Valued commenter Shortstop had an interesting idea in an earlier thread:
Cole and other FPers, know what would be a fun topic for an election day thread (this day or another election day)? Descriptions of where people voted.
Years ago, the NYT (I think) did a photo essay of Americans voting and I was really struck by the range of environments in which people exercise their franchise. There were people voting in rural one-car garages, airplane hangars, hardware stores, all kinds of places besides the more usual schools and churches. It was quite moving seeing this basic, communal action being taken in so many disparate locales. I felt all e pluribus unum, though I know we aren’t!
Today I voted in the lobby of a Chicago high-rise: ours. I am so in love with my new ability to go downstairs in my pajamas (I didn’t, but I could have) and cast my vote, thus totally avoiding the aggressive electioneers just outside.
So what was your polling place like? Was it crowded?
The mister and I were among the first 20 or so to vote in our little town — we were outside the door when it opened at 7 AM. Our polling place is a small church, a satellite operation of a larger Southern Baptist megachurch.
The only time I darken the door of any church is when I visit this one to vote. Our fellow early-bird voters were all middle-aged or elderly white folks, not surprising given the demographics of the town.
Please feel free to share other election news or talk about whatever.
beltane
I voted yesterday at the clerk’s office of my small Vermont town. My schedule was very busy today and I wanted to make sure I didn’t miss out.
JMG
I voted shortly after polls opened at 7 a.m. at beautiful new Estabrook elementary school in Lexington, Mass. Both my grown children went to the old school (same location) of that name, also our polling place. It looked like where Beaver Cleaver went to school.
Linda Featheringill
Philly.
We voted in a school gym. The whole experience was an adventure since I am not very good at walking and even worse at climbing stairs. However, we did it.
It’s a BEAUTIFUL day, by the way. I’ve heard that good weather benefits Democrats and vice versa. Don’t know how heavy the turnout is in our neck of the woods. Heard that urban Kentucky is turning out in droves, which warms my heart.
Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason
The gym in the community center (former high school) of my South PA borough.
FlyingToaster
The Watertown Police Station.
KG
voted at a Jewish temple a few blocks from my house, right after the polls opened. this is my third election here (two general elections, one primary), twice it has been at the temple, once it was at a retirement home (or possibly assisted living home). it is still weird for me going to vote at a place of worship, then again, when I lived in the burbs in my 20s we always voted in someone’s garage.
Just Some Fuckhead
Churches shouldn’t be polling places. There almost always segregated and nowadays they’re home field advantage for one side or the other.
realbtl
Since Montana has no fault vote by mail I voted a week ago at my desk. All Dem for all of the good it will do.
Another Holocene Human
Early voted at the County building two weeks ago almost. Walked right in. The area is just to the left of the license tag/car registration area where I went to change the title on our cars after my wife and I were married. 30 min voter parking outside, also close to transit, also walk/bike-able, bike parking. There’s usually a police officer or retired police security sergeant at arms, usually an older Black male, who stays out on the steps and makes sure the pkg doesn’t get blocked, and the entrance isn’t blocked by partisan idiots and that disallowed items aren’t taken into the building. Elderly female volunteers check your name on the rolls and ID and hand you a ballot. In the past, I remember some people fussing about the whole voter registration card thing but since the new law passed they run your ID through a magnetic stripe reader so I guess you can’t say shit.
Go to a booth, fill out scantron ballot with a pen (prefer markers but they’ve switched to bics), put ballot in scantron, get sticker, leave.
Baud
I like these threads. We need to make voting a social and cultural event celebrated by Democrats.
I voted early. City hall.
JPL
I took advantage of early voting at the library. There was about a dozen people and it was quite easy. The northern Atlanta burbs are still reporting long lines. (ugh)
evap
I voted absentee, but my daughter in Atlanta voted at the same place I would vote if I were there — a church. The poll workers are mostly church ladies and their average age appears to be around 91.
My daughter just texted me that there were long lines — a good sign, since our precinct is heavily Democrat. She was standing in line next to Shirley Franklin, former Atlanta mayor!
Just Some Fuckhead
There = They’re
Can’t edit in my phone.
Phylllis
Voted at the former national guard armory in town, now the town civic center. I was out and about a couple of times and the parking lot there was pretty full.
donnah
My husband, son, and I voted at a church social hall in our neighborhood at 8:00 this morning. We came after 35 previous voters and there were people voting at seven stations as we were leaving.
I prefer voting early to get it out of the way, plus I get to wear my voting sticker all day!
Mnemosyne
I voted from the comfort of my couch and then dropped my ballot in the mail — not because I’m in a state with vote by mail, but because I got a one-time absentee ballot because of the move.
Our previous polling place was usually the gym at a local church, but it’s rotated between a couple of different churches (including the nearby Mormon church). For the 2008 primary, it was at the fire station.
Another Holocene Human
I did vote at my local precinct one time since I moved to a new neighborhood, but it was blocks away at a church and I just said fuck it and determined to early vote. Then they moved it to another church on a highway and I did have to vote there for municipal elections twice. Drove.
I did vote on voting day more in my old ‘hood because you could walk to the church, even though it was one of those freaky fundy places, from my home and I knew at least one of the ward workers on sight but the new place? phuck it.
I started early voting the year I found out my polling place was down some road across a highway over a mile away from my home and I only had a bicycle and the route wasn’t bike safe and I had to work that day. Early voting was a godsend. This state makes you vote in churches, I guess schools and most public buildings are right out. Lame. Ass.
munira
I voted at my desk in Quebec by email. I vote in Washington state – about as easy as it can get.
Rob
I voted in a nearby elementary school. I went just before 10 am, and there was no line or waiting at all.
Baud
@Linda Featheringill:
I want Kentucky the most.
Suzanne
Our polling place is the clubhouse of an apartment complex. Pseudo-Mediterranean architecture typical of Phoenix and Vegas, with red clay tile roof. Lovely landscape, not enough parking, and I’m sure the residents don’t like it. There’s a public elementary school and a public library in the neighborhood, but every election since I’ve lived here is at that apartment clubhouse.
Major Major Major Major
I voted in my friend’s living room, then mailed the (painfully easy to fill out, sigh) ballot off to Denver.
ETA: easy because the choices were so damn stark.
Violet
I voted today at a local elementary school. The polling place was in the school library. I had to dodge kids studying or doing homework in the hallway to get to the door of the library, and when I went in, it hardly looked like a polling place at all. They’d moved a few tables out of the way and squeezed a whole bunch of voting booths in there.
It was almost hard to tell it was a polling place. The poll worker hollered at me, as I looked in the door quizzically, “You’re in the right place! This is where you vote!” I guess I wasn’t the first person to look a bit confused.
dmsilev
Local Catholic seminary. There were two precincts voting at that location; for my precinct, I was voter #95 at about 7:30 this morning. Wasn’t much of a line to get in, and we use optical-scan ballots so there weren’t any machines to wait for (just little privacy booths for filling out the ballot, and then a fast scanner for reading it).
MissWimsey
I voted at a banquet hall right around the corner from where I live. The first thing I noticed was the musty smell and the dark colors of the interior. It felt like stepping back in time, really. This is the first time I have voted at this northwest side Chicago location since I moved from Humboldt Park, where I used to live. There, I voted in the same building I went to kindergarten. I recall that all these years later, it still has the public school smell.
StringOnAStick
Voted by mail two weeks ago in Colorado’s first all mail-in ballot election. Now we’re in Ecuador and just completed a 2 day climb to just over 16,700′. Tomorrow I will get up early to check election results before the next phase of our journey. Please, please let it be good news!
dmsilev
Oh, and they accidentally gave me two ballots. Hey, it’s Chicago, vote early and vote often…
(I’m honest in such things; I left one blank and gave it back to the poll workers.)
Omnes Omnibus
I voted at City Hall (in-person absentee) over a week ago. My regular polling place is a public middle school
andy
I voted in an old folk’s home down the street. Before it was closed, our precinct voting place was the New Deal era Whittier school. I enjoyed voting at the school a lot more- I just love that old school smell- it always takes me back. I thought it was good that the kids got to see what an orderly change of government looked like too.
Valdivia
Until last year my precinct was in a very modern high school a few blocks from here, in the heart of Foggy Bottom. For 2014 my precinct was relocated down the street from me to a community room at a small Church. There was a bit of a line when I arrived and all the booths were being used. Good mix of people–young, old, male and female. Also: an older man who didn’t know about the change of precinct location, got a special ballot and was screaming about Russia and the lack of freedom. Oh and outside where people were electioneering, William Kennedy who is running for my ward’s seat on the council. I love voting. :)
ETA: I voted early in the morning didn’t see what number I was.
Porco Rosso
Voted by mail. Washington.
Shakezula
Voted on the 18th
using my Obamaphone’s MultiVote appin the gym of the local community center, which I knew existed but thought was further away.I got some odd looks whenever I wore the jacket with the I Voted sticker on the days afterward, which is weird because both Maryland, D.C. and WVa all had early voting this year. Probably jealous voters from Virginia!
(My regular polling place is in a different gym which is probably the same distance from my house.)
Sourmash
Local Middle school. At least 20 machines, extremely helpful and diverse collection of judges and very short line. The few people in line were all thrilled to be voting, chatty and gregarious. Republican electioneers outside were a bit aggressive, but no one was paying attention here in Maryland.
BGinCHI
C’mon, I voted like 8 times.
How am I supposed to remember all of the places?
KithKanan
San Luis Obispo, CA.
I’ve been voting in the same Lutheran church at the corner of two major cross-streets about a half-mile from my apartment since I moved here 14 years ago. Plenty of voting booths and no waiting when I went to vote before work.
Ballots are optical scan, and they seem to have moved back to central counting from feeding them into a scanner directly at the polling place several years ago.
The other polling places in town are a mix of churches, schools, community centers (grange, vet’s hall, the community center of a mobile home park), and city hall itself.
srv
I voted in a garage. The six booths were filled but not much of a line.
They were confused I was bringing my mail-in ballot. I always do that. Lot of older folks apparenlty like the booth thingy.
Violet
@Violet: Forgot to add that there were not other voters in the polling place when I arrived. I had to show ID because stupid new immoral and should-be-illegal ID law, and I complained about it–loudly. Said it should be illegal and it wasn’t about voter fraud at all and it was to keep people from voting. Then I said we should all have a national ID and voting should be compulsory like in Australia.
That created quite the stir among the poll workers! When I went to vote they were chatting amongst themselves about countries where you were required by law to vote and they thought that might be a good thing. Poll workers are very enthusiastic about voting in general, so they were all for having more voters!
I’m quite the rabble-rouser!
dmsilev
@BGinCHI: So you voted to retain roughly 13,000 Cook County judges then?
Kay (not the front-pager)
I early-voted at the county government office building a week ago. Today I was one of those “aggressive electioneers just outside” at two elementary schools. My husband voted at the local middle school.
When I lived in California I voted in suburban garages. I have to say that freaked me out. One of my sons voted in the lobby of an apartment building in San Francisco, and the other voted in, I think, a local movie theatre in San Francisco.
I’ve been on my feet for 7+ hours at 2 polling places today, greeting voters with a big smile and the offer of a democratic sample ballot. I maybe influenced a small handful of them. But Barack Obama won Virginia by an average of 15 votes per precinct in 2012. In 2013 the Attorney General won by fewer than 900 votes in Virginia. So if I, one precinct worker, got us 3-4 votes in 2 precincts, I may very well have had a real effect on this election. Anyway, to me the potential is worth the work.
Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony
I voted at the Senior Center a block and a half from my house. It is across the street from a small park, which is lovely with the falling leaves.
EriktheRed
I voted in my gerrymanderd Republican sinkhole in Northern IL. Adam Kinziger is likely gonna win, but at least he’s not a wingnut. Dick Durbin is sure to win, too, giving Milk Dud – aka Jim Oberweis – another one in his long line of statewided defeats.
The only race I’m not sure of is Governor. I pray I won’t be waking up tomorrow to the knowledge we’ll be having a Governor Rauner to kick around for the next 4 years.
Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism
Social hall of a Presbyterian church nearby, same place I’ve voted since we moved to this house 20-odd years ago. The poll workers here were younger than they have been in the past; a couple of them were well under 50.
I was voter 616 late this morning. My husband was in the upper 900s by late afternoon. Our precinct never has this kind of turn-out for mid-terms, and not that often in Presidential years. Thank you, Dr. Barber.
JPL
@evap: Nice! .
Helen
Voted in the cafeteria of the local public school. In and out in 10 minutes. NYC does it well.
JPL
@BGinCHI: Are you hoping that Glenn Beck reads this site so he can say, they all cheat. haha
mai naem
Senior center. It’s next to the main library so chances are it will always be here. They used to have it in small room until a couple of election cycles ago. It’s in a larger room. I was there early PM, after lunch, steady trickle of voters. Saw three people drop off absentee ballots. I felt like it was busier than normal but that’s just the feeling I got. There was mix of people voting – young/old/Hispanic/white/black/male/female. Oh, I live in a college town. I think that makes a difference.
Rob
My partner just showed me Wonkette’s live blogging page. I almost spit out my beer on my monitor when I saw the graphic for the header.
http://wonkette.com/565379/election-2014-liveblogging-the-gop-ocalypse
EriktheRed
@EriktheRed:
Btw, my polling was a church down the street from me, which has been the polling place for this district for many years now. Totally not crowded when I went in at about 2:45 today. I was voter number 100 for the day.
Morzer
The Guardian had a liveblog of the election results plus some shenanigans by Republican vite suppression bastards masquerading as poll watchdogs/topiary artists/concerned citizens councils of a pasty-white fascist nature etc:
http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2014/nov/04/us-miderm-elections-results-republicans
DailyKos has the first of several live threads on the same theme:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/11/04/1341382/-Midterm-liveblog-1-And-we-re-off
fidelio
I voted last week, in what is usually a meeting room at the Bordeaux branch of the Nashville Public Library. The room is about what you’d expect–cream colored walls, heavy-duty commercial carpet in a bland color, The library is, well, it’s a library, one of the newer ones in town, although not terrifically new. It is clearly well-used by the folks in the local area.The grounds were covered with signs, and I spoke with some of state Senator Thelma Harper’s very enthusiastic volunteers coming and going, although they were careful to observe the proper boundaries.
My proper polling place is the community center at East Park, but I wanted to get this out of the way, and the branch library is close to my office.
I expect Bill Haslam will be re-elected as governor here, and have to hope Jim Cooper will keep his seat–he’s not left enough to suit me, but I doubt anyone much further left than he is could count on making it past the Tennessee electorate. Alexander will be relected–he’ll be in the Senate until he dies or decides he wants to quit. My money is on the former. He’s a statesman now, after all.
Except in selected areas, the Democratic Party in Tennessee is very weak, and needs some reorganizing and house-cleaning. At least Haslam is not terribly interested in endorsing the craziest things the legislature comes up with.
I don’t know whether I want Brownback to lose (my nephew and his family live in Kansas, in Johnson County) or to win by the narrowest of margins so he’ll have to spend the next few years dealing with his mess. If he lost, he could walk away and claim he just didn’t have enough time to see the results he promised. Watching him struggle to sort out the mess, like a worm writhing on a hot rock, would be quite gratifying.
Hal
Voting place was some Christophoro Columbo something or other. Not too far from my house. My favorite voting place was when I lived in San Francisco. I walked out the front door of my apartment, across the street and there was my polling place. I think it was a retirement home. Run by nice little old ladies.
gogol's wife
Middle school gym at 12:30. Hardly anyone there. When we came out, the Republican former mayor with whom I had a screaming match at our next-door neighbor’s barbecue during the 2012 presidential campaign was there promoting the criminal running for state senator. My husband kept whispering, just keep your head down. He said hi to the guy, I couldn’t. God please let the Democrat (all the Democrats, especially Malloy) win.
Laertes
I vote by mail, so I prepared the ballot a few days ago…and I don’t have any stamps. There must be some somewhere, but I don’t think I’ve mailed anything in nearly a year.
So today I just dropped by my polling place to hand in the ballot. It was a car dealership a few blocks from my place. At a quarter past nine this morning, the place had a few poll workers and one voter working on her ballot. I was in and out in about ten seconds.
beth
Years ago my husband replaced a hotel manager who retired after nearly 30 years in the job. The job came with an apartment in the hotel which was in a business section of a large city. Since this guy and his wife were the only residents in this area, they said that the election officials would bring the ballots to their apartment for many years. By the time we moved in there was enough residential development in the area to have its own polling place but I always loved that story and thought it was so cool.
Mike E
Our early voting locations were predominantly in rec/community centers; election day precincts, in churches mostly and in some park facilities, schools, fire houses etc.
Brendan in Charlotte
voted an hour ago at a nearby church here in Charlotte NC. there were more voting machines than there have been, and they were all in use! There was a line, but it wasn’t too long. Poll worker told me they’d been hopping all day – i was voter number 1,213.
Also chatted up a very nice electioneer for Thom Tillis. She started to ask for my vote, but then saw i got out of a car with an Obama bumper sticker. I told her to go ahead and take a shot at convincing me. Her main point was that no one was as bad as they’ve been portrayed in ads. She laughed when i told her no one’s a saint, but no one’s the devil either.
As the son of a female politician, i know too well what it’s like standing out there electioneering. So I’m always nice to them, no matter what party.
EriktheRed
@gogol’s wife: Isn’t it against the law to be electioneering at a polling place?
Or was he outside?
Helen
@Rob: I’ve got Wonkette up too. They are one of the few blogs that make me Laugh Out Loud. I’ll need a laugh tonight.
srv
On another note, Yusuf (Cat Stevens) concert tickets are going for north of $1K in SF. These are not front row or VIP seats. You could see Dylan for <$200.
I don't really get that, there's not a lot of 70's left in this city. I doubt the techies even know who he is.
Although that Mad Max Fury Road trailer cover of Wild World may enlighten them.
geg6
We walked right next door to the local fire station and voted. I love that we can do that. It’s the one thing I like about living in the suburban hell I live in. I am not cut out to live in the suburbs.
AliceBlue
I voted last week at our county elections office. My actual precinct is in a fire station.
Thunderbird
Voted in the gym of a church down the street from my apartment complex. Was voter #5 for my precinct at 6:30 AM. A stark difference from 2012 when there were lines out the door at the same time.
The Other Chuck
Polling place was damn near empty … but I also live in the least-populated district in San Francisco, so there’s that. No ID shenanigans, no weird voting machines, just the same optical scan stuff we’ve used for ages, no fascist thugs playing at poll watching… All you have to do is wipe out the GOP and grind it into the dirt in your state, and you too can have democracy that looks like this.
Hal
Kitten being brushed…for comic relief today.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7wXRAMm-Xo#t=59
fidelio
What’s the oddest polling place you’ve ever seen? One year, when we were living outside of town (Rolla, Missouri), my parents voted at an upholstery shop–the owners cleared out their work room for the occasion. There were no convenient schools or churches with handy fellowship halls in the precinct, and it was too close to town for a volunteer fire department.
gogol's wife
@EriktheRed:
He was outside. But on our way in (he wasn’t there yet), the teenage girls who were there for that candidate definitely approached us and tried to give us flyers, which I refused. Then I noticed that these flyers for the Republican candidate were lying all over the table at which we got crossed off the list, until I pointed it out to the woman at the desk. It’s real amateur hour here.
Mnemosyne
@BGinCHI:
Gotta drop in the clip from The Great McGinty, where the local machine (probably New York) has promised to pay for each voting stub and McGinty proves his mad get-out-the-vote skillz:
The Great McGinty (1940)
gelfling545
Here in WNY, I voted at a nearby Methodist church at @3pm.
I saw, for the first time, a person asked for ID at the polling place. It was a young (maybe 1st time voter?) white man. I don’t know what the actual issue was but it surprised me as I’d never seen such before. He has ID, so no problem.
Also surprising was the fact that the place was pretty lively for that time of day in a midterm election. All the spaces where one sits to complete the form before scanning were taken.
Trollhattan
My polling place is the bingo room at the nearby retirement housing but I’m a CA permanent by-mail voter so into the postbox it went, perhaps three weeks ago, thereby making my vote immune to last week’s pics of my congresswoman’s tattoos. [I keed, I keed.]
Also, too, wish there were a way to post an “Already voted, thanks” sign to fend off the last three weeks of campaign crap in the mail.
Another Holocene Human
@Baud: Good idea.
Kent
Here in Waco Texas I voted in the lobby of a local Baptist mega church a few blocks from my house. One of those big compound churches that have a school, gym, various chapels, and God knows what else occupying a suburban block surrounded by a sea of parking.
No lines. Texas is now a voter ID state. The old lady swiped the bar code of my drivers license and my face popped up on her computer screen, she verified my ID and then printed out the ticket access number for the electronic voting machine after I signed the register. There were about 20 machines and only 4 were being used. All voting Republican no doubt.
I don’t really like the concept of voting in a church but frankly there is nothing to complain about. Endless parking, plenty of room, nice bathrooms and no lines. I was in and out in 3 minutes after voting for Wendy Davis who was the only candidate on the ballot I could vote for who stood the slightest chance of winning.
There were a bunch of races, especially for judgeships for which there were not even any Democratic candidates, just Republicans and even crazier Libertarians. I always wonder why the Democratic Party can’t even put judges on the ballot to vote for but then it occurred to me that perhaps the attorneys out there who would be logical candidates don’t want to possibly hurt their future chances of winning cases in Republican run courts by “coming out” as partisan Democrats. I can’t think of any other reason.
NotMax
Local community center building, which is easily within walking distance, except it is slightly uphill coming back and the bad leg doesn’t take kindly to that type of slope.
Oh, and barely 15 minutes into election coverage, Chris Matthews has already turned his idiocy dial up to 11. The other panelists aren’t biting at his shallow sensationalist bait.
rikyrah
basement of the election headquarters. nice big room, staffed with folks. I chose to go at an odd time a couple of weeks ago, right before the rush….I was in and out in 15 minutes.
Rob
@Helen
Yes, I think I’ll check back with them. I have a wee bit of work to finish. By then it will be 7 pm and I’ll be ready for another drink.
This cracked me up too, Atrios tweeting about his “multiple voting”.
darth™ retweeted
Atrios @Atrios · 9h 9 hours ago
voted 7 times already. feeling good.
maeve
I voted in our local community center – the only voting location in our town it has 2 precincts – its just a question of what side of the room you go to. At 9:30 am it I had to wait (unusual) – but that was because they really should divide the alphabet differently – M-Z had a line, A-L had no waiting (plus the other precinct had shorter lines). I need to either change my name or move across town.
I seemed really busy, plus the voters list had lots of yellow highlights (indicating people already voted). A bunch of tight races plus interesting propositions. (local state rep, senator, congressional rep, governor plus marijuana, minimum wage, pebble min (pot, pay and pebble))
In the past I’ve voted in an Veterans of Foreign Wars Hall, Big Baptist Church/Community Center, middle school, Italian-American Club, Student Union, City Hall (that I can remember)
gogol's wife
@fidelio:
That’s pretty odd. I don’t have anything to compare — it’s always a gym or a fire station or an old folks’ home or something like that.
Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism
@Mike E: No early voting locations within a reasonable driving distance from us, which is why we waited to vote today.
I wish I was voting at NC State this year….
chrome agnomen
there were 3 election volunteers where i voted, one other voter, and myself, all gathered together in the volunteer fire house. i chatted with them for a good half hour, and no one else wandered in. but, then, i live in the least populated county in virginia, in the least populated district in the county.
BGinCHI
@dmsilev: Yeah. I figure that will really come in handy some day.
Another Holocene Human
@Violet: That is so weird that they had you dodging kids.
My elementary school in Mass growing up was a polling place but on election day they blocked off some of the halls to students so the adults could enter and exit without crossing paths with any kids. And there were lots of big signs. You knew there was an election coming when those big old IBM crank voting machines showed up in the hallways.
It’s really weird that they weren’t concerned about safety and/or access to ballots and let voting public (including sex offenders, whatever) mingle with schoolkids.
BGinCHI
@EriktheRed: If Rauner wins they might as well take his mug shot now.
daverave
Vote? Really? Voting is for suckers I’ve heard and it doesn’t make any difference. /endsnark
Haven’t voted yet here in CA but when I do I will take my mail-in ballot and walk with spouse the 1/4 mile to the community building behind the Friends church (where they have the AA meetings) and drop it in the box. I’ll grab a lollipop and an “I Voted” sticker for my lapel and walk around the neighborhood happy to know that all of the plastic campaign lawn signs will soon be gone.
Death Panel Truck
My polling place is a three-bedroom home in Pasco, Washington. I put the ballot into a black box with a red metal flag on it, mounted on a wooden post situated at the end of my driveway. A guy in a white Jeep with the steering wheel on the wrong side drives up to the box and takes the ballot to a big place on the other side of town, where it will then be delivered to the courthouse. The Jeep guy is fat and ugly, and he’s always got Rush Limbaugh blaring from his radio.
gogol's wife
Actually, the picture up top looks quite similar to the scene at my local polling station.
divF
The polling place in my precinct is in a former public school, now a private school. I dropped off my “mail-in” ballot there this morning (we’re on the Calif. perpetual absentee list) in a special box for them at the polling place. I can vote the straight Democratic ticket without qualms of conscience – Barbara Lee (H.R.) Kamala Harris (AG), Gavin Newsom (well…maybe slight feelings of ick). Oddly, I have voted for Jerry Brown for the fourth time in my life without any doubts. He may have his quirks, and I don’t always agree with him, but he has dedicated his life to public service (as did his father).
One of the goofier things on the local ballot this time was the city of Berkeley’s first-ever use of Instant-Runoff Voting – you get to vote for your first, second, and third choices. The problem was that the only official up for election was the city auditor, and the incumbent was running unopposed. The way the ballot was set up, you could vote for her as your first, second, and third choice (which I did).
BGinCHI
@JPL: My joking about it would be about the only evidence they have of voter fraud.
Except for GOP idiots who keep doing it to “test” the system.
LookingForACanadian
#181 in a big, open room behind a coffee shop. No line at 9am locally. I’m in a growing neighborhood so it was nice to be moved away from the 2012 lines around the block at a heating and cooling company bldg.
Morzer
Not an election comment, but this made me laugh (and I thought of Svensker also too):
– Drew Bledsoe, on the mindset of being the Jets’ quarterback.
JCT
Voted by mail here in Tucson. Both of my kiddos (one all the way from North Africa) got their absentee ballots in.
Had the pleasure of driving to work merrily flipping off the nitwits dancing with their “Ron Barber is the Anti-Christ and spends all of our moneys on Obummercare” signs.
Another Holocene Human
@andy:
Agreed!
A lot of those old schools were great but got mothballed because of the 2 or 3 story thing and staircases either unsafe or ADA retrofitting was going to be too expensive. Too bad, many used passive heating/cooling and a lot less plastics and stuff in interiors, however, many don’t realize how bad the asbestos can be in old buildings.
RAM
Voted at the Presbyterian Church just up the hill from our house in our no-longer-small northern Illinois town. It’s always fun to visit with the folks working the election. This morning when I voted about 9:30 I actually had to wait for an open booth, which is a first for an off-year election. And the poll workers said it had been busy all morning. So I suspect that might be good news for that rat bastard Rauner since my precinct is overwhelmingly Republican in an overwhelmingly Republican area.
BGinCHI
@Mnemosyne: Nice.
In cinema terms, I was also going to claim that I voted near the Cinema Cineplex, next to the Singer Sewing Center.
Trollhattan
@Kent:
Heh, my polling place was once a synagogue where I’m pretty sure they picked the meanest women in the congregation to run the place. They always managed to make me feel stupid for not knowing their system of running things. I would have probably preferred the Unitarians across the street, who would no doubt have taken a vote on which voting booth to assign me.
Turgidson
Voted by mail in navy-blue Alameda County, CA. I’m a little miffed that Jerry Brown basically didn’t campaign for himself, because we could have used strong coattails to get a few so-so Dems over the finish line and encourage voters to keep the Dem supermajority in place. Ashley Swearengin might win the Controller race, but at least she seems like a pretty moderate GOPer. She’ll immediately be touted as a rising star and the savior of the state GOP, though, which is why I hope she loses. Need to keep those assholes in the wilderness a while longer.
But nothing major is likely to happen here tonight and the propositions on the ballot aren’t all that exciting this time.
JPL
Now time for predictions, I think Michelle Nunn has a run-off with Perdue. Perdue can do some self funding for the run-off so it will be important to support her anyway we can.
The local CBS is not even mentioning that NH is a tossup race. Polls must have been bad for Scotty. Next move is to Virginia, I guess. Doesn’t his wife still work for a TV news station in the D.C. area.
Another Holocene Human
@Valdivia:
Screaming at powerless low-level civic functionaries? Guess he would fit right in in Russia.
Patricia Kayden
At a Baptist church in Southern Maryland. As usual, no waiting around. Took around 5 minutes. Voted for all the Dems. Hope that Anthony Brown crushes Hogan for Maryland Governor.
Iowa Old Lady
Voted early at city hall.
Mr IOL’s coworkers do team building exercises sometimes, including working at Habitat houses. Today, in honor of election day, they packed mac and cheese for the food bank. I didn’t realize how elaborate a process it was to put cheese-like-food, pasta, and soy in a plastic bag.
gogol's wife
This is a great thread. I love everyone’s stories. I love Democrats.
We did our best, we voted, what else can we do. At least we don’t have Putin on the ballot. Yet.
WereBear
Most of the town votes in the Town Hall, but our little corner of town is in a different county, so we vote in the old, tiny, Town Hall building, which, ironically, is where I normally work.
Every Election Day, I work at home, then dress, go to work, vote, and come home again.
Seemed to be on the crowded side, but then we went during my lunch hour; normally, we go after work hours.
qwerty42
The volunteer fire station. The trucks are pulled out. Was there about 8 AM. Small group; mostly middle aged and older white folks. Slow but steady stream, no waiting (why I vote in the morning). Voted for every Dem but did vote for a Republican (no opposition) who has a generally good record.
bluefoot
Voted at the local fire station. There was a steady stream of voters, and many poll workers.
Strangest place I ever voted was in somebody’s garage back when I lived in San Francisco. There weren’t any public buildings close by, nor any of the usual alternatives (churches, etc), so I suppose it made sense. But it was one of those half-underground SF garages, so it was dark and perhaps a tad creepy. Probably because every other place I ever voted up until then had been a public building (school, fire station, public library).
Valdivia
sorry a little off topic: I am hanging out here in refuge from all the hyperventilating on tv and twitter. will someone put me out of my misery when NH comes in? Sam Wang mentioned it would be a good measure of how off or on the polls were. If we lose that I am breaking out the alcohol and writing my class lecture under the influence!
ETA: I love this thread. Thankful to read all these stories.
Rich (In Name Only) in Reno
I voted at Reno High School this a.m. This is a new polling place for me, as before the primaries it was in an old American Legion building in the middle of a small park a few blocks away. This time around there were a couple of lean and hungry 20-somethings hovering just beyond the no electioneering zone with tax pot and firearm background check petitions, a thankless job if ever there was one. As I was leaving an irate NRA member was loudly threatening to call the cops.
Chris
I voted on saturday at the local library in my small town in NC. Had gone and retrieved my older son from UNC so he could vote for his first time. I screwed up and didnt request his absentee ballot early enough so it was either resort to our usual DEMONcrat voter fraud and have his brother vote for him….or make the 2 hr ride to chapel hill to get him. It was a good excuse to get him to come home anyway. After having visions of having my conspicuously non granite countertops checked by fox news minions I decided to for once cut the repubs some slack and only vote 3 or 4 times…Hagans got this anyway…LOL
Trollhattan
@gogol’s wife:
Am informed Vlad missed the Portland filing date, but do check back in ’16.
Another Holocene Human
@Rob: ooo, sweet, thanks for the tip, Rebecca’s snark is hewn to a fine point today!
LER
In the Church of the Nazarene…all of our Brevard county FL polls are in churches and I don’t approve.
I used to vote at the public libraries…but now, NO. I am a Non-Theist.
madmommy
I voted at my oldest son’s middle school, in the gym. Went around 9 am and even with 3 precincts voting in that location there were no lines to speak of. My precinct had 4 machines, there was one fellow finishing up as I went in. We have machines that light up an X next to your choice, then hit a submit button when you’re done. No receipt, which sucks, so I double checked that none of my choices changed before I submitted the ballot. School was out today since so many schools act as polling places so I had both boys with me. The youngest was miffed that they wouldn’t let him go behind the curtain with me-he’d been allowed to in the past when he was smaller and he remembered. He was somewhat mollified when I gave him my sticker to wear. The eldest asked if they would stop running Americans for Prosperity ads on the You Tubes he likes to watch now that election day has passed. He’s already savvy enough to get that AFP is a front for assholes.
Morzer
@gogol’s wife:
Give it a couple of years and Russians will be saying: “You know, things ain’t so bad. Look at those crazy Americans putting Ted Cruz on the ballot.”
Violet
@Another Holocene Human: I suspect it was more about the time of day. I voted at pick up time for the kids, so they were probably in the hallway getting ready to go home. Cars were lining up with parents to pick them up.
It’s an old school, so small, cramped hallways and other facilities. I’m certain they barely have enough room for the kids at the best of times.
Mnemosyne
My co-worker hadn’t mailed in her ballot yet, so I clued her in that she could drop it off at any polling place. The nearest polling place is actually closer than the nearest post office, so that’s what she’s going to do.
raven
Downtown Athens two weeks ago. I was interviewed and written up in the Banana Herald.
Rosalita
I voted at our town municipal center, which used to be the town high school. No waiting in my district but the other one down the hall was sure busy.
Governor’s race here in CT today. Several precincts in Hartford didn’t have their voter lists ready at opening time this morning. A judge had to rule on extending voting one more hour in those places. Natch, the GOP pack of lawyers fought that, calling shenanigans, saying there was plenty of time for all those voters to come back again. Pricks.
Comrade Colette Collaboratrice
@Shakezula:
Damn. I’d almost – almost – give up my White Privilege for one of those.
I voted this morning at my kitchen table (permanent absentee, for convenience) and then dropped my long-ass ballot off at my polling place at Hillcrest Elementary here in San Francisco. No line and only a handful of voters in the joint. My neighborhood is heavily immigrant and has a relatively low percentage of adult citizens so that’s no surprise. Glad their kids get to see Democracy In Action and I hope it rubs off.
Our old polling place was in somebody’s garage a few blocks away, run by really, REALLY slow, befuddled old ladies. This is a big improvement, especially since I seldom get around to filling out the ballot in time to mail it before the deadline. We also have early voting at City Hall for a month before the election and no restrictions on absentee voting. If you can’t vote in SF, you’re not really trying.
Trollhattan
@Turgidson:
I do not trust Swearengin, perhaps prejudiced because she looks straight out of Fox News central casting, and if she’s elected the grooming as the Next Big Republican Thing will begin within hours.
mainmati
Voted early at the new downtown silver spring civic center. Very quiet election officials got mildly indignant at someone who wanted to show I’D.
Felanius Kootea
I have permanent vote by mail status in California, so I voted last week. It took many hours – I started in front of my computer with several browser tabs open trying to understand the pros and cons of each ballot initiative in California. I voted for Democratic candidates down the line when appropriate and when there were two Democrats running against each other (e.g., Sandra Fluke versus Ben Allen) I visited their websites and went with the candidate whose site spoke more to me.
Schlemazel
Redeemer Lutheran Church (I call it the church of the ambivalent Christ & if I can get the damn picture uploaded you will see why)
They got a new ballot machine & it does not provide a count like the old ones did. It was very crowded before, during & after my time there.
This is the best I could do
https://www.google.com/maps/@45.0314571,-93.3456598,3a,75y,52.22h,90t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sxEvThy5OUjQKwXNbgbsuQA!2e0
Who puts a guy shrugging on their church?
MomSense
I voted at a middle school gym this morning. It took about 20 minutes. My kids texted me to say that the lines were incredibly long. It took them an hour and a half to vote. They said there were tons of young people there.
I think a lot of Democrats, left leaning Independents, and Greens waited to vote because they were afraid of splitting the liberal vote again this time.
I noticed the lines for same day registration were busy when I voted and my kids told me that voter registration had probably a 45 minute wait when they were there and there were a number of registrars to help people.
Please FSM let this bode well for Democrats.
maurinsky
School gym. No one holding signs outside, which is unusual in my experience. I used to vote at the Senior Center, which was nice because they would always have Girl Scouts selling cookies there, but you had to walk through a gauntlet of candidates/avid supporters, and even if I’m voting for someone, I don’t necessarily want to make eye contact with them in the morning.
MomSense
@Schlemazel:
Your description was perfect. Thanks for the laugh!
Mike E
@Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism: Me too! The Bell Tower (Pullen) voting center was where I worked a campaign for enviro initiatives back in ’08 and pretty much witnessed Obama’s winning margin in NC. Also met Kay Hagan there, too.
shelley
Voted by mail a couple of weeks ago, which was good cause I’ve been fighting s ome kind of stomach flu for the past two days. Still feeling crappy and weak in the knees. So will soon get into my fluffy PJ’s and bed to watch the beginning of the returns (and endless chatter) at 8PM. Least I’ll have no problem turning in early if the news looks bad.
Seanly
I voted at a local elementary school. They keep changing the spot within the school where it is done. For the presidential election it was in the cafeteria but today it was in the lobby (last year it was in the main hallway which is wide). I could’ve walked there, but was on my way to work so I just made it a stop. It was 15 minutes after polls opened and there was no wait.
JoyfulA
I voted at 1:30 in a small gym in a huge school complex, south-central PA. There were short lines, but the middle-aged staff was running only one A-Z check-in and three touch-screen machines, so it figures. (The voting district was split a few years ago, which wasn’t necessary because the lines at the fire station were not long, but I think the township was keeping up with the Joneses, the other areas with scandalous lines that were split.)
In that area with scandalous long lines, I have voted in three different firehouses. In Philadelphia, I voted in an elementary school, a mortgage office, a private drinking club closed for the day, and an Episcopal church basement (skirting preschool children).
Before my current location, voting staff were almost entirely elderly women and some elderly men.
Birthmarker
I live in a semi rural area and voted in the community center of a neighborhood Baptist church. Didn’t feel uncomfortable or intimidated at all. It seemed there were a good percentage of blacks voting while I voted, but maybe I just thought there were more than normal b/c I assume some of this ID business would motivate one to get to the polls.
Also, it’s not safe to assume that elderly white southern farmers vote Republican. That is not always the way it is. Some are stauch FDR dems.
Mnemosyne
Awww. My co-worker got each of us an “I Voted” sticker when she dropped off her ballot. It can be nice to work with people you agree with politically! :-)
Yes, I’m wearing it now. Because I am a geek.
EriktheRed
@BGinCHI: Nah, the rich are teflon-coated these days.
jharp
I voted in a church.
I am 54 and was by far the youngest among about 30 voters plus 20 or so others running the show.
Not one minority. Not one. And all R’s running for State office ran unopposed.
Also complimentary coffee and cookies.
My only shot at voting for a winner was for school board.
Other than that every single one of my candidates will get creamed.
Morzer
Somebody’s a prematurely ejaculatin’:
RaflW
My partner and I walked about 4 blocks to the (elegant, spacious, and well-parked) Episcopal Cathedral here in Minneapolis. I was #651 to put my ballot in the optical scanner at about 4pm (polls close at 8).
Only about 4 or 5 people ahead of us getting ballots, but a jam at the private ballot-marking booths. Still, in and out in less than 10 mins I think.
I heard that the new scanner machine was more “picky” so there were more spoiled ballots than in other recent elections, but the judges were cheerful and took care of people who colored outside the bubbles.
RaflW
@Morzer:
Then STFU, mister Barone.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
voted early at the town hall, I was one of the first, about two weeks ago, so… no good story.
But this one isn’t bad
I make the sound of one hand clapping, I will clap with other hand if he does it.
Mike J
Last week while I was out and about my wanderings led me past City Hall. I dropped my ballot in the box outside. I could have just mailed it in, but I knew I’d be passing a drop off point.
Randy Khan
I voted in the multipurpose room of our local elementary school, where I’ve voted in general elections for more than 20 years. (For primaries, they use smaller rooms in the school – sometimes the library, once a storage closet for a June Presidential primary when the issue no longer was in doubt.) It’s a big, airy room, and except for Presidential years, it’s almost all unused space. We use scanned ballots, a change in the last couple of years from electronic machines.
Usually at least one of the poll workers is a neighbor who says hello; this year was no exception, but I still had to show ID thanks to the stupid new Virginia law.
Outside, the PTA was running a bake sale and a book sale for the library, as they seem to have done forever. I always buy a couple of books. They give you stickers to put in the books saying who donated them. I say they’re donated in honor of my mother, who was a reading teacher and volunteered for a couple of years at the school after she retired.
GregB
Milford Middle School.
Steady flow.
maeve
My dog just ate my “I voted” sticker. Really. Hopefully it won’t invalidate my vote.
Mike E
@Valdivia: I’m up to song #122 on my day-long Walkman Shuffle Of Avoidance. Cooked up a batch of red beans that’s already in the freezer; penne and Classico is up next, so I’m all set for meals at least these next few weeks of the GOPacolypse. I’m as in the dark as you are! Bliss.
john fremont
In a public library out in suburban Centennial Colorado. Very busy!
Morzer
@maeve:
Shouldn’t that entitle the dog to a vote as well? The key question is whether you’ve got a blue dog or a yellow dog on your hands.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Do you tweet? Do you have followers in Georgia?
Jacks mom
I voted by mail a few weeks ago. I used to love to go and cast my ballot in person but I’m older and not as patient as I once was with the RWNJs that are the majority here in southwestern Colorado
Turgidson
@Trollhattan:
Agreed. Her record as Fresno mayor doesn’t seem too wingnutty and she does support high speed rail, so that’s about as good as it gets with a GOP candidate these days. But she kinda comes off as malleable enough to make a turn to full metal wingnut if there’s something to be gained from it, and best that she not win a statewide office and give the largely still-batshit state GOP a candidate they can use to present a more moderate facade.
edit: also agreed, she almost looks like Gretchen Carlson’s sister.
Fortunately, Kashkari comes off as such an insufferable asshole that even a non-campaigning Brown should win by 25.
jacy
My son, daughter, and I voted at the elementary school a few blocks from our house, across from the high school where he teaches football and baseball. It was 2 in the afternoon, and there was only one other person voting. (It’s only a town of 900, so not that unusual.) We had to show our driver’s licenses (as we always have) and match to a book. (To let you know how small the town is, in my precinct I was the only person on the “K” page. )
Uneventful, voted for the Democrat when one was available, unfortunately, the were about 6 offices where all the choices were Republican. The end.
Mnemosyne
@RaflW:
In LA County, we use the InkaVote system, which makes it pretty much impossible to color outside of the lines. You could not press hard enough and leave too light of a mark, but there’s no way to mark the wrong bubble.
Plus once you’re done, you can compare the numbers on the scantron to the numbers in the ballot to make sure there were no shenanigans, so that always makes me feel a little more secure.
ETA: The black thing on the right-hand side is the inker — you put it in the hole and press down and it makes a perfect, readable circle.
pagodat
The choices for mayor here in DC today were pretty uninspiring IMO, but I’m looking forward to seeing how the marijuana legalization ballot initiative turns out and how Congress will try to mess with it if it passes (not like we get to vote against them!). I vote in the basement of one of those Dupont Circle churches with a big gay pride flag over the front door (although the entrance to the polling place is around the side).
Steeplejack
I hardly ever watch network or cable news, or the pundit shows, so can someone recommend the least rage-inducing place to watch or maybe just check on the election results?
Sasha
Local fire department.
the Conster
Community Center at Needham Heights, MA – very busy with after work folks (the precinct voting place is at the commuter rail). Since I just moved in mid September, I was worried about my name making the eligible voter list – it didn’t. I know they received my voting registration, because I confirmed with town hall that they had it. The nice lady who helped me confirmed with town hall that they had my registration, and after signing a confirmation/affidavit, I got to vote – straight D. Now I know, for the first time, the frustration with being disenfranchised. Go Team Blue!
Comrade Carter
Currie Park Golf Course (Milwaukee County owned) in Wauwatosa, WI! For Mary Burke, Chris Rockwood and myself for State Sen. (It was the one of two I had to write in.)
Valdivia
@Steeplejack: cspan? pbs (then again Brooks might be there so keep that in mind)?
Baud
@Steeplejack: I was at the gym and they had CNN on mute and it was still annoying.
Mnemosyne
@Turgidson:
FWIW, I’ve seen quite a few Betty Yee signs here in the LA area, but none for the Republican.
Morzer
@Steeplejack:
I’d go with live blogging from the Guardian or live threads from DailyKos. Plus a damn fine cup of coffee and a voodoo doll of Scott Brown for therapeutic purposes.
p.a.
Voted in the local social center for the neighboring senior/section 8 housing high rise. Small mid-70’s nondescript brown brick government building. Voted there since the large New Deal era elementary school closed. No lines, but voters at every booth (approx. 12). Never thought about types of polling places before this thread. Never occurred to me churches/temples were used.
gogol's wife
@Steeplejack:
I can’t do TV at all any more. I just try various sites on the internet. I hate the New York Times, but I suppose they will be offering correct data.
Kent
Best polling place I ever voted at was in the Montlake neighborhood in Seattle where our local precinct was the Seattle Yacht Club down the street. They always had nice trays of very fancy complementary hors d’oeuvres sitting out and it was the only day of the year that any of us college students in the neighborhood could ever darken the doorway of the yacht club. We would go to fill up on the little mini quiches and cream puffs and flirt with the little old white haired ladies.
Ripley
Early voted in the County Government Center, a posh monstrosity totally out of sync with the surrounding (working class) community, built for the high ego needs of county functionaries and funded by (wait for it) taxpayers.
Small crowd, steady flow, six days before the election.
raven
@Comrade Carter: My dad coached at Wauwatosa in about 1956.
Valdivia
@Mike E:
:D
I am deep into the Mexican Revolution after getting off twitter at 4:00. At least I get to read and write about something inspiring. But I have some really good red wine ready for the debacle if it comes.
skerry
I early voted in my local library last week. Regular voting for me is at the local high school.
I committed voter fraud by giving my “I voted” sticker to my 17 yr old so she could get extra credit for voting from her history professor at the community college.
fleeting expletive
When I voted at about 3:00 p.m. I was #418 at my tiny precinct, which is considerably more voters than would be usual in a non-presidential election. I have my irrational hope that this stupid red state will not repeat its many previous mistakes.
gogol's wife
As for television, I advise everyone to stay tuned to TCM for vintage Bob Hope comedies. It’s the only way to survive the night.
A Streeter
I voted in DC’s Eastern Market’s North Hall. The South Hall is a retail food market where I buy most of my groceries. As remarked upthread, it wasn’t very exciting. The midmorning turnout was pretty good, though.
NotMax
@JCT
Ballot won’t be touched for 21 days.
/current nonsensical panic reference
Soprano2
We vote at the local tennis complex, it wasn’t crowded because there are no high-profile races in Missouri.
Helen
Fuck. All I wanted out of tonight was Mitch to lose. He won.
Have they impeached yet?
Steeplejack
I voted in the gym of a small elementary school in the middle of a quiet residential area. That’s got to be pretty old-school: the school is not on, or even close to, any main roads. . . . Ah, just did some Googling and found that the school was built in 1952, probably around the same time the neighborhood around it went up, judging by the architecture of the houses.
raven
I don’t know what all this whining about the tv coverage is. I think it’s fun.
burnspbesq
Same place I’ve voted for the last 20 years, the library of the elementary school across the street. This year the senior-citizen poll workers were replaced by 18-19 year olds (from the community college? who knows). One of them looked like she couldn’t be older than 15.
Valdivia
Apparently right now Kentucky can tell us if the polls under or over estimated the Republican share of the vote. If McConnell does much better than what was in the last poll that should be a good indicator (thanks Sam Wang)
Back to trying not reenter ignorance.
http://election.princeton.edu/2014/10/31/halloween-story-the-curse-of-the-midterm-polls/
askew
Can we have a results thread to discuss the elections happening now as opposed to this? Now that Swing State Project has been absorbed by Daily Kos there is nowhere to discuss results. DK frontpage is a bunch of trolls and twitter rumors about how the Dems have lost every race in the country, etc.
Morzer
@burnspbesq:
Did she call you grandpa and pop her gum at you?
Baud
@raven:
Yeah, but you like Morning Joe.
SiubhanDuinne
I early voted three weeks ago at the Gwinnett County (GA) Elections HQ. I was on my first day of poll-watching, and sometime early afternoon we hit a rare quiet period — nobody in line, only a couple of people at the wickets — and the poll manager walked around the room and said “If you want to vote, NOW would be a good time.” So I did.
I haven’t added up total hours, but I put in a lot of time poll-watching on behalf of the Georgia Democrats/Michelle Nunn and Jason Carter campaigns. The first two weeks were at the above-referenced Gwinnett County Elections office; after that, I was sent to three different satellite early voting locations.
In every location, what pleased me very much was the number of minority voters standing in line, often for an hour, sometimes for 90+ minutes. I’m not going to make the mistake of assuming that every single AA person vote for Nunn and Carter (or for that matter that white voters were for Perdue and Deal), but the informal, non-scientific early-voting demographics were encouraging.
Made roughly 50 phone calls today. Got through to exactly two live people, one of whom had early voted and the other of whom said he was voting this afternoon.
Now — hoping for the best, braced for the worst.
Valdivia
@Helen: the question is by how much? if it’s over the polling average it tells us how bad a night it might be?
Another Holocene Human
@Trollhattan: Ooh, here comes that goyisher kop. No no nooo, why is he walking to the women’s restrooms?
Baud
@Helen:
They’ve already called it?
PsiFighter37
@raven: It’s only fun if you have competent people talking about it. I think I’d go 2 minutes at best before smashing my TV if I had to listen to Babyface Russert do everything but drop his pants and rub furiously at the mention of Joni Ernst.
Morzer
@Baud:
I’d like it better if Joe was suspended above a pit full of vipers and viewers could vote on how many links to lower the chain.
jake the antisoshul soshulist
I voted in the student center of Living Hope Baptist Church. That building used to be the Parish Hall
of Holy Spirit Catholic Church.
The Catholics built a new building and sold the old one to the Baptists who have a huge complex.
shelley
@gogol’s wife: Also. “Finding Your Roots” on PBS. It’s on 8pm on my cable schedule. Tony Kushner , Carole King and Alan Dershowitz find out more about their Jewish roots.
Another Holocene Human
@JPL:
That race is like Obama vs Romney. It hasn’t been a tossup since the primaries. It tightened up a lot in the last two weeks but Scotty couldn’t put himself over the top and the NH GOP is throwing tantrums and telling their volunteers to drown Democrats at rallies because IOKIYAR.
Betty Cracker
CNN called KY for Yertle. Blech.
Helen
@Baud: Yup. MSNBC called it at 7:01. Right now it’s 55% – 42%
MomSense
@Helen:
Fuck, McConnell.
Capt Seaweed
I received my ballot thru the mail almost three weeks ago and I had plenty of time to think about who and what I was voting for. A few days ago I filled in the proper roundish spaces on the paper ballot w/ #2 pencil for the optical scan, slid it into The Secrecy Envelope, sealed and put ~that~ into the mailing envelope (which has my barcode voter ID on the back), sealed and signed ~that~ envelope, hopped in my car and drove 8 miles into town. Deschutes County has a drive-thru voting kiosk in the parking lot of the county offices soooo I just drove up (along w/ 10 other cars), handed it to the nice woman in the window, and voted by car. Not much complicated or controversial about that. Oregon has it right.
mdblanche
Voted at the gym of the local elementary school, just a short walk from home. The only campaign with any presence was for a local councilwoman. They were just standing around gossiping about the much more interesting races in the next city over. There were a few people there, but no lines. It was in the middle of the afternoon lull though. The poll worker who gave me my ballot was the first I’d ever seen under the age of 30, let alone 60. Overall, I get the feeling turnout will be low here. I’m not sure what that means since this is a traditionally Democratic area but one that doesn’t seem enthused with the more diverse, socially liberal party we’ve become. But the Republicans still don’t have much of a presence. There were no Republican candidates on my ballot below the statewide level and the independent running for the town council is a plant for the Democratic mayor. Maybe it just means that the only competitive race on the ballot here was a mudslinging contest for governor.
Another Holocene Human
@Valdivia: Aaaaauugghh don’t talk the kind of systemic bias where Scotty wins after all. I’ve learned to loathe him so much. His supporters are as vile as possible.
PsiFighter37
Jesus, Turtle already won?
Not a good sign…
Glidwrith
San Diego. Last year was the nearby elementary school, this year someone’s garage, which is a little closer. Steady trickle of people.
ETA – just after the polls opened at 7am
Morzer
@MomSense:
That’s a job I wouldn’t wish on my worst.. well actually, I might.
Suffern ACE
I voted in my new polling place – the village garage. Thankfully, they moved the snowplows so we could all fit inside.
Baud
@Helen:
Too bad. Not a surprise, but sad.
Cacti
Kentucky already called for McConnell.
Anybody still want compliment Grimes on her savvy campaign strategery?
Trollhattan
@Mnemosyne: @Turgidson:
Tonight, Neel goes onto the same political trashheap as Michael Huffington [who?] and it won’t be a moment too soon. Regrettably, that wackaloon Donnelly he squeaked by in the primary will still be in office with cameras pointed at him. Or maybe getting busted at the gun range.
may
We usually vote in the Town Offices (not to be confused with the Town Hall which had gone into private hands but is still the Town Hall) in rural NH adjacent to VT (divided by a river). But this year as occassionally happens, we voted at the high school in the “old gym.” With a town of one thousand or so and a checklist of about 7 to 8 hundred, there is never a line more than a few long. I was there at the end of the school day and it was quiet. The supervisor of the checklist told me the turn out was good when I saw her in the kitchen on the way in. The women checking us in got bored while I was talking to one of the three members of our selectboard, and they sang for us as there were no other voters in the room. I am not sure how the inspectors would feel about that. We have paper ballots and mark them with pencils. The same portable voting booths that we set up for Town Meeting get set up for any election. The people who spent their day making sure we could vote will be just now starting to count our votes. I prefer voting this way to any other except maybe my neighbor’s basement in West Philadelphia. We take our democracy pretty seriously here. Let’s hope that the centerfold loses!
sharl
I voted at a high school in a southeast DC suburb, a majority Af-Am community in Prince George’s County that’s pretty much a total stronghold for Democrats. What that means is that all the major action takes place during the primary; for partisan campaigns, the general election usually offers up few surprises.*
I was in and out in about ten minutes around noontime. There was no waiting in line, and although voter traffic was light, I would call it steady. It’s hard to interpret that though, since we had a number of days of early voting.
*The Democratic candidate for governor (Lt. Gov. Brown) running to replace term-limited Gov. O’Malley has been criticized for running a lackluster campaign. Whether it’s due to that, or just out of an abundance of caution, I’ve been getting robocalls from the local and national big power hitters of the Democratic party to show up to vote for Brown, though I haven’t seen any reputable polls that show him to be at major risk of losing. We’ll know soon enough though.
Morzer
@PsiFighter37:
Not really surprising though. What I saw of Grimes didn’t impress me overmuch. Lots of yelled one liners, not much coherent argument and a tendency to cower at the wrong times. Plus, Turtle is an incumbent with lots of seniority. To get people to give that up you need to run a hell-damn good campaign.
MomSense
@Morzer:
How ’bout we agree to wish it on Chuck Todd since he already inserted himself in that race.
Valdivia
@Helen: if it stays that way (I doubt it) then it means the polls were wrong in the dems favor by about 10 points. that would be like a super wave of waves, ie the GOPapocalypse
NH might be a better measure I guess.
@PsiFighter37: not necessarily. It just means the polling averages were right, the question is by how much. He was up by 6 or 7 this am.
maeve
@Morzer:
He’s a black dog. I can’t say how he’d vote but on Facebook his political views are “Free Feeding For All” (his gender in neutrois, he is “interested in both men and women”, his quote is “On the Internet nobody knows you’re a dog” – yes, my dog has a facebook account …)
redshirt
I voted in the small municipal building in a small sea of little old ladies – the lynchpin of democracy.
In and out in 5 minutes. Go Michaud! Go Cain!
Trollhattan
@Cacti:
Loved this pic of Turtle voting. The state that gave us Rand Paul wasn’t voting for no woman, no how, no way.
As to her distancing herself from Obama and loving all things coal, who the hell knows? I sure don’t.
Cacti
Since Grimes is a “Clinton Democrat,” I’m sure she’ll blame her shellacking on Clinton.
Davis X. Machina
@redshirt:
5:00 turnout running level with the 2012 general election.
A sudden efflorescence of democratic spirit? A new birth of civic responsibilty?
Nope. Bear-baiting referendum.
JPL
@SiubhanDuinne: When I went to vote early, it was in and out but there were several minorities in line. Today the parking lots were full at the polling stations.
redshirt
@Davis X. Machina: Which will bring up LePage’s totals, right?
SiubhanDuinne
@jake the antisoshul soshulist:
Oedipal?
MomSense
@Davis X. Machina:
Yeah I worry that the bear baiting referendum will really hurt Cain.
I voted yes, btw.
Morzer
@Cacti:
All I can say is “Only Kynect!”. If you let McConnell get away with that particular lie, you deserve to lose.
Botsplainer
@Trollhattan:
Wasn’t going to happen, no matter what she did.
PsiFighter37
@Morzer: All true. It’s just that I got no impression, at any point in time, that anyone really loves Mitch McConnell at all. He also has a shit personality.
I didn’t predict Grimes to win, but that would’ve been the one upset I absolutely would have enjoyed to see happen…
NotMax
Very, very early numbers, but those are lopsidedly heavy for Crist in FL.
Another Holocene Human
@jharp: That sucks. That was how I felt voting in NOVA in 2000. (The place has changed a lot since.) I voted for a Libertarian in one race. He had a sign about legalizing pot and standing up for the Bill of Rights. Sold. I think there wasn’t even a sacrifice Dem.
beltane
Charlie Crist doing very well so far.
minachica
I just got back from voting at my son’s elementary school (in Madison, WI) and I was the 1112th voter to pick up a ballot, out of around 1535 registered voters, so we are at 72% turnout with an hour to go. The place was busy – it’s the first time I’ve had to wait in a line in 12+ years of voting at this school. Here’s hoping that Scott Walker will be crying into his beer tonight!
Davis X. Machina
@jake the antisoshul soshulist:
They have all sorts of complexes, don’t they?
[rim shot]
redshirt
@MomSense: I voted yes because I’m not scared of bears. Also, fuck Republicans.
That was one of my favorite political ads, ever: “Trust our wildlife biologists!”
As if science is something a Republican trusts.
Morzer
From the latest DailyKos live thread:
mdblanche
@Valdivia: Do we know where the votes have come in so far in KY? They closed an hour before the race was called, so I’m sure it’s expected to tighten. Yertle winning is no surprise given the last polling there, but the margin will still be a hint of how we’ll do elsewhere. I’m sure the race would have been called immediately if the exit poll margin was 13 points.
raven
@Baud: I don’t like it, I watch it.
GregB
Grimes campaign must be filled with morons to have not made an issue of Kynect/AFA.
400,00 citizens with healthcare because of President Obama.
Mnemosyne
@Helen:
How the hell did they do that? The polls were still open in half of Kentucky until 7:00 pm Eastern time!
Cckids
I just now (4pm PCT) voted in my neighborhood elementary school. Southern NV. They were busy!
Manning the tables were a mix of college kids & retirees, with one soccer mom type. The kid who checked the registration book for my signature gave me a high five with “much respect” for my Doctor Who t-shirt, then we had to explain the Angels & phone box to the grandpa next to him.
They were busy all day, they said. Good!
Hal
Grimes losing makes me wish Ashley Judd would have run after all. McConnell actually seemed spooked by her, and hell, if your going to lose, at least she would have been interesting.
EDIT: Not that I’m surprised Grimes lost. I think a Dem in that district was always a long shot. We’re talking about people who don’t think kynect is Obamacare and believe McConnell when he says he can do away with one and not the other.
Beth in OR
I voted at my kitchen table, with a coffee and a cookie. I love vote-by-mail even when I drop it off at the collection box the day before the election!
I still think all Americans should get a paid day off of work on Election Day. Ballots can be counted the following day when folks go back to work. Our tax dollars at work- for us. lol
beltane
@Morzer: I’d like to see Rick Scott hover around 27% in south Florida.
Belafon
I voted at the elementary school my youngest goes to. My parents voted ata church in their town.
BD of MN
I live in a first ring suburb of St. Paul, and just got home from voting. Didn’t have to wait at all, but when I asked one of the judges how turnout was doing, he commented that it was on par with Presidential elections, so at least in my little burb, I think that bodes well for the Democrats… I was number 655, compared to 93 at roughly the same time during the primaries…
Davis X. Machina
@redshirt: I think his voters were prepared to crawl over broken glass to get to the polls. Probably a wash…. Lots of money spent on the issue, though. Given the annual bear harvest, it’s got to be thousands of dollars per bear.
Signature-gatherers for future referenda on IRV, a constitutional amendment on corporate personhood, and a post-Citizens United tweak of our publicly-funded elections law.
Mnemosyne
@mdblanche:
I just checked — part of Kentucky is in Eastern time and part is in Central time, so AP called it about one minute after the polls closed statewide. WTF?
Schlemazel
@MomSense:
“Jesus looked at the assembled multitude and spake thus: MEH!”
skerry
Why is MSNBC showing Florida results when some polls are still open in the panhandle? I thought they needed to wait for all polls to close. Dislike. (But pleased that Crist is ahead)
RobertDSC (Quad Intel Mac)
Just voted in an elementary school classroom, the same as it’s been for many elections. The rooms move around but the school is still the place to go. Mom & Dad both vote by mail.
MomSense
@redshirt:
The ads have been nuts. I think Warden MacBabe was even featured in an ad.
Morzer
@Mnemosyne:
I see where you are coming from, but I haven’t expected Grimes to get close for a couple of months now. I can’t completely blame the networks for making that particular call early.
MomSense
@Schlemazel:
I’m a PK so of course I emailed it to my dad.
Tripod
Did Grimes vote for Grimes?
Anybody thinking Hillary can turn back the clock to 1992 in those Appalachian states needs to stop huffing gasoline.
Valdivia
@mdblanche:
I don’t know where the numbers are coming from (I am here ignoring everything out in the real world!)
But if 13% is how it ends then it could be an awful night.
NH might be a better indicator
I read somewhere that it could be the polls would be off but not uniformly: that red states would be better than polls for the Reps and the other states (purple and blue) better for Dems than the polls.
who knows though! :)
/ahh freaking out.
redshirt
@MomSense: I’ve never been happier not to watch TV.
Morzer
@Schlemazel:
Which, being translated from LOLspeak, signifieth “My Eternity, Haters!”
mdblanche
@Mnemosyne: Well then I guess it wasn’t close and they were just waiting for the last polls to close before calling. Scratch my attempt to be optimistic.
@Morzer: What’s Crist’s geographic base? Isn’t he from somewhere around that part of the state?
Schlemazel
@Morzer:
Either way he is a son of a bitch so my guess would be Republican.
Morzer
@mdblanche:
Charlie Crist is from everywhere.
bemused
@Helen:
Not even close. I’ll never understand red state voters.
I wonder if Kansas is fed up enough with Brownback to ditch him.
JaneE
Home-ec building at the fairground. All the local precincts (10) fit into the one building. Went about an hour after the polls opened and the whole building was almost empty.
karl
I voted in west Phoenix — in the library of the elementary school I attended from 1961-1970. The neighborhood was nearly all white back then, now it’s nearly all Hispanic. It was about 1:30 in the afternoon and I was the only voter.
Helen
@Mnemosyne: Well, they knew before 7:00. They just were not allowed to call it until all polls were closed. Here in NY the Presidential winner (in NY, that is) is declared at 9:01 when the polls close because the Democrat always wins in NY and they know well in advance.
NotMax
@Mnemosyne
Not a surprise. AP had a full hour to crunch the numbers from the Eastern time zone part of KY. They (properly) did not report those numbers until all the polls closed, but that doesn’t mean they weren’t in receipt of them.
Morzer
@Schlemazel:
OTOH, the dog is black, which makes him a “Real Racist”, so he ought to be for the “Democrat Party”.
Mnemosyne
@Morzer:
The Google tells me she’s about 40,000 votes behind with 19% of the precincts reporting and less than 200,000 votes total. Is Kentucky really that tiny?
ETA: By “less than 200,000 votes total,” I mean split between McConnell, Grimes and the libertarian. Really, Kentucky, only 200,000 of you voted?
Mike E
@Cacti: Yeah, she somehow wasn’t doing it right in blaze-red Kentucky, good call.
Another Holocene Human
@A Streeter: Eastern Market?
I’m jelly.
piratedan
St, Albans Church out here close to lovely Sabino Canyon. Cast my ballot around lunch time, poll worker said that I had timed it right, they had been busy all day…. will wait and see what the results are, if we retain Ron Barber and beat back the tidal wave of dark cash that made the election for this seat one of the costliest in the nation.
Morzer
@Mnemosyne:
All I can tell you is that my one and only visit to Lousville left me permanently soured on Kentucky. My expectations of that state are strictly minimal.
Another Holocene Human
@Cacti: Go fuck yourself. The Turtle has won four times prior to this, so it’s not as if this was ever a “Democrats’ race to lose”.
Morzer
One thing to watch amid the Senate carnage is that Dems have a shot at picking up multiple governorships, which might be more important for 2016. Just a thought.
Felanius Kootea
@Cacti: She probably lost all the African American voters in Kentucky and didn’t gain a single Republican.
Morzer
@Another Holocene Human:
I think it’s fair comment that Grimes didn’t run a great race. McConnell got away with egregious falsehood about Kynect and Grimes didn’t impress anyone with that refusal to say who she voted for.
dance around in your bones
I just came back from voting at my grandson’s elementary school. In and out in 5 minutes, maybe 15 people there.
Easy peasy lemon squeezy! Wasn’t asked for any ID (I’m in Santa Barbara) and it was smooth as glass.
Morzer
Capito has, unsurprisingly, taken WV. John Cole, you have betrayed us all!!! (j/k)
Mike in NC
Did anybody actually believe the morans who elected Rand Paul to the Senate would vote for a woman with a D beside her name?
Cacti
@Another Holocene Human:
Right back at ya, chief.
Maybe if she’d just dog whistled a little harder for the racist whites, it would have been different.
Mnemosyne
@Felanius Kootea:
Honestly, I’m thinking that’s more what it was — by refusing to say she voted for Obama, she may have alienated some AA voters. In Virginia, McAuliffe was smart enough to court them since he knew he needed their votes.
Mnemosyne
@Mike in NC:
Well, she is the current Secretary of State, so she’s won statewide office before. Maybe they weren’t willing to promote a woman above being a secretary?
SiubhanDuinne
@raven:
I tried to find that article on line when you first mentioned it, but the BH has such an annoying paywall that I gave up in disgust.
Any chance you could just paste the article into a comment so we can read it? TIA!
Schlemazel
@Morzer:
you need to see the picture to get the whole story.
@MomSense:
I’m sure the church was built in the early ’60s and I am sure they thought it was very artsy & advant. There is another one a few miles south on the adjacent highway that is more artsy even
https://www.google.com/maps/place/MN-100,+St+Louis+Park,+MN+55416/@44.893477,-93.3499532,3a,75y,270h,90t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sCGFeTfZNH6xmS7kFj8KUvQ!2e0!4m2!3m1!1s0x52b33345e9b9155f:0xe9163a3778578b2e
wmd
Voted at a senior center in nearby park. There were 8 polling stations for 2 precincts. When I went to one all were occupied (this was right around noon, so prime time).
Morzer
@Mnemosyne:
The non-answer is the worst of all choices in that situation. People who suspected you of voting for the wrong guy will just feel their suspicion is justified, while those who want to vote for a strong, principled candidate aren’t going to buy that you are one.
Morzer
@Schlemazel:
Hey, I only read the Bible in the original English!
Steeplejack
@gogol’s wife:
Amen. They really should have The Ghost Breakers in there after The Cat and the Canary, but they showed it a week or so ago.
Hope’s timing and delivery are impeccable. A joy to watch.
Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism
@Mike E: You also want to get your photo with a Cosmo model?
Turgidson
Kentucky was probably never very competitive, I guess. But it’s still depressing as all hell that that treasonous bastard’s race was called immediately while one of the safest Democrats on the ballot has a “too early to call” race in Virginia and dkos is saying preliminary exit polls only put him 2 points ahead. That freaks me the fuck out.
Cckids
@gelfling545: the school where I voted had a huge sign on the door: “Photo ID Required “. I was getting ready to bitch, because it isn’t required here, when I saw the small print : “to pick up child”
Never mind
Linnaeus
I live in Washington, so I voted on my dining table and mailed in my ballot last Saturday.
maeve
@Morzer:
Yes – my dog is black – he went to puppy kindergarten where he was socialized (brainwashed) into thinking all dogs were equal. He tends Libertarian that he think leash laws are cruel and that only the “nanny state” requires him to get vaccinations. (Although the treats they give him at the vet over-ride that).
MomSense
@Schlemazel:
Holy ballet dancing Jesus!!!
J R in WV
We voted in the Gym of the local middle school. There are two precincts who vote there, we’re on the western side of the gym, and there seemed to be a few more people on our side of the gym than the other side.
It went pretty fast, one girl in front of the Mrs, then me, and a couple of folks behind me. They had 6 voting computers for our precinct (or so) and about the same across teh B-Ball court.
I voted a straight Dem ticket for the first time, but you had to go through every page to get to the levy votes, Vol Fire Department, something something, and a vote to allow the Boy Scouts to profit from renting out parts of their new Adventure Camp on the New River National River, tax free. Voted for the levies, against the tax free Boy Scouts thing.
They spent 100,000,000 $$$ building a resort on the edge of New River Gorge, and won’t pay a cent in property taxes on it. Now they want to sell space to businesses and profit from that, tax free. Praise Jesus, too!!!
The Boy Scout Cult is so un-American… not American at all!
Mnemosyne
@MomSense:
Because I was raised in a Catholic church during its brief, post-Vatican II hippie days, I immediately thought of this hymn that we used to sing (when we weren’t singing Beatles songs or songs from “Godspell.”)
ETA: Here’s a YouTube of the song.
gogol's wife
@Steeplejack:
He and Willie Best were the best team evah!
MomSense
@Mnemosyne:
We used to sing Puff the Magic Dragon, This Little Light of Mine, and Inch by Inch.
Hippie Sunday School was the best.
Aaron
I voted in the local elementary school PS 99 in Queens a 5-10 minute walk from home. Initially I was concerned- no signs, no nothing. Finally the front door- use the entrance on the back side of the building. Then the street- dark no street lights, a couple of people hanging around… got a card for a local dem from a guy on the corner. Then I went inside.
Its a big open room filled with light, people and equipment. First its two ladies by the front door at the information window to confirm my district- no line here. The center of the room is a circle of tables. Each table has two or three people handling that district with a sign over the table with the district number. There are two people in front of me, and they are quickly helped. Then its my turn.
Despite the fact that I registered over a year ago and have gotten a postcard from the board of elections confirming my polling place- despite this I am not in their book. They confirm my address that I am at the right table. No registration. So I have to vote by affidavit. They give me a standard ballot, a big envelope with the affidavit preprinted on the front in english and the back in spanish. The ballot is a scantron fill in the oval type. I go to one of the ‘fill in the ballot carts’ and fill in the scan-tron- party line working family party otherwise democratic. I fill in the affidavit which asks for my name address, party registration, and my previous voting address and location. For ID it asks for either my drivers license number or the last four of my social security #. No ID is required. They look over the envelope, I put my ballot in and seal and give it to them. I have voted. Total time since arrival -15-20 minutes, maybe less. I counted at least 30 people working in the room, there were 2 cops outside, and one old timer working the front door.
I am informed that in 2008 the line was around the block.
redshirt
If LePage is re-elected I might officially lose all faith in humanity, and Americans in specific.
jake the antisoshul soshulist
@SiubhanDuinne:
Persecution.
GHayduke (formerly lojasmo)
@BD of MN:
Franken and Dayton are going to do fine. CD-8 will be a clincher. Hope Duluth pulls it out.
Local church 3 blocks from my house. Mo and I were 178 and 179.
It was cool to watch him vote. He voted for all the uncontested local races. :D
ETA: We were NOT asked for ID. Asked our names, and address. They matched the books.
Mike E
@Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism: Well yeah, if everybody else is doing it :-)
Redshift
I voted at my local elementary school. For federal elections, they close the school and we vote in the cafeteria. For lower turnout state and local elections, school starts open and we vote in the library.
PurpleGirl
I finally made it out to vote at around 6:30 PM. There is a votiong location in the community room of Building 2 of my development. My specific building (#4) is Election District 39. There are numerous people from the Co-Op who work on Election Day. At first they couldn’t find my name in the reference book, but a lady behind me on line who has worked the elections before chimed in that, yes, I should be in the book for District 39. (She also lives in Building 4.) Total time voting — about 10 minutes.
They were having problems tearing the ballots off the pads. Many sheets didn’t tear cleanly and they had to give people second ballots because the first ones weren’t feeding into the scanner. The paper was pre-scored but thin and didn’t tear well. With my new reading classes I didn’t need a magnifying glass. Yay!
ETA: They didn’t ask me for ID at all. Just my name which they then find the exemplar for in the book and I/you sign for the current election.
wuzzat
I voted at the elementary school at around 6PM. It was fairly crowded, compared to low drama elections, but the lines were moving fast. The crowd was very white, but not as old as you’d think. I wasn’t ID’ed, and in fact, helped the volunteer at the sign-in desk find my name on the sheet. (That always happens. I think it’s a result of the poll workers being about 90 and my being very used to reading my name upside down.)
xephyr
Voted absentee in Michigan for the candidates and issues that anyone with half a brain or more would vote for. Of course that’s no guarantee of anything…
Tony P.
@FlyingToaster:
Do you mean the Watertown MA Police Station? If so, we must be near neighbors. Have you been here long enough to have voted there back when it was the Atrium School?
For general information: today, like every other time I have voted, a nice old lady handed me a ballot (paper, fill-in-the-oval type) after asking my address, looking it up, asking if am the Tony P. registered there, and checking my name off. No “show me your papers” nonsense. After I filled in my ovals, a different nice old lady repeated the procedure at a different table before inviting me to feed my ballot into the reader. I was in and out in under 2 minutes, which was actually longer than average.
–TP
Kifaru1
Voted in VA at an elementary school just south of the mythical “Northern VA”. Around here the vote is always 60-40. Stood in line at 5pm with a young guy in a suit standing too close behind me. He was soooo happy they asked for a photo ID and then hopped from foot to foot and sucked on a lollipop like a 5 year old. Are they really allowed to vote?
John Richards
I voted in a nearby United Methodist Church fellowship hall. I arrived around 7:20 am and there were about fifteen people waiting for a voting machine and another ten waiting to sign-in.
Joel Hanes
Two precincts voting in the same capacious “fellowship room” of our local large and enthusiastic Baptist church.*
Very quiet at 5:00 PM, maybe 20 as sudden influx by 5:30 when we had finished and were leaving.
(This is the same congregation that spends three months a year erecting a huge “Bethlehem”, with palm trees, fortified walls, stables, and market stalls, for their three-nights nativity pageant: tall centurions in gold armor and capes, nobles in togas and robes, commoners in homespun tunics, cattle and sheep and goats and donkeys, market stalls with pistachios and almonds and lentil pottage and olives and dates, moneychangers on the steps of a temple, a working courtyard fountain and women fetching water, an “inn” with a “stable” main stage, magi who arrive with a real saddle camel [but none of whom is black]. It’s fun to taunt the centurions with Judean People’s Liberation Front slogans)
ribber
Music room of the local elementary school in Massachusetts.
KS in MA
I voted at the senior citizens’ center in my town about 5:45. Packed. Parking lot packed. Never saw so many people voting in the 10 years I’ve lived here.
Tehanu
Nearby furniture store with sideline in upholstery repairs. About 5 or 6 other people there (at 8:30 a.m.) I voted Yes on all the propositions, which is unusual for me — usually I vote No on almost all. We live in the bluest of blue districts in L.A. so I wasn’t surprised to see only a few people.
Wutang
Anyone who defends Grimes’ campaign after this is foolish. This proves it over and over: We can’t win by being them. Racism, disowning our record, and embracing dumbed down culture wars is not the way. We can do better than pick the hack children of political dynasties.
John M. Burt
Kathe and I voted a week before Election Day, using our convenient and tamper-proof Oregon ballots (sorry, you millions who have to depend on Diebold machines), sitting at our kitchen table.