Your election day experience

[MODU]

I voted straight Republican...there were no state-wide referendums, so it was one click and I was done.

Here we have dozens of obscure races.

It was actually quite strange for us.  No county issues, no referendums, no budget issues.  Just President, Senator, and Representative.  Two years ago, we had like 5 different budget issues and one referendum.  I guess we're being spoiled this year.

[Swing low, sweet chariot. Comin' for to carry me home.]

I voted straight Republican...there were no state-wide referendums, so it was one click and I was done.

Here we have dozens of obscure races.

we already banned gay marriage a couple of years ago

[Likely Voter]

Voted at local school. Mood in short line was upbeat and it moved fast. Never seen the precinct so crowded before, or even have a line.

Voted Obama and Jane Harman for House
Voted no on almost all state propositions.

Starbucks next to polling place gave free coffee to anyone with voted sticker...back at home/office now drinking it. yum

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

I voted straight Republican...there were no state-wide referendums, so it was one click and I was done.

Here we have dozens of obscure races.

we already banned gay marriage a couple of years ago

Prop. 8 doesn't qualify as an obscure race, I've never seen so many signs for one race.

[Sam Spade]

The polling place is a local elementary school which buses in minorities.  Multiple Election districts are housed inside.

Line was about 7-8 people for mine, took about 15 minutes (we have the old lever system).  Two of the other EDs were vacant, but the last one had 20-25 people on line.  That line was about 3/4 white, 1/4 minority.  My line was entirely white, as is my neighborhood.

Voted McCain (R), Democrats for all the pointless judges (like a good Brooklynite should).
I'm still pissed off at Velasquez (D) for the bailout vote, so I voted against her with the Republican.  Same with Squadron (D) for beating my old State Senator in the Democratic primary.  Voted for Millman, our Dem state rep.

Was some amendment to the Constitution that I thought was stupid and voted against it.

[Keystone Phil]

It's kind of funny how laid back this one has been for me. There were a few minor problems at my polling place but, overall, it's been a good day.

I worked a polling place for a candidate for State Representative most of the day. I'm home for a bit now and will be heading out in an hour or so to do GOTV for McCain in my precinct.

It's weird how quickly this day seems to be going. Only four and a half hours left until polls close here.

[Small Business Owner of Any Repute]

The line at my polling place was maybe 50 deep, but we use optical scan, so it moved quickly.  They did a pretty good job of having poll workers walk up and down the line, explaining how voting worked for new voters and to remind us that the ballot was two-sided.

I skipped the Presidential race and went down the ballot, voting mostly for Democrats (not that there was a choice) and cast a write-in vote for Register of Probate.  I voted against repealing the income tax, voted for decriminalizing marijuana, and voted against ending dog racing.

I finally connected the arrow for McCain and sent the ballot through the scanner.

The whole thing took about 15 minutes.  According to election officials, turnout was comparable to 2004 levels.

[7,052,770]

Voted McCain (R),

I finally connected the arrow for McCain

TWO MOST SHOCKING POSTS EVER

[KEmperor]

Well, I went and voted around 1pm.  Not really a line, there was 1 person ahead of me at the A-L table, and there was a machine open once I had signed in.  Voted straight republican this time, and no on the state Constitutional Amendment which would give wounded vets extra points on the civil service test.

[Swing low, sweet chariot. Comin' for to carry me home.]

KEmperor?!  dude, where have you been?!

[elcorazon]

my wife and I took the day off and strolled over to vote around 10:45 am.  Beautiful day -70 degrees.  We walked the half mile to the polling place.  We have computerized voting (touch screen) but there aren't that many of them so we also offer paper optical scan ballots.  There were about 4 people in line for the touch screen, so we both did paper ballots.  No waiting.  We were home by 11:30 or so, and that's only because we vote for judges and as a result have an incredibly long ballot.

I had an Obama sticker on my jacket (I didn't need to be wearing it frankly) and they made me take my jacket off (or take off the sticker).

When they scanned in our ballots they totalled up to only about 58 ballots up to that time.  Of course that doesn't count the touch screen ballots.

[platypeanArchcow]

I got to the polling place (by bike) around 12:50.  It was, oddly enough, in a frame store -- the walls were full of frame samples.  There were around 15 people in line in front of me -- a few other students, a few old people -- but almost no one behind, I guess since lunch was ending.  As I was leaving, I overheard a poll worker explaining something about fighting in WWII to a voter because he knew someone by the same last name as her.  I was voter #409, whatever that means.

I voted for Obama, then libertarians for rep, state sen, and state house, since those are all safe seats anyway and I wanted to protest the duopoly.  On propositions: YYNNYNNNNNNN.

[Barack Hussian YO MAMA!!!!]

I went in at around 12:30, I decided to suck it up and for Barack Obama I thought about voting for Nader because I'm cynical blah blah blah Washington sucks. I voted for obama because I think he is qualified to be the next president of the united states, I voted against the anti obama hysteria that I have seen from some. I also voted for obama because I really think its time for an African American president I have  great sense of pride in this country that will only be enhanced if we elect a black president.

I wrote in Teddy Kennedy for senate as I knew Kerry was going to win so why not write in senator Kennedy  who I didn't get to vote for last time.   

I voted for all the other democrats, if your from Massachusetts and your stupid enough not to run as a democrat then you deserve to lose.

I voted against abolishing the Massachusetts state income tax.
I voted for the decriminalization of marijuana I believe it would stop making possession marijuana from being a felony,

I voted to ban dog racing from Massachusetts there are plenty of other ways to gamble in mass if you could always go to the track and bet on the pony's or bet on football games.   

there where no lines and  couple of old people there I was out of there I was out of there in ten minutes. I also stopped to talk to one of my Friends from high school who  I thought was conservative and he told me he was voting for obama.   

[paul718]

I got there around 10AM, and only had to wait for one person to get out of the booth before I went in.  I can't get over the lines I see people waiting on on television.  I guess I take it for granted that I never have to wait more than a few minutes to vote.  Why is that?  Who governs how many staffers and voting machines will be at a location?  For the record, I live in a middle-class suburban area, but a densely populated suburban area (outer-borough of NYC). 

P.S.  I voted for a Democrat to take my outgoing-Republican's House seat. 

[Ban my account ffs!]

I voted at 3:45.. it was very busy and the line was quite long but it moved really fast since they had like 12 voting booths.

There were way more young people than I would have expected.. and there were a *lot* of people registering... I'd almost say half were registering... but that's probably an over estimate because the time of day (schools getting out, class getting done at the university, etc.)

I was surprised.. there were probably 40 people in line while I was there, but it took maybe 5 minutes to get to the booth... and I was voter number 1118 at 3:45pm out of a total township population of 3000... it's gonna be a really high turnout.

[TheGlobalizer]

Worked from home today.  Per my boss' suggestion, took a long lunch to vote.  Strolled up to my polling place (a block away), stopped by the local coffeeshop/cafe after and had a nice lunch with the girlfriend (home early from class).  It was her first time voting -- naturalized citizen as of about a year ago.

Voted:

McCain
the Republican congressional candidate not named Sarbanes
NO on early voting (I'm a traditionalist like that)
NO on slots (don't believe the government should have a gambling monopoly)
FOR all of the judges (I generally like the sitting MD judges)
AGAINST all of the bond issues in Baltimore City, except:
FOR the bond issue to the National Aquarium (they're purchasing land near my house -- property value considerations)

The girlfriend voted for Obama.  *sigh*

[J. J.]

The girlfriend voted for Obama.  *sigh*

Date a Democrat but marry a Republican.  Have fun first. 

[TheGlobalizer]

The girlfriend voted for Obama.  *sigh*

Date a Democrat but marry a Republican.  Have fun first. 

Haha, nah, she considers herself a libertarian, she just really hates Palin.  *shrug*

[bergie72]

I was lucky.  I went with the bf to our polling place, got right in.  Voted for Barr, Libertarians for Att'y Gen, Auditor and Treasurer, Barletta for US House (PA-11) and wrote my name in for PA House.

Came home, grabbed a bite to eat, and expect to be planted in front of the computer and TV for the next 5 hours  :-)

[angus]

Ok traditional voters... tell us how your day was.

I did it.  We made a leisurely stroll about five blocks to my polling place, the old lady and the boy in tow.  When I got there I was surprised to see a line.  I’ve been voting for stuff since 1985 and never really had a  line.  Maybe a few people, but nothing like this.  There were 23 people, by my count, in the line when we got there.  Well, that includes myself, my wife and son (one of whom is a foreigner and one of whom is a child), and two other children in front of me.  So maybe you could say that there was me and 18 voters in front of me.  I noted that it was 6:40 when I got in line, and 6:48 by the time I got to the table where one octogenarian woman asks me my name and another asks me to sign something and a third gives me the scantron-type ballot.  All were bone dry, paper thin, and brittle, and none asked me for any identification.  It still amuses me that I have never been asked for any ID to vote.  What the hell?  You can’t even wipe you ass without being asked to show a driver’s license, but they’ll let you vote if you can recite an address.  Bizarre.  Oh, and yes Iowa has “election day registration.”  Accident waiting  to happen, if you ask me.  I remember when I lived in California and it came up as a binding proposition, and I voted against it.  Along with 56% of Californians.  Good call, Golden Staters.  Don’t know why Hawkeye Staters would go for that.  Actually I already knew about the same-day option, but a little sign reminded me of that during the eight long minutes I waited in line.  Note that it also had a paragraph about what you needed to do if you want to register and vote, but don’t have any ID or bill with your address on it or any other proof that you’re not a Martian or a Joker or some wiseguy making his way around to all the precincts to vote in each one by registering under a different name each time .  Apparently you need only make a written statement.  Right.

On a brighter note, at some point two fellows sauntered in behind me, and I overheard their conversation.  “Yeah, dude, I got extra credit for registering to vote.  But I’ve never voted till now.”  “what, you never voted?”  “well, I’m only 19, and there just wasn’t any election till now.”  “Oh, yeah, that makes sense.  Well, this is my second presidential election.”  “That’s cool.  I hope I never miss an election.  I want to always vote.”  It was nice to hear some civic pride.  Don’t get much of that nowadays.  And, in fact there was a general enthusiasm in the air.  My boy insisted on accompanying me into the booth, and he generally used his ‘library voice’ as we had agreed.   I left a few blank.  (Like you, I think a well-informed citizenry would be preferred, but when I don’t know anything about the race I’d rather blank it than mark one just for the sake of completeness.  I didn’t leave blank US Senator & Rep, State Senator & Rep, President, Sherrif, School Board, and the yes/no question.  On those I’d developed an opinion and dutifully marked the appropriate oval.)  And when it was over I walked over with my little form to hand to the guy who oversaw the pushing into the computerized scanner, and he looked at my boy and said, “Well, how would you like to push it into the machine.”  And of course the boy was delighted to do that.  And then the old man said, “Thank you for voting.  And thank you, little man, for helping.”  I really dug that.  Usually all you get is a cheesy little sticker that says “I voted.”  I didn’t get offered any little sticker, but I got something better:  gratitude.  And folks were coming out of the polling place talking and laughing and generally glad that they’d voted.  To see such enthusiasm was definitely worthwhile.

Most of all, it was nice to not be in front of a television screen watching the talking heads “analyze” the election.  Having said that, I’m sure I’ll turn the TV on and settle in with a stiff drink and await the returns.  And the “analysis.” 

A bit hard getting on tonight, by the way.  Busy server, so I'll call it a wrap.  Goodnight. 

[Lunar]

BERKELEY RIOTS OMFG