Seeing how I'm going to be out of town for the election, I voted early today. There were probably 70 people in line OUTSIDE the building. Once inside you took a number and waited for another 45 minutes or so. All in all it took about an hour and a half to get my turn. The volunteers working there said it had been this way since early voting started. (monday)
I've heard a lot about how Obama is inspiring the younger folks and all, but 90% of the people waiting in line with me were over 40. Surprisingly, about half had Obama stuff on, and half had McCain signage on.
From most accounts it looks like the turnout will be huge this year. Do you think it really will be large, and who will benefit from a big turnout?
Joe Gearin wrote:
Surprisingly, about half had Obama stuff on, and half had McCain signage on.
Can't do that here...
"If you live and vote in Virginia, you are not allowed to wear any politically themed clothing, like buttons or T-shirts, to the polls. The rule, according to Valerie Jones of the Virginia State Board of Elections, is that there can be no campaigning within 40 feet of a polling place entrance, including from people going to the polls to vote."
Source: http://www.wtopnews.com/?nid=600&sid=1497017
As for the 90% over 40 - you are in Florida, aren't you"
I think a big turnout benefits..... US!
Democracy and all that....
Informed, considered voting benefits us all.
"Me, too!" turnout doesn't.
Depends on who the big turnout is. If it's old people or religious fundamentalists, McCain. If it's young heathens, Obama.
bludroptop wrote:
Joe Gearin wrote:
Surprisingly, about half had Obama stuff on, and half had McCain signage on.
Can't do that here...
"If you live and vote in Virginia, you are not allowed to wear any politically themed clothing, like buttons or T-shirts, to the polls. The rule, according to Valerie Jones of the Virginia State Board of Elections, is that there can be no campaigning within 40 feet of a polling place entrance, including from people going to the polls to vote."
Source: http://www.wtopnews.com/?nid=600&sid=1497017
As for the 90% over 40 - you are in Florida, aren't you"
I think a big turnout benefits..... US!
Democracy and all that....
Isn't that the young crowd?? ;)
E-
Speaking of early voting...
On me way from class, I pass by UF's gauntlet of agenda pushers (Plaza of the Americas). The Gators for Obama have VAST numbers of minons running around.
Minion: "If you'd like, we've got a van that can drive you downtown to vote early right now."
Lazy youth:"Errrr...well...umm..."
Listen, kid, you've got huge plug earings and dirty clothes. You're not headed to work, you've been milling about for awhile, and class just got out. You aren't going to make time to go vote? Awesome!
"Can't vote... its almost 4:20"
I got my mail in ballots today!? Voting by mail?
I'm not sure what to think about that.
One I'm putting my vote in the hands of the post office and that's not necessarily good.
Two how do I know they actually receive it?
Three will they process it when they get it our will it still be in a pile the day after the election?
Four how do you track that vote?
Mail in votes don't get counted unless a tie breaker is needed I think. I am afraid the same thing will happen with the early votes. Voting early in gainesville is really stupid, I have never had to wait long to vote here.
I saw that on a new program also, absentee votes are simply put in a big pile to be used if the vote is close (I am hoping that "close" means at least within the number of absentee ballots, should be more than that realistically). It really makes not difference, but it is a bit depressing if you think about it.
Voting early is great, it allows you good justification for not paying attention to anything political after you vote, especially some of that last minute crap they come up with.
The mail in votes are scrutinized heavily to make sure the sig matches. It can be a problem if your current sig doesnt match the one you had when you registered to vote. Thats why the don't count them unless needed. Its also the way the giant army of attorneys for each side tries to mess with recounts. All a giant PIA.
So what I received was an absentee ballot and not another method of early voting? That makes sense, but this is the first time I've ever receive one of them so I didn't know what it was all about.
Off to vote early tomorrow.
It will be nice to be able to black out, even more than I do now, the campaign ads. They really get silly towards the end.
I accidentally saw an Obama one today that if it were true it would mean he'd have invented perpetual motion and had the Midas golden touch. You'd have never seen this one earlier in the campaign as he'd have been laughed off the stage, but last minute campaign strategies change dramatically and they are all going for impact and who can have the largest number of ads. I'm sure the others have ads just as stupid and crazy, but I've been able to avoid all of them apparently.
I don't understand why we have early voting. Florida and Ohio were perfectly capable of screwing up the elections when we only had one election day, but this looks like it will screw it up in all kinds of fun new ways, like the people from NY who voted in Ohio, and are back in NY to vote again. I could understand maybe an election week if this were a third world country where it would takes days to reach a polling place by yak, but I'm pretty sure most of us can get to our voting machine in less than a day. I miss the old days when "Vote early, vote often" was just a punchline.
