The OaO Election Day (Month?) Thread

[Guest Cerebus]

I've voted for a different party in each of the elections I've voted for; I nearly voted for Natural Law in '93.

You sick bastard~! You need professional help for even considering that!

[kkktookmybabyaway 0]

Well I did count the time it took me to find parking

Me, too. Hippie...

[Guest Cerebus]

Think it'll be the same way now that Pennsylvania has been renamed to Swing State #3?

[NYU 0]

In and out in a matter of minutes. Voted for Badnarik and the Dems in all other categories.

I honestly don't know, so I thought I'd ask.

 

What are Badnarik's policies? If elected, how would he make the country better? And just why is he a better alternative to either Bush or Kerry?

 

I personally know a few people that have voted or are planning to vote for Nader/Cobb/Badnarik, but they're not exactly sure why. Throwing your vote away on a party that has no chance of winning seems silly, especially if you don't even know where the candidate stands on important issues.

 

I'm hoping you can help me better understand the mind process behind voting a third party candidate - specifically Badnarik - with a better reason than "He's not Bush or Kerry." I genuinely do want to know.

[Highland 0]

I've voted for a different party in each of the elections I've voted for; I nearly voted for Natural Law in '93.

You sick bastard~! You need professional help for even considering that!

I said "nearly" and it would have been purely a protest vote. Yes, all the candidates were that bad.

 

I ended up voting for the Conservatives.

Edited November 2, 2004 by Highland

[Vyce 0]

Took me about an hour to vote......which annoyed me greatly, seeing as in virtually every other election I've ever voted in (in the 5 or so years I've been able to vote), it took me only a matter of minutes.

 

There were a surprising number of Bush supporters in my group.....not a blowout, mind you, but my district trends fairly heavily liberal, so it was interesting to see quite a few Bush voters in my pack.

[kkktookmybabyaway 0]

OK, since yesterday these pseudo-hippies have been on this busy intersection where I go to take my daily lunch break (fast-food, grocery store, etc.) and these idiots have been holding Kerry signs and shit. Well today I went to a grocery store for lunch and among my usual lunch items I bought a pack of frozen waffles. At the intersection I tossed this box of waffles at the moron to the left of me. No, I didn't hit him, or even come close to it, and it landed around 5 feet from him.

 

So if I get arrested later today, I'll sue for DISENFRANCHISEMENT...

[Guest Brian]

That was pretty charitable of you KKK. Now you're on the slippery slope to commune life.

[Rob E Dangerously 0]

more random voting stories

 

from South Carolina:

 

30 minutes in line and out the door.  Feels good.  Go Kerry!

 

Oh and a massive turnout in a predominantly minority area. 

The only sad story of the day was that there was an old, white couple in line.  The woman looked terrified.  She whispered something at her husband who said, just above a whisper, "There sure are a lot of them here, but it's just too late for us to move to another part of town."

 

Thankfully, about five minutes later, an equally old, equally white man walked in, and, as he walked up the very long line to find his spot, he stopped at all the mothers with children (mostly black) and said to them, "Coming to vote with your mama?  This is what America is all about." 

 

God bless him.

 

from Vermont:

 

Voter turn out here in Burlington looks to be huge.  As of 10:30, we were up about 25% over the same time period during the 2000 elections.  It was the first time I've ever seen lines at my polling station.

 

from Indiana:

 

No line at all, but out of the 500-600 RVs in the district, they had 215(!) votes, and my Dad just said he was 269.  We have optical scan ballots, a short ballot, and plenty of poll workers.

 

from Alabama:

 

Here in T-Town, waiting in line to vote is unheard of and I just stood in line for about 30 minutes.  I've never seen so many young  people (18-25) and African Americans -- very cool!!!

 

I'm gonna bump my turnout prediction to 118M

[bobobrazil1984 0]

Everything went pretty smoothly at my polling place. Took about 20 or 30 minutes in line... its a suburb of Detroit, nothing major.

[Guest macheteofodin]

I personally know a few people that have voted or are planning to vote for Nader/Cobb/Badnarik, but they're not exactly sure why. Throwing your vote away on a party that has no chance of winning seems silly, especially if you don't even know where the candidate stands on important issues.

 

I'm hoping you can help me better understand the mind process behind voting a third party candidate - specifically Badnarik - with a better reason than "He's not Bush or Kerry." I genuinely do want to know.

You have to look at it like this. Some people voting for a 3rd party are doing it because they think it makes them cool. Other people do it because they truly believe that person is the best person for the job. The reason I went the 3rd party route is because I actually did some research and discovered the two guys that coincided most with my views were 3rd party candidates. So I did some careful thinking and picked which one to vote for. It is NOT a throw away vote. It's voting for who one actually thinks is better. I don't care if a candidate is a Democrat, a Republican, one of the many "3rd Party" candidates. If I like their policies and they support what I support for the most part, I'll vote for them. I choose the best of the bunch not the best of the big two.

 

----edit----

 

I'd also like to express how pleased I am that seemingly TONS of people are voting this year. My dad is actually voting and I honestly can't remember the last time he voted for something that wasn't a school budget.

[Rob E Dangerously 0]

Some people vote for third parties because they're conservatives who dislike Bush and like Kerry less.

 

Expect a good number of Badnarik votes in Texas.

[Guest Smues]

Tonight starting at 4pm pst I'll be part of the election process. My school is handling returns for 22 states so we'll be taking calls with results from precients all over the place, then forwarding the results off to the press. So if the headline tommorow is "2000 all over again, this time Cheney Washington fucks up the process" You'll know who to blame.

[DerangedHermit 0]

is "2000 all over again, this time Cheney Washington fucks up the process" You'll know who to blame.

Dick Cheney, WA and you.

[Guest Smues]

Now that you mention that I hope nothing happens, because if we screwed something up I'd have to put up with the conspiracy theories "Cheney Washington, Dick Cheney, GET IT????"

[Guest T®ITEC]

Well, I voted for the first time. I waited a whole two minutes and it only took like 30 seconds to vote. We have the punch card ballots, for some reason, and uh... yeah. My dad fucked it up. I'm so proud of the old man. How the hell do you fuck up those things.

 

All in all, that was a painless experience. I'm proud to declare that I'm not retarded. Oh, but there were so many old people...

 

Bold prediction: Utah sides with the Republican party in every possible category. You know where our five votes are going.

[Guest MikeSC]

What would promp someone to vote at midnight? I got to question how many of those people are even Sober.

They're not drunk. Just insomniac geezers.

-=Mike

being up at midnight doesn't make one an insomniac.

 

Part of the reason for voting early is because some people in New Hampshire have this ego about being the first to do things. Which is why they must hate Iowa

If they're 90, then yes, they tend to be insomniac.

-=Mike

[Dr. Tom 0]

Pinned until the election is resolved. Which better bloody be by the time I go to bed tonight.

[Guest MikeSC]

Some random stories:

 

Kerry's pollster thinks Bush will win. http://www.thehill.com/mellman/110204.aspx

UPDATE: VOTES 'FOUND ON MACHINES' IN PHILLY BEFORE POLLS OPEN

 

Before voting even began in Philadelphia -- Republican poll watchers believed they found nearly 2000 votes already planted on machines scattered in heavy-minority locations throughout the city.

 

Republican poll watchers claim:

 

One incident occurred at the SALVATION ARMY, 2601 N. 11th St., Philadelphia, Pa: Ward 37, division 8.

 

Pollwatchers uncovered 4 machines with planted votes; one with over 200 and one with nearly 500...

 

A second location, 1901 W. Girard Ave., Berean Institute, Philadelphia, Pa, had 300+ votes already on 2 machines at start of day.

 

ANOTHER INCIDENT: 292 votes on machine at start of day; WARD/DIVISION: 7/7: ADDRESS: 122 W. Erie Ave., Roberto Clemente School, Philadelphia, Pa..

 

ANOTHER: 456 votes on machine at start of day; WARD/DIVISION: 12/3; ADDRESS: 5657 Chew Ave., storefront, Philadelphia, Pa...

 

MORE...

 

The Kerry Campaign says reports of votes already on machines are 'false.'

 

"Serious news will not appear first on the DRUDGE gossip website," senior Kerry adviser Joe Lockhart told reporters.

 

Officially, election officials explain the discrepancy is being caused by a number showing how many times various machines have been used.

 

But officials could not explain why used machines in other locations were reportedly 'clean.'

 

Elsewhere, a gun was purposely made visible to scare poll watchers at Ward 30, division 11, at 905 S. 20th St., Grand Court. Police were called and quickly surrounded the location...

http://www.drudgereport.com/vote1.htm

 

Tires slashed on 30 GOP vehicles, Milwaukee police report

By DERRICK NUNNALLY

[email protected]

Posted: Nov. 2, 2004

 

The tires of at least 30 cars and vans rented by the Republican Party to carry voters to the polls were slashed, Milwaukee police said this morning. The discovery was made at 6:30 a.m., said Sgt. Mark Wroblewski.

Advertisement

 

The rental cars were parked near a GOP office in the 7100 block of W. Capitol Dr. Wroblewski said "at least" 30 cars were disabled. At least one tire was slashed and in some cases, all four tires were cut. Detectives were on the scene, the sergeant said. Police had no suspects in custody as of 8 a.m.

 

Milwaukee police said just after noon today that they have a suspect description. A private security guard reported a man running from where the tires were slashed, said Sgt. Ken Harris.

 

The guard reported seeing a white male, 18 to 25 years old, 5-feet-6 to 5-feet-9 tall, 170 pounds, wearing a black hooded sweatshirt and dark jeans, running from the Republican offices around 6:45 a.m., Harris said.

 

Milwaukee police detectives typically would not investigate a case of slashed tires but were put on the case given the potential political overtones of this crime, Harris said.

 

"Because there is a chance it might have been politically motivated, we are making every effort to bring this case to a swift conclusion," Harris said.

 

Also early election day, Milwaukee police were called to a John Kerry campaign office, 633 S. Hawley Road, at 5:40 a.m. because at least two people were blocking the parking lot exit, preventing Kerry supporters from leaving the parking lot and screaming and spitting on cars, said Sgt. Willie Murphy. The officers removed the disruptive people but no arrests were made, he said.

 

Republican party spokesman Chris Lato said the slashed tires on the GOP's get-out-the-vote vehicles this morning "clearly was targeted sabotage" to hinder the party's election-day work. He said Republican volunteers have stepped into the breach by offering their vehicles for party use, but he doesn't know whether all the damaged rental vehicles have been repaired.

 

"It's clear that we were targeted, there's no question about it," Lato said. "Does it slow us down? Yeah, it's not going to help."

 

The vandalism - which has gone both ways in the campaign - and other hostile interactions have marked the political season's peak days, spokesmen for both parties say.

 

Lato says the Madison headquarters building of the Republican Party of Wisconsin was vandalized overnight before election day with graffiti - specifically, black spray paint reading "Illegitimate Democracy" twice across a large wall.

 

"We discovered it this morning when we came in," Lato said.

 

Madison Police Department spokeswoman Emily Samson said nothing from the Republican headquarters address had been reported to her office since Oct. 22.

 

"Not to say it didn't happen, but it wasn't reported to us," Samson said.

 

Meanwhile, Democratic party spokesman Seth Bothelli condemned the actions of "overzealous supporters on both sides" that have gone beyond yard-sign vandalism. He said signs were stolen off of a Democratic campaign office in Wausau, and, in one case, a man whose wife died got an angry phone call when her obituary asked people to vote for John Kerry in lieu of buying flowers.

 

"He got a voicemail at home from a Republican supporter of Bush saying that his wife should burn in hell," Bothelli said. "There has been a level of incivility in this campaign, admittedly on both sides, that we haven't seen before."

http://www.jsonline.com/news/state/nov04/271676.asp

-=Mike

[KingPK 0]

Pinned until the election is resolved.  Which better bloody be by the time I go to bed tonight.

Not if Hawaii becomes as pivotal as some people think it might.

 

I just came back from the polls. I went for Bush but in MA, there is usually nothing else to vote for since two or three of the races only have one candidate. The only one worth voting for was county sheriff.

 

The woman that gave me my ballot said that there were a lot of younger people voting today. Anyone else see the same?

[NYU 0]

Some random stories:

 

Kerry's pollster thinks Bush will win. http://www.thehill.com/mellman/110204.aspx

You soon will know whether Kerry’s appeal was strong enough to overcome the incumbent’s strength. I think I will be smiling broadly. But it has been an uphill fight.

 

Well, you certainly missed the message of that article.

[Guest MikeSC]

Some random stories:

 

Kerry's pollster thinks Bush will win.  http://www.thehill.com/mellman/110204.aspx

You soon will know whether Kerry’s appeal was strong enough to overcome the incumbent’s strength. I think I will be smiling broadly. But it has been an uphill fight.

 

Well, you certainly missed the message of that article.

No, you did. Read the whole thing, not the ONLY optimistic paragraph in the column. It's one of the more bleak analysis of an election I've seen.

-=Mike

[NYU 0]

He's detailing just why it might be possible John Kerry could lose.

 

::Usually, a President in wartime doesn't have his term disrupted, so this bodes well for Bush. This is more of a sweeping statement of U.S. political history rather than this particular election.

 

::The last time an incumbent was beaten - George Bush Sr. - the approval rating was only 33%. Right now, Bush Jr. is at a 49% rating. This could be trouble.

 

::The level of economic pain we are feeling today is not usually indicative of the incumbent President being defeated.

 

There is a lot of speculation in there about what COULD keep Kerry from winning the election. It's not pessimistic so much as it is realistic. These are the facts, and it's silly not to look at them for what they are.

 

Nowhere in that article does it read Mellman is conceding defeat, saying that he assuredly thinks Bush is going to win the election. Nowhere does it say that Kerry is a lock to lose, while Bush is guaranteed to win. Read it over again if you don't believe me.

 

You can't say to skip over the last paragraph when the entire point of the piece IS reaffirmed with that last passage. Despite all the trouble Kerry could face when it comes to Bush and his incumbent advantages, he still expects to be smiling Wednesday morning.

 

Just because Mellman isn't using blind optimism doesn't mean he doesn't expect his candidate to win. You're simply attributing words to him that he didn't even write.

[Gert T 0]

The vandalism - which has gone both ways in the campaign - and other hostile interactions have marked the political season's peak days, spokesmen for both parties say.

 

 

That's the most disappointing part, vote for who you want to, but don't make it difficult for others.

[Guest MikeSC]

He's detailing just why it might be possible John Kerry could lose.

 

::Usually, a President in wartime doesn't have his term disrupted, so this bodes well for Bush. This is more of a sweeping statement of U.S. political history rather than this particular election.

 

::The last time an incumbent was beaten - George Bush Sr. - the approval rating was only 33%. Right now, Bush Jr. is at a 49% rating. This could be trouble.

 

::The level of economic pain we are feeling today is not usually indicative of the incumbent President being defeated.

 

There is a lot of speculation in there about what COULD keep Kerry from winning the election. It's not pessimistic so much as it is realistic. These are the facts, and it's silly not to look at them for what they are.

 

Nowhere in that article does it read Mellman is conceding defeat, saying that he assuredly thinks Bush is going to win the election. Nowhere does it say that Kerry is a lock to lose, while Bush is guaranteed to win. Read it over again if you don't believe me.

 

You can't say to skip over the last paragraph when the entire point of the piece IS reaffirmed with that last passage. Despite all the trouble Kerry could face when it comes to Bush and his incumbent advantages, he still expects to be smiling Wednesday morning.

 

Just because Mellman isn't using blind optimism doesn't mean he doesn't expect his candidate to win. You're simply attributing words to him that he didn't even write.

He openly admits that using most formulae, Bush wins 51.6% of the vote (making MY prediction of 52 look damned good)

-=Mike

[Guest Astro]

Exit poll mania spread through media and campaign circles Tuesday afternoon after first wave of morning data showed Kerry competitive in key states.... National Election Pool -- representing six major news organization -- shows Kerry in striking distance -- with small 1% lead -- in Florida and Ohio, sources tell DRUDGE... [but early 2000 exit polls showed Gore +3 in Florida; showed Gore-Bush even in CO [bush won by 9], 2000 exits showed Gore +4 in AZ [bush won by 6].

 

 

-drudgereport.com

[Vern Gagne 0]

Does anyone agree exit polls should be banned? They're not only inaccurate, but they can sway voters not to go too the polls if they think their candidate was behind.

[Guest Salacious Crumb]

Yeah, exit polls are a very bad thing. Who gives a crap wh's leading who when the polls still have several hours everywhere?

[Guest MikeSC]

Does anyone agree exit polls should be banned? They're not only inaccurate, but they can sway voters not to go too the polls if they think their candidate was behind.

They can't be banned --- but why the press feels the need to report on them is a little beyond me. Any poll that changes 12 points in an hour is useless.

-=Mike

[iggymcfly 0]

In and out in a matter of minutes.  Voted for Badnarik and the Dems in all other categories.

I honestly don't know, so I thought I'd ask.

 

What are Badnarik's policies? If elected, how would he make the country better? And just why is he a better alternative to either Bush or Kerry?

 

I personally know a few people that have voted or are planning to vote for Nader/Cobb/Badnarik, but they're not exactly sure why. Throwing your vote away on a party that has no chance of winning seems silly, especially if you don't even know where the candidate stands on important issues.

 

I'm hoping you can help me better understand the mind process behind voting a third party candidate - specifically Badnarik - with a better reason than "He's not Bush or Kerry." I genuinely do want to know.

I voted for him and I can give you a basic overview of his main policies if you like:

 

1. Cut taxes, but instead of building a gigantic deficit like Dubya, actually cut spending dramatically to keep pace.

 

2. Pull American troops from Iraq, and generally just stop interfering in countries that have nothing to do with us. He's not against leaving troops in Afghanistan since they actually attacked us; just stop being the policemen of the world when it's none of our business.

 

3. End the drug war, (saving tons of money), leading into eventual legalization and taxation of recreationgal drugs (getting more money.) If people want to use drugs, it's not the governments responsibility to imprison them for it.

 

4. Protect privacy and get rid of ridiculous legislation like the Patriot Act, that lets the government interfere in any aspect of your life that they want to.

 

5. Generally go back to more of a Jeffersonian mentality, where the government uses the Constitution as a guide for what they should and shouldn't be able to do, rather than trying to control every aspect of their citizens' lives.

 

There's more obviously, but those are just the basic tenets, which I absolutely agree with, and think the country would be much better off if we could move toward.