How are you going to vote?

SgtMaj · Oct 24, 2008

Well, I got my civic duty out of the way today. We have early voting here that let's us vote a few weeks in advance of the actual election date. I can't tell you how much I just love that. No more having to scramble to re-arrange my day on election day to make time to go vote. I can schedule it any day over the course of a few weeks. I waited more than a week after early voting started due to my hectic schedule, so I think I almost certainly would have missed voting if I could only do it on election day. So how about the rest of you? Do you have early voting where you live, too? Or will you wait to cast your ballot on election day?

On a different note, I couldn't help but notice that in order to vote I had to voter registration card to be scanned (though they can also work with driver's liscenses), then punched that into a computer which issued me an access code with which to type into the voting machine to cast my ballot... I don't see why someone couldn't connect the codes to find out exactly how people voted. Maybe that's just my odd fears of Orwell's 1984... I certainly don't have any problem with telling people who/what I voted for if they ask...

Don't worry mods, I'm not going to say in here, I know that would overstep the rule of no politics.

Fish~n~Chips · Oct 24, 2008

Re: How are you going to vote?

Absentee ballot. You cant get any more convenient than that.

SgtMaj · Oct 24, 2008

Re: How are you going to vote?

Fish~n~Chips said:
Absentee ballot. You cant get any more convenient than that.

Yup, that would be convenient. What is the process for getting an absentee ballot there in Washington? I've never voted by absentee ballot before.

tashasdaddy · Oct 24, 2008

Re: How are you going to vote?

agree absentee is convenient. i did it this year in the primary, and general election, as i was going to be in the Keys for the primary.

in Fl, all you have to do is go online, and give the proper info, and they send you a ballot by mail, fill it in, and send it back.

too simple. no line.

jaxnjil · Oct 24, 2008

Re: How are you going to vote?

absentee ballot here to. we have them now. we need to set down and fill them out.

Haut Medoc · Oct 24, 2008

Re: How are you going to vote?

Re: How are you going to vote?
Early & often.......

Bob_VT · Oct 24, 2008

Re: How are you going to vote?

Here in my little rural town.......

Everything is on paper.

One table to check in voters by crossing the name off the list....

Handed a ballot

you vote......

you fold up the ballot and insert it in the box

you stop at the next table to have your name crossed off another list to exit.....

You then stop at the Bake Sale Table....

Leave Town Hall and see your friends who only come out to vote!

Caveman Charlie · Oct 24, 2008

Re: How are you going to vote?

We used to vote on paper. Those were the good old days. But, people in florida that couldn't read directions changed all that.(remember that big controversy in the 2000 election) Now every township in MN has to have a expensive voting machine. Because a lot of our rural townships could not afford one they had to combine there resources and now we all have to vote in one place. This means long lines to stand in to vote. This makes me nervous because people in line, or hanging around it, are going to try to sway your vote.

So, as much as I'd like to vote I may not just to avoid the hassle and problems. All thanks to the voters in florida.

mthieme · Oct 24, 2008

Re: How are you going to vote?

I'm not sure I like the early voting thing. There is a question to amend the state charter here in MD to allow that. I think it could alter the playing field to no longer be level. Politicians' campaign tactics will adapt to take take advantage of this which I doubt would be a good thing. I just don't see a positive in it other than convenience for the voter. But you know when election day is two years in advance.

oddjob · Oct 24, 2008

Re: How are you going to vote?

I plan to do early today and I sent off for the absentee yesterday. I hope I can make out on election day....

Matrex · Oct 24, 2008

Re: How are you going to vote?

Early and often

oddjob · Oct 24, 2008

Re: How are you going to vote?

I tried to vote early at lunch time today. There was a two hour wait. I had to postpone and go back to work. Looked like there was alot of OBama supporters in line. I didnt have the luxury to miss more that an hour of work. Wonder what the early voting results would be like if everyone that worked voted at their place of work..?

SS MAYFLOAT · Oct 24, 2008

Re: How are you going to vote?

At the local Moose Lodge, just 1/8mile down the road. Think I'll walk since I may have to celebrate the occasion. I'll cut across the farmers field as not to get picked up for public intoxication on the way home

BTDT

CATransplant · Oct 24, 2008

Re: How are you going to vote?

I always vote on election day. My wife and I go to the polling place after morning coffee and vote, then go about our normal business. It's a long, long tradition.

The only time I voted absentee was when I was in the USAF and couldn't get home.

Where I am, they use the paper ballots that are read by a scanning machine. Fast results and a solid paper trail in case of recounts.

OldePharte · Oct 24, 2008

Re: How are you going to vote?

My wife is a nurse and did the absentee vote. I went down to the nearby half-closed mall and voted early. It took 45 minutes. From the look of things, at least in Johnson County, KS, the turnout will be at a record level.

JB · Oct 24, 2008

Re: How are you going to vote?

Like Bob, I am going to appear at our local polling place (VFD. We have no town hall), vote, and then jaw with my neighbors about local affairs.

fdmsiv · Oct 24, 2008

Re: How are you going to vote?

I really enjoy the voting process, very entertaining and by voting I guarantee my right to complain about the outcome no matter who wins!

Plainsman · Oct 24, 2008

Re: How are you going to vote?

Haut Medoc said:
Re: How are you going to vote?
Early & often.......

A member of ACORN I see

Fish~n~Chips · Oct 24, 2008

Re: How are you going to vote?

SgtMaj said:
Yup, that would be convenient. What is the process for getting an absentee ballot there in Washington? I've never voted by absentee ballot before.

A simple phone call followed by a signature page. We are fortunate that we dont have to jump through hoops here to vote. Been voting that way for ten years now, since i was about 22.

SgtMaj · Oct 24, 2008

Re: How are you going to vote?

Plainsman said:
A member of ACORN I see

ACORN wasn't about vote fraud, it was about financial fraud. They (like many organizations) were paid to register new voters (regardless of the political affiliation of those voters), and they were paid on a per registration basis. What these groups are supposed to do is stand out in front of the supermarkets or malls, and try to get people who are walking by to register, or go door to door, etc. So they immediately hired a bunch of teenagers to go out and collect those registrations on a commission basis. Quite predictably, it didn't take long before some unscrupulous kids figured out that they could get paid a lot more without wasting their saturday at the mall by forging registrations... so they grabbed the white pages and started registering everyone, regardless of if they weren't elegible or already registered, etc. With most of those organizations, those invalid registrations are weeded out by the managers, but like many businesses, ACORN's managers were pressured to produce results, regardless of how they got them, so many of them knowingly passed along those invalid registrations to get paid out on. Some of them already have been held accountable for their part in that fraud scheme and have been prosecuted, and others still need to be. But that's what ACORN was all about, so now you know.

How are you going to vote?

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