Ready to Vote?

[booklady]

Let's have a mock election!

NO CAMPAIGNING WITHIN 500 YARDS OF THIS POLLING PLACE

[booklady]

I am a registered independent and have voted for both Democratic and Republican candidates in the past. I do not follow any party line.

This year I have decided to vote for Obama and Biden.

[doctork]

Officially we don't register with a party in Washington State, but I have usually registered Republican in the past, and "usually" consider myself a Republican.

However, this year I am voting for Obama/Biden and for two other Democrats at the state level - governor and the state senator candidate endorsed by the woman who held the position previously.

I was in Jacksonville, Florida last week and noticed that their ballot had 13 different presidential candidates!

My reasons for voting against McCain:

1) His health care privatization plan would leave everyone with pre-existing conditions uninsurable, because no company will sell a policy to someone who is already sick; I know from personal experience, and I cannot pay $4,000 a month for medication out of pocket.

2) His belligerence on international affairs; we can't afford to start another war, as we lack the resources to fight the two that we are already in (and one of them we shouldn't be there in the first place).

3) His stance on the economy (or lack thereof) - even the Wall Street Journal said his behavior was "unpresidential."

PS - I don't think this is campaigning, right booky? Just stating my beliefs.

[booklady]

It's borderling campaigning, doc. Maybe we should take a vote on it.

But since I started the poll, I'll set the rules.

You can state your reasons, but cannot argue with any one else's. Go to the "elect our next president" thread for that.

[SeattleDan]

Like, Doc, I also live in Washington State. Tammy and I have voted and mailed our ballots last week.

It will come as no surprise to anyone here that we voted for Obama/Biden, as well as our incumbent Gov.

[booklady]

Ooooh, and someone voted without commenting.

[Jane]

Voted last week as I am elderly. Guess for whom I voted?

I spent five hours canvassing for Obama today. It was my ninth Saturday in a row. I have no idea how I'm going to spend my time after Tuesday.

Is that campaigning?

[booklady]

I don't understand early voting. I thought we all had to vote on the same day, unless we had a real good reason why we couldn't. Seems to me in that movie, "Recount," somebody claims it's in the Constitution.

[ozski]

My thoughts exactly, books. What's the deal?
I get irritated at political commentators showing their red/blue maps and speaking as if the electoral votes from certain states have already been awarded to a candidate.
Millions haven't made it to the polls yet, FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!!!

And my vote will go to Senator McCain. <---- No longer undecided, and still an independant voter, here.

[gailkate]

It's basically up to the states, Bl. There've been changes made in amendments, but I don't have the discipline to dig through everything to come up with a succinct summary. (Whaddya bet Joe can?) I think the electors have to be tallied on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in Nov. and then there's all the certification which must be finished by January. (thus the mess in 2000) But how states get to those milestones is up to them.

I'd like early voting, but the risks of potential tampering do seem to increase, if we are to believe some of the media stories. I suppose there can be systems of oversight and preservation of the ballots, but with so many tiny towns and huge cities actually tabulating the votes, more chances for sleight of hand could be taken advantage of by unscrupulous Republicans (never Democrats) .

I see FL's Gov. Crist had to make some new rules about how long polls would be open, because they've been so swamped with early voters. That's a good thing, but it's still tough to have old people dragging lawn chairs along with them in long lines. In MN you can ask to have an election official bring the ballot to your car, but I don't know how tight the rules are about proving you're unable to stand in line.

To me it comes down to the bedrock principle that voting is a right. There are over 300 million people in the US. Would that be about 100 million eligible voters? I'm guessing, but it's obviously a much bigger operation than it was when the Constitution was written.

Jane, you have earned the right to do whatever you like! You are the citizen for whom they wrote the Constitution (though they didn't know it at the time). All hail Jane!

Oh, I forgot. I was the unidentified voter yesterday, voting Obama, of course. I was too busy to post.

[gailkate]

Yikes, look what I found! Far more potential voters than I had guessed. I don't know why the links didn't copy as clickable - sorry.

Voting-Age Population
217.8 million
Number of voting-age U.S. residents. Of this number, 153.9 million were single-race non-Hispanic white, 26.4 million were black, 26.3 million Hispanic, 10.0 million Asian, 3.0 million American Indian or Alaska native and 647,000 native Hawaiian or other Pacific islander. (A portion of all these residents are ineligible to vote because they are noncitizens.)
<http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/race/001839.html>

California had the highest number of residents 18 and older (26.1 million) in 2003, followed by Texas (15.9 million), New York (14.7 million), Florida (13.1 million) and Pennsylvania (9.5 million). <http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/population/001703.html>

California added the highest number of voting-age persons since 2000 (1.4 million), followed by Texas (913,000), Florida (759,000), and Georgia and New York (371,000 each). Nationally, 8.6 million adult residents were added.
<http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/population/001703.html>

[jspnrvr]

I've stated before, McCain is not my first choice, Thompson was. I probably disagree with McCain 40% of the time on such things as border security and amnesty for illegals, McCain-Feingold, the greatest attack on political speech in our lifetime. I believe in strict adherence to the Constitution and judges who stick to that, not correcting "deficiencies" in the document or living up to "world standards". I believe in strong defense, and that we are engaged in a long war that will be fought on many fronts, sometimes with allies and sometimes without, sometimes at home. I want a leader who is a known quantity, by us and the rest of the world, not some new kid on the block whom the rest of the bullies will want to "test". I want the security and freedom to figure out the next move. McCain-Palin

[sailor]

I voted McCain-Palin. I doubt it'll be of much help to them, my absentee ballot goes to New York.

[doctork]

Where I live, as in much of Washington State, we can't go to the polls on election day - it's vote-by-mail only. You can mail in your paper ballot any time after it's received in mid-October.

I guess it saves a lot of time and money for the city, county and state governments to not open polling places and staff them, but I always liked going and voting in person. And it does help those who wind up sick, working over-time or on-call at the hospital. They don't miss the opportunity to exercise their right to vote because something came up suddenly.

I saw an interesting comment about the voting population today on one of the talking head shows. Even if John McCain gets every vote that George W. Bush got in 2004, he would be predicted to lose because there are more than 15 million new registered voters, the majority of whom are said to favor Obama.

IIRC, in 2000 there were just over 120 million votes cast, nearly evenly divided between Gore and Bush. This year, predictions are that as many as 145 million will vote.

And Jay is right, the election hasn't been held yet. The pundits and pollsters have been wrong on almost everything so far in this election cycle. We'll see on Wednesday. At least I hope it's Wednesday, and doesn't drag on into December.

[booklady]

Doc, I find it shocking that Washington has largely done away with polling places. Do I understand you correctly? They did this to save money? I mean, it's good to not spend if you don't have to, as a municipality, but still. Going to "some place" to vote seems like a pretty good tradition to keep hold of.

[doctork]

Nov 2, 2008 22:59:36 GMT -5 booklady said:

Doc, I find it shocking that Washington has largely done away with polling places. Do I understand you correctly? They did this to save money? I mean, it's good to not spend if you don't have to, as a municipality, but still. Going to "some place" to vote seems like a pretty good tradition to keep hold of.

I think so too. I liked that little sticker I always got - "I voted."

In my county it's vote-by-mail only, and it's my understanding that only King and Pierce Counties (Seattle, Tacoma and environs) still have polling places open on election day.

One reporter on the local news last night said that 30% of Washingtonians have already voted. I'll drop off my ballot on the way to work today; they have drive-by boxes by the courthouse to drop them into, saving the postage and ensuring that it is received.

In 2004 some districts had so many ballot items that the postage required was more than one stamp, so many ballots were disqualified because of "Postage Due." The mailing envelope has multiple folds that are easily caught in postmarking machinery, tearing the envelope and allowing the ballot to fall out.

That happened to my ballot, so they called me to verify it, and my vote was counted. The outer envelope requires a signature (which is matched to the signature you used at original voter registration) and an "optional" phone number. I had listed my phone number, which is how they contacted me; had I not included it, my ballot would have been disqualified. In 2006, 25% of voters refused to sign (misunderstanding or fearful that the ballot would not be secret), so all those ballots were disqualified.

No voting method is perfect, but there are a lot of pitfalls in vote-by-mail.

[ozski]

Here you go doc. You'll have to print it off your self, and provide your own straight pin, but I think it'll work!!

[doctork]

Thanks, ozski!

And guess what? When I drove by the county courthouse, they had ballot collectors stationed in the street. I handed the man my envelope and he gave me an "I voted" sticker. Not quite the same as marching into the school and pulling the lever on the voting machine, but close.

I guess that of the 70% who hadn't voted by Friday night, many are voting today, just in case we have trouble reaching the collection box tomorrow. For the primary in August, there was a line of several cars in front of the drop-off box.

[joew]

I voted for someone who has votes in the poll, but I'm keeping my vote a secret.

I want a President who will appoint originalists like Scalia, Thomas, Roberts, and Alito to te Supreme Court and the lower federal bench.

I do not want a President who has as one of is avowed top priorities the enactment of a federal "Freedom of Choice Act," which would at a stroke wipe out every provision such as parental notification, waiting periods, informed consent, third trimester limitations and limitations on "partial birth abortion" which have been allowable for states under Roe and every existing Congressional action limiting federal funding and provision of abortion.

You can try to guess who will get my vote, but I'm not telling you.

[booklady]

Hmm, what a stumper.

Now, whether I'm referring to Joe's ability to craft a puzzle or a make an election speech, I'm not sayin'.

[SeattleDan]

joew stumped me, too, Booklady. But he can be such an enigmatic guy!

[gailkate]

I thought we weren't supposed to editorialize. But since others did, this is how the hearts & flowers emotional liberals feel:


andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2008/09/les-misbarack.html

Turn it up real loud.

[liriodendron]

I'll be voting this afternoon after I get off work. I always vote secret ballot. Keeps me from getting into arguments with family members.

Oh, and if you haven't heard, Starbucks is giving away a free cup of coffee today to all who have voted. Wear those stickers proudly!

[gailkate]

The latest on Starbucks and Krispy Kremes is that they have to give their treats to everyone or it violates the law about no gifts to voters. I sure hope someone nailed the McCain supporter who was handing out plungers - plumbers' friends, get it, huh?

CNN has a great video of the Obamas voting. Malia can't stop yawning. I guess it doesn't matter if your dad might get to be president, why couldn't they sleep in and go at a reasonable hour? Jeepers.

[liriodendron]

Bummer. The closest Krispy Kreme is a half hour drive. That's just not happening.

[sailor]

I've been listening to the radio (NPR) about the tribal nature of Americans and how we tend to only hang out with like minded people (e.g. Dems only hang with Dems, likewise Repubs). And, the next thought is that because of that, the need to be gracious winners and polite losers is less of a concern. I immediately thought of the PrairieChatter and how we are a mixed bag when it comes to politics and how we have (in my opinion) always been gracious when it comes to being winners and losers. Makes me feel special to be a part of this group.

Anyways, may the best man win and whoever the winner is I will congratulate him.

[gailkate]

Well said, Mike. I'll try my best to behave like the lady my Mama tried to raise.

[doctork]

Nov 4, 2008 17:13:24 GMT -5 @sailor said:

I've been listening to the radio (NPR) about the tribal nature of Americans and how we tend to only hang out with like minded people (e.g. Dems only hang with Dems, likewise Repubs). And, the next thought is that because of that, the need to be gracious winners and polite losers is less of a concern. I immediately thought of the PrairieChatter and how we are a mixed bag when it comes to politics and how we have (in my opinion) always been gracious when it comes to being winners and losers. Makes me feel special to be a part of this group.

Anyways, may the best man win and whoever the winner is I will congratulate him.

Well said, Mike, as gk has said.

Me, I belong to the rather small club of "Republicans for Obama," but this is likely because I am an old fogey who can recall the concept of "moderate Republicans."

As Colin Powell said on Meet the Press last Sunday, I think both men are fine citizens and well qualified to be President. But like Genreal Powell, I feel Obama is the better choice. If the McCain running this year were like the man who ran in 2000, he might have my vote.

[sailor]

Well, well, well, it looks like congratulations are in order for Barack Obama and his supporters.

So, Congrats and a hearty well done to you guys!

[Jane]

I can't believe it! I am so happy and so proud of my country.