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Archive through November 02, 2004

The TVClubHouse: General Discussions ARCHIVES: 2004 Nov. - 2005 Jan.: Free Expression... (ARCHIVES): Voting Experiences ~ Election 2004: Archive through November 02, 2004 users admin

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Spygirl
Moderator

04-23-2001

Tuesday, November 02, 2004 - 5:41 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
I thought it might be interesting to have a place to talk about voting in our respective areas.

My report - I got up at 5:45am to vote when the polls open here. Apparently, I wasn't the only one - lol.

At 6:05, there were already 50 or so people in line. Things seemed to be going pretty smoothly and only took me a 1/2 hour to get in and out, I wonder what this means for the rest of the day?! I heard several older folks in line mentioning that they have never seen a line at 6 before in their lives.

When I left at 6:35 (my polling location is only about 250 yards from my house), there were about 30 people in line who had already been checked in and were waiting for one of the three (yikes!) ballot booths. There were another 20 waiting to be checked in.

By the way, this was the first electronic ballot I have used and I liked it! Those punch ones used in Louisiana are difficult to understand and use - blech!


Ohiomobprincess
Member

11-07-2003

Tuesday, November 02, 2004 - 6:35 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
I'm in Ohio. One of the crucial states for this election. DH and I arrived at the polls at 6:35 am. We had to wait in line for 35 minutes. It was great to see so many people out to vote. Unfortunately we still have the paper ballots, so there is the "hanging chad" issue here.

One of the judges on the ballot stood in line with me today. She's also one of my neighbors. Too bad she's a Republican and one of our family friends is running against her or she would have had my vote this morning.

Bigd
Member

09-13-2001

Tuesday, November 02, 2004 - 6:42 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
I'm in Wisconsin. Polls didn't open until 7am. I am about 300 yards from the polling place. At 5 minutes before 7 there were about 200 people in line waiting to vote, just on the other side of the school is another district - same story on that side. I just got home, so it went quickly. There were 12 booths total for the 2 sides. NOBODY asked me for identification.

Babyruth
Member

07-19-2001

Tuesday, November 02, 2004 - 6:49 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
We were up and out the door early today, too.

Walked 2 blocks in light rain to the elementary school, arriving at 7:05, and found a 2 lines winding out the door, one for each precinct. Only waited 20 minutes to cast our ballots, though.

Saw several friends and neighbors there, some working, some in line to vote. Some people showed up at 6:10, I heard. People were either quiet, or in a friendly mood, except for the one super-crabby retiree guy who works every election just so he can bark at people, I think.

We have a paper ballot where you use a black marker to connect a broken arrow to vote for your choice. Then you insert the ballot into a machine that sucks it in and counts it. People kept taking the markers away with them by mistake, because the pens weren't tied to the podium as in previous elections. So that slowed down the voting a bit as workers tried to find replacement markers. I didn't stick around to see what would happen when super-crabby retiree guy found out about that.

After weeks of volunteering, phoning and knocking on doors, I'm both exhausted and psyched about today's election. My shift to work the polls is 3-7 pm.

Kaili
Member

08-31-2000

Tuesday, November 02, 2004 - 7:24 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
I'm in Wisconsin too- the line was pretty long but moved fast. I got there at about 7:20 and was home by 8. We have the optical scan cards so I trust them. I was number 85 in my ward. Pretty uneventful. I was surprised there were no people holding signs at the corner past that area where you can do that. I counted about 80 people in line ahead of me but my voting place covers about 8 wards.

Tashakinz
Member

11-13-2002

Tuesday, November 02, 2004 - 7:31 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
I couldn't sleep so I got up and out the door early. Got to my precinct at 6:30 and was the first one there. I cast my vote and was on my way to work by 7:05. There were at least 100 people in line by that time.

Jewels
Member

09-23-2000

Tuesday, November 02, 2004 - 8:47 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
I am in Oregon and I voted last night from the comfort of my couch! We vote by mail and I received my ballot a couple weeks ago, but I hadn't had a chance to study my Voter's Pamphlet until late last night. I will take my ballot to an official drop off-site later today.

Conejo
Member

08-23-2002

Tuesday, November 02, 2004 - 8:53 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Just got a call from a friend of mine who works in the same building that houses my precinct and she said it was packed with a line running out the door and down the block! She said all she could see was umbrellas (it's raining here in Columbus.) I was going to vote at lunchtime, but maybe I'll go with plan B and vote after work.

Karuuna
Member

08-31-2000

Tuesday, November 02, 2004 - 9:02 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
I always vote by absentee ballot. That way I can sit at home with a cup of coffee, and sort thru all my election materials and take my time.

Turned in my ballot (in person) on Friday while early voting was going on in Colorado. There was a line that day that was about a half hour long. The turnout is just amazing!

Kaili
Member

08-31-2000

Tuesday, November 02, 2004 - 9:04 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
See- I thought about doing absentee but I didn't want to just drop my vote into a corner mailbox. I wanted to stick my ballot in the machine and see my number register on the machine. I did have coffee with me though- I was afraid if the line took too long I'd have to go to the bathroom before it was my turn.

Landi
Member

07-29-2002

Tuesday, November 02, 2004 - 9:10 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
i can't figure out where to vote. we moved, i sent in my voter change of address, and have received nothing. do i vote where i used to live? is there a way to find out where to vote?

Karuuna
Member

08-31-2000

Tuesday, November 02, 2004 - 9:14 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Kaili, I didn't mail mine this year since there were reports that mailed ballots would "disappear", so I took it to the voting center and dropped it in the ballot box. Paranoid maybe, but wanted to be sure. LOL on the bathroom thing - I am terrible about that in the morning! :-)

Landi - I'm going to go find the website for you, be right back!

Kaili
Member

08-31-2000

Tuesday, November 02, 2004 - 9:15 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Your newspaper should have all the locations in it today. Ours has a map with areas colored and a key that tells you where to go. I wouldn't go to your old one- try to figure out your new place and try there. You can also check at your library.

Yankee_in_ca
Member

08-01-2000

Tuesday, November 02, 2004 - 9:17 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
I just came back from voting in Maryland. We passed about 5 polling stations on the way, and all of them had lines out and around the buildings. Yay! I'm happy about the turnout.

When I got to my station at around 10:30, however, I hit it just at the right time. There was only a small line. One of the volunteers told us it had been really crazy all morning with lineups around the building, and that I had just gotten lucky.

By the time I voted, the line was out the door again.

We had touch-screen voting, and you could review your ballot at the end before submitting it.

Kaili
Member

08-31-2000

Tuesday, November 02, 2004 - 9:20 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Minute by Minute Events at Polling Station

WEST BLOOMFIELD, Mich. - One day at one battleground precinct in suburban Detroit, Precinct 20:

10:05 a.m. - Murad Al-Tawil, 30, casts his very first ballot. Born in Iraq, he became an American citizen three years ago. "I thought it was going to be hard, the paperwork, but it was not," he says. In the days leading up to his visit to the precinct, he said he had read all of the literature he has been given. "It's a good feeling when you choose your leader, when you have a say," he says. Al-Tawil says he cast his ballot for John Kerry.

--

9:47 a.m. - Shawn Nowlan, 38, cradles his 1-year-old daughter in his arms as he votes. It takes him several minutes as he tries to mark his ballot and hold onto his daughter, Ella. The daughter sports a T-shirt with the words, "Future President," on it. Two voting booths down, Nowlan's wife, Tonia, 30, casts her own vote. Both say they voted they voted for John Kerry. "No house divided," Nowlan says. His wife jokes, "That was a prereq before we got married.

--

8:01 a.m. - Rosemarie Russell, 27, hurries in to vote with her two children in tow. "It's my birthday today," she says. "I want to get this over with and get on with my day." She says she is voting for President Bush. Her 7-year-old son Andrew chimes in: "George Bush rocks."

--

7:08 a.m. - Trying to stay dry, Sam Reider stands at the end of a covered walkway. "Vote for Kerry," he says as he tries to hand literature to those entering the precinct.

Most ignore him. A few say, "No, thank you." Another says, "Keep the junk."

Then, suddenly, a woman starts to yell at him.

"You're not suppose to be this close. You could cause somebody not to vote," she says.

She hurries inside and seconds later, the precinct chairman, Bill Carroll, comes out and orders the man to move 100 feet away from the precinct's entrance. It's state law, he tells Reider.

Huddled under an umbrella in the parking lot, Reider continues to hawk literature.

--

7:01 a.m. - Barbara Lange, 52, a school social worker, steps up to the voting booth, a plastic table enclosed by plastic walls, and quickly moves down her ballot.

Although the fourth in line, she is the first to finish. She folds the ballot as instructed, walks to a nearby machine and feeds it in.

She won't say who she voted for. That's personal, she says.

Fred and Betty Ong, both in their 50s, finished up behind her, following her out of the precinct. They voted for Sen. John Kerry.

--

6:38 a.m. - Twelve minutes before the poll opens, the line to vote has begun forming inside the lobby. The Ongs are No. 2 and 3 in line.

The couple - he is an engineer, she is a teacher - have lived in West Bloomfield for nearly 25 years and like to vote on their way to work. This time, they arrived more than 20 minutes early to beat the expected lines.

Mrs. Ong's driving issue at the polls is the war. Her husband's is the economy.

The line grows, twisting down the hall and bending back toward the entrance.



Karuuna
Member

08-31-2000

Tuesday, November 02, 2004 - 9:22 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Landi the website is mypollingplace.com, but it's so busy, can't get it to load.

You should call your local county clerk's office to find out.

In Colorado, we have voting centers, so you can go to any voting center in your precinct to vote, but not sure what the system is like in California. But with the new provisional balloting law, you should be able to fill out a provisional ballot at your NEW voting location. They will verify that it is valid and that you have not voted anywhere else before it gets counted.

Reader234
Member

08-13-2000

Tuesday, November 02, 2004 - 9:24 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Lost post

In IL I voted 45 min after our precinct opened, I was the "303" voter. We have the scan method, fill in the circle, submit and watch your vote count, it tells you if you have under or over voted, and then the judge asks if you need another ballot (over vote) or if you want your vote "under" (ex we have to vote to retain judges, if I dont know the judge, I leave it blank, and its an "undervote")

There was this lady with a couple of 3 ring binders, bending over interrupting the workers, and they would say "I understand, but you need to stay out of the voters way" "you m ay not interrupt the process" You can observe from over here...

(Landi can you do a google search for your county? I imagine the phone lines will be busy, if you havent moved far, and know the old place they can tell you where your new voting precinct is...)

Ocean_islands
Member

09-07-2000

Tuesday, November 02, 2004 - 9:26 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
I voted for the first time on one of those machines. It was a thrill.

Reader234
Member

08-13-2000

Tuesday, November 02, 2004 - 9:28 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Landi I was on yahoo.com and you can go here ...
voting website


Altho, some in IL are still using the "chad" method, Arlington Heights, suburb... a caller on the radio mentioned the chads were "hanging" so he was making sure his were free and clear, he also mentioned the judges werent lined up correctly... at 7:15 am this morning...

Ladytex
Member

09-27-2001

Tuesday, November 02, 2004 - 9:36 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
My co-worker received the following email this morning from her boyfriend who is stationed in Iraq:

It's election time. Some people may not get around to voting. Check with
all of your friends. Make sure they vote. If they haven't, let them know
this. In many parts of the world, service men and women won't get to vote
because of some kind of screw up. Yet, they are standing guard and doing
there duty so that those back home can chose the course of the country for
the next four years. Bases are getting attacked simply because it is
election day in the US. They want people to be scared. They want Americans
to elect a president that will fold up, run, and get the military our of
their way so they can keep up with their terroristic ways. Get everyone
out to vote!


P.S. Someone vote twice. By the time I got an address over here, it was
too late for me.


Carrie92
Member

09-15-2003

Tuesday, November 02, 2004 - 9:59 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
I'm in West Michigan. I went to my voting place at around 10am. I waited about 20 mins. After I got there tons more people came and they were rerouting the lines. I vote at a Nat'l Guard Armory... the lobby is used for voting, but there is a gym attached, so they started routing the line in the gym so people didn't have to wait outside.
We use the chad method. I vote often (not only in presidential elections), and I have never seen a "hanging" chad, with the exception of Election 2000 news coverage from Florida. Many seniors were there, they had no problems.

The only problem I saw was one guy had voted straight ticket and then proceeded to vote for all the seats. The machine we put our cards into spit it back out with an error saying he had double voted. The election officials voided the mistake ballot, gave him a new one, and corrected the paperwork saying what number ballot he had.

No biggie.

Gidget
Member

07-28-2002

Tuesday, November 02, 2004 - 10:08 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
i vote at my old high school. i took what would probably be my last walk down the old halls. i am feeling a bit teary.

there was no line. there rarely is during off day hours. but am lunch and after 5 they will be hopping. i worked the polls when i was in college. it was fun.

today there was a man in front of me who was having some problem. had his passport out. they sent him to the clerks office. other than that i was in and out in minutes.

my county instituted electronic voting years ago. and before that we had machines. so i have never had the experience of filling out or punching a card. and i have never ever seen a problem in my district. makes me wonder why so many districts are still using this old fashioned stuff


Rosie
Member

11-12-2003

Tuesday, November 02, 2004 - 10:24 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
I just voted - no problems at all!

Marysafan
Member

08-07-2000

Tuesday, November 02, 2004 - 10:31 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
Daughter and I just got back from voting. We live in the country so we have to drive five miles to get to our voting place. I asked my friend who was working there how the turn out was and she said they had been busy...much more than usual.

We left at 10:30 and were home by 11:00. There were two lines and we were second in each of them. So the longest part was coloring in all those little circles on the ballot. It's like taking one of those tests. But we are sure that our vote counted.

Funny thing was daughter discovered that she was on the roles twice! Once in her maiden name and once in her married name! But in small town everyone knows her...so no chance to advantage of that! lol!

Conejo
Member

08-23-2002

Tuesday, November 02, 2004 - 10:42 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post    
I just went by my precinct and was surprised that it had a big banner hanging on the building supporting Kerry/Edwards. Are precincts allowed to show support for particular candidates?