Voting Experience

[JDoors]

Easy-peesy. Walked one block to the local elementary school, entered the gym, walked up to the correct alphabetical election worker, gave my name & address, signed a piece of paper, then it got different.

I was asked if I wanted to use the electronic voting machine. Hey, why not? I liked it.

"My" election worker was a bit chatty. There's a state referendem on having a Constitutional convention and it wasn't really covered by the news. WHILE I WAS VOTING she had a few things to say about it (hey, I'm voting here). I, personally, read all about it in the local paper, so I knew what was going on with the topic, but I never saw any information on it elsewhere. I imagine they'll be explaining their hearts out on the subject all day long.

Walked home.

I voted!

[hitest]

I voted!

Cool. Some people here know my political leanings, but, suffice it to say that I'm following your election with keen interest! Way to go, America.

[Besttechie]

I voted too! This was my first election ever. I'm very excited about it.

B

[Dan72]

I walked a block or less to a catholic school gym ,they had 2 precincts there voting ,went to mine ,gone to the appropriate table ,signed a piece of paper,got the ballot ,went to a booth and voted ,the ballots was just a large piece of thick paper ,had to black out the appropriate marks and put it in a machine

took about 15 min max

[bar5]

Went to my local voting place, showed my voting card, got a ballot, filled in circles beside the candidate's I was voting for, put ballot thru a scanner. Took all about 15 min for me also.

Congratulations Jeff on your first voting experience. It is a very exciting moment.

Barb

[Besttechie]

Yeah, I literally got in and out within 10 minutes here. No lines at all. Good first experience!

I was a little anxious/nervous never having done it before - didn't want to screw up!

B

[martymas]

hi all

hope your elections go well

for all the new voters

things wont always go your way

but your turn will come

here in nz

we were to vote this week but they changed the voting days until after the usa

elections

so american

politics influences the world

we here in nz

are hoping for an obama win

get rid of all those bloody old war mongers

and start a fresh

the americans deserve more than they

have been getting over the last nine years

and it looks as tho there is change in the wind

in saying that i dont know who to vote for in our elections

ime a socialist

and every one is so greedy these days

that no one wants to represent my kind

good luck all

marty

[irregularjoe]

I mailed it in 3 weeks ago. Could not be easier.

The U.S. has to do something about the arcane system that most states still use. It's way too complicated for most part time semi competant election officials to grasp. Early voting in approx 30 states and mail in voting is a good first step though. Four hours in line should not be acceptable anymore.

I live about a mile from the Biltmore, where McCain gave his concession speak.

I'm very happy with the election results. (although there have been some very embarrasing right wing local victories here in AZ)

[JDoors]

I voted too! This was my first election ever. I'm very excited about it.

B

Hey! Congratulations man!

Even after all these years I still get a bit jittery during the process. Guess it's because it only happens every couple of years (or more).

[Besttechie]

I voted too! This was my first election ever. I'm very excited about it.

B

Hey! Congratulations man!

Even after all these years I still get a bit jittery during the process. Guess it's because it only happens every couple of years (or more).

Thanks!

[Bubba Bob]

Can you say three hour longs lines?!?!

Gah!

Then find the stock market tanks(investors get what's happening) My portfolio was down a nice 5% today.... Here's my "change". LOL!!!!

Not a good couple 'o days.

ime a socialist

Which explains so much...

Inluding your support of Obama

Yeah, I literally got in and out within 10 minutes here. No lines at all. Good first experience!

I was a little anxious/nervous never having done it before - didn't want to screw up!

Goodjob!! Too many in your age group dont care. :thumbsup:

I pray Obama will be good for our country. He has the "energy" running through America. Goodluck Mr Obama!

Edited November 5, 2008 by Bubba Bob

[Honda_Boy]

Twas not the same for me. Unfortunately I was not able to cast my vote due to time constraints. I was able to go after class on an early voting day and figured there wouldn't be a great deal of people there but every man and his dog had the same idea and there was NOWHERE to park so I couldn't go as I had to get to work. Well I decided maybe it'd be better on election day cause early voting is all held in the same place while my polling place on election day was at a church about 6 or 7 minutes away from my house. Well again, I was dead freakin wrong. Parking lot was full and the line was ridiculous. I decided to just head on to work as not to be too late (I waited in line for a bit but after checking my phone for the time, I bolted). I can't be too late for work as we are EXTREMELY understaffed right now and with the slow business my entire town is seeing, only 2 people are scheduled to work at a time most of time. Actually it's so bad right now that I was actually running the place by myself for an hour last Saturday while a catering delivery was being taken by another person.

I feel kinda bad that I missed my first presidential election but worse things can happen in one's life so I'm not too hung up over it. I'll be sure to make more time to get in there and get my ballot next time around.

[irregularjoe]

Reading one of the above entries reminds me that it's going to take some time for the "anti socialists" to come to grips with reality. The socialist label might have worked for some during the lie and hate spewing republican campaign, but let's come back down to planet earth. Mr. Obama is not a socialist. He is slightly left of center, if that. The country has swung so far to the right in the past 25 years that the common perspective of left and right has become skewed.

Honda Boy: I'm sorry that you were not able to vote. What state do you live in? Do you have mail in voting yet?

Unfortunately your frustrating voting experience is not uncommon. It's being likened to a poll tax. How many people can afford to take off most of the day from work to be able to vote? Here's something for you to do: Get involved in your local government to further the cause of more user friendly voting. It CAN be done. There is no reason in this day of high tech that you can't walk up to an ATM type machine, enter a secure voting card, make your selection, and walk away within a few minutes. If it can be done with a banking cash transaction, it can be done with voting. It is your right!

Joe

Edited November 6, 2008 by irregularjoe

[martymas]

i read where some of the voting machines had to be recalibrated

because they were giving a false reading

so far they arnt here in nz

we have to use the antiqueted method

pen and paper

ime a bit puzzled why george bush didnt campagn for mr macain

he watched it all on tv

nor many republican senetors were out to help

i was impressed with his response

tho ime not right wing

he came across as a gracious loser

maybe they knew the wrting was on the wall

and he was the scape goat

for a not so good gov

marty

[irregularjoe]

i read where some of the voting machines had to be recalibrated

because they were giving a false reading

so far they arnt here in nz

we have to use the antiqueted method

pen and paper

ime a bit puzzled why george bush didnt campagn for mr macain

he watched it all on tv

nor many republican senetors were out to help

i was impressed with his response

tho ime not right wing

he came across as a gracious loser

maybe they knew the wrting was on the wall

and he was the scape goat

for a not so good gov

marty

Marty:

Bush DID endorse McCain and Palin. At least on Saturday Night Live. All in good fun, of course. . Look here.

Joe

[JDoors]

Can you say three hour longs lines?!?! ...

What TIME did you guys go to vote? Polling was open at 6am. I was up already but I doubted that could be correct, so I waited a while. Still, no lines, maybe two or three others voting at the time (there were more election workers than voters). Maybe because it was an elementary school and parents were preoccupied with getting the kids into class?

There was one guy devoted to the one electronic voting machine. He had a laptop and typed, oh, something-or-other for a while after I agreed to use that machine. The chatty lady informed me she was the first one to use it (she seemed really proud!). Good for her.

Honda: If "your" candidate won, at least you didn't get "screwed" out of a chance to make a difference.

Marty: There are always problems whatever method is used to record votes. Don't know if you remember the news here when punchcards caused a sensation (if not perfectly punched a "chad" would hang off the card, making the exact vote impossible to determine by machine, and difficult to determine by hand).

Bush didn't vigorously campaign for anyone due to his low popularity at the moment. Obama stressed how much McCain was "like" Bush (for much of the campaign it seemed as if Obama was campaigning against Bush, who isn't running for anything, rather than McCain -- someone should count the number of times Obama mentions Bush compared to McCain, bet Bush wins that count). This comparison, fair or not, automatically painted McCain with Bush's unpopularity. So they kept their distance to minimize that effect.

Hah, American politics at its best, huh?

-----

Edited November 6, 2008 by JDoors

[Pete_C]

I voted, but I did the "early voting" thing to avoid long lines.

We went last week about 9AM and the line was basically non existant.

They had the new electronic voting machines and WOW what a difference.

First they scan the UPC on your voters card (or if you do not have one , your drivers license or ID will do to bring up your voters registration ) and print out a sheet with a code on it; which identifies which ballot should be displayed based on your precinct number etc. You sign the sheet that you are accepting that the number matches your card and you will be voting.

Next an election official takes that sheet and escorts you to a booth where they use a "code key" to unlock the machine and enter your code for the right ballot, adjusts the font size to what you feel comfortable with and then takes out the key and leaves you to it.

You enter your choices by touch screen , clicking next after each page.

Nicely, they used color and background shading to differentiate the different parties (Republican, Democrat, Independent, Libertarian)

When you finish , it presents you with a "review" of your ballot where you verify that your choices were accurately recorded.

You then can correct anything which was a mistake (and it asks you to notify the election judge if there were any discrepancies so they can test and recalibrate the machine immediately) .

You then press the VOTE NOW button (bright red) and it asks you to confirm that this is all correct and then it uploads it by ethernet to three servers (triple redundant backup)

Nice thing was how quickly this allows votes to be tallied after polls close.

Found out that Democrats voters in Dallas outnumbered Rebublicans by a wide margin.

Straight party voters alone were 280,000 to 180,000 but that only represents about a quarter of the voters.

[TheTerrorist_75]

Voting was quite easy for me. I just watched out my window until I saw the parking lot of the polling place down the street to clear out a bit then walked over. I was in and out in less then 5 minutes.

[baker7]

I voted by absentee ballot about 2 weeks before the election. We had a landslide election for Obama, but we reelected Gov. Douglas (Republican) in Vermont for another 2 years. Most of the incumbants in Vermont won reelection easily.

One thing that bugged me was that we had a charter change question on the ballot - was a business registration fee for businesses in my area. Problem was that the way it was WORDED made it sound like it was giving the city permission to change the City's Charter whenever they need to do it. I voted NO simply because I didn't understand what the devil I was voting for - The Tax, or the Charter Change - wish these guys would make the language more clear.

Jeff: glad that you enjoyed your first experience man - Voting gives you the power that will shape the givenments we deal with (Local, State, Federal) - History was made that day and I am glad that I was here to see it.

Brian

Edited November 14, 2008 by baker7

[Pete_C]

Baker; you have to remember that when they have charter changes and bond issues etc on the ballot ; generally the actual wording of the item takes several pages so they just put an abbreviated description which is often very vague.

Whenever these items are on the ballot you really need to both research the issue at hand and whether the ballot measure is to allow or prevent it.

Our big one was should the county issue 750 million in general obligation bonds to fund the building of a new County Hospital (estimated cost of 1.8 Billion the balance of which will be funded by State, Federal, and Charitable contributions so we basically get over two bucks of value for every buck we approved). Won by a landslide.

But they had one last year that was so confusing that the newspapers and television stations were airing explanations up until the election since if you were opposed to the item you had to vote for the ammendment the exact opposite of what it at first sounded like.