Voting Experiences

[ArcturusMengsk]

May try again around 1330 to 1400 but if not, will be the first time in 12 years that I have not voted

Wait until around 1:00 P.M., wherever you are. Most of the lunchtime voters will be back at work by then.

[FSTargetDrone]

The place I vote in in a predominately black area.....

Went in to vote, no line outside....I though a good sign.
NO!! It is in an intermediate school and the entire auditorium is filled.
Yelling and scream as well! Immediately my stress started building.
As well, I am a Type II Diabetic. No way I can wait 2+ hours without having anything to eat (had not grabbed any breakfast.) Stayed ten minutes and just left.

May try again around 1330 to 1400 but if not, will be the first time in 12 years that I have not voted

i respectfully suggest that you do not give up. Take some food with you, even if you have to wait and just eat it outside.

[The Kernel]

I just finished voting. The place I went to had a pretty decent line (thanks to Prop 8 no doubt) but I was in and out in 15 minutes with zero problem.

[sketerpot]

Voted straight-ticket Democrat a few weeks ago, and also voted for an amendment to change some inconsequential wording in the state constitution to use modern psychological terms instead of "moron". The polling center was a front for the absentee ballot system, and it was right near where I live so it wasn't out of my way. Now that is how we should do elections.

[Guardsman Bass]

I'm in Boston, but my hometown is an hour and a half west of here, so I went absentee. Voted Democrat across the board. Against the repeal of the income tax, for the decrminalization of pot, against banning greyhound races.

Good. That anti-state income tax proposition is one of the most idiotic things I've ever heard of as a state initiative. "Hey, let's automatically wipe out 40% of our state revenue when the state is already reaching to balance the budget! I'm sure absolutely nothing bad will come of it! "

[consequences]

2hour, 15 minute total time here in Maryland, due to no early voting allowed, along with fricking huge turnout. Voted for motherfucking early voting to be allowed in the future, and Obama(duh).

Watched the old white lady in the PUMA sweatshirt go by, and all the way back to get in the correct line. Watched the crowd ignore her stupid ass, without so much as 'Bitch, what the hell were you thinking?' looks. Marveled at the forbearance of my fellow man, since I felt like shouting that phrase in her ear. Refrained, because of the vague possibility that there's some other acronym or company responsible, so she might not just be a bitter old racist cunt.

Volunteers with water and granola bars going down the line, which was of the good. The line was steadily moving, it's just there were so gods be damned many lined up when I got there. Will try to get to sleep later so I can at least try for a brief update on the results before going in to work.

[Teebs]

Watched the old white lady in the PUMA sweatshirt go by, and all the way back to get in the correct line. Watched the crowd ignore her stupid ass, without so much as 'Bitch, what the hell were you thinking?' looks. Marveled at the forbearance of my fellow man, since I felt like shouting that phrase in her ear. Refrained, because of the vague possibility that there's some other acronym or company responsible, so she might not just be a bitter old racist cunt.

Isn't there a big sports brand called puma?

[TC Pilot]

Bloomington, Illinois. About a 30 second wait (mostly because I had my address from 2 years ago on my registration card). Voted "Yes" on the Constitutional Convention, voted Obama. The two Republican state reps ran unoppossed, as did nearly all the Republican county officials, which I thought was pretty funny.

[JME2]

Sent in an absentee ballot two weeks ago. Voted for Obama and despite my cynicism, am hoping for the best...

[Honorable Mention]

Watched the old white lady in the PUMA sweatshirt go by, and all the way back to get in the correct line. Watched the crowd ignore her stupid ass, without so much as 'Bitch, what the hell were you thinking?' looks. Marveled at the forbearance of my fellow man, since I felt like shouting that phrase in her ear. Refrained, because of the vague possibility that there's some other acronym or company responsible, so she might not just be a bitter old racist cunt.

Isn't there a big sports brand called puma?

Yes. Unless "PUMA" was a shorthand reference to a pro-Hillary shirt or something, it was most likely the clothing brand.

[Honorable Mention]

Ghetto edit: unless, of course, she deliberately chose to wear that sweatshirt because of what "PUMA" stands for in a political context, but I tend to give folks the benefit of the doubt.

[Einhander Sn0m4n]

Watched the old white lady in the PUMA sweatshirt go by, and all the way back to get in the correct line. Watched the crowd ignore her stupid ass, without so much as 'Bitch, what the hell were you thinking?' looks. Marveled at the forbearance of my fellow man, since I felt like shouting that phrase in her ear. Refrained, because of the vague possibility that there's some other acronym or company responsible, so she might not just be a bitter old racist cunt.

Isn't there a big sports brand called puma?

Yes. Unless "PUMA" was a shorthand reference to a pro-Hillary shirt or something, it was most likely the clothing brand.

Means 'Party Unity My Ass'. Hillary supporters who are invariably disagreeable old cougars anyway.

[Haminal10]

Towson, Maryland.

I waited about 35 minutes in line to vote, which is something I have never had to do in any previous election. Voted for Hope and Change, and for my Democratic Congressman, John Sarbanes.

There was a bit of excitement at my location, when an elderly lady collapsed just as she was about to vote. An ambulance was called, and a police officer and EMTs were tending to her. However, about ten minutes later, she requested to be sat on a chair, and moved up to her voting machine so that she could vote. Now that is dedication!

[Feil]

I voted at 0720. The "line" was one or two people in front of me. The ballot, as it has been since the dawn of time0, was paper, a nice heavy piece of cardstock which I marked with a marker. No Diebolding for Maine.

[Redleader34]

Voting was pretty simple, I just had my ID, they looked up my name, and I voted. Since my district is the 44th in NY, we were separate from the rest of the downtown voters, and the machines we (NYS) uses are old mechanical voting machines. Voted Dem since in some cases, there was no other choice, BUT even the Republicans are liberal down here.

[Honorable Mention]

Means 'Party Unity My Ass'. Hillary supporters who are invariably disagreeable old cougars anyway.

Yeah, I know. I meant it would depend on whether Consequences meant the woman was literally wearing a sweatshirth with "PUMA" on it or if she was wearing some kind of pro-Hillary (or similar) sweatshirt, and he was merely refering to it as a "PUMA sweatshirt."

[General Soontir Fel]

Brentwood, LA:

On the way, I saw a lot of cars heading towards the place. Started worrying about the long line.

Not so bad, waited about 20 minutes, worrying that I'll be turned away (I registered, got a card, but not a sample ballot).

It's OK, I'm on the rolls!

Apparently, four precincts are voting at the same place (the local community gym), so there's another line (about 5 minutes).

Thoughts: how easy would it be to commit fraud? I was never asked to show my registration card or an ID. My name is on the rolls, and they asked me for my address (the address they have matched the one I gave them), but that was the extent of the check.

I moved recently (after the primary), and I hated the ballots at the previous place. Bubbling in circles with a pencil (that doesn't have an eraser, at that) is the worst idea one could come up with. Here, they had a more sensible system--a card with holes to bubble in, and a plastic booklet with holes in different places of the pages. All you do is push through an ink-tipped tool.

The ballot:
According to the sample ballot posted online, the order in which candidates are printed is selected at random. Here, the order was:
Barr/Root (Libertarian)
McCain/Palin (Republican)
McKinney/Clemente (Green)
Keyes/Drake (American Independent)
Nader/Gonzales (Peace and Freedom)
*Obama/Biden (Democratic)

US Representative: Waxman running unopposed. I've left it blank. Fuck the bailout.

State Senate, Assembly: voted for the Democrats.

Judge of the superior court: don't know about any of the candidates, left it blank.

State measures
1A (bonds for high-speed railways): Yes. Yes, it increases the debt, but we really need better public transportation here in CA.
2: (standards of confining animals): Yes. So I'm a softie. Bite me.
3: (hospital bonds): No. I generally vote against any issuance of bonds, public transportation being the exception
4: (parental notification for abortion): No. Being male, it doesn't affect me directly, and it's nothing more than red-meat for the religious right.
5: (Drug rehab programs): WTF is an issue this specialized doing on the ballot in the first place? The others make some sense to be put to voters (except maybe 2), but this really is a job for the legislature. Anyway, voted yes. Drugs should be legalized, anyway.
6: (Police and prison funding): No. It means less money for everything else.
7: (Renewable energy): Yes. Self-explanatory.
8: (Gay marriage ban). No. Another piece of red meat to the religious right that deserves to go down.
9: (Victims' rights in the criminal justice system): Again, an issue too specialized to be on the ballot in the first place. Don't know much about the issue. Left it blank.
10: (Bonds for renewable energy vehicles): No. Again, I almost always vote against bond issues, and we really need fewer cars of all sorts. Of course, this requires a redesign of our cities...
11: (Redistricting comission): Yes. "Safe districts" on both state and federal levels are among the worst things in the country.
12: (Veterans bonds): No. Better to hold the federal govt's feet to the fire on taking care of the veterans.

LA County measures:
R: (public transportation expansion): Yes.
J: (bonds for community college improvements): No. Enough of the bonds!
Q: (bonds for school improvement): No.

LA:
A: (after school job-training programs to prevent gang activity): No. It's not going to work.
B: (low-rent housing): Yes. We really need some serious effort to create public housing in the major cities.

Anyway, it's one of the better voting experiences I had. After filling in the ballot, I ripped off its stub (I believe CA mandates a paper trail, and the stub has the ballot number), and slid it into the machine, which happily beeped. Got the "I Voted" sticker. Total time from getting to the polling place to exit: 43 minutes.

[Sephirius]

against banning greyhound races.

Good heavens man, why?

Racing Greyhounds in MA are required to be 'rescued' when they suffer a career ending injury, unlike almost every other state where they would be euthanized. Therefore these dogs effectively get a second lease on life with a loving family- as said in another post, it's probably the best situation they could be in, and if they didn't race there, it'd be somewhere worse.

[Uraniun235]

Last week I had my bathrobe on, poured myself a snifter of cognac, and ran some pornography in the background. Then I sat in my big comfy chair and filled out my vote-by-mail ballot at leisure. The next day I deposited my ballot in a drop-box by the local library.

No lines.

[FSTargetDrone]

Amusingly, I saw far more OBAMA/BIDEN signs instead of MCCAIN/PALIN out in front of the polling place, and this part of the county is decidedly more Republican. In general, I have seen many more OBAMA signs around here than KERRY signs last time around on people's lawns, etc.

[That NOS Guy]

Amusingly, I saw far more OBAMA/BIDEN signs instead of MCCAIN/PALIN out in front of the polling place, and this part of the county is decidedly more Republican. In general, I have seen many more OBAMA signs around here than KERRY signs last time around on people's lawns, etc.

Aren't you in North Bucks?

But yeah, there was absolutely no line at my polling place (must be because I went at 12:30) and I was in and out faster then I've ever been.

[Count Chocula]

Pasco County FL, north of Tampa, reporting. The wife and I were in and out in about 15 minutes; only about a dozen people in line at 9AM. We brought our sample ballots, so all went smooth. No hanging chads this election; we filled out optical scan fill-in-the-bubble ballots, which fed into an ATM-like scanner. No fuss, no muss.

Yes for McCain/Palin;
Yes for Rep. Bilirakis - he voted NO twice on the bailout plan, so he got my nod;
Republican line for state and county positions;
NO on all four incumbent judges;
NO on every constitutional amendment.

No troubles voting here, there were about as many McCain as Obama signs, but more McCain supporters waving signs on street corners. To be honest, there were more local candidate signs than pres candidates.

[Knife]

Just got back:

Utah, hardly any line at all. I figure most voted early. Had to do it on a Diebold machine, eeek, but tripple checked to make sure my votes were right.

[Patrick Degan]

Etowah County, Alabama (NE corner of the state) reporting. Only a minute wait in the line, but large turnout. Brilliant, sunny day and moderate temperatures —Democratic weather. Voted Obama and all-Democrat, voted down only one amendment initiative on the ballot (minor one). The machines here are optical-scan readers. You mark your choices on a paper ballot and feed it into the register.

No McCain/Palin signs outside the polling place where I voted, but two Obama and two "Vote Democratic" signs.

[Rogue 9]

Went at 12:30, lines nonexistent, though poll workers said they had just cleared fifteen minutes before after being constant since the opening of the precinct. Voted Obama for President, Horning for Governor, Hill for House of Representatives, and a bunch of people you've never heard of for local offices, mixing Republicans and Democrats based on candidate qualifications rather than party. I voted Libertarian for the governor's office because Daniels fucked with my clock and Thompson is a bitch. That and he's not entirely unreasonable as Libertarians go; I like his education proposals.