MetaChat - I voted.

Why?

posted by jonmc 07 November | 13:52

I'm still holding out my dream of Carl Weathers becoming governor of something so that we can complete the Predator trifecta.

posted by mike9322 07 November | 13:54

I voted as soon as the polls opened (literally, since I won't be able to after work). It's been pouring rain all day... why, WHY on election day do we finally get rain??

posted by BoringPostcards 07 November | 13:59

yay! muds and BP. I wish I could vote too. I am practicing my channelling skills though. Aiming towards people in other states. Everyone here is so agreeable.

posted by carmina 07 November | 14:02

I like voting, although I miss the machines they used to have in Virginia, with the big lever that you pulled when you were all done. Here in Maine I just draw lines and then feed the ballot into a little machine.

posted by JanetLand 07 November | 14:02

They sure do make it easy here. I started voting on Friday, and finished filling out my ballot yesterday. I dropped it off at lunch in the drop box two blocks from my office. Why are we fucking around with this electronic voting machine bullshit when vote by mail seems like such a great system?

posted by pieisexactlythree 07 November | 14:04

Ha! I was going to post this same thread. And the decided not to, because I had little to say other than "I voted."

So, um, yes. Ignore me, carry on.

posted by occhiblu 07 November | 14:05

In the future, I'm going to vote during early voting week, but today at lunch I drove to a sunny and cheerful elementary school, stood in line for a few minutes, then used a machine instead of a pencil and paper (like civilized voting). Overall not a bad experience. A+++ Would Vote Again.

posted by muddgirl 07 November | 14:07

Silly people. Apathy rules.

posted by jonmc 07 November | 14:10

Actually, I do have more to say.

My polling place is in a building used as a supervised after-school program, and there are books and tables and posters of MLK and other middle-school-like things, and also a pool table. There was a carefully hand-printed sign, done with magic markers on construction paper, over the pool table with rules for its use. The first was was "No N---- word!"

I'm not sure why this amused me so much.

posted by occhiblu 07 November | 14:12

I voted last week, unfortunately on one of those no-paper-trail voting machines. I gave it a shot at least.

posted by court siem 07 November | 14:14

posted by small_ruminant 07 November | 14:14

oops. I voted.

posted by small_ruminant 07 November | 14:14

I filled out my ballot on Saturday and popped it in the mail yesterday afternoon.

posted by matildaben 07 November | 14:16

I don't do the vote-by-mail thing because those aren't counted until several days later, when the vote is (hopefully) already decided. I did early voting (a polling place) in '04, but being out of town the whole month of October this year made it impossible.

posted by BoringPostcards 07 November | 14:22

I voted, on the one of the big old machines JanetLand misses. I can't imagine why you miss them; I fear it ate my vote or lost it or something.

posted by ThePinkSuperhero 07 November | 14:22

I'm waiting for the *bleeping* chimney sweeps to get here so we can vote. The kid is so excited. "Mom..are we going to have time? They need to get here soon! We need to VOTE!"

I know I've mentioned this before, but when I was a little girl, our house was the local polling place. All the neighbors voted in our basement. Because of this, I get all weird and excited on election day and I guess it's rubbed off on rossi jr.

posted by jrossi4r 07 November | 14:25

I don't do the vote-by-mail thing because those aren't counted until several days later, when the vote is (hopefully) already decided.
Perhaps that's true in some places. However in Oregon, all voting is done by mail.

posted by pieisexactlythree 07 November | 14:27

I voted. Yay.

posted by grabbingsand 07 November | 14:28

I vote later. And grumble because they changed the polling place, so now I have to drive there rather than walk there. We have the black-pen-and-bubble-sheet style voting setup.

posted by initapplette 07 November | 14:29

I don't do the vote-by-mail thing because those aren't counted until several days later, when the vote is (hopefully) already decided.
Perhaps that's true in some places. However in Oregon, all voting is done by mail.

You are right, I should have mentioned it varies state to state.

posted by BoringPostcards 07 November | 14:31

I voted. Touch screen. Kinda made me suspicious, during. Like, the one you pick gets a big red X instead of a green check mark. . and then, well, the odds are pretty good that somewhere, some machine will loose data. No paper confirmation spit out. Important stuff in my State today.

posted by rainbaby 07 November | 14:31

I vote for Beer in My Tummy.

posted by cmonkey 07 November | 14:33

Voted by mail two weeks ago!

/oregonian smugness

posted by danf 07 November | 14:33

Voting in Cleveland is a mess. I've heard reports of 4 hour delays at some polling places. I also got a report from someone at my polling spot and everything seems to be running smoothly in terms of casting it, although counting it might be another matter.

posted by sciurus 07 November | 14:39

Important stuff in my State today.

It's a commonwealth, rainbaby! For shame.

posted by mike9322 07 November | 14:39

Kachunk! Blammo!

I might have fucked up and instead of voting working families across the democratic ticket I think I voted for the Nazis and Dirty Underpants Party. Oh well. I really just like the noise the machine makes.

posted by Divine_Wino 07 November | 14:47

If I had designed the touch-screen voting, it would have been green check marks, not red X's. But there were no input problems - it showed a little black hash mark where the computer thought you touched the screen (for easy identification of problems), and mine was always right on.

posted by muddgirl 07 November | 14:57

I voted on the paper ballot, new here and it didn't feel as official somehow as the old voting machine in the booth with the black cloth all around. I wanted to take a picture of it but it felt vaguely illegal so I didn't. Of course, I also believed in my twenties that it was in fact illegal to bring anything into a voting booth, so my perception of illegality is apparently somewhat skewed.

posted by mygothlaundry 07 November | 15:00

mgl, I used to think the same thing. I still feel slightly scandalous when I pull out my cheat sheet in the booth.

posted by occhiblu 07 November | 15:07

anecdote: 3 years ago my friend used the electronic voting machines and, fortunately, decided to look at the summary/review page and discovered it read nothing like what she thought she'd selected. She did the whole thing over again and it came out right.

I didn't look at my summary that year- who knows who I voted for.

Now I use absentee ballots and drop them off at the polling place on election day.

posted by small_ruminant 07 November | 15:18

I voted, but only to give those seniors at the polling place something to do.

posted by mullacc 07 November | 15:31

I voted. I was person #250. And I did NOT vote for the moron who wants to "secure our borders". Or any of the other signs in that same yard. Although I think I'm the only one who finds it amusing that we vote in a church.

posted by chewatadistance 07 November | 15:39

I voted this morning on the way to work. Of course, I live in the District of Columbia, so my vote doesn't count. We have a mayor and city council that we're voting for, so that's important. Our delegate to the House of Representatives doesn't get a voice in the House, so she's pretty much useless. I voted for her anyway.

posted by Inkoate 07 November | 15:48

me, too, Inkoate.

posted by mrmoonpie 07 November | 15:58

I just got back from voting - the poll workers said that at least in my precinct that the turnout was quite a bit higher than expected - at least 60% of those on the lists had turned up already, and the polls are open for another three hours.

My goal in voting this election was to do my small part in a couple of things: 1) to make sure this scumbag does not get a foothold in the governor's office to push his odious and insulting social and business philosophy; 2) to try to defeat this deceptive attempt to shaft a large portion of voters here.

posted by deadcowdan 07 November | 16:59

I didn't vote because I don't have a permanent residence.

posted by Eideteker 07 November | 17:14

I pooted.

posted by WolfDaddy 07 November | 17:33

my back and legs are killing me and i am trying to get up the energy to go vote sometime between now and when they close. maybe i'll make it. i need to, there are some real idiots running for local stuff. including a complete twit running for city council that has big signs in his yard that say "photocop" on them. he's a constable which seems to be pretty much a nothing job here, and a photographer. and a moron who thought that sign was somehow clever. jackass.

plus i need to vote against asa hutchinson. with him as governor, we might as well just nuke arkansas from orbit.

posted by weretable and the undead chairs 07 November | 17:43

oh. actually it was "fotocop" which is even stupider. and that was on the ballot between his first and last names. moron.

posted by weretable and the undead chairs 07 November | 18:18

Saf and I voted a week and a half ago at the mall. Then we got Orange Juliuses and Hot-Dogs-on-Sticks.
I did get a flu shot today, though, so I still got to be late for work.

posted by krix 07 November | 19:38

We had Teh Marriage Amendment on the ballot this time. No state has ever voted against it on a ballot and we will be no exception. The opposition ran a good campaign, though - "Read the whole thing and vote no!" The second paragraph is really scary, not the "marriage shall be between a man and a woman thing" - however you feel about that, it goes on to say no legal contracts shall be entered, etc. . .wtf? What's next? Married het folks have to prove they are unable to reproduce in order to get an exemption or something? The guy on the treadmill next to me at the gym asked the young chickie across from us on the gliders if there was any election news on the tv, and she said politics really didn't interest her. It occurred to me to yell, "well politics is interested in your womb!" but of course I didn't. I'm thinking marriage is becoming obsolete, legally speaking, and that's just fine with me.

So that's a loss, but I'm still holding out hope for getting a dem senator in there.

posted by rainbaby 07 November | 20:33

I did not vote.

It's a pointless, empty ritual.

I had better things to do.

posted by jason's_planet 07 November | 23:42

I didn't vote. I still haven't found my absentee ballot in the chaos of moving boxes.

posted by deborah 07 November | 23:59

It's a pointless, empty ritual.

Jason I am surprised with what you say... But then again maybe I understand... No, no I don't. I feel exactly the opposite. In fact I was a little depressed yesterday when everyone I know here got to vote and I didn't. It is unfair. I live in this country for 15 years and I am working here and I am paying taxes and my kids go to american schools. In many ways this one feels more like my country than my birthplace. Yet, I am not allowed to tell my opinions *even* on local levels. Sigh. But I am just waiting for my citizenship in a couple of years so hopefully I can join some organizations/groups/activists whatever. And then, jason_planet I am after you! Yes you and the others here who said they aren't gonna vote. We need people like you to voice their opinions. Sigh.

posted by carmina 08 November | 09:56

voting in denver SUCKED this year. the computers went down for 45 minutes(lawsuit waiting to happen im sure) which happened to coincide with my lunch hour. went after work and had to wait almost 2 hours. and i was defeated on most every issue. yippe for democracy.

posted by slackshot 09 November | 14:47

07 November 2006