Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Why is it so hard for them to condemn hate?

Accountability, motherfuckers.

Our job is not to persuade republicans but to defeat them.

I did not have this on my fuck 2022 bingo card.

So it was an October Surprise A Day, like an Advent calendar but for crime.

Republicans in disarray!

Consistently wrong since 2002

Schmidt just says fuck it, opens a tea shop.

The words do not have to be perfect.

The GOP couldn’t organize an orgy in a whorehouse with a fist full of 50s.

A democracy can’t function when people can’t distinguish facts from lies.

I’ve spoken to my cat about this, but it doesn’t seem to do any good.

Second rate reporter says what?

Hot air and ill-informed banter

I’d like to think you all would remain faithful to me if i ever tried to have some of you killed.

In my day, never was longer.

The cruelty is the point; the law be damned.

Republicans do not pay their debts.

If senate republicans had any shame, they’d die of it.

“Everybody’s entitled to be an idiot.”

If you’re pissed about Biden’s speech, he was talking about you.

Wow, you are pre-disappointed. How surprising.

Is it negotiation when the other party actually wants to shoot the hostage?

Do not shrug your shoulders and accept the normalization of untruths.

You are here: Home / Past Elections / Election 2018 / Just go vote

Just go vote

by | 109 Comments

This post is in: 

In eighteen hours or so, individual market health policy will be at an inflection point.

  • Muddle on through with another two years to entrench the ACA subsidized individual market and Medicaid Expansion

    • OR

  • Rapidly reconciliation instructions will be drafted to gut Medicaid and the guaranteed issue requirements of the ACA to be executed in January.

I have nothing useful to say today besides go vote.

Reader Interactions

109Comments

  1. 1.

    PsiFighter37

    Busiest I have seen a non-midterm vote at my polling site, and we just opened 10-15 minutes ago. Deep in the heart of Manhattan, but people definitely showing up. Of course, there tons of folks out 2 years ago…not the greatest indicator probably…

  2. 2.

    PsiFighter37

    That should read non-presidential election above…that’s what I get for waking up before sunrise to go vote.

  3. 3.

    BC in Illinois

    Just finished a quick overview of BJ headlines overnight. Won’t see another computer until the afternoon, then not again until after my second shift handing out Democratic sample ballots.

    The polls open in three minutes. It takes me two minutes to get there.

    Let your vote be emphatic!
    Vote straight Democratic!

  5. 5.

    Patricia Kayden

    Will be voting in a few hours. I hope Ben Jealous is able to pull of a victory over Larry Hogan. It’s going to be a long night!!

  6. 6.

    debbie

    Got my little cheat sheet all ready (too many judges) and will vote on my way home tonight! I can’t wait to see just how well we do!

  7. 7.

    Catherine D.

    Voted at 6:40 and 20 people had already voted in my district. I don’t know how many had voted for the other district that shares the space. I think that’s good sign since Ithaca is not an early morning town.

    Someone had put a “Vote Today” sign at a very busy intersection. Clever!

  8. 8.

    jacy

    We were at the door when it opened at 6 AM. No line. My +1 this morning was my 18-year-old, voting in his first election.

  9. 9.

    Eric S.

    I got in line 5 minutes ago, about 620am. I’m about 35 people back. I’ve seen it busier. 2008 the line was around the corner. Still people are showing up faster than it takes to fill out the 2 page Chicago ballot. Orwill it be 3 this year. Lots of initiatives and judges.

    ETA: my neighbor across the hall just walked out and said “no one’s been trained on anything.” But he is a curmudgeon.

  10. 10.

    Chet

    My bus is at 7am. My polling place is a five minute walk from my house. I scrambled to be ready to leave the house at 6:40. My wife (only a citizen for the past five years) spontaneously decided she wanted to come vote with me. She threw a coat on over her pajamas, a hat over her bed head, and we jumped in the car. We have been married for 17 years so this is like the most romantic thing we have done together in ages.

    My polling place only serves about 1500 people. Still there were about a dozen people all trying to vote first thing in the morning. I am embarrassed with how easy it is to cast my vote, compared with folks in Florida who have to wait 3-6 hours in line.

  11. 11.

    oldster

    Here in the suburbs, my wife and I rolled up at 6:15a to a polling place with no lines, strolled in, voted (the straight D ticket), and rolled out again in fewer than five minutes.

    The next Congress should think about setting some federal standards on voting access.

  12. 12.

    debbie

    Obama had the moral courage to make the statement “I hear you” after the 2010 losses. I cannot wait to hear Trump’s.

  13. 13.

    boatboy_srq

    Done.

    Voting traffic at my polling station is never exceedingly high, although this election does look busier than other off-years. Slightly busier than last year (which was governor, state lege, county supes). In and out in 10 minutes.

  14. 14.

    cain

    Happy Diwali everyone! (worth a separate post? Usually Annie Marie is on top of this :-) Well, it’s the south indian Diwali, tomorrow is the North Indian one. Just wanted to wish you all. My namesake (Sriram) came back to Ayodhya after 14 years of exile.

    In any case, it is an auspicious occasion and let’s hope that we kick some motherfuckers out of office and hope their presence never darkens the walls of congress or the local legislature. I’m out here at home with my parents and uncles and aunts and family. Good times!

  15. 15.

    germy

    BREAKING: CREW discovered that Ivanka Trump’s business just won approval for 16 new Chinese trademarks, even though the brand shut down this summer. One of the trademarks covers voting machines.https://t.co/NLrJ9vGQf4— Citizens for Ethics (@CREWcrew) November 5, 2018

    Ha ha ha… wait, what?

  16. 16.

    Emma

    I checked the Dade county website and both my dad’s and mine’s mail votes were received and tallied. No stress. no fuss. Straight Dem for both of us, of course.

  17. 17.

    PST

    I have a cystoscopy scheduled for this morning (apologies to the squeamish). I will find that a great deal less unpleasant than I would the Republicans holding the House.

  18. 18.

    Raven

    @PST: I had one after I dropped a Harley and dead lifted it and peed blood. It wasn’t near as bad as the intewebs would have you believe.

  20. 20.

    frosty

    @Raven: That’s a new one! Is there any part of you that hasn’t been repaired? I guess your casting arm is still OK. :-)

    ETA: Voting later this morning, then two GOTV shifts, Jess King at 2:00, George Scott at 5:00, then swing by the local Dem watch party and hope for the best.

  21. 21.

    Old Dan and Little Anne

    My polling place is in a nursing home. There are about 3 others within a mile of that one. I was in and out in less than 5 minutes this a.m. Everyone should be so fortunate. May the odds be ever in our favor.

  22. 22.

    Gin & Tonic

    Just voted. I live in rural whitesville, so it was painless. And while there are no competitive races at a state or national level, the local races are super-hot, so turnout was more than I expected.

  23. 23.

    JMG

    Voted two weeks ago. It’s super convenient and made me feel good, but now I wish I had another outlet for nervous energy.

  24. 24.

    NeenerNeener

    My polling place was moved from a church 2 miles down the road with a well lit parking lot to a lodge in the local park with a driveway that’s hard to find and a mostly unlit parking lot. It was lovely in the summer when we were voting in primaries, but it leaves a lot to be desired in November. Nevertheless, I persevered, as did a surprising (to me) number of other people at 6 am.

  25. 25.

    chris

    Joining Amir in wishing you all success.

    Tonight I’m going to a small watch party and hoping that it doesn’t end in tears like the last one. Make it so, America!

  26. 26.

    Barbara

    @Another Scott: Raining cats and dogs — but it also rained cats and dogs last year. I voted this morning with my husband just before 7 am, and the polling place was busier for a midterm than I have seen it in a long time. Last year I voted early absentee so I didn’t make it to the actual polling location. Getting rid of Barbara Comstock and Dave Brat would be a successful night — other pick ups in addition to those two would be tremendous.

  27. 27.

    Raven

    @frosty: The arm is ok but my shoulder is killing me. A week of casting big weights and wresting a big ray and a shark when I was on the boat did the trick!

  28. 28.

    But her emails!!!

    I would, but no single candidate meets my exacting specifications. I thought there was one, but her single payer plan came with the wrong color sprinkles, so it’s a hard pass from me this year. Best of luck to the rest of you neoliberal fauxgressive sprinkle sell outs.

  29. 29.

    guachi

    I love election day! So fun!

    All those returns to follow and track and with the internet I can do that all by myself!

    Spreadsheets, here we come! Wooo!!!

  30. 30.

    japa21

    Slow in my precinct NW Chicago suburbs. Only 13 voters so far. But they brought in the list of early voters and mail voters and it was about 25% of all registered voters, which is very high.

  31. 31.

    Eric S.

    Update. Waited 30 minutes to get my ballot. 3 full pages on the ballot. And each page is 20″ long! One full page is just to vote yes/no on retaining judges.

    Straight D vote. Even our uncontested races in Chicano are D.

  32. 32.

    BruceFromOhio

    For years the local poll was at the elementary school, and was then moved to a nearby church. That worked well until the church suffered a serious structural fire (was investigated and deemed accidental) and now we’re back at the elementary school. It was staffed to the max, with extra greeters directing the way. While the onerous ID laws may discourage some citizens from legally voting, the county has leveraged use of electronic records using state drivers license or county ID cards; my signature and voting information was immediately available to the poll worker using a small iPad type device that scanned my DL (she then asked about one of my neighbors and whether they were coming to vote!) Ohio combines bubble-choice paper ballot with an electronic scan of the ballot that you, the voter, handle yourself. It’s just about idiot-proof, and provides a hard-copy paper trail with snap-result electronic capacity – a far cry from the charlie-foxtrot of ’04. It’s the kind of standard I’d like to see implemented nationally. Anyone who thinks you can commit fraud in a system like this is smoking something really good.

    Anyway, the place was busy but with no waiting. I was in and out in 10 minutes on a straight-D, some judges and a school levy renewal that the ijits will try to skewer because anything that helps our local public school system is apparently fucking toxic to Republicans, bless their hearts. The parking lot had more traffic in it than when I arrived, so turnout is definitely high, and more akin to a presidential election year.

    Looking forward to sending Senator Brown back to DC for another six years.

  34. 34.

    PST

    @Raven: Thanks for the encouraging words, Raven. If this were my first, I’d be a lot more apprehensive, but I have them twice a year or more. I would like to explain to some of those kids who see no reason to vote the implications of having a recurring medical problem that requires periodic moderately expensive testing punctuated by occasional surgeries. God didn’t descend from a cloud and hand us the ACA on stone tablets. We voted for a party that campaigned on it. (I might also tell them not to smoke or work in a rubber factory.)

  35. 35.

    BruceFromOhio

    @guachi: That sounds painful. I’m going to take a ride on my bicycle, maybe rake some leaves, and if the local Dems don’t call me to volunteer, I’ll go give blood, maybe do a little shopping. The rest of the day will be spent with a good book and no internets because whatever happens is beyond my control, so it doesn’t matter if I pay attention. Even as I write this the sun is coming out after a rainy early morning. Woo hoo!

  36. 36.

    OzarkHillbilly

    Meet Liuba Grechen Shirley. Her Congressman Wouldn’t Hold a Town Hall. So She Came for His Job.

    As she tells it, Grechen Shirley got into politics almost by accident. After Trump’s election, anxious to learn how rank-and-file progressives like herself might fight back, she called up the Suffolk County Democratic Party and various local Democratic elected officials.

    “Nobody got back to me,” she said. “I called the League of Women Voters, and the woman on the phone said I could get involved in voter registration. But, she said”—Grechen Shirley slowed down her cadence at this last part to give the exchange a sort of soothsayer quality—“‘I sense the desperation in your voice; I think that this is your leadership moment.’”

    “I remember hanging up and thinking that was the least helpful conversation I’ve ever had,” Grechen Shirley said, “because I wanted somebody to say, like, ‘This is the plan, this is what you’re gonna do, this is how we’re gonna fix this problem.’ And there wasn’t a plan.”

    Then she found the Indivisible Guide. At the time, it was just a Google Doc posted online in a collaborative effort by a group of former Capitol Hill staffers, a 101-level explainer on how to make your member of Congress pay attention to your concerns.

    A light went on. Grechen Shirley registered a group called New York’s 2nd District Democrats, started a Facebook page, and, per the Google Doc’s recommendations, began posting daily action items. Often they called for members to show up at King’s district offices or call King’s office to press him about a specific vote. It was chaotic and fresh; group members would livestream their phone calls to make the effort more collaborative. She showed me a photo of her daughter posing next to a life-size cardboard cutout of King she had printed up for a protest; it’s still in their attic.

    ………………………..

    Even her campaign finance reports are a political statement. In April, worn down from nursing a toddler in a body cast while dialing for dollars, she appealed to the Federal Elections Commission to be allowed to use campaign funds to pay for a babysitter. After the FEC ruled in her favor, she says women running in seven other states made similar requests of their state elections commissions.

    “You have to be independently wealthy to take a year off, and to somehow manage to pay childcare and your mortgage and your school loans, and run,” she told me. “This is 24/7 with no salary. Most people can’t do that. Congress is only 19 percent female. Almost 50 percent are millionaires. How do you have people who understand these issues then? You don’t.”

  37. 37.

    guachi

    @BruceFromOhio: I’m in the Navy and have my fitness test on Thursday so my usual bike riding is on hold, though I may go for a walk or do yardwork as it’s going to be a nice day here in Georgia.

    But from 7PM Eastern it’ll be nothing but elections until probably 2AM.

  38. 38.

    hovercraft

    I’m coming out of hiding to say that there was a line at my polling place when the polls opened at 6.00 am. We didn’t get out of there till 6.33. Many of the commuters were just like me, they assumed they could just run in and vote before they headed off to work.
    As much as I thought I was resigned/ optimistic about the outcome of the election, I couldn’t sleep last night, wondering how I’ll cope if morons re-elect these nihilists after watching the last two years. I’m terrified.

  40. 40.

    BruceFromOhio

    @guachi: Thanks for standing watch. I’ll check in around 10-11pm when early returns start. The only two races I’m really invested in are US Senate and OH Governor, and Senator Brown looks to be a lock. The OH Governor is really close and may not be called until the wee hours.

    Best to you on Thursday!

  43. 43.

    JMG

    Alice, who also voted early, just told me it makes today feel weird for her. First time she ever did it.

  44. 44.

    guachi

    @Raven: No, Fort Gordon. I’m in the Navy but I’ve never actually been at a Navy base outside of bootcamp.

    I’m nominally at work right now doing things but I’m too excited by election day to do much. I should have taken tomorrow off.

  45. 45.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    seeing a lot of twitter chatter about the weather

    Lee Drutman @ leedrutman
    For Democrats freaking out about (or Republicans cheering) rain:
    blfraga and eitanhersh find high rains only reduce turnout in uncompetitive elections. In competitive elections, voters are more determined to vote, rain or shine.

  46. 46.

    Raven

    @guachi: Ever eat at Ivery’s in Thomson? We hit it on the way to Edisto and it was great. Cybersecurity is jumpin over there isn’t it!!

  48. 48.

    guachi

    @Raven: I laugh every time I see the “Cyber Center of Excellence” sign that now adorns one of the entrances. That’s not where I work, though. That’s Army stuff. I work on the NSA side.

  49. 49.

    bluefoot

    Long line at my polling place in MA. Mood of grim determination, unlike 2016 which was jubilant – everyone was convinced HRC would win. Also quite a contrast to the primary earlier this year where there were only two people in line ahead of me. Aside from everything else, I want to see how well Jay Gonzalez does.

  50. 50.

    Brachiator

    In Los Angeles today, Metro buses are free, with a sign over the farebox that says “Vote!”

  51. 51.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @But her emails!!!:

    Best of luck to the rest of you neoliberal fauxgressive sprinkle sell outs.

    Thank you! My corporatist masters are letting me vote this year because now that we’ve embraced identity politics and betrayed the base, our Republican Lite candidates won’t need to go through the legislative kabuki of not fighting hard enough to stop the oligarchy agenda.

  52. 52.

    geg6

    I am so terrified. So I took a half day off and volunteered to hand out sample ballots at my polling place for a few hours. It’s rainy now but is supposed to be dry with a little sun by the time I leave the office. When John comes home from work, we’ll be voting. And then what to do with my anxiety? I’ll probably make the chili and cornbread I meant to make Sunday and then didn’t because we both decided we were too tired to cook and ordered pizza.

    I’m going to try to stay away from the tv until 9pm. But I can’t promise that I will manage that.

    And for anyone interested, little unnamed kitty is eating up a storm and looks and acts a lot less like starving stray kitten and more like a normal kitten. She goes to the vet tomorrow and we’ll see how that goes. She seems to have a problem with her right eye, which is oozing a bit still after we cleaned her up. Still no name yet, but waiting for any possible health issues to be determined before we get too attached. I’m feeling gun shy after the other little one didn’t make it.

  53. 53.

    gvg

    I voted 10 days ago. Florida has many problems but I sure do like early voting. lots easier than trying before or after work. The problem is I don’t work next door to where I live. I was thinking that it ought to be possible to get the correct ballot at any polling place in the same state.
    I have been thinking for years, people should be able to pick the school district near where they work instead of live. This morning I was thinking about the voting rules. We made them mostly before cars or modern transportation.
    There were lots of people at the polling place I passed at 7:20 am.

  54. 54.

    Spanky

    Got to work before the MD polls opened, so I’ll be voting cleanup this evening. Might be a tad busy, but rural Southern MD won’t have any access issues.

    Here in the Confederate part of the state the only uncontested candidates are Rs, so there will be a couple of blanks on my ballot. Or perhaps I could write in someone? Off to the interwebs to see if someone’s running!

  56. 56.

    Raven

    @guachi: Augusta University has gone all in as well. I was in the Signal Corps in Vietnam (without as signal mos) so almost everyone had been at Gordon. I had an appointment at the VA last year so I decided to visit the Signal Corps Museum. I spent 45 minutes at the check0in facility and the dude working there knew exactly where I wanted to go. When I finally got in and parked the fucking place was closed!

  57. 57.

    Spanky

    @guachi: In today’s Daily Enterprise there’s an article on Securing Our Elections. Hope you read it.

    To everyone else: No, there’s no link and don’t ask.

  58. 58.

    Kraux Pas

    Today was the busiest I’ve ever seen my polling place, beyond even Presidential elections. Still in and out in a few minutes, straight D and yes on all the MA ballot questions this year.

  59. 59.

    Lapassionara

    @geg6: just voted. Long line but waited only 15 minutes to get ballot. Now I go for a shift of poll monitoring for Election Protection. I am having flashbacks to 2016. Not fun. Courage!

  60. 60.

    Spanky

    @geg6: Eye issues are not uncommon and probably not especially serious if the vet gets on it fast. Drops and salve have knocked it down, in my experience.

    Protip for you cat newbies: If you have a choice between salve and drops, go for the drops, then be sure you don’t linger when applying them. Getting salve into a squirmy kitten’s eye is no job for newbies.

  61. 61.

    guachi

    You heard it here first!

    My election prediction is that I’ll take the over. That is, Democrats are on the high end of predictions. I’ll go with a 50/50 prediction, +50 House seats and 50 total seats in the Senate.

  62. 62.

    Woodrow/Asim

    In SC, went to vote this AM with my Partner. We had a nice line going about 15-20 before the doors opened.

    Walking out, saw a “Brother” wearing a MAGA hat, in line — def. “All My Skinfolk Ain’t Kinfolk” vibe. Hopefully, the poll workers will pull him aside; as my Partner reminded me, campaign adverts are illegal near a polling place.

    I’d say Ye’s got a LOT to answer for, except this is the 2nd Black dude I done caught out wearing that hat here in SC, and that 1st was well before Kayne starting his Trump/Slavery babble. Ugh.

  63. 63.

    Spanky

    And if you’re really in need of a diversion:

    (CNN
    )A mysterious cigar-shaped object spotted tumbling through our solar system last year may have been an alien spacecraft sent to investigate Earth, astronomers from Harvard University have suggested.

    … but really really really really really really unlikely.

  64. 64.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    apparently this really happened, and no doubt the knuckle-draggers hooted and hollered and stamped their hooves in support of…. Obamacare.

    Sahil Kapur @ sahilkapur
    Trump warns in Missouri that “if Democrats gain power on Tuesday, one of their very first projects will be a socialist takeover of health care… The Democrat plan would obliterate Obamacare.”

  65. 65.

    Yutsano

    @Raven: So the Signal Corps Museum is at Gordon? I have a friend who is 25Q Signal in the Army right now. He’s at Hood but he might be interested.

    Also: dropped off my ballot after dinner on Sunday. Straight D.

  66. 66.

    Barbara

    @geg6: I still go to GOS (Daily Kos) for election results. They can be counted on to be as real time as they can be and you can often find discussion threads pertaining to your own state or the ones you care about. For media outlets, I tend to follow NYT, because they have a very easy to follow format. In Virginia, this year is going to be a bit different. I am expecting them to call the election for Kaine pretty quickly (that’s my barometer for how far Virginia has drifted from red to blue — Democratic strongholds of Fairfax, Richmond and Norfolk usually report late into the evening, whereas more rural districts report earlier. So if a Dem is winning by 8:00 pm, that’s what you call a blow out (which is how I knew last year was going to be a bonanza, with Northam being declared the victor so early in the evening). However, the competitive elections this year are in some of those late reporting places, e.g., Comstock and Brat, so it’s going to be a late evening. I really think the top priority in Virginia is to give us early and by mail voting without making us attest to the validity of our excuse for not showing up on election day.

    ETA: I know some of you don’t like clicking to the NYT, but there is an article about the relationship between far right parties and female/male population disparity in the former East Germany that is pretty fascinating. Source:https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/05/world/europe/merkel-east-germany-nationalists-populism.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage

  67. 67.

    Steve in the ATL

    Thunderstorms in Atlanta this morning. Feel bad for anyone waiting in line to vote. Or driving in to work. Or, say, driving to the airport. Hopefully most of the good voters took care of business ahead of time.

  68. 68.

    Kenneth Kohl

    Mrs K and I voted pre-7:00 am in Amherst #7. Pretty quick & easy when you go straight ticket. My wife is registered “R” and voted straight “D”, so you know she’s pretty pissed off ;)
    At about 6:45 there were 36 votes cast in our district, not sure about #6 which shares same polling site. We noticed 1) it seemed busy, 2) there were a lot of women voting which we took as a good sign and 3) the young man in front of us appeared to be a 1st time voter. Who knows?

  70. 70.

    ThresherK

    First vote at the new place since we moved (well, we voted in the primary, but that’s different). Heavy turnout.

  71. 71.

    JPL

    Fulton Cty is always late so hopefully it is a late night here. It’s tempting to check out my local voting place because they will post their results on the door when they close. If Stacey can get a lot votes there, that would be a good sign.
    My son in Sandy Springs had several door knockers, but I had none. I haven’t seen a sign for McBath in my area, but as we all know signs don’t vote. I think the Ossoff signs just encouraged my neighbors to vote, and it wasn’t for him.

  72. 72.

    JMG

    Voted again! Just not in the same election. I filled out my ballot for the Spink Award which the Hall of Fame awards each year to a baseball writer. As a retired member of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America, I have a vote. It’s a million times harder than voting in politics, because I must choose between three nominees for a very high honor, all of whom are former colleagues and friends. I feel awful no matter who I pick that I hurt the other two. But duty’s duty.

  73. 73.

    guachi

    Does anyone have some good early states to follow? Obviously, it’ll be some state that closes its polls early.

    Virginia often gets returns from the northern part of the state late, so that’s out. I was thinking Pennsylvania and New Jersey as they have lots of potential flips. Democrats are nominally ahead in four races in each state with the potential to flip two more in Pennsylvania and an outside chance at two more in Pennsylvania and one in New Jersey.

  76. 76.

    Quinerly

    Just voted in Soulard (St. Louis). Poll workers said steady stream all morning with a line waiting at 6 AM. Chatted up several first time (30-40’s in age) and young voters in the parking lot. Marijuana on the ballot is bringing out a lot of people in the city. It will take us and KC to pull Claire over the line. Now a big breakfast for me at Soulard Coffee Garden and the reclaimed wood place on Gravois to pick up my order. Have a great day, everyone!

  79. 79.

    geg6

    @Barbara:

    I really want to follow our state legislative races, so I have no choice but to catch coverage on a local station. The local CBS-owned station has live report every half hour and a crawl on the screen when results come in.

    I’ll probably toggle between that and MSNBC, with some GOS and TPM check ins for more granular details. But I refuse to do any of it before 9pm.

    Still deciding whether I should get a bottle of wine. It will help calm my nerves and then I’ll either celebrate with the last glass or drown my sorrows with it.

  80. 80.

    LaNonna

    @PST: Il Nonno has one every six months, too, last one on Monday, all clear til Spring. Thank the powers that be we don’t pay extra for these, covered by our income taxes and universal healthcare in Italy. We voted 2 weeks ago, absentee by mail, straight D, really want the US to turn from the slide to fascism, and provide our citizens with what they need. Probably watching Colbert this eve via youtube, if the internet holds up.

  81. 81.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Nate Silver @ NateSilver538
    Whoa Gallup actually published a likely voter generic ballot poll (D +11).

    I didn’t know Gallup didn’t publish a generic poll, and I thought their reputation had declined in the last few years, but if Silver says this is a big deal, I’ll say that’ good news

  82. 82.

    A Ghost To Most

    I turned off the TV until 4:00 (6 EST), when returns start coming in. Nobody knows shit until then. A good day to get stuff accomplished.

  83. 83.

    Another Scott

    @Barbara: I didn’t have to wait to check in, but I had to wait for a desk. I saw more African American and Hispanic voters than I’d noticed before in our humble precinct, also too.

    It looks like a very good turnout to me, even with all the rain.

    Fingers crossed!!

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  84. 84.

    guachi

    @Quinerly: Those have the benefit of having fewer races to watch – KY-06, IN-09, and IN Sen. The downside is one race is less indicative than lots of races.

    The benefit of IN and KY is you are getting a different electorate than those voting in PA or (especially) NJ and maybe we can get an idea how other races might turn out.

  89. 89.

    JMG

    @JPL: Everyone in who works in political campaigns I have ever met loathes yard signs with a burning passion because they create much work for no value. The one exception however, is candidates themselves, who love them as a tangible reminder they won’t lose by a shutout.

  90. 90.

    Gelfling 545

    On my way to vote as soon as I finish my coffee. Then on to the bus station to pick up my granddaughter who is coming home to vote and take her to her polling place. Maybe next year she’ll listen to her Nana and get an absentee ballot. She is such a new voter – her vote for HRC was her first – that I think she felt intimidated by the absentee process which is unnecessarily awkward in NY. Then lunch and back to the bus station.

  93. 93.

    Chris

    Voted early a week and a half ago, as I figured my job wouldn’t give me time off.

    I was proven right when last Friday we got the Platonic ideal-form of an unhelpful email, one that said, almost literally; “We encourage you all to do your civic duty and vote! Don’t forget we don’t give employees time off for voting.”

  94. 94.

    bemused

    I guess it wasn’t just me thinking trump is looking a lot more orange lately, almost neon orange. Morning Joe crew was talking about that and his weight gain.

  95. 95.

    Sab

    I met my husband standing in line to vote in 2000. I was 47, newly divorced, newly back in Ohio, and I thought life was over. He told me Gore ain’t so great but Bush is undoubtedly the antiChrist.

    17th anniversary this week.

  96. 96.

    rikyrah

    ……………

    After early voting ended Monday evening, the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners said a total of 223,548 early voting ballots were cast this year, a 96 percent increase from the 2014 midterm election.

    ……………………….

    Cook County Clerk David Orr said as of 4 p.m. Sunday, a record-shattering 238,425 early in-person suburban Cook County voters had cast their ballot – an 86.2 percent increase from 2014. Orr said the north and west suburbs particularly saw high early voting numbers, in which upwards of 30 percent of registered voters have already cast their ballot.

    …………….

  97. 97.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Gelfling 545: I’m unfamiliar with the NY process, but my son voted “in-person absentee” (whatever that is) over the weekend, and it seemed he had no real issues.

  99. 99.

    Adria McDowell

    Reporting in from central Ohio. In and out of the voting place in about 15 minutes. Voted at about 8 a.m. with turnout lower than I would have liked, but we have a whole day, so….

    Every other person on line to vote was a black woman. If things get super horrible from here on out, I will hide all the black ladies I can in my tiny apartment and somehow get them to Canada. They are in no way responsible for this GOP fuckery!

  101. 101.

    Tazj

    I voted at about 8:30am, and it was fairly busy but still very easy for me to vote. It should be that easy for everyone in the country. I was happy to vote for Nate MacMurray and will be thrilled if he can win tonight.
    I can’t listen to most of the national media today as they’ve been so quick to criticize the messaging of the Democrats but let most of the lying racist crazy garbage that 45 campaigns on slide. AP radio news starts off the top of most hours with some horrible thing 45 says, no thanks.

  106. 106.

    Aleta

    Hard times never stayed away
    But one thing I know day to day,
    I’mma do somethin’ ‘fore I fade away
    Fade away fade away
    fade away fade away
    They gon’ know my name until it fade away
    Fade away
    They gon’ know my name until it fade away

  107. 107.

    Spinoza Is My Co-Pilot

    @Juice Box: That is a great, succinct explanation of the full opening sentence of the Declaration, especially pointing out that the first set of clauses are the premises and the second set the resulting conclusions, with the famous “self-evidence” term being an 18th-century term establishing logical relations and not simply an assertion about “truths”. As Danielle Allen says, that opening sentence is the single best education in political philosophy (well, political philosophy based on the ideals of the Enlightenment, anyway) a person can have.

    I recommend everyone here check it out. Thanks for sharing!

  108. 108.

    Spinoza Is My Co-Pilot

    @Sab:

    Out of 300,000,000 options Gore chose Joe Lieberman as his running mate.

    As a blatant attempt to try to inoculate himself from Bill Clinton’s sexual perfidies. About the most stupid and consequential “own goal” I’ve seen in American politics since I’ve been politically-involved (’68).

  109. 109.

    Gelfling 545

    @Gin & Tonic: You have to send in an application form ant get the ballot mailed to you, then mail it back. Some of her friends who applied before school started didn’t get their ballots until yesterday. There is no in person voting of any type except on election day here in NY.

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