Judgment Day at Times Square
Posted on 11/04/2008 4:27:46 AM PST by gridlock
OK. You've gone out and voted, like a good citizen. Tell us about it.
How was turnout? Were there any problems at your polling place? Who do you think will win your local races?
Plenty of McCain-Palin signs out and about. No presence from the anti-Christ at all. This is unusual. There is usually a D presence, in terms of signs and partisans working the polls beyond the statutory limit. And this IS Maryland. Maybe all those gangbangers from up in Baltimore City were too scared to come stand outside our little country firehouse. LOL.
Turnout at 8 am was brisk, but little or no waiting. Parking lot was more full than ordinary, but folks were being run through the lines without delay or problem. Republicans are efficient and well-behaved.
Your comment got me thinking...
I was at a play on Saturday, and the theater company had a display with pictures of all of their actors, arranged on the wall in alphabetical order. As I was reading the names, and checking out the pretty people, I noticed that about a quarter of the names started with "A", and a quarter of them started with "B", and only one name out of fifty came after the letter "M".
At the time, I chalked it up to a statistical anomoly. Wierd things like that happen all the time, and they don't mean a thing.
But your post got me thinking. You can pretty much assume that the names of all of these small-time actors are made up. (After all, I don't think that "Holly Buttons" was her real name...) I wonder if, when people make up names, they tend to pick names that are earlier in the alphabet, either because they are working their way through the phone book, or because they just want to wind up first in line.
Could it be that a lot of people on that A-K line that was backed up through the door are using made-up names?
Just voted. I have NEVER seen a line here late morning. Not in ‘04 or ‘08. Big one today. Heavily GOP territory.
Guy several people in front of me at check in asked the poll worker what he had to do to vote for McCain because he was a Democrat. Wanted to know if that was allowed (!) and if he had to change parties. Poll worker said, “Nope, vote for whomever you want.” (No, I wasn’t eavesdropping - he was pretty loud.)
Cast my vote around 10am eastern. Metro-suburban red district. No line no wait. Walked right in, passed thru two checkpoints right into the electronic voting booth. It took me longer to get coffee at the drive thru.
Obviously most are at work since it takes two or more incomes to support one household and pay the taxes. I figure once the work day is complete, the lines will form well into the night. I can only hope I am right.
This was the 5th presidential election in which I have participated at this polling place. I always go to vote at 10:00 AM because, in the past, there has never been a line at that time.
This morning I arrived at 10:00 and had to wait in line for the first time ever. I was the 257th person to vote. That is 10% of our entire town's population and probably 50% of the people assigned to this polling place.
I feel this is a good indicator of what is happening nationally, as Alabama is a red state and turn out does not have the effect on our electoral votes that it has in other states. If my little town is turning out in droves to vote this election, I guarantee it means the rednecks nationally will be doing the same thing...IF, that is, we can let go of our guns and God long enough!!!
Just talked to my wife, and she has an hour wait. The turnout is unbelievable
Pct 214 Charlotte, Mecklenburg County
Purple
Longest Line I’ve been in at 6:30am by more than 100ft.
Many loud, excited Obama supporters.
Many silent and determined McCain supporters.
Our homeowners Asociation’s clubhouse is a polling place and my office is in the building. Never have we been as busy as we are today. The lines have been steady for the last 3 hours that I have been at work.
I was passing out Republican sample ballots for about four hours this morning. Polling place is western Fairfax County, Virginia. A Republican leaning precinct in a county run by rats.
Turn out was more than I’ve ever seen there before. Usually only a handful of people in line when the polls open; this morning the line was well out the door. After the early am rush, it settled down to a steady trickle.
The only issue I heard about was an electronic voting machine that broke down. A technician was called in and the machine repaired. I don’t have details, but it didn’t seem to be anything other than a routine breakdown.
I’d guess there was a slight edge to R sample ballots being passed out over D. There did seem to be a lot of enthusiasm on the Dem side for Obama.
One of the dems said they were convinced Kerry had won in ‘04 based the sample ballot breakdown going in - Bush carried the precinct handily. If that same trend holds true, Palin/McCain should do very well here.
I do have to give the dems credit for organization at the polling place. They had at least two volunteers outside, and a lawyer inside. Chatted some with them, nice folks, one I knew from church. The D attorney was a nice guy and truly seemed most concerned that the election was conducted properly and honestly. I was it for for the R’s on the outside.
Long story short, heavy turnout in a suburban Republican leaning precinct in Northern Virginia (such a thing really does exist).
Wonderful to hear! Hope it continues all day and night for the Republican areas.
I'll vote in a couple of hours... I'm in deep blue Connecticut, unfortunately. However the lawn signs in my area are roughly 70/30 pro-McCain/Palin.
I'm pretty certain CT will go for Obama. Someday I hope to live in a Red State so my vote will actually count! ;-)
Davey, I saw a house with both an Obama sign and a Wolf sign on the way home from the polls this morning. Also did some door knocking and phone banking this year. I’m pretty sure Frank’s seat is safe.
Okay, my spouse and I voted about an hour ago. I was surprised to see the electronic voting machines in the precinct when I walked in the door. The talk, and even the newspaper articles had mentioned going back to the paper ballots, as it avoided the problems experienced with the electronic machines.
All voters were required to be on the registration list, and picture ID was required. So far, so good, I thought. After getting through the document check to make sure I was legal to vote, we stood in line waiting for the next available machine. My wife went to a machine that had just opened up, and within seconds I was directed to the next machine. As I approached the machine, the poll worker advised me to be careful when using the touchscreen... (I figured this was just the normal precautionary speech that was meant to help people have no issues.) But then she said, this machine is very sensitive and you have to use a light touch - it can jump around on you. That sent up the warning flare for me. I thanked her and stepped up to the machine. I touched on "view ballot" and it went to the presidential race. At the top of the ballot was Obama, then McCain, then the rest. I carefully (I mean very carefully) touched the little box for McCain, only to have the box for Obama light up with a little green check mark. I touched the McCain box again, but no change. I knew I had a review opportunity, so I went forward to the next race with the intention of going back and making corrections. I had only four races in which to vote so I voted for the next one. It skipped the fourth race for State House and asked me if I was ready to cast my vote. I clicked on view ballot so that I could make my changes and vote on the fourth race for State House, 64th district.
Again I touched on McCain, only to have Obama light up a second time. I went back through the ballot and this time got to vote for my candidate for State House. Again, I'm asked if I and ready to cast my votes. I go back to the beginning and hit the button for McCain again. This time, McCain did light up. I went through the end of the ballot, checked to make sure that my four candidates were properly indicated (they were) and cast my votes.
I recorded the serial number of the machine and then advised the poll worker that there was a problem with the machine and that it needed to be pulled from service after the votes already cast had been recorded. She seemed unaware of what to do next, so she took me to the precinct captain (she was very nice, and is a once a year volunteer, so I do not fault her - I think she was genuinely concerned too, when I told her how bad it was.) I turned up the heat a notch on the precinct captain, as he should be the one to do something about a machine like this - I was polite and professional, but he new I meant business. He went in to check the machine, and said he would get something done about it. I do not know what will happen with the machine, but I couldn't stick around to see - had places to go and calls to make.
I have called my candidates' campaign offices to advise them of the issues, including giving them the location and serial number of the machine. I have also contacted the local election commission office, and was told by the volunteer worker there that she had received several calls about problems of this sort.
Folks, I learned years ago in school that most unhappy customers won't complain, they just don't come back. If that is the case, how many folks have experienced what I did today and have said nothing, or worse yet, accepted the machines "are you ready to cast your vote?" and said "yes" without double checking their ballot. It was almost as if the machine was programmed to see how many times I would go back to make sure that I got to vote the way I intended before it functioned properly. For folks that weren't willing to go back and keep trying, their vote might have gone to the opposition.
This is bound to be happening all over the country... I consider it to be (at this point) an attempted coup by electronic means.
Baltimore City, ward 27, pct 40 — deep deep blue area.
Voted about 9:30, walked right up to the desk and straight to a voting machine. Whole exercise took 2 minutes. No line at all.
Voted a couple of hours ago - Central Kentucky - in a very conservative area. Very large turnout - mostly middle-age to older voters. No anomalies noted.
Red District near Blacksburg in Southwest Virginia. Heavy turnout this morning, when I voted before lunch no one was there. They will have heavy turnout later today. One of the district on the other side of Blacksburg had major parking problems this morning at 6 AM and long lines.
very red district (6th cong in CO) Very heavy turnout, went smoothly
Judgment Day at Times Square
Good for you... And good for us!
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