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Election Day Open Thread

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My last post was a bit negative. There will be a results thread at some point, but for now, share your stories of who you voted for and why. Do you like absentee voting or miss going to a polling place?

Comments

  2. 2

    Sean Trende’s final paragraph today:

    So my final sense of things is offered with a reasonably high degree of uncertainty. I think that the popular vote will be close, and that Romney will win North Carolina, Florida, Virginia and Colorado, bringing him just shy of what he needs to win. But I think that Virginia, Colorado, New Hampshire, Iowa and Ohio will be very close, probably around a point each. It wouldn’t take a particularly large error in the national polls for Romney to win these states, however. And all it would take for this thing to turn into a healthy Obama win would be for little Marist polling to outshine Gallup.

    http://www.realclearpolitics.c.....nty-2.html

    I noticed he didn’t say which states would go to Obama. He merely said a bunch of them would be within a point.

  3. 3

    If Romney pulls this election out, this is why.
    http://www.washingtontimes.com.....y-surge-2/

    The phone calling banks, e-mail lists and ground troop work of Christians who sat on the sidelines in 2008. These groups were responsible for Bush winning in 2004. Our family & friends in the Midwest have been deluged with calls & e-mails. Nothing like this happened in 2008. If Romney pulls it out, which is a big if, I’m sure the secular loons on this site will go absolutely batshit when they come to grips how it happened and that the polls did not take this into account.

  4. 4

    Here in Ferry County it’s a;; mail ballots so we don’t have a choice. I suppose I could drive 50 miles up to Republic on Election day to mingle with the crowd at the courthouse but I suspect that there isn’t a crowd. My first election was 1964 and I’ve voted pretty consistently but I haven’t really felt that sense of community neighborliness that some folks have at polling places. With Obama safe in Washington I voted for Jill Stein, for legalization, for marriage rights, for charter schools, for money for the weed board, for county commissioners who staked out a managed timber harvest and rural property rights position, and didn’t vote for any judges since I haven’t been back in WA long enough to study up on them. Oh, also Inslee even though he’s kinda smarmy, Cantwell who I knew when she was a freshman legislator and anybody but LKathy McMorris-Rogers who is one of the problem children in the House…all hat, no cattle.

  7. 7

    WA state about to do something monumental in approving legalization of cannabis. In the land of Twin Peaks, we in this state are gloriously out there on the fringe, leading the charge into the future.

  9. 9

    Happy voting day.

    I both appreciate vote by mail and miss going to the polls.

    I would always bring candy and snacks to the old ladies running the polling place. There was something nice about the community of making eye contact with my neighbors.

    However, I love having the luxury of voting slowly and methodically at home, with my voter’s guide and three other guides splayed out in front of me to review and the internet available if I need to clarify something or get more opinions on a position or candidate.

  12. 12

    Didn’t necessarily vote FOR Barack Obama (who on the whole has been a squishy disappointment) or Jay Inslee.

    Definitely voted AGAINST the Tea Bagger madness in the U.S. House of Representatives and everywhere else it has reared its ugly head.

    Definitely voted AGAINST the Koch-financed ALEC madness in State Houses across this country.

    Definitely voted AGAINST any moron who tried at every turn to take every conceivable side of an issue, grasping vainly at coveted power, all along the way looking like an idiot.

    Definitely voted AGAINST right wing greed, ignorance and unhinged hate.

    Definitely voted AGAINST the idiocy of current drug laws that have squandered billions, filled up the prisons and ruined lives. Way glad the tide is finally turning on that crap.

  17. 17

    I like mail in ballots and I can’t figure out why they’re not used everywhere. Mailed mine in the day after I got it.

  18. 18

    I’d expect Obama to take an early lead, until the Republicans get off work and vote.
    Most Obama supporters don’t even want a job, do they?

  19. 19

    I’m with @9.

    For a few years, I was one of those “old ladies” running a polling place (though I’m neither a lady nor — compared to most pollworkers — old). It was a real thrill to do so, even if I did have to get up way too early that morning.

    But all-mail voting raises turnout appreciably, which is absolutely a plus. Also, it can’t be done without a paper record, so it’s far less susceptible to tampering than those damn DREs.

    As for the outcome, I have very little doubt that Obama will exceed 300 EV. Somewhere, I guessed 319-219.

  21. 21

    I look at the KC Elections website, and check if they’ve received the ballots from our household.

    Yep, received and signatures verified. All ready for our voices to be counted in this election..

    So why do people have to wait hours and hours to vote in other states like Ohio? So long they get discouraged and leave, their voices suppressed?

    Right wing Republican, lackeys of greed, cheating and stealing.

  22. 22

    @9 Our polling place used to be the auditorium at Nathan Eckstein Middle School. The PTA would set up tables in the back and peddle coffee and pastries. Many voters would sign in, take their ballots and instead of bellying up to the little booths, would relax in the auditorium seats (which had fold-up writing desks like in a college lecture hall) and there would often be families and groups of neighbors openly discussing their decisions in a friendly and respectful manner–probably bordering on violating at least the letter of the prohibition against “electioneering at the polls”, but nobody objected, so that’s the way it was.

    In 1980, when the networks disenfranchised the entire western half of the country around 2:30 PM, almost all of us were openly discussing how we were voting for John Anderson, partly as a protest but mostly because the word was out that he was nearly broke by the end of the campaign and we wanted to make sure he got his federal match.

    Bending the rules a bit? Sure. Not much, though, compared to gangs of thugs intimidating people lined up for blocks trying to get into the polls.

  23. 23

    Romney and McKenna because this spending spree must be stopped before we surpass Greece!

  24. 24

    live in Snohomish Co and we are mail ballots.

    i am against having only one voting option. mail only exludes the homeless and the lower income voter that rents and moves every couple years.

    voting should be 4 weeks and the final day should be a national holiday or on a sunday at the very least.

  25. 25

    I always hated rushing home after work and having a 3 hour window to vote. It was irritating to find justices or local measures that you forgot to research and you had to flip a coin at the polling place.

    I signed up for absentee voting long before it was mandatory and I haven’t looked back. I make myself a pot of coffee and sit at the computer and leisurely read up on the candidates and measures.

    I do miss the big lever voting booths. They made voting impressive and significant at the polling places. However they had just about retired those when I started voting.

  26. 26

    Right wingers in action:

    ST. PETERSBURG — An hour after polls opened Tuesday morning, the Pinellas County Supervisor of Elections Office mistakenly placed hundreds — possibly thousands — of automatic calls to voters instructing them that they had until 7 p.m. Wednesday to vote.

    But that is wrong. Polls close at 7 p.m. Tuesday. Any ballots turned in after that time won’t be accepted.

    http://www.tampabay.com/news/p.....260163.ece

  27. 27

    When idiots have microphones….

    The noise machine is going a little hard on how unseemly it is for Jay-Z to be with Obama and shocked, shocked over his lyrics.

    “I have to say thank you to Kid Rock,” his wife, Ann Romney, told the crowd. “Let me tell you, we are kids of Detroit, Kid Rock and I are, and Mitt is a kid of Detroit, and we love Michigan. We love Kid Rock

    I can assume you aren’t familiar with Balls In Your Mouth

  28. 28

    6)
    I was surprised about that, but the battering Chrysler has been taking the past few weeks, I guess it was going to happen. The Chrysler CEO had been pushing back.

  29. 29

    “Didn’t necessarily vote FOR Barack Obama (who on the whole has been a squishy disappointment) or Jay Inslee.”

    I’ve said a number of times that Democrats have disappointed me for decades, over forty years now. However, over that time Republicans have greatly disappointed me, never more so than in the last fifteen years or so. I had hoped Nixon would be as bad as it gets but this latest crop of wingnuts really takes the cake. At least I have to look back to the 60’s and early 70’s to recall the Democrat’s wackiest times.

  31. 31

    Romney and McKenna because this spending spree must be stopped
    23. Ok, Tea for everyone, what government programs do you benefit from? What are you willing to let others cut dramatically to save money? Soc Security? Medicaid? The mortgage exemption? Your government job if you have one?

  32. 32

    23. Tea for everyone spews:

    Romney and McKenna because this spending spree must be stopped before we surpass Greece!
    11/06/2012 at 11:03 am

    Romney and McKenna already spent more than Greece is worth and they’re still going to lose.

  33. 33

    There’s so much at stake here and the empty suit Romney and the evil dumbass Ryan are NOT the guys to do it.

    Of course I voted straight Democratic. I’ve voted for two Republicans in my life, Dan Evans and Dick Marquardt.

    This current crop of liars, thieves and vile misogynists is the most irresponsible and reprehensible group of fools I have yet to see.

  35. 35

    I can’t wait to watch the circular firing squad when after spending three quarters of a BILLION dollars the Republicans find themselves losing at least two Senate seats and at least 10 seats in the House.

    Hell…Ryan might not even win in his own district.

    Romney will not carry either state that knows him best…Michigan and Massachusetts.

    Romney/Ryan will not carry Wisconsin.

    Does not look good for Republicans. Not at all.

  37. 37

    Rujax, I have seen and heard conflicting reports that Bachman is in trouble in Minnesota, Joe Walsh in Illinois, although I was thinking it would be a tough sell for the opponents of Ryan, and Cantor. Joe Walsh’s opponent is a pretty tough one, how she held it back during their debates, but then again, she is a wounded warrior(Tami Duxworth), and I thank her for her service in the Iraq War. I saw a news story about her a couple years ago, once she got back on her feet(or on her prosthetic legs), one of the first things she wanted to do, was learn to fly again. Her husband was also a reservist, and although when he was called up, he qualified for a hardship exemption from the deployment, they both turned it down.

  40. 40

    Straight Democratic ticket. Anyone stupid enough to run with the totally trashed brand name of “Republican” is too stupid to be allowed to hold any office.

  41. 41

    40, I remember in 2008, Dino Rossi tried to use our new system, by prefering G.O.P. party. I was toying with voting for Finkbeiner, but stuck with Owen, just in case, although Owen is more of a Blue dog, plus, I don’t know where Finkbeiner was, but I thought, Tacoma needed some representation, but Owen is entering John Cherbourg territory for longevity. Our former Governors club has more members than former Lt. Governors, although with the passing of the 101 year old Albert Roselini last year, that club is down one member.

  42. 42

    Uh, oh….Faux and the other thin-skinned Republicans are in a tizzy over an Obama poster at a polling site – presumably a school or community center.

    I never complained about the gaudy religious iconography of the church I used to vote in.

    What about all those African-Americans in the south having to go by statues of treasonous Confederates every time they go to the town hall?

    Poor Republicans…they have such tender feelings…and are total assholes.

  43. 43

    To conclude the 2012 election series PSAs,
    here are some of the lyrics from Negativeland’s
    “Christianity is Stupid”.
    which were sampled phrases from a 1971 sermon
    by Rev. Estus Pirkle:

    The loudspeaker spoke up and said …

    Christianity is stupid. Christianity is stupid.
    Christianity is stupid. Christianity is stupid.
    Communism is good. Communism is good.
    Communism is good. Communism is good.

    (Did you hear that?)
    Give up.

    (Did you hear that?)
    Give up. Give up.
    Give up! Give up!

    From 5:00 in the morning till 10:00 at night!
    (Give up! Give up!)

    Seventeen hours a day!
    Give up! Give up! Give up! …

    Shop as usual.
    And avoid panic buying.

  44. 44

    38, You know it is going to be a good day when the wingnuts start making up excuses for their humiliating loss before the first poll is closed.

  45. 45

    @43. I dont know the context but just reading that lyric cold, that nasty.
    I’m not anti Christian, I’m anti bigot. There is a difference.

  47. 47

    @45

    Bear in mind that these are words spoken by a Christian preacher in a sermon

    … he’s imagining a future in which Communism has taken over America & the government is trying to brainwash people.

  49. 49

    Paul Ryan was only up by 8 as of Oct. 17

    Tammy Duckworth has a 10 point lead on the dumbest of fucks (and deadbeat dad) Joe Walsh.

    No polling I could find on Eric Cantor/Wayne Powell in VA 7th Dist.

    Steve King, the most embarrassing member of the Republican caucus from Iowa is in a tough battle against Christie Vilsack. I hope to fuck she gets that asshole out of there. Didn’t see polling there either.

    The criminal Darrell Issa, Ca 49th is getting a serious challenge as well.

  50. 50

    Rujax, I hope Issa goes, I don’t mind oversight, but in recent years, and it has gone both ways at times, oversight has been co-opted by partisan politics. With Duckworth, I had heard on WBBM Chicago that some of the superpacs had been waivering on supporting him.

  51. 51

    I like the mail in ballot. Have been a permanent absentee voter since the late ’90s, and find the time and ease of voting to be good benefits. Vote by mail is also the best possible solution since moving to Austria. (Though I’m curious about the controls in place to protect anonymity when ballots are e-mailed in.)

    My parents set a cool example back when, impressing the importance of voting in a simple way – they weren’t allowed dinner if they hadn’t voted. Same went for us kids if we were living at home after 18.

    I kept the tradition alive by eating well tonight!

  52. 52

    51)I started using absentee ballots when I was in college, and when I was working for King County elections, as in the later days of it, I was posted at polling places too far to get to my own during lunch. Since I turned 18, I have only missed two elections that I know of, a primary, and a school bond election.

  53. 53

    @6 This is particularly interesting, considering that Jeeps (particularly the latest generation of “military” looking ones like the Rubicon) are sort of the ride of choice for the more well-heeled of the camo-wearing gun fetishists.

  54. 54

    @37 Not that any of that would dissuade the RoveBaggers from giving Duckworth the full-bore ratfucking they did to Max Cleland.

  55. 55

    I voted for two Republicans, partly on the advice of a friend who’s politically astute, quite liberal and a devout Christian (yes, there really are people like that)–Finkbiner for LtGov and Kim Wyman for Secretary of State. The first largely because the incumbent is such a schlepper and the latter because she’s been endorsed by Sam Reed, Ralph Munro an most of county elections directors in the state. I also believe, as my friend does, that a one-party system is a bad thing, and that it would be nice if there were some decent folks left to rebuild the GOP from the ashes once the lunatics have run it into the ground.

  56. 56

    Hey lady on NBC, you just touched the big screen behind you and the graphic changed. So why are you holding a tablet and a stylus in your hand?

    The producer who thought it was a good idea to show you have the most high tech gear on the set is, in actuality, a moron.

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