that we can walk to the polling place. There will be donuts.
dmsilev
@Amanda in the South Bay: We have the early-voting option here in IL, and anyone can do it. I like to vote on Election Day if at all possible; somehow, it feels more real to go down to the precinct and be there with a bunch of other people doing the same thing.
dms
Citizen_X
@Jewish Steel: No espresso? Poseur! Turn in your turtleneck!
Mary Jane
I voted by mail but my daughter’s school is a polling place and I just had to pick her up because of a tummyache. The parking lot was empty. I suppose that’s a good sign because while our district went for Obama, it heavily leans Republican.
My Repub neighbor has two Jerry Brown signs in his yard this morning. I’m even more confused than usual.
Brachiator
@Peter:
She should check with the voting registrar or other related office. In some jurisdictions, she could still do a provisional ballot.
Teak111
Vote after work, after I get the kids, after I make dinner, after me and the wife eat, we will walk over. Finally, its warm in SD, so should be a nice walk. The big prop and seats I know, but all the little local crap, haven’t a clue. Like JC school board alternate? Prop A – J? Superior Court Judge? Give me a break.
burnspbesq
@Vlad:
“Mookie, always do the right thing.”
Vote for the Blue Dog today, and tomorrow you can start working on your neighbors so that some time in the future someone to the left of a Blue Dog will have a viable shot in your district.
The worst Democrat is always better than the best Republican.
ronin122
Just got back from voting in Chicago at the nearby park’s field house. A couple people were there voting but not too many, though I expect few voters at 10:30am. It’s a working/middle class area so I know the rush is 6-9am and 3pm-close anyway. Said hi to my neighbor working as a judge. That’s about all there’s to say on my front. Can’t accuse me of being a fickle lib who doesn’t vote when it counts (hell in IL it usually counts more in midterm elections since that’s when all state offices are done).
On a side note, how’s the weather for all you voting? Absolutely perfect temperature, clear skies and no more than a small breeze here. Can’t use weather as an excuse in this neck of the “woods”
donnah
I voted this morning. They had moved our voting facility from one church to another church within a mile of each other, so I don’t know what difference that made, but there you go.
Our poll workers seemed pretty uneducated about their jobs, unfortunately. I offered my ID to the young woman and she glanced at it, handed it back, and checked my name off in the log. I said, “Shouldn’t I sign that?” and she looked up at me and then said, “Oh, yeah.” WTF?
So then I asked for a paper ballot, which made all the heads at the worker’s table swivel around. I told them that at the primaries for the past Presidential election the electronic machine I used jammed up in the printer and I couldn’t read my results and no one could assure me that my vote was actually tallied. And no one made any move at that time to shut that machine down or try to fix it.
So I got my paper ballot, filled it out, and sealed it in the envelope. The poll worker held open the canvas bag for me, and I saw that my ballot was the only one so far. I sure hope the machines are working…
Dennis SGMM
@BGinCHI:
They tasted it for eight years. Now that the GOP has included a double helping of hate sauce the low infos are convinced that it only tasted bad because there wasn’t enough shit in it.
General Stuck
Voted a week ago too. Asked for the Yellow Dog Democrat box, (kidding). Nothing but straight dem ticket voting for me until further notice, unless O’Donnell puts a spell on my happy ass.
Clark
Looks like the Tea Party loves puppy mills so much that they are jamming the phone lines of the people who are trying to ban them.
http://stlactivisthub.blogspot.com/2010/11/tea-party-phone-jamming-prop-b.html
morzer
Stephen Colbert has figured out the secret of Sharron Angle’s popularity:
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/11/colbert-sharron-angles-from-the-desert-and-uses-decoys—just-like-saddam-video.php#more
dmsilev
@Teak111:
Illinois is horrible for that. We elect district court judges, even. There were something like 60 or 70 judges on the ballot this morning, most of which were a “retain this judge? yes/no” type vote. The local bar association publishes a guide to “judges that they think should be thrown out”, but it rarely makes a difference.
dms
Eric S.
@BGinCHI: Quigley here, but definitely no votes on Kirk and Bradley.
Violet
A friend just reported in from Smyrna, GA. Voted this morning before work and no lines at the polling place.
stuckinred
Here’s my tired ass voting story. I went in the Army on my 17th birthday in November, 1966. A tour of Korea and a tour of Vietnam and got out 2 months before my 20th. I couldn’t vote for 14 months after I came home. Haven’t missed one since.
Martin
@Brachiator: I’m voting:
19: Y
20: Y
21: Y
22: N
23: N
24: Y
25: Y
26: N
27: N
That’s a lot of yes votes for me on initiatives. Normally I’d vote no on 19, 21 and 24 out of principle, but I think movement on 19 is important in the national debate. 24 gets around the stupid 2/3 requirement. 21 because vehicle registration fees have turned into something of a 3rd rail in CA politics. 20 and 25 are appropriate voter initiative items, IMO.
20 is one of the harder votes. I like the idea a lot, but I’m leery of the ‘common interest’ provision of the bill, particularly here in OC where you go from pretty fucking poor Santa Ana to really goddamn wealthy Newport Beach in a matter of a couple of miles.
Xecky Gilchrist
@Steve: This is what I’ve been telling the reluctant Democrats here – our rep (Matheson) is no prize, but a vote for him is a vote against the government-by-investigation insanity.
stuckinred
@Violet: It’s pretty gloomy here in Georgia this morning, sposed to rain later.
Michael
My mostly teabigoted precinct was packed, and the nuttiness was out in force. I tried to put on a brave face, but am under no illusions that my precinct comes out for Rand Paul in significant numbers.
burnspbesq
@Brachiator:
I always vote no on all ballot propositions, out of principle. I hate the initiative/referendum process more than I hate the goddam Tar Heels. Prop 19 is tempting; I may make an exception, and abstain on that one.
Martin
@Brachiator: I think they can do that everywhere now. Post-2000 clusterfuck legislation.
Vote provisionally, and if no absentee is received for her, they should accept the provisional ballot.
Throwin Stones
Voter #65 in my precinct at 7:30 in OH-7.
Was tempted to vote for the socialist running for Senator just for kicks and because Fisher is a lost cause, but couldn’t pull the trigger. Straight D’s.
AB
@Peter: can’t she just show up to her polling place? they’ll just count her vote there. at least they did for me one time when I just said I didnt need an absentee ballot.
The irony of your story is that I *am* currently in Japan, and I don’t have a ballot. though I live in a 90% dem district and wouldn’t vote for the Rent is 2 Damn high party anyway.
Amanda in the South Bay
@burnspbesq:
I agree, cause for every gem like Prop 19, you get a turd like Prop 13.
Still, Prop 19 is important enough to get behind. Fighting back against the War on Drugs has to start somewhere.
RedBeardJim
I voted at 6:45 this morning. No lines, but there was a fair bit of traffic going in and out of the polling place (my kid’s school). We’ve got a school levy issue on the ballot so that’s likely going to drive folks to the polls — there’s generally a solid bipartisan support for school issues here.
arguingwithsignposts
No beret, but I do have a black shirt. Voted last week.
Brien Jackson
@geg6:
My Blue Dog is implying he might not vote for Pelosi as Speaker. So…yeah.
Linda Featheringill
@Eric S.:
Telling his wife how to vote:
I had to laugh as that reminded me of my parents. Daddy always carefully explained the ballot to Mom and told her who to vote for. She always listened intently. Then they would go out and vote.
A couple of months before she died, Mom confessed to me that she listened carefully because she always voted opposite of the way Daddy instructed her.
You can control some people most of the time . . . . .
Nick
I had a great debate with a co-worker of mine who’s a leftie radical. She said to me that the Democratic Party needs to stop “being afraid of voters and being afraid of the media”
She’s right. The caveat being they have every reason to be afraid of voters and of the media, because those are what decides if they get to implement the policies they fight for.
Newsweek had a great piece this week about how five times in the last century; 1938, 1946, 1966, 1978, 1994, Democrats suffered decisive victories just when they were actually beginning to implement their policies and liberals seemed to have the country’s ear, and now 2010
There’s a reason why Democrats act so afraid, because they have every reason to be. History has shown Democrats always lose when they try to govern effectively, when they try to do what’s right. And the reason why there are few Democrats who really fight for their principles…is that they usually don’t get elected in the first place.
You may call me a coward, but I’m afraid of voters. They have repeatedly voted against candidates who offer them what they want.
Gus
Line was too long for me to vote this morning. I’ll vote in the p.m.
ArchTeryx
Voted in Maryland after registering in the state for the first time. I live in Montgomery County, the darkest of dark blue parts of MD — but I also live in a Hispanic majority district, so I was expecting potential trouble.
What I found at 7:30am was a neat, orderly voting setup, no lines, no voter challengers, and two canvassers. One was handing out D sample ballots, one was handing out Republican county commissioner campaign flyers. Both were cordial and played by the rules.
The one thing I REALLY did not like was the fact that all voting was done on…Diebold voting machines. The most infamous of the infamous. Wonder if my vote’ll get ‘lost’ in the system, since the governor’s race is quite contentious this year.
burnspbesq
@Tim:
If that’s how little you care for your country, GTFO. I will help you pack.
morzer
@Brien Jackson:
Blue Dogs are one major reason that I am a cat person. That and the fact that our feline overlords have chosen their messengers well in my experience.
Sir Nose'D
I voted. I sucked it up, and ate my shit sandwich. I would rather eat a shit sandwich once every two years than be forced to eat a shit sandwich for breakfast lunch and dinner every day for the next two years. And in my feeble mind, that is the difference between voting for democrats and voting for republicans.
If the republicans win the governorship in Ohio, I will either take massive paycuts or furloughs, or lose my job entirely. I teach, and Kasich wants to cut our state allocation by 50% in the next year.
Shade Tail
Anyone in California still wondering about the propositions on the ballot, click here and scroll to the bottom. I found Calitics’ analysis to be sound when I read through the actual text of the props.
andy
Dreamt of teabagger goons at the polls (probably because of some last-minute “activism” on their part locally)- then I got up and voted for real!
It seemed pretty busy- but we have a three way race for State Senate here between a teabagger, the Republican he knocked off the ballot at the party convention, and some kid in the DFL, a tight clutch of teabaggers running for city offices, and then Dayton, Emmer, and Horner all up for Governor here in Minnesota.
Brien Jackson
@burnspbesq:
As a general rule I dislike ballot initiatives, but I make exceptions when they don’t involve budgeting. Votes on social policy don’t really bother me that much.
PurpleGirl
@david mizner: Okay, you’ve got me beat. My polling place is across a yard, in another building in my complex. Takes me maybe 5 minutes to get there, if that (including the elevator ride down from my floor). I voted at 8:15 or so this morning and voted on the Working Families line.
ETA: I was #40 for my election district. Each building in my complex is its own election district.
You Don't Say
@morzer: Then it’ll be easy as the library is my second home.
chris
Voted about 11 oclock here in NC at my old Jr High school. Saw some younger new poll workers as well (old high school classmates…babes natch) Its a fairly blue district but I saw not one sign for our blue dog house member. I despise him, as he voted to impeach the big dog but I faithfully voted for his dead ass anyway. The teabagger’s signs were all over the place. This dude has spent massive sums on signs. But as my old friend told me, signs dont vote. Also not one single sign for Elaine Marshall. Evidently the lack of DSCC support must have really hurt her $$ wise. She is said to be about to take a butt whippin from Burr, which makes me say over and over again “i cant believe we are losing to these guys”.
Karen
Called the Democratic party of Montgomery County MD to get a ride to the polls today, within twenty minutes, a volunteer called me back and I’m getting a ride around 5:30 PM. I was so nervous about calling them and I can’t believe how nice they are! Even though I’m in a blue state, I couldn’t live with myself if didn’t vote.
I know people are staying home or voting third party to teach Obama a lesson and I’m sure he’ll learn it really well.
He’ll learn the lesson that slow and steady does not win the race and no matter what good he’s done, he’ll never satisfy them.
cckids
Will do this afternoon when I take my daughter to tae kwon do class. Polling place is right beside the rec center. I’m not driving those miles twice! Spouse voted last week.
Pleasepleasepleaseplease NO SHARRON ANGLE!!
Alwhite
@Catsy:
FTW! – well done good man, very well done!
RalfW
11 a.m. MPR news reports that Minneapolis election judges are getting into “firmly worded” exchanges with challengers who are improperly trying to stop people from voting.
Can’t find the link to the news I heard, though. Right now this link runs an earlier hour’s newscast, but I’ll try and post details later in the day.
http://minnesota.publicradio.org/features/
Chris G.
@morzer: No, Angle deserves phone calls from liberals going full teabaggot wingnut. Every damn day.
Liberal Sandlapper
Just voted here in extreme northwest SC, in a new district for me. Since I am surrounded by tea bagging redneck racist assholes up here, I enjoyed punching the “All Democratic” button. And, yes, that means I voted for Alvin Fucking Greene. I figure he couldn’t do any more harm than dipshit DeMint.
Jewish Steel
@BGinCHI: Wow! Next time I get sneered at by one of the local analyticals I’ll run to you for cover.
@Suffern Ace: Probably don’t want to have?
@Citizen_X: Espresso is the one thing we’ve got in my corner of flyover country. One of my best friends has competed nationally as a roaster and a barista.
gbear
@Tim: Tim, dying might be an illusion too. You should go do some research.
chris
Also, too there was a shitload of court of appeals candidates to vote for. Some kind of pick 3 deal where you pick your first choice then 2nd and 3rd. I had no earthly idea who any of those people were so I just voted for all the women. Statistically they are less likely to be wingnut loons?? Michelle Bachmann and Virginia Foxx notwithstanding.
Odie Hugh Manatee
@Tim:
Aww, did someone say something that hurt your fee fees?
That’s mighty white of you to let us know.
Martin
@RalfW:
Yeah, they need to start doing handcuffs and a few nights in the pokey. Voter suppression pisses me off like few other things.
Chat Noir
@Linda Featheringill: My mom made the mistake of telling me that my dad made her vote for Nixon (don’t know if it was in ’68 or ’72 but I know it wasn’t ’60 because she’s a devoted Catholic and would have voted for Kennedy). Needless to say, I’ve never let her forget it. She doesn’t tell me how she votes anymore.
Shade Tail
@burnspbesq #121:
I dislike the proposition process also. But voting based on that rather than based on the actual quality of the propositions makes no sense.
You note Prop 19. Do you really think the amazingly assholish “war” on drugs will end any other way?
And consider Prop 25. Right now, the State House needs to get a 2/3s super-majority to pass the annual budget, which is insane. It allows a small extremist minority to hold all of Sacramento hostage. Prop 25 changes the budget process to require a simple “50% + 1” majority, which would allow the government to actually govern.
We have to use the system we have, not the one we wish to have.
MattR
@burnspbesq: I agree about propositions but I made an exception and voted for the Public Question on the NJ ballot to ammend the constitution to force the state to segregate funds intended for public workers unemployment, disability, etc. since the Legislature has already raided that fund for over $5.4 billion over the past 15 years to plug other budget holes.
slag
@Vlad: Do it. And tell yourself you’re voting for Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Because you are.
quaint irene
Sent away for an absentee ballot for my elderly mom (here in Jersey you don’t have to give an excuse), figured I’d get one for myself for the convenience and ‘just in case.’ Glad I did. The morons doing repair work on the Garden State Parkway were abuzz on the exit ramp behind my house, clearing out dead trees in the little patch of woods that lies between. For any god-damn reason anyone can fathom, they removed the back fence that runs along all the properties on this street. Without warning anyone!! My dog Katie got out and got clipped by a car. So between frantically searching for her, at first thinking she was dead in the street, hours getting her patched up and cleared to go at the Vet, then sitting most of the night worrying about her breathing, back at the Vet this morning to check her lungs again……I’m quite glad I don’t have to drag myself back out to the polls.
But, yeah, I still would have.
BGinCHI
@Jewish Steel: I’m always here for analytical push-back.
You in the Midwest or plains?
Uni?
grumpy realist
Voted here in Chicago at about 6:10. Was about the 5th person in line.
Interesting this year was the number of judges the ABA said were definitely not recommended.
The rest? Meh. This is Illinois; what do you expect?
Morbo
No waiting at lunch time, polling place is about 5 minutes away: IOE with enough time for a leisurely lunch now.
gogol's wife
This is a great thread. I’m thinking about my parents. They would get in screaming fights at election time, over FDR (he loved him, she hated him), even though he had long been in the grave. Voting was a BFD around our house. My father was born a lowly Slovak in the Hapsburg Empire, and he loved the USA. My mother was a Republican, but the old-fashioned kind, you know, sane. Our house was full of politics. I still love to go vote, even when the outcome looks bleak.
Alwhite
BTW – on the over/under thing. I have a good friend that is an “insider”, works in DC. He tells me that the Dems internal numbers believe they hold the Senate by 2 seats & are near -70 in the house. Sadly, his numbers have been very good in the past. I wish I believed in a great cloud being so I could at least pray & pretend that would help.
And Timmy? That offer to help you pack? I will kick in $50 for a one-way ticket to that libertarian paradise, Somolia for you if you promise to never leave there.
fasteddie9318
@Tim:
Let me see if I’ve done my math right: the fact that you’re a self-righteous ass clown makes geg6 a racist sexist pig. Am I missing something?
bmchcgo
Voted earlier in the Liberal bastion that is Oak Park, Ill. Nowhere near the number of voters compared to 2008. But, I spoke with one of the election judges and he said turnout was ‘brisk, much better than expected’.
Early voting numbers among Dems in the state of Illinois were very encouraging. I think Alexi might pull this one out.
Older
There were two guys in front of our polling place today. Big, strong guys. Wearing dark clothing. And one of them was wearing a beret!!
Soldiers, there to vote.
Eek.
freelancer
@arguingwithsignposts:
You don’t know how tempted I was to go to my polling station in cargo pants, a black shirt, aviator sunglasses, and a black beret. Get a load of the New Black Panthers! They’re brainwashing white men now!
General Stuck
Election Day Zen
Firebagging is not yelling Fire in a crowded theater
It is hopping on stage , dropping your drawers and showing your ass.
Bender
My buddies and I put on our huge-font “INS” T-shirts (International Nip-slip Society), and took our softball bats to the polling place at the nearby elementary school (you never know when a game will break out). You wouldn’t believe how many Hispanics seemed to want to join our game, but at the last minute, turned around and drove off!
merrinc
We never made it to early voting so my husband and I voted this morning. My job for the rest of the day is getting my 18 year old to the polls for the first time.
I would have registered my five cats to vote but I’m pretty sure at least two of them are Republican. (The small gray/white bundle of meanness would probably join the Tea Party if we let her.)
KDP
Voted for Boxer, Brown, Stark.
eemom
I voterated here in my purple NoVA district where our half-assed blue dog is threatened by a generic local millionaire teatard. The turnout looked good so that was encouraging.
Depressing as hell, however, was the sight of many elderly and infirm people clutching republican sample ballots. Why the FUCK is it so easy for them to fool those people? What ever happened to the “wisdom” of age?
Martin
@Alwhite: -70 would be pretty brutal.
fasteddie9318
@Nick:
It might be more accurate to say that they need to stop being afraid of voters who are going to vote Republican anyway. The Democratic Party isn’t by any measure afraid of liberal voters; it’s only conservatives and glibertarians, who aren’t going to vote Democratic regardless, who scare the party.
WaterGirl
Just turned on MSNBC because the president is going to be speaking at 1pm ET and paused it until the event begins.
News flash on the MSNBC screen:
What a shocker! People voting will impact who wins and who loses. Now this is journalism I can believe in!
elmo
My polling place here in TN-04 doesn’t open till 9 am, and this is heavy tea country. I was there at 9:04, and it was dead dead dead empty. Empty as I arrived, empty as I voted, empty as I left.
I’m hoping it’s a good sign. :)
I’m taking anything I can get this year — Sunday night my partner and I had dinner at a new Brazilian steakhouse in Knoxville, and the five-top behind us spent the entire evening talking about getting rid of Pelosi and Reid, complete with such wingnut-radio classics as an extended rant about Pelosi’s jumbo jet. Le sigh.
Ross Hershberger
Okay, done. That was easy.
Oh, and what’s this ‘Don’t Forget’ in the title? Is there the remotest chance of anyone who reads this blog waking up on Wednesday going “yesterday was Voting Day? Why didn’t someone tell me?”
Scott
Early voted a couple weeks back.
It was pretty crowded, but the line moved really, really fast, and all the poll workers were very friendly.
Voted for Bill White for Texas governor. Really hope we can finally throw Perry out, though I’m trying not to get too optimistic…
Throwin Stones
reposting due to the b0n3r p1ll:
Voter #65 in my precinct at 7:30 in OH-7.
Was tempted to vote for the soc1al1st running for Senator just for kicks and because Fisher is a lost cause, but couldn’t pull the trigger. Straight D’s.
elmo
@quaint irene:
OMG. So sorry to hear about Katie, and glad she’s still with us. That would about kill me dead on the floor.
Calvin Jones and the 13th Apostle
@Ross Hershberger: There shoudn’t be, and if so, Tunch will be sent to kick their ass.
PurpleGirl
@Linda Featheringill: Love the story. My father would explain to my mother who she should vote for also; I’m pretty sure she did as he said. But your mother was great.
Linda Featheringill
@Violet:
Good for you. We appreciate the effort.
Toddle home and veg out for a while. :-)
Shinobi
@BGinCHI: I love voting for Jan Schakowsky (and mispelling her name.) I met her at the Davis el stop one morning and I was SOOO excited.
Side note the polling place in my mostly black district was pretty deserted. Compared to 08 when the lines were out the door it was a ghost town. Though I did go kindof late this morning it did not look like many people had been there before me.
morzer
Reports are coming in that a radical offshoot of the Black Panthers has been terrorizing voters in GOP districts. We have some footage:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-8JooVD_aw
Michael
@Alwhite:
My dream is that the cellphone factor has blown the ever living crap out of polling formulae, and that we wind up with a lot of silence from this idiot “scorekeeper in a sporting contest” model we’ve had for the past 20 years.
Culture of Truth
Cats are cute, but they are also self-centered, destructive, amoral, highly demanding and not very smart. So, yeah.
thomas Levenson
Voted: Patrick, Frank, and all the rest.
Yellow Dog all the way, that’s me. I have split tix in the past (rarely, but still) but today’s GOP means that an “R” next to a name is an automatic disqualification.
Mnemosyne
@Shade Tail:
D’oh! I voted for the wrong Supreme Court guy. Well, too late now.
I routinely vote “no” on ALL ballot propositions because I’ve been burned way too many times by things that sound great until you get to page 40 of the fine print, but I made to exceptions this year: 19 and 25. 19 because I don’t really give a shit about pot, and 25 because the Howard Jarvis Assholes Association was running commercials against it, and my knee-jerk reaction to anything they advise is to do the opposite.
Culture of Truth
TOLD YA!!!!!!
(Associated Press) 11/2/2010
A southwestern Wisconsin man is charged with election fraud. Grant County sheriff’s investigators say a 74-year-old man filled out more than one absentee ballot in the September primary election. The felony charge carries a maximum three and a-half years in prison and a $10,000 fine.
Brachiator
@Martin:
@burnspbesq:
RE: I’m voting:
Very Interesting. Here is how I’m pretty sure that I am voting.
19: Y
20: Y
21: N
22: N
23: N
24: Y
25: Y
26: N
27: N
On 21, as much as I love parks, I generally oppose propositions that supposedly guarantee that money will go to defined programs. You just can’t do that given California’s ongoing deficit. And I would prefer that money go to health or welfare programs if I had to sacrifice some money going to the parks. Also, this proposition would eliminate some reasonable user fees, which is ridiculous.
I’ve seen some newspaper editorials which urge a NO vote on Prop 24. But this is in my wheelhouse (taxes). The state legislature did a deal to change the system by which some corporations are taxed (the apportionment formula). But their change is inconsistent and needlessly tinkers with a commonly used method for no rational reason other than to throw a bone to some favored corporations. The Democrats sold out to the Republicans on this one in order to get the budget passed, but did not think through the implications of their capitulation.
And while I understand the sentiment of generally voting NO when there are ballot propositions, sometimes the crafty bastards make it so that a NO vote is what lets a special interest win.
As an aside, one of the people on my commute is a great and decent guy who has worked in the insurance industry for years. I asked who he liked for insurance commissioner and he immediately answered “Dave Jones.” He doesn’t think the guy is perfect, but thinks that he would do a good job. That was good enough for me.
Lastly, I am still thinking about Prop 25. Some of California’s budget problems are structural. They can’t easily be solved with just the magic elixir of a tax increase (or a tax cut). The state legislature has avoided problem for over 20 years and even filled the most recent budget with lies and gimmicks and patches.
Prop 19, on the other hand, is easy voting. Drug laws with respect to marijuana are stupid. I listened to some debates on the subject. Typically you had a law enforcement official making stuff up about the health and social impact of marijuana. I am tired of the nonsense.
morzer
@Culture of Truth:
You have a call on line one. President for
LunchLife Tunch would like you to step into his office. Bring ketchup, a napkin and a very large bun. He’s fired up the BBQ and is ready to go.Stillwater
Just got back – Hickenlooper, Bennett, Markey … Dems down the line. Voted no on defunding schools, etc. Voted no on making legal right-to-life begin at conception (that one was sneaky! damn Christianists get more and more creative at smuggling pro-life crap into our Constitution).
I was surrounded by aging farmers, but am still hopeful that Markey and Bennett can pull this out.
batgirl
@dmsilev: I screwed up my ballot near the end of the judges. Filled in the arrow for both yes and no on a judge. Was already late for work so I didn’t bother to take a new ballot. There were less than a handful of judges I wanted to vote no for and this wasn’t one. Not that it will make one bit of difference.
I’m tempted every time to just vote no on all the judges. It’s such a useless process. Has one ever been voted out?
Cris
At 10:30, I was voter #80 in my precinct, which in 2008 cast 1450 ballots.
Low turnout? Not necessarily. When I signed my name, I saw that every other name on the page had “Absentee ballot received” typed next to it. Early voting is working.
jacy
Just voted, along with the two older kids. Don’t know if the kid in Afghanistan remembered, because I’m so happy to hear from him when he gets a chance to call that I forget to nag.
Polling Report: 156 people had voted so far, according to the nice ladies manning the station. They said it was a pretty good turnout, considering we live in a town of 900+ people and it’s currently sheeting down rain. 13 people running for senator, so Vitter was second to last on the list. Maybe people will get tired of reading before they get to him.
Anecdote: Husband pulled the lever for Melancon in protest of Vitter being a giant douche. Possibly the first time he ever voted for a Democrat (He has voted third party in the past, but can’t seem to shake his evil parents’ “R” influence. He’s lucky he’s so cute.)
Total from our family: 4 votes for Melancon.
NobodySpecial
Voted two weeks ago, was voter #124 in my precinct. That’s REALLY high, and I live in one of the bluer parts of the blue city in a red district.
Ross Hershberger
We have the Kwame Kilpatrick initiative on the ballot in MI. This would prevent certain felons(a) from holding certain jobs(b) for 10 years if they’ve committed certain crimes(c). You can almost feel the hate radiating off of the back side of the ballot.
a Kwame
b Mayor
c Kwame’s
Loneoak
Voted at the fire station, which is the center of civic life in my tiny little California mountain hamlet. I knew about half of the volunteers. There ain’t a teabagger for miles around this precinct, thank FSM.
Lev
@Brachiator: Unfortunately, even if Prop 25 passes (which I strongly think it will), tax hikes will require 2/3. But we will save money by not having to bribe the 2/3 needed to pass the budget. As economics tells us, a supply glut drives down prices. So that will help our situation immensely. So a simple majority means that less pork will be necessary to get the budget in, and we might actually not have to wait seven months this time for it to go in.
Mike
In Chicago here….voted around 7.30a, 24 to vote, though in a new neighborhood, so not sure on numbers. Steady stream of folks in coming to vote in Wicker Park. Held my nose and voted for Giannoulias and Quinn. Voted mostly Dem, though I voted for a few Green party and Independants in the hyper local races (Claypool for Cook Cty. Assessor!)
mrmike
Ran into only one yahoo whilst voting today.
He was wearing a Confederate Battle Flag shirt and carrying a sign which read “Stop the Unborn Holocaust”.
I wanted to ask him why his shirt supported a treasonous cause which led to the deaths of over half a million Americans but I was just too tired.
I didn’t vote straight “D” but I did manage to avoid all the Tea Party candidates.
I sorely miss the days when there were actual thoughtful candidates. Or maybe there never were and I was just more naive or my memory has started to develop the patina of age.
merrinc
@Liberal Sandlapper:
Lord, I hope you are in John Spratt’s district because he needs all the help he can get. The ads Mulvaney and his corporate controllers are running against Spratt probably made Lee Atwater smile in hell – particularly the one with the image of Obama as a scary black man.
Lev
@Loneoak: Where are you located? Central Coast?
Sly
Call me a Luddite, but I miss the old voting machines in NY :(
There was just something more real about pulling that lever and hearing the “THUNK” sound. Watching a ballot go through an optical scanning machine was just so… sterile.
Anyway, the building that has served as my polling place since forever burned down last Spring, so they moved it to another place close by (basically two blocks away). I could see a bunch of people go into the parking lot of the old place, but it was peppered with instructions in where to go so it wasn’t a big deal. A lot of people brought their kids with them, who obviously didn’t want to go being that election day is a school holiday around here, but I thought it was nice.
Catsy
@Uloborus:
These days it’s impossible to tell bad satire from real idiocy. And the problem I have with bad satire is that if I can’t tell the difference, I’ll guarantee you some random, persuadable reader can’t either. There comes a point where mocking stupid views by imitating them so closely that you can’t tell it’s satire stops being useful and only helps the idiots by increasing the volume of their message. It’s the biggest problem I have with the people who think it’s entertaining to troll the threads by imitating wingnuts.
In other words, if there are 10 teabaggers saying stupid shit, and one of them is a liberal saying stupid shit in order to mock teabaggers without making it clear that it’s satire, the net message is still 10 people saying stupid shit that will persuade someone.
Culture of Truth
Another elite fat cat!!
Culture of Truth
Someone should ask Paladino who he voted for. If he didn’t vote for Cuomo, his judgment is too poor to be Governor.
merrinc
@chris:
Chris, that was Instant Runoff Voting. Pretty cutting edge for NC. If you are in the Triangle area (I lived there for 15+ years), the Independent Weekly usually has an excellent voter’s guide.
My husband used to use your methodology for voting, i.e., choose the woman based on his theory that ‘women don’t fuck up things as much as men.’ That was before the Palinization factor took hold in this country. Now he joins me in filling out a sample ballot before we go to the polls.
fasteddie9318
@Sly:
There was something comforting about the old voting machines. This was my first election on a paper ballot/optical scanner, and I have to say there’s a little part of me that thinks that little scanner gizmo is going to take all those ballots and then spit out some pre-programmed vote tally anyway.
fasteddie9318
@Culture of Truth:
If he was voting on a touch screen, he probably spent all his time trying to get it to show porn.
Woodrowfan
My wife and I voted this am. 538 has our D rep in a safe seat, but I am concerned about the number of signs for his teatard opponent I’ve seen.
I keep hoping this is just a repeat of 1946 and not 1994 but I fear Obama is no Truman when it comes to giving the repukes hell. (sigh)
jibeaux
Mildly funny campaign story, the local loony Congresscritter wannabe, B. J. Lawson (there were campaign ads for him here, that I guess you’d see if you lived in the right place), paid some firm to make ads for them that said they would get Morgan Freeman’s voice in the ads. Ads were made with a Morgan Freeman-y voice, and the Lawson campaign put out a press release about how awesome Morgan Freeman is for standing up against the status quo Congressman.
Naturally, upon contact by the David Price campaign, Morgan Freeman vehemently denied ever recording such an ad and actually went out of his way to specifically state that he did not support Lawson in any way, and the ads got pulled.
So there are people who think they should be running the United States government who haven’t gotten it through their heads that the only “celebrities” who like Republicans are, what, Bruce Willis, Craig T. Nelson, Ted Nugent, or dead. Even assuming arguendo that any Hollywood celebrities give a damn who the fourth district of North Carolina has representing them, if the celebrity you want is not on the aforementioned list, then s/he isn’t going to record an ad for you. Yes, it’s a real head-scratcher why creative people don’t want to vote for Republicans, but it’s a reality.
Oh shoot, I think I just answered my own question about how they got hoodwinked.
Martin
@Brachiator: On 25, the supermajority reduces most budget solutions to gimmicks because all you need is the minority party to dig in their heels on anything structural. The 2/3 budget requirement is just the Senate filibuster applied to the one thing the feds weren’t stupid enough to put a supermajority on.
Because Prop 13s 2/3 requirement is still there for tax increases, it mostly means that the majority party (with an aligned Governor) will be able to adopt structural reforms on costs. Revenues will remain gimmicky. The 2/3 budget requirement will still be there in a mixed power situation, since the veto isn’t going anywhere.
Chris
Haven’t voted yet, will do so this evening between work and class.
Regrettably, since graduating college and moving to an apartment downtown in the District, I no longer have any excuse to register as a Florida voter, so I’ll be registering as a DC voter at the same time.
I regret it because Florida’s an actual battle ground state, and DC, well, taxation without representation and all that. At the same time, it’s nice to be part of an electorate where the Green Statehood Party actually got more votes than the Republicans on some occasions. It’s like, OMG, I actually have an alternative that isn’t the Repubs! It’s a nice feeling, even if I’m not voting for them and even if they don’t matter on the national level.
Citizen_X
@Bender:
HURR-HURRR-HAR-DEE-HARRRRR!
Uh, you do know, don’t you, that you actually have to be a U.S. citizen to vote, and that they actually check that shit? Or are you really that fucking stupid? Ordinarily, I would assume no, but you Teabaggers have brought the stupid something fierce this election cycle.
Lets just assume you know it, and you’re just a fucking lying racist.
To everyone else: Sorry, fed the troll; couldn’t help myself. Off to vote!
Jewish Steel
@BGinCHI: I’m in your state. Go Redbirds!
Sly
@fasteddie9318:
It may sound strange, but they could have stuck a lever on the side of the scanner and I would have been happy.
I don’t really have the BBV concerns. Of course, if Paladino somehow wins (hell, if he loses by less than 10 points), that may change.
elmo
@Loneoak:
Tiny little mountain hamlet? What, do you live in Markleeville?
john b
@burnspbesq:
i hope you mean unc athletics and not just north carolinians. if it’s unc fans, i’m right there with you. but north carolinians are frequently lovely people.
edit: and i voted before work this morning in my neighborhood voting location in dayton, oh. mostly old folks when i showed up. but i was fairly late for the working crowd.
Lev
@Martin: If a simple majority makes it easier to cobble together enough state legislators to stand up to the prison guards and cut down on the 10% of our budget that goes to the prison system (10%!), then it will have done more than enough.
I’ve said it before, but the moment I read Brown saying he would stop the state taking money from education and putting it in prisons was the moment he won my vote. Fuck “tough on crime” already. Crime is way down.
morzer
@Bender:
I can believe you have soft balls, Bender, but that anyone would find a pudgy little man with a comb-over intimidating is quite beyond credibility. You really didn’t notice people pointing and giggling as you waddled past?
wyliecoat
I voted pretty early this morning. I was no 31. The last midterms I was a poll person and there were only 50 odd people the whole day so this was pretty unusual.
Wonder if the higher interest is a good sign or not. We’re a pretty Democratic district in CA
elmo
@batgirl:
Are you in California? You can’t be. If you’re in California, surely you remember Rose Bird.
Emily L. Hauser/ellaesther
Also, too:
If anyone runs across, or is, a victim of racial discrimination in voting: call Dept of Justice 1-800-253-3931 or 866-OUR-VOTE
Sentient Puddle
Voted this morning around 8:10 or so. Only reason I didn’t early vote is because I found out the polling station is at a community center at the park near my house, so I just decided to walk there. Along the way, I thought to myself that morning strolls through the neighborhood are rather pleasant, and I should do this more often.
No line there, so it was a quick affair. The only real vote of consequence for me is Bill White. Apparently, John Carter in TX-31 didn’t get a Democratic opponent, which strikes me as wrong somehow. Not like he would’ve faced any challenge, though.
There was one oddity that came up. About four or five voters who showed up while I was there were turned away because they were in another precinct, and they all mentioned how strange it was because this was where they came to vote last time around. The officials helped them figure out where they needed to go to vote, but what the hell? Is redistricting at the precinct level common between elections like this?
BGinCHI
@Jewish Steel: Gotcha. Have some friends in Eng.
Let’s hope we get some budget/education sanity after this election. If Brady wins it’s katie bar the fucking door.
Smith
Voted around 8:30AM today before work; steady, not overwhelmingly busy, but steady business. A lot of people were having trouble with our new voting machines, hope that’s not a bad sign.
Even though I’m not a big fan, I did vote for Cuomo for governor. Hopefully more of my upstate NY brethren voted with their heads instead of their hearts (there are lots of Paladino supporters and signs up here). I pretty much voted straight Democrat across the board (governor, senators, AG, reps, judges).
Hopefully when I watch election results tonight, the Democrats defy the odds and don’t lose as many House and Senate seats as everyone is predicting.
Maody
I managed to sway one of my best independent friends to vote this morning. She said she wanted to vote straight Dem ticket. YIPPEE! I voted early.
After lunch I will don my beautiful knitted black and red thinly striped beret, some red jeans and a blue sweater and go try to sway more folks at my precinct. I will be wearing very large boots. Very large.
Yeah, Elaine Marshall got nada help from DNC or DSSC and Burr will win, but that didn’t deter me from voting for her – straight party filling in the little ovals. It still feels good. My first vote was for Jimmy Carter in 1976 in college.
To Tim and whomever else won’t vote : you are asshats. Do you think little baby jesus will reward you for your
puritystoopidity?Que Sera Sera
What’s INS?
Oh, does he mean ICE?
Huh, pre-9/11 thinking.
djork
Just voted in Atlanta. Turn out was light while I was there, but I’m hoping more showed up in the morning or will show up after work. I live in a blue precint, so if turnout remains light, it doesn’t portend well for our gubernatorial race. NOt that Roy Barnes is awesome, but he beats the hell out of that other crook.
numbskull
@James E. Powell: Just anecdotal, but my neighborhood voting place is usually extremely white and pretty much empty. Today, for the first time ever in my experience, all of the machines were in use (over a dozen) and there were probably 4 or 5 Af-Am voting.
Rosalita
Reporting in from CT: Haven’t voted yet but I stopped by to visit my Mom who is a registrar and manages one of the voting places. She said it has been amazingly busy. The parking lot was jammed. Brightened my day to see people out there.
Martin
@Citizen_X:
Technically, that’s not completely true. In national elections you need to be a citizen, but at the state and local level, it’s up to the states and localities who gets to vote (that whole states rights business). There are a number of places that now allow permanent residents (people with green cards) to vote in local races such as school boards. There’s even a debate in California to let permanent residents vote even on statewide races given that 15% of our population are permanent residents. The right to vote would be based instead on the states residency standards.
Geoduck
@Max:
I’m curious why you voted against the income tax. Our state’s tax structure is a regressive mess, and the budget’s in a deep hole. If you want the state to have funds, it needs to tap the people who have them.
Of course, if we’re dumb enough to elect Rossi, we deserve anything we get.
change
Look at all the “progressive” hacks whistling past the graveyard.
I live in a very conservative in district in Tennessee and the line was around the block…and there were even Tea Party supporters as poll watchers.
4tehlulz
@Bender: Your story is unbelievable, as this requires the reader to believe you go outside. 0/10
geg6
@Brien Jackson:
So is mine, dipshit. But any Dem is better than any GOPer. There is no way around the truth of that.
Scott de B.
It’s important to remember that candidates don’t just magically appear on the ballot. I’m not just talking about the primaries, but the slow and tedious work of recruiting candidates, supporting up-and-comers, taking part in local party ward meetings (or the equivalent).
I don’t want to single you out as particularly evil or whatever, but if there are no county commissioners whom you feel you can vote for, why not run yourself? Or find somebody who you could get behind and work on recruiting him/her?
You say your Republican legislators are running unopposed. What are you going to do to make sure that doesn’t happen next election? Do you know how candidates get on the ballot in your state, what the qualifications are? Can you find fellow Democrats in your district to organize and put up a candidate (even an underfunded candidate is better than none)?
Making democracy work is a hard and slow process. But it’s important.
Winston Smith
We’re fucked.
Just voted in Springfield, Missouri. The line was an hour long before the lunch rush. Where were these assholes in the primary?
Anyway, if turnout is this high in the rest of Southwest Missouri, we’re going to have Roy Blunt and Billy Long in Congress for sure.
Ugh. I just hope the anti-puppy-mill Proposition B passes.
morzer
@change:
You lost in 1783, you lost in 1865, you lost in 1945, you lost in 1965 and you lost in 2008.
Why is that your kind always blows the big games, I wonder?
Bella Q
I can’t find my beret!!! I did find my PR-24 however, so I can do a little bit for the cause.
I did about 2 more hours of at home GOTV calls earlier. It’s not as full of camaraderie as an actual phone bank, but it’s awfully convenient.
change
@Winston Smith:
Yup, pretty much. It’s going to be a bloody massacre for Democrats…I can’t wait.
Max
@Geoduck: My concern is that this vote would create a slippery slope to have a state wide income tax for all. Something I do not support.
Also, I think our no income tax status is a lure for high income earners from Portland (I live in Vancouver) to cross the river. Especially after the measures passed in OR last year. My career is retail-based, so an influx of population is very important to me.
Also, too, I just moved here from California, who has very high state income tax and that state is still broke. I’m not convinced that raising taxes is the way to go.
Jibeaux
@change:
Really, you live in a very right wing district and you say right wingers were voting? That’s fucking amazing, that is.
morzer
@change:
You lost in 1783, you lost in 1865, you lost in 1945, you lost in 1965 and you lost in 2008.
Why is that your kind always blows the big games, I wonder?
jinxtigr
Voted for all Dems and for a proposal to let teens vote in primaries if they will be 18 by the time of the election. Sure, maybe it’ll make them more interested…
Sentient Puddle
@Winston Smith:
What, there was big primary races in Missouri? Blunt and Carnahan were both unopposed, and I can’t think of any bigger ticket races than Senate…
morzer
@Jibeaux:
Republican rules: BillyJimBob gets seven votes every time, the corpse of Ronald Reagan gets nine, and between them they generate a landslide of thirty thousand votes in a district populated by thirteen human beings and a goat named Heinrich.
fasteddie9318
It’s fun to see folks like change getting that last surge of adrenalin before their movement continues its slow, inexorable slide down the drain. Well, OK, it’s aggravating, but good for him, right?
Ross Hershberger
@change:
Lunch time already.
Here’s your bag of dicks, sir.
Bon appetit.
Violet
Voted straight ticket for the first time in my life. After I clicked the “Democrat straight ticket” box, it still had me go through all the races to double check. There were a lot of elections where there were no Democrats; the choice was Republican or Libertarian. Or sometimes, Republican, Libertarian or Green. Where the hell were the Democrats? Ugh.
There was a big crowd at my new polling place (moved over the summer so it’s new to me). I was 12th in line and they offered both electronic and paper ballots. A woman had a question about the electronic machine at one point and one of the election judges went over to help her. But he wouldn’t speak to her until another judge went with him, I guess to make sure there were no appearances of vote tampering.
Everything seemed to be going smoothly and turnout seemed good to me, although I am new to this precinct. The count on the door said they’d had 140 people by 9:30, but the 11:30 wasn’t up yet, even when I left at 12:15. Based on the steady stream of people I saw, I think the turnout was higher than normal.
change
The only person “sliding down the drain” is Obambi and Nancy Pelosi.
Palin can run in 2012, and she can play by her own rules…campaigning from Facebook and Twitter while third party groups dump millions into TV ads attacking Obambi and the Democrats…
burnspbesq
@john b:
Yes, of course. I know a number of perfectly lovely North Carolinians. I know a number of perfectly lovely UNC grads. Well, they’re perfectly lovely 363 days a year (362 if we end up playing them in the ACC Tournament).
Brien Jackson
@geg6:
Normally I generally agree with that, but given the choice between a Republican and a Democrat who’s already voting with the Republicans every time it matters and whose main re-election promise is continuing to do so, I don’t really see how that’s the case. And I’m pretty tolerant of tactical moderation, but when the guy’s campaign slogan is basically “I’m not really a Democrat” and he says his proudest moment was voting against the stimulus…
Winston Smith
@change:
If you say so. Roy Blunt and Billy Long will be taking seats already occupied by Republicans. It’s just that now they’ll be occupied by dumber, more corrupt Republicans.
I hope you’ll be proud when Billy Long says the n-word on the House floor.
morzer
@change:
You forgot the bit about how the Alaskan Asscrack will descend from heaven riding a chariot drawn by gold-farting unicorns and dragging Mitt Romney in chains behind her, as the seas turn to blood and Ronaldus Zombieus rises from his house at R’lyeh.
C’mon, put some effort into the scariness.
freelancer
@change:
How Presidential of her. Will facebook have a widget for her to launch nukes by 2013?
Tom
@ Emily L. Hauser
I must admit, I voted for Nadine Bopp solely because of her name.
Mowgli
Voted here in Roswell GA (Tom Price’s district) at about 10:30. Solid line of 15 people waiting while all 8 Diebold voting machines were being used. My neighborhood is very conservative but I was encouraged to see some people of color and under 50 at the polls.
I went all D (Barnes/Porter/Thurmond– all likely to lose) and since Price is running unopposed (grrrr….) I voted for myself as a write-in candidate, just so I could say I voted for someone other than the good Doctor.
Bruce
In Baltimore City. Voted at 8:00 this morning. First voter at my precinct (worrying, as they opened at 7:00), but about two dozen people streamed in as I was finishing up. Not worried about most of the ballot, but really hope folks show up today and keep Ehrlich from retaking the governor’s mansion. O’Malley could be better (but I’m a grown up and know that no one is going to do exactly what I want all the time), but I really don’t want to put up with a return of that proudly ignorant, lazy, unprepared, incompetent, smug fuck up.
morzer
@Mowgli:
How did the good folks react to Father Wolf and Mother Wolf?
Ross Hershberger
@Tom:
A local candidate is named Fortuna. Slogan: Vote ForTuna, on a tuna can. I have no idea who this guy is but I admire his nerve.
morzer
@Ross Hershberger:
Well, when they get multiple votes for Bill Parcells, they ought not to be wholly surprised.
kerFuFFler
@Tim:
“I’m feeling awesome: Not participating in a corrupt process, and at the same time, withholding my vote from my former and very worthless party (Dems) feels great.
Especially while millions of silly zombies go to the polls and pretend it matters. Tools. ”
I still hope you will change your mind and vote. Of course it is frustrating when in this political tug of war the country does not move as far left as we want, but if we let go, the country will get even moved even further to the right. It is silly to insist on just how far to the left things must move for us to be willing to do our part and keep pulling(voting!). Things COULD get much worse. After all, do we really want conservatives controlling the next cycle of redistricting thereby strengthening their democracy-thwarting hold on the process?
Maybe we are “tools” for voting, the kind of tools that help get things done!
Mish
@eemom:
Wisdom comes with age but sometimes age comes alone.
Maody
@morzer: that made me laugh. also, also, too. x10
rickles58
Voted in East Central Florida @ 7:00. Got to polls at 6:50 and there were about 40 people in line ahead of my husband (I love that word) and me. There were that many more behind us by time I left at 7:15. Unfortunately I live in a large Republican area. But we did our part for Dem candidates. We’ll return our ass-hat Congressman to the HofR. Looks like we’ll elect a Teatard Senator. But if we’re extremely lucky we won’t elect a criminal for Governor. I’m holding out hope for Alex Sink.
birthmarker
@geg6: Can I move where you live???
Lev
@Max: Yeah, California’s income tax is quite high, but we have no money. Part of it really has to do with the lingering terrible effects of Prop 13, which severely limits property taxes which, incidentally, help stabilize home prices. Geez, why was there such a huge spike in home prices again? Seriously, though, there is a lot of waste that a Republican governor could really take care of if they wanted to (and didn’t care about ever running for anything else ever again). Frankly, had Tom Campbell kept in the governor’s race and won the nomination, I would have seriously considered voting for the guy. But Whitman is beyond ridiculous, a complete fraud whose policy literature is a combination of yesteryear’s buzzwords hoary right-wing tropes, and it is utterly devoid of imagination. I’m a Brown man, for sure.
fidelio
Why has strikeout run amok here?I ran over to my Designated Location at lunch and exercised my franchise–four machines, no waiting. When I got back to work, a parking space had opened up right by the entrance–clearly, my civic virtue had been rewarded!
The Tennessee governor’s race has 14 independent candidates* on it, including one David “None of the Above” Gatchell, who supports changing ballots to include a “None of the Above” option, and whose campaign manager is a terribly cute dog named Pugsley. My US House district had, in addition to the Democratic incumbent and the Republican, a Libertarian candidate, a Green candidate, and six independents.
*Given our upcoming budget deficit issues, this seems like an odd time for so many people to want this job.
Cris
@change: Atanarjuat?
Steve
@Ross Hershberger: Not enough blogospheric attention has been paid to Virginia congressional candidate Krystal Ball.
Mnemosyne
@Lev:
Not only that, but Prop 13 applies equally to commercial properties, so you have the big studios paying the exact same property taxes that they did in 1978.
The state keeps trying to make up the lost revenue in sales taxes and income taxes, but losing that property tax blew a huge hole in the budget that I just don’t think can be made up.
JPL
@Mowgli: I voted early at the library and an asshole commented on her way out that the elections should be run by businesses. I didn’t slug her.
Elie
@Max:
Just curious Max why you voted against the state income tax. WA has huge problems with regressive sales tax on working class and poor people. Why are educational system sucks so bad (in part). The proposed income tax on the wealthy is pretty mild but a lot more fair than what is in place now.
Just curious…that is if you want to answer at all
Mowgli
@morzer- I left them at home, the electorate is already jumpy enough!
Elie
Uh oh — the big strike through monster is back
morzer
@Mowgli:
I cried when Sarah Palin shot Baloo in the movie.
Felanius Kootea (formerly Salt and freshly ground black people)
I voted. Yay me.
geg6
@birthmarker:
Actually, I was shocked that there were no Teabaggers there. My county (on the very edge of the Pittsburgh versus Pennsyltucky borderline) went for McCain and has the bluest of Blue Dogs as rep. But my polling place, despite some neighborhood asshat Teabaggists, is pretty Dem due to the very diverse neighborhood. In a county with 8% AAs, my precinct is about 50/50. Weird that no white people (other than me, of course) were voting this morning, though. I saw one other white person pulling into the parking lot as I left.
You Don't Say
Just got back from voting. Busy, but well run. Finished so quickly had a celebratory breakfast afterward. Weather couldn’t be nicer here in northern Nevada. I think turnout is going to be huge here.
Redshirt
Straight D in Eastern MA. Bustling polling booth, but I’ve learned over the past three elections my fellow townsfolk are all too likely to vote R – even here, in eastern Ma. So I had my inner scowl on.
Barring some fundamental change in philosophy, I’ll never vote R again. And I voted for Bush senior, to my great shame (I had a foolish notion his “Maineness” would elevate him).
Go Ed Markey!
bjacques
In moderation again. Curses!
Chat Noir
Reading “Freedom: A Novel” by Jonathan Franzen and came across this interesting sentence on page 445:
The book is a really good read, as was “The Corrections.”
Edit: oops, posted this in the wrong thread. Sorry about that.
thalarctos
@sstarr: Voting absentee whilst I live in England, I’m pleased that mine’ll be one of those late-arriving ballots from Seattle that will break for Murray.
Randy P
Voted at 7:30 before work.
No issues. We have a pretty quiet neighborhood. I was a little surprised that I wasn’t asked to produce an ID, but the pollworkers are my neighbors and know me. Still.
There was no Democratic table outside, as there has been the last few elections. I was a little saddened by that. Our local Democratic party has been a little more fired up the last few years. We live in a very Republican county (Delaware County, PA). It’s not Dallas, TX, but all the local governments have been Republican strongholds for over a century.
On the other hand, there was no Republican table either. So maybe it was just too cold. Or too early.
On the other other hand, there was one of the local Republican councilwoman inside the door. And no Democrat.
ETA: My wife voted a couple of weeks ago at the courthouse. Until she did that, I didn’t even know PA had early voting.
Eric S.
@batgirl: RE: Voting no on all judges.
That’s my weak sauce protest. This year I made an exception for the IL Supreme Court. What I really want to do is leave them blank but then the machine will signal an under vote and I won’t know if it is just those left intentionally blank or if I missed one I care about.
Kib
I haven’t worn a beret since I was in the Boy Scouts. (True story). I went to Rincon Congregational Church around 8:30 and there was no line at all. Cast my votes for Gabrielle Giffords and Terry Goddard.
thalarctos
@merrinc: My smart/mean one*, Momo, actually joined the local Republican mailing list back in the 90s to keep them from getting ahold of my name (though to be fair, it wasn’t exactly her idea). As a black female, she must have been a really desirable demographic for them, too–they kept on sending her begging mail for years and years, even though she never sent them so much as a red cent.
geg6
@Randy P:
From the PA website, regarding absentee voting (it is NOT early voting of any shape or form):
http://www.votespa.com/portal/server.pt/community/how_to_vote/13515/voting_by_absentee_ballot/585300
birthmarker
I live in AL-05 (yeah, Parker Griffith) and the polling place was mobbed. With, I feel sure, are pissed off repubs. I was voter #1120 at 10:30 AM. I have never seen a number like that before. It’s usually between 100 and 350. It’s gonna be a bloodbath here, for the state wide dems, I am afraid. Also just a sprinkling of African Americans and young people there …
Bob Loblaw
@morzer:
Is it possible that there will come a time when people stop saying such stupid, stupid things?
There remains a slight difference between the Republican Party and the National Fucking Socialists and the Third Fucking Reich…
Also, by your braindead logic, 1783 actually worked out quite nicely for the “forces of tyranny.” Southern states got another half century of sweet, sweet slaveholding than if they remained in the British empire. It was a very profitable revolution for them.
john b
@burnspbesq:
who is “we”? i’m an ncsu grad and am enjoying the hell out of their athletic program ncaa violation woes this year.
edit: i know how to spell. i SWEAR
Mino
I like to vote on the day. Our location here in Texas was pretty empty. The poll guy said it was because they got their voters through real fast. I don’t know, but if White doesn’t get out the SA/Austin electorate, he’s toast.
Mowgli
@morzer: You are on fire today… Just as our entire country will be, once President Palin reveals that she is actually The Walkin’ Dudette and will set this whole world to burn with the help of her minion, Glenn ‘Trashcan Man’ Beck!
Elie
@Max:
Max:
While a state income tax is not a fix for all state revenue problems, it places the burden more fairly on those who can afford to pay more. Sales taxes and user fees are very unfair to working class and poor people as they make up a significantly larger proportion of their incomes compared to the wealthier.
Slippery slope is not a valid argument in my opinion. That basically assumes that no intervention can be enacted because it always eventually ends up with a more extreme version enforced.
While I donot believe that income tax is ever popular, or without issues around fair enforcement of the regulations, it beats regressive user fees and sales tax.
BTW, this income tax would be imposed on couples making more than 400K per year! C’mon now do you and/or your friends make that much per year?… (I know, I know, the slippery slope argument rears its head again )
State services are not and cannot be free. Right now, the poor and working class in WA State fund all services disproportianately. That is not fair and is also a slippery slope to poor and diminished service quality — like what we have now.
Benjamin Cisco
Got mine done during early voting.
Was very happy to cast a vote for Elaine Marshall; damn the odds, Richard Burr is a lying sack, and any chance to say no to him is one I’ll take ALL DAY.
Got one in for Larry Kissell too; he’s up against former Charlotte sportscaster Harold Johnson, who seems to be just fine with keeping up the tax breaks for companies that outsource jobs. When these guys say they are trying to look out for the little guy, THEY.ARE.LYING.
Randy P
@geg6: Ah, OK. What she must have done was get and cast an absentee ballot in person. All I know is she started out the day without an absentee ballot, and came home from the courthouse announcing she had voted.
Elie
BTW — I mailed in my ballot (State of WA is all mail all the time), over a week ago.
I freakin hate the numerous chicken shit referenda that the state legislatures foist on their witless citizens in lieu of pulling up their britches and actually doing a little tough decision making. that bullshit argument about direct democracy — what crap! That proposition/referendum stuff is just a horror and results in a mish mosh of crazy decisions made by reactionary electorates played by different advocacy groups. Poor California is still in the thrall to that disastrous approach going back to proposition 13 in the 80’s when CA blew up its wonderful public school system and has spiralled down to other bullshit since that high point.
Its so cynical that the very people who hate government want this shitty way to make decisions rather than forcing our elected leaders to do their jobs.
lacp
I apologize if somebody’s already linked this, but here’s the Pew Research Center’s analysis of people who don’t vote in midterms. Not Republicans.
http://pewresearch.org/pubs/1786/who-are-nonvoters-less-republican-educated-younger
Kilkee
Damn strike-through monster.
Voted in Portland (ME) this morn. Reasonably busy, but hard to tell if the teatards were out, as they are mostly suburban/rural. Polls still suggesting possible victory for Tea party Guv candidate LePage, but if elected I suspect he’ll find he can do nothing with a solidly D legislature. More interesting issue is whether Cutler (I) who’s been gaining momentum, can actually push past the Dem and win it.
Shockingly, late polls of unknown reliability say that Chellie Pingree (D-1st District) may actually be in a fight with her GOP opponent. If it’s the tsunami that ‘change’ predicts, we may see it here.
Jewish Steel
@BGinCHI:
True dat. Lots of nervous friends in education.
Elie
I actually miss going to a polling place. There was something about seeing your fellow citizens doing their good citizen deed. I always felt like I had accomplished something important.
I have no idea but I wonder whether all mail voting increases or decreases the proportion of people who vote in an election?
geg6
@Randy P:
That sounds right to me. I only wish we had early voting. It would make it easier to do GOTV if I could direct them to vote RIGHT THAT MINUTE.
BGinCHI
@Jewish Steel: It’ll also be the old downstate vs Chicago war.
Though Brady is a good candidate for yet another governor going to the Big House.
some other guy
Voted this afternoon here deep in dark red territory (Jim Sensenbrenner’s district). Compared to the last time I voted here (2004), the place was dead. Keeping hope alive for Russ!
Sasha
@Bob Loblaw:
True, but sadly it is now more of a difference of degree rather than of kind. (See waterboarding, torture, “sharpened interrogation”)
The mainstream GOP may not be Nazis, but they’ve done a good job of acting like them sometimes.
There really needs to be a Godwin exception for some things.
Sasha
Voted for Crist because good behavior should be rewarded.
Made damn sure I voted “yes” to amendments 5 and 6 (anti-gerrymandering).
Smooth set-up and no obvious crazies.
Max
@Elie: I understand your argument and I appreciate your opinions and respect your voting for the measure. I think this measure really made me think about my “fiscally conservative, socially liberal” stance. I am probably more centrist in my views then you are. Can we agree that Costco should be able to sell hard liquor?
Yes, I realize that couples would be taxed if they make over $400k, but individuals would be taxed if they make over $200k. That’s a reasonable number for those jobs/businesses that we are trying to attract to the state. ie Silicon Forest.
Clark County (WA) is desperately trying to lure high tech firms here and one of the arguments for relocating to this side of the river, instead of OR, is related to the tax on higher income earners that Oregon approved (and WA is much more business friendly). I think that for continued growth in this area, we need to be able to remain income tax free.
BTW – much better schools are also a reason why a lot of people are moving to the Vancouver area from Portland.
Maybe I’d have voted different if I wasn’t just coming off of 4 years in California as a single person with no kids, earning a good salary and renting. I paid more in taxes than many of my friends made in a year. Prior to living in CA, I lived in FL and NV, both states without an income tax. CA was my first experience with state income tax and I won’t soon forget it.
West of the Cascades
I mailed in my vote here in Oregon two weeks ago, and just want to plug the pure-vote-by-mail system we have here (and have since 1998). It is simple, the ballot and an election guide arrives in the mail, I can fill my ballot out like filling out a standardized test, except I can look on-line for help with races or ballot measures that I don’t know much about and want help deciding how to vote.
Today I knocked on doors for the Democratic Party of Oregon, and we are ACTUALLY ALLOWED TO PICK UP PEOPLES’ BALLOTS! They fill them out and seal them in the “security envelope” and sign them, and then anyone can pick it up and deliver it to the collection locations. The only consideration is that they have to be delivered to the collection boxes by 8:00 pm. The security envelope and signature ensure no voter fraud. There are also no possibilities for voter intimidation.
I had one woman who said “I want to vote but don’t know if I have time to get it dropped off.” I told her I’d be back in a half-hour and could pick up her ballot. She filled it out, and I collected it and delivered it for her.
It’s a great system, and the whole country should do elections this way.
Winston Smith
@Sentient Puddle:
Blunt’s vacated seat, MO-7 was heavily contested.
Some OK Republicans got shut out in favor of a tremendous asshole named Billy Long. I’m sure he’ll make a few appearances in Daily Show commentary.
Munira
@Max: I got another vote for Patty Murray today. I vote in Washington state and live in Quebec. I got my ballot by email and sent it in ages ago. All my family is liberal and politically involved except my step daughter, who got briefly excited over Obama in 2008 and actually registered to vote but hadn’t informed the elections people when she moved last year. I started bugging her last week and with the help of my niece in Seattle and my son and daughter-in-law in California, we got her to the polls today to vote for the Dems. She just texted me saying she’d voted and she’s really proud of herself.
Scott P.
Just got back from voting in SC. Wore my best black panther garb (leather jacket, beret, sunglasses). First time voting here, so no idea of relative turnout, but the line was pretty long.
EIGRP
I just voted – east side of Rochester, NY.
Our polling place was moved this year… to a church. I was pretty uncomfortable waiting in line and having to look at God this and glorious that. Then I put my conspiracy hat on… what better way to get people to think about the Obama is a Muslim meme.
This was also the first time with the new electronic voting machines. I think these offer much less privacy than the lever-based ones. While I was standing in line to sign my name, I looked around the room and could see who one person was voting for (D column!). Sliding the ballot into the machine wasn’t bad but a little awkward with the privacy shield.
Oh well. Time to put on a movie or something.
Eric