VOTING UPDATE

This is the line for early voting in our neighborhood. The line goes around the Coral Gables library and continues to, roughly, Atlanta.

Comments

[judi]

too bad, dave. we had horses where we were waiting to vote (Montana).

[Layzeeboy]

Does Florida vote this early to allow time for the inevitable recounts?

[tropichunt.com guy™]

Atlanta? I hear the lines are long there, too.

[Margaritaville]

That's a lotta dangling chads to go through.

[eilbeback]

Wusses! I waited an hour and a half in 30-degree windy weather here in Indy. But I met some nice people and learned how to shut a politician up really fast.

[CJrun]

This makes it so difficult to vote multiple times.

[Siouxie]

Heh! I voted last Monday around MY hood and I was in and out in 30 mins ;-P

Good luck, Dave. That's where my sister and co-workers voted last week and it took HOURS! Are they handing out hot chocolate? It's COLD here today.

[CJrun]

Oh; and nice blue shirt!

[Miss Chevious]

Dave,

How is it that you guys get to vote early? What's up with that?

Miss Chevious

[Siouxie]

CJ is right. Also, how are the deceased voters handling the wait?

[Punkin]

Would someone please 'splain this "Early Voting" thingy?

And cold fusion.

Thank you.

[oneblankspace]

Vote early. Then move and reregister with Motor-Votor, er, Moter-Voter, er, register to vote at the D/B-M-V (known as the Secretary of State's office in some locations). That way they won't take you off the rolls at the old place.

[Annie Where-but-here]

I can see ACORN from my line!

*wonders why people don't just mail in their votes*

[Siouxie]

Early voting in Florida makes perfect sense. It gives the morons idiots confused voters extra time to fu*k up get it right.

[Braniff]

Do the polls close in time for the voters to get to early bird dinner?

[Novanglus]

Hey, check out that girl with the laptop, AND her own fold-up chair...that folds up and fits into your back-pack...I know this because I saw it in a Skymall magazine.

I intend to get one to be ready when the run on the banks start...(just kidding) I HAVE no money in the bank. What am I saying? I really want one...but can't get one because THEN I'd have to buy a back pack...which I couldn't use because I would always be wondering who was going to reach into my backpack....

Hey...how did Dave get me off subject?

That's what so great. Dave can make us all think just by posting a picture of himself going to vote...Thanks for the update Dave, it's nice to know Miami citizens are STILL going to the polls, despite those pesky chads.. and you are, as a concerned citizen...reporting this to the little people! By the way, I think I see Lois Lane..right back there, three people back from the..man in the funky shirt...

[gjd]

Annie, I did mail in my vote. Several weeks ago. No line at all at my mailbox.

Now if they would just STOP CALLING. It's hard to tell a recording, "I hate you and didn't vote for you. Leave me alone."

[CJrun]

Punkin, every county in FL has been holding early voting since October 20, at a few, limited locations. It would be too expensive to open locations for 3 weeks in every precinct, so the lines can be very long. It also takes a long time to vote, as there are many different offices to be filled, plus there's around a half-dozen proposed Constitutional Amendments that are very difficult to puzzle through. It took me a couple of hours to get through the whole thing, then I was able to just walk up to a ballot drop-off location. It doesn't matter when you vote, the ballots don't get counted and reported until next Tuesday.

[Clark Kent]

I have to drive past the early voting location for our town several times a day and some of the supporters for the various local candidates practically jump on my car waving their signs....

I feel like I'm a scab trying to get into the workplace past the hordes of striker teamsters or something.

Is it illegal if I accidentally run over several of them? I promise to wipe out supporters of all the candidates to be fair...

[fivver]

Um, Dave, check carefully. From the lines I saw Monday in my little town, you MAY be in line to vote in Atlanta.

[Cheryl Howard]

We have mail in ballots in Oregon. I voted over a month ago. From the convenience of my den, glass of wine in hand, soft music in the background--while getting a pedicure. Okay I'm kidding, I didn't get a pedicure--but I could have.

For the life of me, I don't undertand why ya'll would rather stand in line for days hours. Unless there is wine, music and music involved.

Dave, you should change that once you are President.

[Not My Usual Alias]

I saw a candidate who had been defeated the day before in the primary election for Illinois governor. He was a former federal Attorney General for the area that included Chicago.

I shook his hand and said, "I voted for you twice."
He looked at me and said, "How long have you lived in the First Ward?" with a twinkle in his eye.

[judi]

i took a chair, an umbrella (it was HOT) and my JD Robb book, along with my son and some water. in no particular order.

[Annie Where-but-here]

gjd, me too. I'm so tired of the phone recordings. Prop 8 (anti-g@y marriage) is a huge topic out here. The economy's tanking, but heaven forbid we let g@ys marry. Sheesh.

[Guin]

Nice blue shirt. You should've brought Lucy!

[Giddy]

Nova! OMG I love SkyMall Magazine!

[Punkin]

We do this CRAZY thing in NH where we go to the polls ON ELECTION DAY and walk in, vote and leave - all in about 9 minutes.

It only takes 2 minutes to vote, but 7 minutes to ask your neighbors about their tractors.

[Allen at Division]

I'm gonna be grumpy here. Voting is supposed to be on ONE DAY--early voting is an excuse for politicians to gin up extra votes (I can just hear LBJ or Mayor Daley asking, "How many more votes do you need?")

The Tuesday after the first Monday in November was initially established in 1845 (3 U.S.C. 1) for the appointment of Presidential electors in every fourth year.

[pogo]

We have early voting in GA, but the lines are so long it will be quicker to wait until election day when all the polling places are open.

I wish there would be someone in line to talk about tractors with. Can Punkin send some of her neighbors?

[Siouxie]

You crazy New Hampshirites!

[Dorakay]

It's a tradition for my hubby and I to go together to vote. We tried to yesterday, but the line seemed to wrap around our local library 3 times, and he had an appointment he was afraid he wouldn't make if we stayed and waited it out. I'm thinking Cheryl's idea of voting from our den with a glass of wine and some nice music playing is going to be our new tradition. I don't think he will go for the pedicure idea though...

[Cat R]

I'm so tempted to vote early. Being unemployed, it's not like I don't have the time. However, my kids are off school on Nov 4th because some of the schools are being used as polling places, and I promised them I would take them with me into the booth -- so we'll stand in line next week.

I think early voting is great -- my mom did it, as did my neighbor who is ready to pop out baby #3 any day now.

[Mickey Mouse]

What's the incentive? Do the candidates pay the same if I vote early?

[Annie Where-but-here]

Can't wait to vote online. Bwahaha... this blog could be an online polling place.

[Merri Lee]

I mailed in my absentee several weeks ago, as we are slowly phasing out polling places.

Ah, it must be so easy in New Hampshire to go to a polling place with 4 booths in a town populated by 2 people :-)

[Reddsuss]

Voted in St. Petersburg (FL) this morning in about 20 minutes. It was cold though.

[Annie Where-but-here]

unless it snows, Merri Lee...then the snowbird leaves, and you're down to a population of 1.

[insomniac]

offtopic: i love the coral gables library!( i remember when it opened), although considering it's in the gables, shouldn't the line have a dress code?

[Braniff]

In NJ we vote only on Election Day. But in my town alone we have about a dozen polling places, so there's a minimal wait.

Reddsuss: define "cold"

[judi]

i'd have waited til election day (i prefer it) but my son drove home from college to vote, and since i was going to be standing in line ANYWAY, it made little sense not to go ahead and vote.

[Cheryl Howard]

Aw judi--what a nice mom you are. And now you have the rest of this time together to catch up his laundry and make dinner :) No?

[azred]

totally scientific poll: dave - did you write in your own name? blog - how many wrote in dave's name? I'm NOT telling how many times I voted for dave, but ACORN seems miffed by my 94 ballots.

[Richard the Weasel-Hearted]

I understand some folks vote early because that lets them avoid using touch-screen voting systems. No, they're not Luddites, they're just stuck in counties/states that refuse to pull the Diebold/Premier systems and use something far less prone to hacking.

[judi]

cheryl: no, he went back the next morning. :( didn't even come to the Hunt!

richard: i was happy with florida's new system: we get four pages printed out, the receipt with matching number torn off in front of me, stapled, and put in a separate place; then the ballots are marked by me personally with a pen, then i put the pages into an electronic counting machine where they are saved so there's a paper trail later, if there is any conflict.

[Richard the Weasel-Hearted]

Sounds good, Judi. I wish every locale insisted on a similar arrangement. My part of VA uses touchscreens with no paper, but I can take some comfort in knowing they're not Diebold. Probably going to go with voting absentee in person anyway.

[Dean]

If you had been voting all along you'd understand that the lines get like this. (A small price to pay for democracy). But then again you never had a chance to vote for Obama the Christ before. Good Morning, Marxism! How YOU doin'?