Who's already voted?

[T'Girl]

I received my absentee ballot at the beginning of the week, last election I was ready with my choices and mailed it back the same day, this time I'm still researching one of the initiatives (Washington 1107), and haven't made my decision Other than that one item on the ballot, it's all filled out.

I was wondering how many people still go down to a polling place to vote? Oregon has (I believe) gone to only having absentee ballots. I personal find the absentee to be better, not just more convenient, you can sit down with the ballot, voter pamphlet and the internet and make you decision.

 

[enlisted person]

I voted Thursday, no line, only took about 5 minutes. Just fill in the circles and then run it through the scanner and done. The place is about a mile from my house on the way home so it was easier than doing it by mail.

 

[Roger Wilco]

I always vote in person at the polling place; primarily because I enjoy the ritual but also because I don't fully trust absentee ballots.

 

[Nerys Ghemor]

In some states they won't even count them if they THINK the election isn't "close." What really ticks me off is that it hits our armed forces the worst when that happens. And sometimes states don't send the ballots out in time for them, either. They put their lives on the line...they should be treated better than that.

 

[enlisted person]

I always vote in person at the polling place; primarily because I enjoy the ritual but also because I don't fully trust absentee ballots.

I don't like those either, here they have the polling places open about 2 weeks before the election and you can go there at your convenience and avoid any crowd on election day. Early votes get scanned in just like voting day votes. I like that.

 

[SmoothieX]

I'm gonna vote in favor of questions 1 and 3 here in good old Taxachusetts.

 

[Locutus of Bored]

Got my vote-by-mail and sample ballot a few weeks ago and sent it right back out the next day.

 

[SPOCKED]

I have to be among the crowd so we'll be in line before work on election day. I hope to be among the same pumped-up group who helped reject Martha Coakley last January in the special election - because we're not done yet in Massachusetts. No way am I mailing in my ballot when the polls are so much fun

 

[PsychoPere]

I currently live in a small town and haven't needed to wait more than approximately three minutes to vote, so I don't worry about early voting. I just go to the polling site on election day.

 

[eastman23]

I always wait until election day (this coming Wednesday). It lets me change my mind just in case someone I was leaning towards does something completely bone-headed. Between Sam and Judy, anything's possible.

 

[Count Zero]

I always vote in person at the polling place; primarily because I enjoy the ritual but also because I don't fully trust absentee ballots.

Same here. Besides, the last two elections I was a volunteer at the polling station, anyway, and I just needed to go to the next room to vote.

In some states they won't even count them if they THINK the election isn't "close."

Seriously? That strikes me as pretty undemocratic.

 

[Nerys Ghemor]

My thoughts exactly. I think it's very wrong. Not to mention that the military may have significantly different views than the majority population of some states. But they belong to those states too, and should have their voices heard too, just like anybody else.

 

[Mr. B]

I live in walking distance to my polling place so I always vote on election day. City hall, on the other hand, is a parking nightmare.

 

[enlisted person]

An interesting amendment on our ballot here in NC. We were asked to vote for or against an amendment that would prevent a convicted felon from running for sheriff. Now a convicted felon cannot own a firearm in NC, nor can they vote, but they can become sheriff? I voted for that amendment.

 

[Holdfast]

I always vote in person at the polling place; primarily because I enjoy the ritual but also because I don't fully trust absentee ballots.

Yep, pretty much identical to this.

 

[sidious618]

I'll be proudly voting come Election Day. We got some real wackos like Carl Paladino running her in NY and someone has to keep 'em in line by voting against them.

 

[iguana_tonante]

I always vote in person at the polling place; primarily because I enjoy the ritual but also because I don't fully trust absentee ballots.

Same here.

Yep, pretty much identical to this.

I'm on the same page. It seems like Europeans do enjoy their democratic process.

 

[Holdfast]

I always vote in person at the polling place; primarily because I enjoy the ritual but also because I don't fully trust absentee ballots.

Same here.

Yep, pretty much identical to this.

I'm on the same page. It seems like Europeans do enjoy their democratic process.

Either that, or we really distrust our absentee ballot systems...

 

[Rush Limborg]

Got mine a couple weeks ago. Filled it out and sent it straight the next day, after intense research on the bloody judges.

It takes FOREVER to find out what judges stand for--even on the Internet! 99.999999999999999999% of the sources I checked only talked about their LIFE STORY!

 

[Locutus of Bored]

In some states they won't even count them if they THINK the election isn't "close."

Seriously? That strikes me as pretty undemocratic.

That's a silly, paranoid rumor made to look like we're disenfranchising the troops (not the troops!) and certain voters who, in the narrative of the ones spreading the rumor, would have inevitably been voting for their particular candidate. Looking at the California voter website the following nearly verbatim to her rumor explanation is offered, and I bet that's where this baseless misinformation of states not counting absentee/mail-in ballots comes from:

After the 2000 election, a popular radio talk show host suggested on air that absentee ballots in California are not counted unless the contest is close, and unfortunately this piece of misinformation ended up being repeated to the point where many people became concerned that their absentee votes had not been counted.

They always count each of them (including ones from soldiers serving overseas), but depending on the state and the number of absentee/mail-in ballots it sometimes takes until a few days after the election to count all of them, in which time a candidate can already have been declared the winner by being numerically guaranteed to win based on the votes already counted. Usually if you want to avoid having your ballot counted late you can simply submit your mail-in ballot a few days or more before the election (they're generally sent out about a month early). It's the last minute submissions that are usually delayed.

Got mine a couple weeks ago. Filled it out and sent it straight the next day, after intense research on the bloody judges.

It takes FOREVER to find out what judges stand for--even on the Internet! 99.999999999999999999% of the sources I checked only talked about their LIFE STORY!

Yeah, I had the same problem. I went by their rulings and the reasoning behind them in a lot of cases. How the remaining CSSC judges ruled on California's Prop 8 was a big one for me.

I was all set to vote for our local District Attorney until I found out she was arrested for a DUI, which gave me pause since it was pretty hypocritical given that she is (rightly) tough on drunk driving. But since she accepted full responsibility and the punishment without favoritism, and since I was opposed to the policies of her opponent, I ended up voting for her after all.