I probably should have said something earlier, but hopefully everyone did their civil duty and cast a vote today. Our system might not be perfect, but it's better than what most people face.
As a side bonus, my poling place is right next to the skatepark. No, I didn't bust any moves before filling out my ballot.
They moved my polling place without notifying me. Wonder if there will be people bitching on the evening news.
yep did my duty and hopefully made the correct informed decision
Hope your chads aren't hanging...
Maybe next time. They don't let me vote in this country yet - but I also never have to do jury duty 
Washington State has it right, they mail everybody ballots. We have massively awesome voter rates and don't have to go to the polls.
What am I missing? I was pretty sure you guys always voted in November.
Keith wrote: Maybe next time. They don't let me vote in this country yet - but I also never have to do jury duty
Same here. Taxation without representation.
Not everyone had primaries. And casting a vote is not a civic duty.
foxtrapper wrote: And casting a vote is not a civic duty.
Funny, I see voting as the foundation of civic duty. I might even argue that it is the ONLY civic duty.
If you don't like the options, then I'd say spoil your ballot. Or get involved in a manner that gives you options that you would like.
That's fine. I see it as a rather important civic responsibility, but not a duty.
Duty is something like standing as a juror of your peers when called. That is a legal obligation, ie a duty. Something most people work hard at shirking.
Far more important to a person than voting for a vague politician is participating in their local government as a citizen. Attend those master plan hearings, those regulation development public meetings, etc. That's where far more important things to a persons life take place. Yet most people have absolutely no involvement with it what so ever.
In reply to foxtrapper:
I hadn't really thought about the semantic differences between duty and responsibility in this context until your post. I don't think we disagree, after all.
I voted in our Republican governors race runoff a few weeks ago. I was undecided until Palin endorsed one. I decided that for me, which candidate was picked was less important than handing Palin a defeat. So I voted for the other guy. Apparently I wasn't the only one, as her endorsement has sealed the fate of 3 separate governor candidates.
Primaries in August? How odd!
Ours was back in June. I voted!
Vote in November! Throw the bums out! (Yes, I know that's all of them).
You know, I've been meaning to start a thread on this for a month or so. Like Dave, I voted in not only the gubernatorial race, but also the special election to replace the representative from my district (who is now running for governor,) and two runoff elections. As an aside, my voting criteria was the same as Dave's. I liked both the front-runners (Karen Handel and Nathan Deal - my former representative.) I voted for Handel the first time, but a couple weeks before the runoff, she made a big deal about getting endorsement from Palin, which lost my vote. Either way, I'll be voting for the Libertarian candidate in November.
Anyway, my big concern is voter turnout. 10 - 20% depending on which election we're talking about. berkeleying pathetic. The talk radio guys, Fox news, etc., are counting on this big "changing of the gaurd" in November, and I'm not sure I see it happening. In the first election, 10 minutes before the polls closed, I was voter #111 out of 1,500 registered voters in our precinct. I was shocked.
I was more shocked when I "polled" my friends for an honest answer. Sure enough, the results reflected those of the actual election. "Oh, I was out of town." You know you can fill out an absentee ballot, right? "Oh, man, I had to work late that night." Give me a berkeleying break.
As "fired up" as people claim to be, it seems that the country is still full of lazy berkeleys who expect someone else to do the work for them, even in the party that claims to be the hard-working tax-paying one.
Shame on you people, and keep your damned mouths shut on how berkeleyed the country is if you can't take 20 minutes or so out of your day to make a difference.
November ftw
EDIT:
Poop, I love you man!!
DILYSI Dave wrote: I voted in our Republican governors race runoff a few weeks ago. I was undecided until Palin endorsed one. I decided that for me, which candidate was picked was less important than handing Palin a defeat. So I voted for the other guy. Apparently I wasn't the only one, as her endorsement has sealed the fate of 3 separate governor candidates.
The news this morning stated the candidates she backed had a 70% success rate.
1988RedT2 wrote: Primaries in August? How odd! Ours was back in June. I voted! Vote in November! Throw the bums out! (Yes, I know that's all of them).
Yesterday we voted for primaries, mayors, judges, some local offices and a referendum. And like Poop, our local turnout seemed quite low. At 8:30 in the morning, I shouldn't have been able to get the sweetest parking spot at our polling place.
I've decided that all politicians are full of B.S. regardless of party. The way I see it, it doesn't matter who I vote for, as none of them actually do what they say anyway.
This is why from now on I'm going to vote for the candidate I think will be the most entertaining. This way at least I'll get a chuckle out of their incompetence as they run the nation further into the toilet. Besides, it will be a boon to SNL, the Daily Show, Colbert, etc. I like those shows. I like to be amused.
To this end I'm starting a push for a Palin/ Blagojevich presidential run in 2012. Sure I know Blago is a Democrat, but who doubts that he would switch parties in a second if he thought it would get him more camera time. Imagine the humor having these two "rouges" on the same ticket.
comedy gold!
and yes, I did vote yesterday. Most of my guys lost though.
poopshovel wrote: ....Anyway, my big concern is voter turnout. 10 - 20% depending on which election we're talking about. berkeleying pathetic. The talk radio guys, Fox news, etc., are counting on this big "changing of the gaurd" in November, and I'm not sure I see it happening....
I have to agree with you here. With this supposed "groundswell" of change (sorry), I really don't see a lot of that happening. The last thing I saw showed some of the primaries voted in something like 90% of the incumbents. If people are not willing to boot the incumbents in their chosen party it seems unlikely they will put in another party for that reason.
Want to talk silly stuff in voting? Lets talk about voting for judges. How the hell are you supposed to have ANY idea of who to vote for?? Seems like a big joke to me.
Aircooled -if you think about it, its unlikely the incumbents will get the boot. If only 10-20% vote anyway, the 10-20% who vote this time are most likely the same 10-20% who voted the goober into office in the first place. If the jackass was good enough for you to vote in once, why not twice?
NOTE: the statement above was made purely as an effort to advocate the devil, and in no way represents the actual viewpoints of 3,4,5, or 11cylndurfury or any other associated cylndrfuries either expressed or implied.
poopshovel wrote: You know, I've been meaning to start a thread on this for a month or so. Like Dave, I voted in not only the gubernatorial race, but also the special election to replace the representative from my district (who is now running for governor,) and two runoff elections. As an aside, my voting criteria was the same as Dave's. I liked both the front-runners (Karen Handel and Nathan Deal - my former representative.) I voted for Handel the first time, but a couple weeks before the runoff, she made a big deal about getting endorsement from Palin, which lost my vote. Either way, I'll be voting for the Libertarian candidate in November. Anyway, my big concern is voter turnout. 10 - 20% depending on which election we're talking about. berkeleying pathetic. The talk radio guys, Fox news, etc., are counting on this big "changing of the gaurd" in November, and I'm not sure I see it happening. In the first election, 10 minutes before the polls closed, I was voter #111 out of 1,500 registered voters in our precinct. I was shocked. I was more shocked when I "polled" my friends for an honest answer. Sure enough, the results reflected those of the actual election. "Oh, I was out of town." You know you can fill out an absentee ballot, right? "Oh, man, I had to work late that night." Give me a berkeleying break. As "fired up" as people claim to be, it seems that the country is still full of lazy berkeleys who expect someone else to do the work for them, even in the party that claims to be the hard-working tax-paying one. Shame on you people, and keep your damned mouths shut on how berkeleyed the country is if you can't take 20 minutes or so out of your day to make a difference.
Agree 100%. BUT I also think the local media (around here anyway) needs to talk a bit more about the importance of the elections, or AT LEAST TELL YOU THAT THEY ARE HAPPENING!!!!! Seriously. I don't watch a lot of tv, so I may have missed the ads, but I do watch the local morning news every morning before work, and I had no berkeleying clue there was an election. I did see an "Elect Judge so-and-so" sign in front of the gas station near a friends house about a month ago. That's the only indication to me that there might be a local election coming up, but I still had no idea when.
16vCorey wrote:poopshovel wrote: You know, I've been meaning to start a thread on this for a month or so. Like Dave, I voted in not only the gubernatorial race, but also the special election to replace the representative from my district (who is now running for governor,) and two runoff elections. As an aside, my voting criteria was the same as Dave's. I liked both the front-runners (Karen Handel and Nathan Deal - my former representative.) I voted for Handel the first time, but a couple weeks before the runoff, she made a big deal about getting endorsement from Palin, which lost my vote. Either way, I'll be voting for the Libertarian candidate in November. Anyway, my big concern is voter turnout. 10 - 20% depending on which election we're talking about. berkeleying pathetic. The talk radio guys, Fox news, etc., are counting on this big "changing of the gaurd" in November, and I'm not sure I see it happening. In the first election, 10 minutes before the polls closed, I was voter #111 out of 1,500 registered voters in our precinct. I was shocked. I was more shocked when I "polled" my friends for an honest answer. Sure enough, the results reflected those of the actual election. "Oh, I was out of town." You know you can fill out an absentee ballot, right? "Oh, man, I had to work late that night." Give me a berkeleying break. As "fired up" as people claim to be, it seems that the country is still full of lazy berkeleys who expect someone else to do the work for them, even in the party that claims to be the hard-working tax-paying one. Shame on you people, and keep your damned mouths shut on how berkeleyed the country is if you can't take 20 minutes or so out of your day to make a difference.Agree 100%. BUT I also think the local media (around here anyway) needs to talk a bit more about the importance of the elections, or AT LEAST TELL YOU THAT THEY ARE HAPPENING!!!!! Seriously. I don't watch a lot of tv, so I may have missed the ads, but I do watch the local morning news every morning before work, and I had no berkeleying clue there was an election. I did see an "Elect Judge so-and-so" sign in front of the gas station near a friends house about a month ago. That's the only indication to me that there might be a local election coming up, but I still had no idea when.
I'll go 50/50 on that one. While I would like to see more local media coverage (though there was a ton in GA for this last election,) it's also your responsibility to know that this is an election year, and there will, therefore, be primary elections before November. An "Indiana 2010 Primary" google search brought up plenty of results. (I know I'm probably sounding like a dick here, but I hope you know I'm not trying to.)
Also, grab/subscribe to your local newspaper!!! Or at least read it online. It'll let you know when/where local politicians are speaking, debating, etc. Your local TV news probably isn't going to discuss that stuff at all, and those things are REALLY worth paying attention to. We had a LOT of total freaking whack-jobs running in my county this year, and I'm glad I stepped up to the computer knowing exactly who I was going to vote for/against. AND, the upside to the disgustingly low turnout is that my wife and I actually made an impact. Makes yee feel all 'murican & whatnot. 
Our local turnout back in July was predictably low in spite of the fact that primaries have become WAY more important than the general election. It's pretty pointless to vote in the general election when most congressional seats are a forgone conclusion. Even locally, whoever gets the democratic nomination for a council seat is going to get 90% of the vote in this town.
poopshovel wrote: I'll go 50/50 on that one. While I would like to see more local media coverage (though there was a ton in GA for this last election,) it's also your responsibility to know that this is an election year, and there will, therefore, be primary elections before November. An "Indiana 2010 Primary" google search brought up plenty of results. (I know I'm probably sounding like a dick here, but I hope you know I'm not trying to.)
Not at all. I know it is my responsibility and all that, I just assumed that if I watch the local news every morning for 45 minutes, I'd be caught up on local news for the most part. And yes, I know the whole thing about assumptions. I'm just pissed at myself for missing it, and pissed at my local news for sucking so hard.
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