Dan Gould Posted November 2, 2004 Report Share Posted November 2, 2004 I realize this may be considered a "political" issue but electoral incompetence is non-partisan, so I figure it belongs in this forum. So my question is: How well organized was your voter precinct? Was the wait long, short? Do you have touchscreen machines or something from the last millenium? Did they work without a hitch? And do any of you have precincts located in Churches? I do, and frankly I think its wrong. Voting should take place in public buildings, schools, etc. Not churches, where I found three different signs encouraging me to pray for my country and for my leaders. I also had some woman walk down the line telling people, "pray before you vote!" to which I had to respond, "Excuse me, this is America-we may choose to pray before we vote, or we may choose NOT to pray before we vote." That shut her Christian Fascist mouth pretty quick. But I digress. How did the machinery of elections work for you? While the touchscreen system seemed to work well, it was ridiculous that there were only three machines for my precinct. The bottom line-I was in line ten minutes before the polls opened, there were about thirty people ahead of me. I didn't complete the ballot until an hour after the polls opened. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John B Posted November 2, 2004 Report Share Posted November 2, 2004 My city has three districts. There were almost no people in the second two, but district 1, my district, had a line out the door, down the stairs and around a corner. I was there much longer than I thought it would have taken. Our ballots are still just as I would like them: dangling-chadless paper ballots. Fill in the ovals, feed it into the machine when done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe G Posted November 2, 2004 Report Share Posted November 2, 2004 Things went smoothly for me. There was a long line as the polls opened; probably about 80 people ahead of me when I got there at 7:00. But I was done and out of there within about 20 minutes. It was held in an elementary school, and they had the punchcard system. I checked for hanging chads, you can be sure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jazzmoose Posted November 2, 2004 Report Share Posted November 2, 2004 Went smoothly for me. I just put the stamps on the envelope when I was through and mailed it a week ago... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSngry Posted November 2, 2004 Report Share Posted November 2, 2004 (edited) Well, the first time went ok. But let's see wait and see what happens the next 5 or 6 times before drawing any conclusions... Edited November 2, 2004 by JSngry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stefan Wood Posted November 2, 2004 Report Share Posted November 2, 2004 (edited) Voted this morning. And yes, it was in a church, but you know what? Right or wrong, it was the only place in Southwest DC that can accomodate a large number of people. And no one was forcing religion on anyone. It felt like I was going into a school auditorium. So I don't have a problem with it. Best of all, I was in and out within ten minutes, and that was with a line that wrapped around the church and down the street. Efficient and quick! No electronic voting, no chad punching, just connect the line to the candidate. Put ballot in a fax like machine. Done! Edited November 2, 2004 by Stefan Wood Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuck Nessa Posted November 2, 2004 Report Share Posted November 2, 2004 (edited) The HR dept at my wife's place of employment sent the following email to the workers: We would like to give everyone an opportunity to vote today. If you are > unable to go after work, please talk to your supervisor about making > accommodations for you. The lines are averaging anywhere from 1/2-1 hour > at this point. Edited November 2, 2004 by Chuck Nessa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
7/4 Posted November 2, 2004 Report Share Posted November 2, 2004 Touchscreen worked fine in an old folks home. Never received my sample ballot. No line @ 8:30am. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Alfredson Posted November 2, 2004 Report Share Posted November 2, 2004 I had to wait about 20 minutes (just got back) whereas my wife, who went as soon as the polls opened, had about an hour wait. I VOTED STRAIGHT US TAXPAYER/CONSTITUTION PARTY!!! ....not Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harold_Z Posted November 2, 2004 Report Share Posted November 2, 2004 No complaints. Well organized and NO wait. Touch screens that seemed to work fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BERIGAN Posted November 2, 2004 Report Share Posted November 2, 2004 Went smoothly for me. I just put the stamps on the envelope when I was through and mailed it a week ago... Of course, the ballot is floating around a P.O. in Bogalusa, LA.... but at least you didn't have to stand in line! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pryan Posted November 2, 2004 Report Share Posted November 2, 2004 Re: the voting in a church thing. I don't have a problem with it at all. I've voted in a church a number of times; there were no people pushing religion on anyone. The only "sale" was a bake sale, probably to fundraise for the church. Who knows, maybe they make their brownies with "special ingredients". Not sure how I feel about the touch-screen/electronic voting system. I've voted that way before (in Canada), but we had paper back-up ballots just in case anything went awry. Electronic voting sans back-up sounds like a dicey/potentially chaotic situation just waiting to happen. Hopefully everything goes smoothly today. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Man with the Golden Arm Posted November 2, 2004 Report Share Posted November 2, 2004 Eazy! Kids' school gym ... Pen and paper ballot ... No wait at all ... No bake sale Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSngry Posted November 2, 2004 Report Share Posted November 2, 2004 Ok, seriously now. Just got back. No lines (early voting was pretty heavy in Plano from what I hear), and although the bigass DIEBOLD logo on the machine kinda creeped me out, everything SEEMED to go smoothly. Voted in a church (my church), and it might as well have been in a school gym or something. The voting area was in "Fellowship Hall", basically a big ol' empty room suitable for whatever you want it to be used for. No crosses hanging on the walls, or anything like that. The walk from the parking lot could be as direct or as indirect as you wanted it to be. The most direct route led you straight from the parking lot into the hall. No clergy or church members hanging out either. These (mostly) upper-middle class suburban Methodists don't go in too much for soliciting strangers on their own turf. Everybody was probably out trying to make a tee time before the rains got too heavy... The only thing different was a table with donuts, coffee, and candy with a small sign that said "Custer Road UMC invites voters to help themselves to donuts, coffee, and sweets". Which isn't all that different from Sundays, really. That's the donut-eatingest bunch I've EVER known! Living in Collin County, Texas, my presidential vote is essentially meaningless, but when life gives you lemons make lemonade. To do so, and to further celebrate the spirit of futility, I'm taking my son to the Mavs season opener this evening. THAT'S when the praying will begin in earnest. Bring on the donuts!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Alfredson Posted November 2, 2004 Report Share Posted November 2, 2004 Do they sell donuts at Mavs games? If not, I see a business venture in your future... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSngry Posted November 2, 2004 Report Share Posted November 2, 2004 MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.....DONUTS! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Al Posted November 2, 2004 Report Share Posted November 2, 2004 Voted Friday in early voting. Waited 1-1/2 hours with Chris Moore’s The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove in hand, which made the wait much shorter. AFAIK, I was the only one standing in line convulsing with laughter. I’d like to share my wife’s experience with y’all: she early-voted last Tuesday, and she also had to wait in a long line. She voted at a rec center (as did I), and the line she waited in wrapped around the wall inside the gym. As she waited, there were some small children running and playing, having a good time. At one point, I guess one of the bigger kids decided they should all play “Duck Duck Goose.” So the kids sat in a circle and began playing. There was another child, maybe about two years old, who wanted to play, but was intimidated by the older kids (“older” in this case meaning five or so). The mom walked her child over to the circle (and didn’t lose her place in line either), and the kids made a space for the new child. When one of the kids would choose the little one, they would pretend to “run” only to be caught by the happy two-year-old. Everyone in line was now focusing their attention on these kids, cheering for the chasers, cheering on the runners, etc. After a little while, the littlest one got was chosen to be the “goose” and began running. The child tripped and came crashing down. There was a collective gasp, and my wife said the place fell silent, literally to the point of hearing a pin drop. After five agonizing seconds when everyone froze, the child got up, smiled, and said “I okay!” My wife said the ovation was thunderous! After she told me this, she marveled that here we were in the midst of probably the bitterest, most divisive election in the history of this country (not to mention the added division of voting on the Stadium Tax for the Jerry Jones Cowboys); and yet, for that brief moment, the world seemed to stop, and everyone’s focus was on these children and the wonderful time they were having. Would that we all could be like this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Late Posted November 2, 2004 Report Share Posted November 2, 2004 Went smoothly for me. I just put the stamps on the envelope when I was through and mailed it a week ago... Oregon is a vote-by-mail state, so I did the same thing two weeks ago. On top of that, to truly get a feeling for the election process, I took a five-day minimum wage job at the County Elections Office, where I've been opening and inspecting ballots eight to nine hours a day (in addition to my regular job). It's been an educational, if sometimes grueling, experience. People work in teams of two, and must be from opposite parties. We inspect each ballot by hand (or rather eye), and process ballots either to be read by machine, or, if there are write-ins, manually. The entire staff has been trained to function in a politically neutral zone, and, I must say, everyone I've worked with — which has been around 100 people — has been exceptionally congenial. There's a lot at stake, but this has somehow seemed to bring people together. I want to have faith in the democratic process, and being in the trenches of the process itself has shown me that, at least in this relatively small voting district, it can work. I have to trust that the same can hold true for larger, more hotly contested, districts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pryan Posted November 2, 2004 Report Share Posted November 2, 2004 Cool story, Al. Jim, you ever try those mini-donuts? They are a treat, let me tell you! Sometimes at local sporting events, they have mini-donut vendors; that's where the real dough is if you ask me (pun kind of intended). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ejp626 Posted November 2, 2004 Report Share Posted November 2, 2004 Well, I wish I had rolled out of bed earlier. My polling place is in the lobby of my building (a really big apartment building). I got there at 8, and it took 45 minutes to get through. Normally it takes about 15 minutes, so unfortunately I didn't bring anything to read, but the people standing in line were pretty cool and we talked about work and other things. One student was prepping for the GRE and got some encouragement from us. This being Chicago, tempers were fairly cool, since everyone knew that 85-90% of the people in line were for Kerry and especially for Obama. Even the two Republicans behind us just made jokes about being the minority for once and that was it. The election judges were pretty surprised at the turnout, which was about 4-5 times higher than normal. (Actually, I do wonder where they come up with enough Republican election judges.) Chicago still uses punch cards which you punch out behind a rickety election lecturn. Then you run it through a scanner which checks for overvotes and undervotes, which does seem to cut down somewhat on mistakes. The main problem is trying to decide on judicial retention, when there are around 75 judges "running." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RDK Posted November 2, 2004 Report Share Posted November 2, 2004 Took about 15 minutes. Usually it takes only 5-10, so the turnout might be greater this year... but I also voted a bit earlier in the a.m. than usual so it's not really a fair comparison. My neighborhood's also very liberal and gay, so the demographics didn't seem so different, but a buddy here at work reported many more "kids" voting than usual, which is a good sign. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alexander Posted November 2, 2004 Report Share Posted November 2, 2004 I just got back. There were several people arriving just as I left, but there were only two or three people there when I arrived, and most of them were voting in another discrict. I had only one woman ahead of me, so I had virtually no wait. New York (or at least my district in NY) uses those big-ass voting booths with the levers. I voted straight Democrat, and was out of there in no time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neveronfriday Posted November 2, 2004 Report Share Posted November 2, 2004 Dumbass question. How does it actually work in the US? I mean, it's a normal working day. Do you get time off to vote or is the time it takes to go and vote taken off your paycheck? I'm sure the latter can't be true, but ... one never knows. We always vote on Sundays here. Cheers! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RDK Posted November 2, 2004 Report Share Posted November 2, 2004 I was a bit surprised to see that Nader wasn't on the California ballot - I suppose he didn't qualify in CA. (I'm sure I read about this before, but forgot about it since.) Does anyone know how many states did he qualify for? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Gould Posted November 2, 2004 Author Report Share Posted November 2, 2004 Dumbass question. How does it actually work in the US? I mean, it's a normal working day. Do you get time off to vote or is the time it takes to go and vote taken off your paycheck? I'm sure the latter can't be true, but ... one never knows. We always vote on Sundays here. Cheers! Polls open at 7 am, and close as late as 8 or 9 pm (never before 7 pm). So many people go to vote before or after work. I'd imagine that employers would be understanding if one went to vote at lunch time and were a bit late getting back. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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