I voted today!

butzie

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I am signed up for getting absentee ballots each year. This is because around our suburban neighborhood we vote in people's garages. Those are so clean it depresses me just about as much as the candidates.


So, my ballot is in the mail.
Go out and vote!
 

rubsluts'mommy

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I grew up in CA and then even when I moved to NY and then IL, I always did my voting on election day... then I moved to Oregon. Whoa.

There are no voting booths or polling places. Every voter in Oregon votes by essentially absentee ballot. you drop it off in a sealed envelope (actually two envelopes, one for security), or send it by mail... by a deadline, of course... I need to sit down today and fill mine out. I got the books a few weeks ago, but the ballot only came last week.

It's all very interesting... I think Oregon is the only state that does it this way... though there may be another. I think it's a good idea... no 'hanging chads' or anything going wrong. Yes, there's the potential for fraud... but not in my home at least! unless the cats develop opposable thumbs and are Conservative...


Amanda
 
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butzie

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We west coast voters - absentee - but we still vote.

I think that it is funny that I grew up in Yonkers, NY. We last lived in a coop with 120 families. We had our own voting place in the community room. I got to vote there once before I went to college.
 

momofmany

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When I lived in Texas, our polling place was the local BBQ Restaurant. You'd have to push the ketchup bottles to the side to fill out your ballot.
 
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butzie

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Originally Posted by Momofmany

When I lived in Texas, our polling place was the local BBQ Restaurant. You'd have to push the ketchup bottles to the side to fill out your ballot.
Did most of the patrons drink while voting? This is the best story I have heard about voting.
 

momofmany

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Originally Posted by butzie

Did most of the patrons drink while voting? This is the best story I have heard about voting.
I wish! They actually shut down restaurant service on the day of the election. DH and I always joked that a beer with the ballot would have drawn more voters!
 
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butzie

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Originally Posted by Momofmany

I wish! They actually shut down restaurant service on the day of the election. DH and I always joked that a beer with the ballot would have drawn more voters!
You got that right!
 

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I early voted today as well. Stood in line 3 hours, but it was worth it to be able to vote!
 

clixpix

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I did early voting a couple of weeks ago...easy peasy!
 

yosemite

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Originally Posted by StarryEyedTiGeR

I early voted today as well. Stood in line 3 hours, but it was worth it to be able to vote!
I cannot imagine standing in line for 3 hours to vote! I wouldn't be voting.

It usually takes us all of 10-15 minutes from arrival to departure.

I've been hearing worrying news on our Canadian radio CBC. They are saying the number of persons expected out to vote may be too much for the electronic voting equipment. It was indicated that the electronic system wasn't all it is cracked up to be and there are some serious issues to fix with it. I hope all you folks get your chance to vote the way you choose and all goes smoothly.
 

starryeyedtiger

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Originally Posted by Yosemite

I cannot imagine standing in line for 3 hours to vote! I wouldn't be voting.

It usually takes us all of 10-15 minutes from arrival to departure.

I've been hearing worrying news on our Canadian radio CBC. They are saying the number of persons expected out to vote may be too much for the electronic voting equipment. It was indicated that the electronic system wasn't all it is cracked up to be and there are some serious issues to fix with it. I hope all you folks get your chance to vote the way you choose and all goes smoothly.
It was not fun I'll tell you that! I spent a good hour of the three hour wait outside with a bunch of other people because the lines were soo long. And we're talking early voting here....there's no telling what the polls are going to be line on election day! I do have to have to say though that I was in a way, glad to see so many people turn out- it's about time people wisen up and pay attention to what's going on - voting is the best way to get your voice heard. (I just hope that everyone who did turn up to vote, researched for themselves and picked the canditate they felt was best for the job....I don't like it when people vote just to be voting and don't research or put any care into their choice.)

Here's my stance on this- there were soo many men and women who shed their blood and sacraficed their lives just so that I could live in a free country and have the privledge to vote. My husband also served this country and defended it...I feel it's my duty as a citizen to research thoroughly and then go vote. I owe it to my country to spend one day (even if it means 3 hour lines) to show my support and vote. Women here in America have not always been blessed with the right to vote, and that's yet another reason I want to be a good citizen and stand up for what I believe in. Not voting is not an option to me.
Ever since I've been old enough to vote, I've researched and praticipated in every election I've been able to, local ones included. In my mind, I don't have the right to complaine about things in my country or things I might want changed, If I don't vote. Yesterday it only took me 3 hours to vote (which, yes, at the time seemed like a long wait)....BUT- some people gave their lives for us here in the states to have the privledge to vote, so to me, it's well worth the wait in comparison to what others went through so that I could be able to have a say in how my country is run
 

laureen227

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last year i voted on election day & i think i waited a couple of hours. there were some bond issues on the local ballot - i think that's why there was such a large turnout.
 

carolpetunia

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The touchscreen machines are not only prone to breakdown, but also highly susceptible to fraud. We're already hearing reports of touchscreen votes "flipping" right before the voter's eyes, just as they did last time -- and always favoring the same party, too.

But even more frightening is the complete lack of a paper trail! How do you know whether the vote you see on the screen will be registered accurately in the computer? You simply DON'T, and that's unacceptable. I think one of the priorities of the new administration needs to be creating a nationwide, uniform voting system that is as fraud-proof as we can make it, and which allows each voter to track his own vote and reassure himself that it has been correctly tallied.

This should be possible even in the context of the secret ballot; but if secrecy must be sacrificed in order to ensure accuracy, I think most of us would choose accuracy every time.
 

zorana_dragonky

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Definitely on accuracy! That is very scary. We use electronic machines in Indiana, but they are not touch screen. I double checked all of my choices before I hit "submit!"

My husband and I voted today. We voted early at our county office.
We only waited about 15 minutes. Election day (Nov. 4) is my husband's birthday, and he didn't want to wait in line at the polls on his birthday.
But he still wanted to vote! So we went out to lunch and voted this afternoon.
 

laureen227

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Originally Posted by CarolPetunia

The touchscreen machines are not only prone to breakdown, but also highly susceptible to fraud.
ours up here aren't touchscreens. you turn a wheel to highlight a choice, then push a button - sorta like using a mouse to highlight & then to click.
 

clixpix

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Originally Posted by CarolPetunia

But even more frightening is the complete lack of a paper trail! How do you know whether the vote you see on the screen will be registered accurately in the computer? You simply DON'T, and that's unacceptable.
Ours was a touch screen with a light pen. At the end you could review your votes, and then submit it, or go back and change/correct it. Then it printed on a hard copy that you could view through a plastic window. If it was correct, you can submit it. If it was incorrect, you could still correct it. Once you ok'd it, it rolled up into the machine. The volunteers there said the hard copies were taken out every night.

I was double and triple checking everything.
 

psjauntie

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I voted yesterday, waited for 45 minutes or so, glad to get it done as I have a 14 month old for the week next week.
 
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