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I voted

Posted: Tue Nov 06, 2018 8:28 am
by earendel
I went to the polls at 6AM, when they opened, and there was already a line waiting. That was surprising to me since there's no big race on the ballot - our Congressional representative is expected to win, as is the incumbent mayor. There was a ballot initiative on victims' rights that may have stirred some interest, but other than that, the ballot was pretty straightforward.

Re: I voted

Posted: Tue Nov 06, 2018 12:05 pm
by Bob78164
I have voted. There was a line out the door at 9:30 this morning. Many, many booths (three different precincts use my polling place), all in use. The poll worker said she'd never seen it this busy at this hour.

I overheard an exchange that was music to my ears. After the poll workers located the name of the woman in front of me in their registration books, they handed her a ballot. The woman looked to be in her mid-40s or so. She asked, "What do I do now?" I inferred from her question that she's a first-time voter. Maybe we've finally broken through the apathy that's swept our country for too long. --Bob

Re: I voted

Posted: Tue Nov 06, 2018 12:41 pm
by Spock
Bob78164 wrote:I have voted. There was a line out the door at 9:30 this morning. Many, many booths (three different precincts use my polling place), all in use. The poll worker said she'd never seen it this busy at this hour.

I overheard an exchange that was music to my ears. After the poll workers located the name of the woman in front of me in their registration books, they handed her a ballot. The woman looked to be in her mid-40s or so. She asked, "What do I do now?" I inferred from her question that she's a first-time voter. Maybe we've finally broken through the apathy that's swept our country for too long. --Bob
Wow!!!!! congrats, in an urban precinct with presumably thousands of voters-you happened to be in line near someone who may or may not be a first time voter.

Re: I voted

Posted: Tue Nov 06, 2018 12:41 pm
by silverscreenselect
Bob78164 wrote:I have voted. There was a line out the door at 9:30 this morning. Many, many booths (three different precincts use my polling place), all in use. The poll worker said she'd never seen it this busy at this hour.
Don't they have mail-in voting in California?

Re: I voted

Posted: Tue Nov 06, 2018 1:16 pm
by Bob78164
silverscreenselect wrote:
Bob78164 wrote:I have voted. There was a line out the door at 9:30 this morning. Many, many booths (three different precincts use my polling place), all in use. The poll worker said she'd never seen it this busy at this hour.
Don't they have mail-in voting in California?
Yes, but it's optional. I like the ritual of voting in person. --Bob

Re: I voted

Posted: Tue Nov 06, 2018 1:40 pm
by Beebs52
Bob78164 wrote:
silverscreenselect wrote:
Bob78164 wrote:I have voted. There was a line out the door at 9:30 this morning. Many, many booths (three different precincts use my polling place), all in use. The poll worker said she'd never seen it this busy at this hour.
Don't they have mail-in voting in California?
Yes, but it's optional. I like the ritual of voting in person. --Bob
Assume y'all have early voting, too.

Re: I voted

Posted: Tue Nov 06, 2018 1:54 pm
by Vandal
From Twitter:

It puts the ballot in the box.

Image

Re: I voted

Posted: Tue Nov 06, 2018 1:56 pm
by Bob78164
Beebs52 wrote:
Bob78164 wrote:
silverscreenselect wrote:
Don't they have mail-in voting in California?
Yes, but it's optional. I like the ritual of voting in person. --Bob
Assume y'all have early voting, too.
Yes. California's good at making it easy to vote. --Bob

Re: I voted

Posted: Tue Nov 06, 2018 2:27 pm
by BackInTex
Bob78164 wrote:
Beebs52 wrote: Assume y'all have early voting, too.
Yes. California's good at making it easy to vote. --Bob
So is Texas. We have early voting for about 2 weeks. The polls are open everyday, including Sunday (limited hours). Not as many polling places, but you can go to any polling place within your county regardless of your precinct. And I have never waited more than 15 minutes to early vote.

Re: I voted

Posted: Tue Nov 06, 2018 2:34 pm
by Beebs52
BackInTex wrote:
Bob78164 wrote:
Beebs52 wrote: Assume y'all have early voting, too.
Yes. California's good at making it easy to vote. --Bob
So is Texas. We have early voting for about 2 weeks. The polls are open everyday, including Sunday (limited hours). Not as many polling places, but you can go to any polling place within your county regardless of your precinct. And I have never waited more than 15 minutes to early vote.
I waited maybe 7.

Re: I voted

Posted: Tue Nov 06, 2018 3:32 pm
by silverscreenselect
In Georgia, there were reports of long lines during weekday early voting, but I voted on Saturday a week ago at the rec center of a nearby city park and there was no line at all. I was in and out in about five minutes total. Only a few locations had weekend voting though. You have to vote in the county in which you live, but you could early vote at any location in the county.

Re: I voted

Posted: Tue Nov 06, 2018 3:33 pm
by silverscreenselect
Bob78164 wrote:
silverscreenselect wrote:
Bob78164 wrote:I have voted. There was a line out the door at 9:30 this morning. Many, many booths (three different precincts use my polling place), all in use. The poll worker said she'd never seen it this busy at this hour.
Don't they have mail-in voting in California?
Yes, but it's optional. I like the ritual of voting in person. --Bob
This may be a dumb question, but if you mail in your ballot, how do they know it's you and not BiT or Esto trying to pull a fast one by claiming to be you?

My understanding is that it may take a week or two to count all the mail-in votes, so that some close Congressional races may not be decided for several days.

Re: I voted

Posted: Tue Nov 06, 2018 3:42 pm
by Bob78164
silverscreenselect wrote:
Bob78164 wrote:
silverscreenselect wrote:
Don't they have mail-in voting in California?
Yes, but it's optional. I like the ritual of voting in person. --Bob
This may be a dumb question, but if you mail in your ballot, how do they know it's you and not BiT or Esto trying to pull a fast one by claiming to be you?

My understanding is that it may take a week or two to count all the mail-in votes, so that some close Congressional races may not be decided for several days.
First they'd have to get into my mailbox to get the ballot in the first place (after I sign up to be a permanent vote-by-mail voter). Then they'd have to sign my name on the outer envelope with a signature close enough to match my signature on file. Then they'd have to hope that I don't decide to vote in person. --Bob

Re: I voted

Posted: Tue Nov 06, 2018 5:44 pm
by jaybee
Tennessee has about two weeks worth of early voting. Monday - Friday, at least in my county. Walk in, waited a minute or two at the first line, vote an then out again. Probably 7-8 minutes tops.

Saw an article about the TN early voting for this midterm election - as of about two days prior to early voting closing out there had been more votes cast via early voting than all votes total in the last mid-term. Encouraging. But, we have a couple of close contested races this time that weren't there last time.

Re: I voted

Posted: Tue Nov 06, 2018 5:50 pm
by MarkBarrett
I left home at 8:33 and arrived at the polling place at 8:34 as it's conveniently around the corner. There was no line and the gentleman found my name on the first try with no extra page flipping.

While voting using my ready-to-go crib sheet I heard one person show up and produce his driver's license which the poll worker assured him was not necessary. Another voter asked if there was a spare handbook to use.

The machine for feeding the ballots was malfunctioning and I could hear another worker on the phone trying to get help to get it working. By the time I finished filling out ballot (4 sheets with 2 sides on three of them) the machine was ready for a test to see if all was okay. All four went through fine taking the counter from 128 to 132 meaning I was the 33rd voter at that precinct. I got my sticker and was home at 8:42.

When seeing people on the news lined up for hours and miles from home it makes me grateful to live in S.F.