Bell Curve The Law Talking Guy Raised by Republicans U.S. West
Well, he's kind of had it in for me ever since I accidentally ran over his dog. Actually, replace "accidentally" with "repeatedly," and replace "dog" with "son."

Tuesday, November 04, 2008

The "I Voted!" Thread

This thread is for everyone to announce when they have voted, and to describe at least one interesting thing about the experience.

So I was at the polls this morning before the opened, and ultimately I waited about 40 minutes. It is a good sign for the Obama camp, I suspect, that the first two people in each precinct line were African American. Lots of people were chatting about the free "Tall" Starbucks drip coffee they would get--and I am sipping on mine now.

My best story is a remark from a Latino man. He mentioned while we were waiting that he had arrived here twelve years ago but only "got legal" a little while ago. A younger lady ahead of him commented, in good spirits, that the line was rather longer than she had hoped for. The man smiled. "Aw, this is nothing. A friend of mine from the Ukraine says to me, 'You think you have it bad? Our candidate got poisoned!'"

16 comments:

Lauri said...

I voted on the first day of early voting. I happened to be near the polling location before I picked up the baby from daycare so decided to stop in. I chatted with a guy running for local office who had been there all day. He said people were very energized and there had been a steady stream all day. I was excited that the place was packed! There was definitely a very positive energy in the room.

Though my vote won't "count" being in a red state, I was thrilled to cast it. And also vote no on a terrible state measure on the ballot barring unmarried cohabitating adults from adopting or fostering children. Though it doesn't actually spell it out, the intent of the measure is to prevent gays and lesbians from adopting. Shameful!

robhemphill said...

I voted this morning. My polling place had a steady stream, but there was no lines! It took five minutes!

Anonymous said...

I voted by mail a while back. I filled out the ballot on the sofa while Law Talking Baby "helped" by chewing on the voter guide.

There were lots of "no on 8" bumper stickers in the daycare parking lot this morning, which got an extra-big smile and an attempted wave from LTB.

-Seventh Sister

Anonymous said...

And Lauri, that baby is super-adorable.

-Seventh Sister

Lauri said...

Thanks! I've seen some pics on FB -- so is yours! Man, we have some good looking kids. =)

How exciting a time it is, that this election will be a part of their life and they will know nothing different.

Anonymous said...

I voted by mail a few weeks ago. I mentioned it before, but I highly recommend that anyone who has that option available to them sign up for that as well.

The Law Talking Guy said...

I spent this morning phonebanking for Obama. We were doing GOTV for Virginia. And taking reports. No problems were reported in the field with voting. Almost everyone I called (who was home) had already voted. Goooobama!

Raised By Republicans said...

I voted early a couple of weeks ago and there was a short line even then! In fact, there were people waiting at the early voting station when it opened.

My mom however may have nullified her vote. After she sealed her mail in ballot envelop, she got nervous that she hadn't filled it in correctly and opened the envelop and checked it, then resealed it with tape and signed her name across the tape to show she was the one who did it. My guess is that it will be tossed out. :-(

Anonymous said...

:-(

I wanna vote too!!!

Valar Morghulis said...

I woke up at about 5:30am this morning. The anxiousness was overwhelming. So I took my time getting ready and when I finally walked the two and a half blocks to my polling station, well wouldn't you know, there was a line around the block!! At 7:20am!!!! I waited in line for two solid hours and while I was outside of the building in line, people who were driving down Olympic kept screaming "Vote for Obama!!", which delighted the very mixed ethic group of which I was a part of. Despite hating waiting in lines (I have no patience. For anything.) I have to admit, I'm still fired up about this election and the waiting really didn't bother me at all. The one sad thing was, the leader of the volunteers told us that they sent six booths but only sent five inkstamp/pen combination. That sent a mild reaction throughout the voters but we were all pretty cheery, despite the time of day and the hurry people were in to get to work on time. The air is full of energy!!!!! I'm still amp'ed up!!

Tony Grennes said...

I voted a week ago Monday at early voting. I voted at the University of Texas at San Antonio, which is down the street. It was kinda cool being in line with all the students. At one point one of the election workers came out to ask if everyone knew where they were registered to vote. Some of the students were pretty clueless, so she told them to stay in line to talk to the election judge, in case they didn't show up as registered in our county, so she could tell them their options. But I also saw several students with their orange voters registration card in their hands. It took about 20 minutes to vote and when I came out the line had gotten longer.

Tony Grennes said...

Pombat,

I was listening to Talk of the Nation yesterday and I guy called in from Saudi Arabia (not an American expat) who said he and his friends were going to have a post election barbeque on Thursday (the Saudi weekend). Also, Talk of the Nation is having a Talk of the World show to talk about the election, either on Weds or Thurs, I'm not sure, you can probably find out at npr.org.

Anonymous said...

History buff - will have a look for that - we'll be getting ahold of the Daily Show election special as soon as possible (sometime tonight I think - it's Wednesday morning here at the moment), and are keeping an eye on the news generally. And this site of course!

I was tempted to make a cheeky comment asking why you were all excited today, given it's Wednesday 5th November & the election's over, but I reckon - assuming the result is as it should be - you're all going to be pretty fired up tomorrow (your time) anyway :-)

Anonymous said...

Melbourne in Australia had November 4th off for a horse race. It seemed kind of apropos...

Anonymous said...

I've voted! Ok, so it was only in The Age's poll (note dates in ddmmyy format, not weird US style ;-p), but still...

Anonymous said...

From the moment the first Mercedes-Benz CLS four-door "coupe" was introduced to the public, other German luxury automakers hit the drafting board. According to the German auto experts at AutoBild, Audi is just over a year away from unleashing its own cleverly packaged sedan.
carwadontester981