I voted early! Tales of this election...

[trillionaire]

I voted today!

Bet none of you can guess who I voted for! (I kid!)

I''d love to hear about other early voters experiences, and also please post articles about early voting around the country. I voted in NC and there was NO LINE AT ALL at 6pm. I have heard horror stories of people in FL waiting for six-eight hours!!! YIKES! The first time I voted early, here in NC, I waited at least an hour. I was very annoyed. I can''t imagine waiting for six+ hours.

Election day is going to be a ZOO! I encourage everyone who can to vote early, unless you can afford to miss several hours of work on election day!

Also, NC has One-stop voting. You can register and vote on the same day through Nov. 1st!

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iXAkBilVhjbpsgAAHfgp6kGEShvwD93VQ99G0

Georgia:
http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/stories/2008/10/17/georgia_early_vote.html

Florida:
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/broward/story/735905.html

Dems vote early:
http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_10786121

 

[Skippy123]

I voted; I arrived at 6pm and left at 7pm. It was very organized here in Albuquerque.

 

[Kaleigh]

I wish PA had early voting. Why do some states offer this, and not other''s??

 

[trillionaire]

Date: 10/22/2008 9:16:33 PM
Author: Kaleigh
I wish PA had early voting. Why do some states offer this, and not other's??

Good question... esp for "battleground states." We have from Oct 16-Nov 1 to vote here, not counting absentee. Maybe it has to do with staffing and personnel? Costs?

More reports of vote flipping...

http://www.bradblog.com/?p=6547

Fox News demonstration of how voting can be hack:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4FPuLNjvAc

 

[Kaleigh]

Here''s another thing. My Postman, told me today that absentee ballots wouldn''t be counted unless the election is a close one. WTF?? My DD and DS have to do absentee ballots as they are away at school. I don''t know if what he said is just for PA. He said the cost of counting them is cost prohibitive... I am thinking it''s for PA. And PA is a very close race right now. But he left me scratching my head. Can anyone enlighten me on this? He''s a stragiht shooter, I have known him for ages. We always have the best chats by my mail box, hehe.

 

[trillionaire]

Date: 10/22/2008 9:34:26 PM
Author: Kaleigh
Here''s another thing. My Postman, told me today that absentee ballots wouldn''t be counted unless the election is a close one. WTF?? My DD and DS have to do absentee ballots as they are away at school. I don''t know if what he said is just for PA. He said the cost of counting them is cost prohibitive... I am thinking it''s for PA. And PA is a very close race right now. But he left me scratching my head. Can anyone enlighten me on this? He''s a stragiht shooter, I have known him for ages. We always have the best chats by my mail box, hehe.

yikes!

my sister is voting absentee...

 

[neatfreak]

Date: 10/22/2008 9:34:26 PM
Author: Kaleigh
Here''s another thing. My Postman, told me today that absentee ballots wouldn''t be counted unless the election is a close one. WTF?? My DD and DS have to do absentee ballots as they are away at school. I don''t know if what he said is just for PA. He said the cost of counting them is cost prohibitive... I am thinking it''s for PA. And PA is a very close race right now. But he left me scratching my head. Can anyone enlighten me on this? He''s a stragiht shooter, I have known him for ages. We always have the best chats by my mail box, hehe.

I don''t know whether this is true in some states or not (I know in my state they are delivered to your voting place on voting day and hand keyed in), but it makes sense. Think about it. If you have say 100,000 absentee ballots, but the election is won by Candidate A by 500,000 votes, then there is no mathematical way for anything to change even if every single absentee ballot is for Candidate B. So why spent taxpayer money counting them in the first place?

I think on principle they should be counted...but at the same time being a policy analyst I understand the rationale if they weren''t counted...

 

[goobear78]

Date: 10/22/2008 9:48:05 PM
Author: trillionaire

Date: 10/22/2008 9:34:26 PM

Author: Kaleigh

Here''s another thing. My Postman, told me today that absentee ballots wouldn''t be counted unless the election is a close one. WTF?? My DD and DS have to do absentee ballots as they are away at school. I don''t know if what he said is just for PA. He said the cost of counting them is cost prohibitive... I am thinking it''s for PA. And PA is a very close race right now. But he left me scratching my head. Can anyone enlighten me on this? He''s a stragiht shooter, I have known him for ages. We always have the best chats by my mail box, hehe.

yikes!

my sister is voting absentee...

My understanding is that has always been the way with absentee ballots. They are only counted if the election is close. Someone correct me if I''m wrong.

 

[diamondfan]

The voting concerns me. Between voter fraud which is occuring frequently, and mishaps people and the voting machinery, I get really afraid my vote will get "lost" somewhere. How do we really know all of our votes were counted?

And mailing in an absentee ballot? Unless they send you a receipt or acknowledgement, the way the mail has been around where I live, I would be afraid it did not get there!

But congrats. I will vote on election day, cannot think about anything but this bar mitzvah right now!

 

[tina sparkle]

I can''t figure out how to quote from a previous post but regarding absentee ballots-all ballots should be counted because there are other races being contested, local propositions and judgeships, etc. it isn''t only about the presidential election.

 

[neatfreak]

Date: 10/22/2008 10:56:48 PM
Author: tina sparkle


I can''t figure out how to quote from a previous post but regarding absentee ballots-all ballots should be counted because there are other races being contested, local propositions and judgeships, etc. it isn''t only about the presidential election.

Right, but then they can count/tally the ones they need if they need any at all (depending on how they count the votes in your state/locale). A lot of local positions (at least in my area!) are virtually uncontested.

 

[FrekeChild]

I''ve never heard of absentee ballots not being counted. Here in NM though, our population is...not high, and being that we are a purple state (although blue at the moment, in 2004 we were red) everything of ours gets counted. From what I''ve been told. I''ve heard that our absentee ballots will be opened and counted November 4, with everyone elses...

Where abouts did you vote Skippy? (I hope it doesn''t end up like the Democratic Primary

)

 

[diamondfan]

I am not saying they would not count them on purpose, just what is the risk of them being lost or misplaced or whatever?

 

[Ellen]

Absentee ballot.

 

[Rhea]

I voted by absentee ballot about 2 weeks ago. I''m glad that I''m not around for this election, it seems crazier than usual.

 

[trillionaire]

A video showing vote flipping

I think he was supposed to be showing that the machines DO work properly, but clearly they did NOT.