Why I Love Election Day

[Opsa]

Ahhh yes, it's presidential election day here in the U.S. of A., and I am so happy it's finally here.

This morning Mr. Ops and I will drive to the polling place past a ridiculous number of signs littering the roadway. You'd think we would have been able to see the first hundred identical signs with the same message, but I guess they are afraid we might have missed them. We will park the car and walk by little clusters of cold people gathered around tables of the opposing parties. They will call to us on behalf of their preferred candidates, We will be cordial and noncommittal. Hands will be shaken. Doughnuts will be waved at us, as if that might change our minds. We will take pre-printed ballot sheets from each person that accosts us and toss them in the trash the moment we get inside.

We will stand in a short line. This is because we live in a small town. Even in a huje turnout year we generally do not have to wait long to vote, thank TGE. We'll be asked for our names and addresses and IDs by people that know us. We will go to a booth and will vote. We will get little "I Voted" badges and wear them for the rest of the day, as talismans against those who would try to change our mind with more doughnuts and hand-shakings. Too late: I Voted.

We will have some lunch and congratulate ourselves for exercising our rights, even if it is futile.

This evening we'll watch the news and see if anything we voted for is ahead. We will likely go to bed before we know any results.

Tomorrow we will wake up and it will be over: the incessant robo-calls and grating political ads on TV. Someone will have won, but even if it is not our candidate, life will seem just a little more quiet for a little while. We will have to cope with the outcome, no matter what happens. But we'll know we tried.

[Swatopluk]

Given the (deliberately stoked) chaos in many swing states it could take a while before the final results are in. And many a voter will have to stand in line for maybe even eight hours (and may then learn that (s)he cannot vote for a vast number of often ridiculous reasons). And the results will be contested whichever side ostensibly wins (maybe even by the winning side).

[Sibling Zono (anon1mat0)]

As I said in another thread, I already took care of this business and happily we didn't have to wait at all (the early bird...), sadly not everybody in the state can say the same, in Miami there were long lines up to late hours to be turned down as our wonderful governor refused to extend polling hours during early vote (which was shortened by non other than the state GOPhers, Quelle surprise!).

Nate Silver predicts a 92% chance of Obama winning and Florida is a tossup with .2% margin. We'll see at the end of the day if all the attempts to discourage the vote failed or succeded.

But I'm with Opas: I'm happy this nightmare is over regardless of who wins this thing, no more garbage in the mail, no more robocalls and robopolls, no more litter in the streets (that will remain for a few more days, I'm afraid), and we can go back to our lives, and the pundits to explain why they were wrong...

[Bob in a quantum-state-of-faith]

In truth, me living in the reddest of the red states*, there really is little point in my voting in a national presidential race.

However, there are any number of other issues to vote on, in which my vote actually means something, so I'll go in for those-- I haven't voted yet, but I'll get out in a bit, for some lunch & to cast my meaningless vote(s) (thanks, Forefathers, for creating an election system wherein your average citizen's vote means nothing).   But I'm not really hungry yet, so I'll wait a bit. 

I don't expect to have a long line in the voting booth-- I never do, even though I live in a reasonably sizable city.  But I also live in a predominantly minority district, and the ReThugs have been out, busily removing people's right to vote by any means they can; including spreading lies about what you'll face at the polls, in an attempt to keep honest voters away from the polls.   

Sadly, many of the lies being spread work all too well.

So I don't expect to face long lines today, even though it's a meaningless** national election. 

*sigh*

In truth, I'm only getting out to vote for two reasons:  bragging rights, and to vote on the strictly local issues.

That way, if the antichrist horrible monster Reagan 3.0 Mitt-the-wishwashy gets elected, I can brag that I did not vote for him..... as I stand in the long-long lines at the unemployment office along with the idiots who did vote for the snake***.... meh.

But I do wish there were a $1000 an hour fine for anyone who's left those annoying street signs up one minute past the closing of the polls tonight.     Some will remain on public grounds for weeks.  Until the hardworking (and mostly immigrant) city workers come to mow the area.

Soon.



_______________________

<sub>* Oklahoma has the single distinction of being the only state in the US, who's every single county voted against Obama, in 2008.

** Oklahoma is still suffering under the all or nothing clause with it's Electoral College delegates, meaning your average vote counts for nothing.

*** Apologies to anyone who appreciates our legless reptile friends, for comparing Mitt to those fine scaly animals.</sub>

[Opsa]

I'm back. I voted. It's done.

I was amazed to see quite a long line of people waiting to vote this time. We actually waited in line for about 45 minutes before getting to vote. Quite unusual for here.

[Swatopluk]

I usually have no waiting time at all despite liiving in a large city. In and out in less than 5 minutes, that's the standard.
It does not even matter that everyone here is automatically registered and has a national ID card and that we use paper ballots counted by hand.
There are simply enough polling places and we vote on Sundays (=not on a working day). Poll working is a civic duty like jury duty, so there are always enough poll workers.

[Bob in a quantum-state-of-faith]

I usually have no waiting time at all despite liiving in a large city. In and out in less than 5 minutes, that's the standard.
It does not even matter that everyone here is automatically registered and has a national ID card and that we use paper ballots counted by hand.
There are simply enough polling places and we vote on Sundays (=not on a working day). Poll working is a civic duty like jury duty, so there are always enough poll workers.

The ReThugs would hate such a system, and do everything they can to prevent such measures from taking place in the US.

They (correctly) see it that easy access to voting would likely increase the voter turnout, and that such increase would quickly get them out of positions of power.

The disconnect between voter turn out, and national polls is pretty obvious, in that national polls rarely match up to how those that turn up and vote, actually vote.

[Swatopluk]

Another difference is that we have a mix of majority and proportional system, not the pure winner-takes-all. Two votes, one for a candidate and one for a party. The winner of the first has a guaranteed seat (Direkt-Mandat), the votes for the latter are distributed proportionally nationally (Listen-Mandat).
One problem is of course that this way the parties have much more say about who gets a seat even if the list candidate happens to be very unpopular.

[pieces o nine]

I'll be grateful when the hideous attack ads stop (perhaps at midnight tonight?) on the local radio stations. I know exactly which party the candidate belongs to by the voice doing the ads, even if I've never heard of them before. I think it's part of the dog-whistle nature of these ads, exacerbatd by a voice that oozes  malice and innuendo. We've been pummeled with the message that farmer/rancher=guns==god-fearing christian=patriotic. ick. I've never heard relentless ads quite like this before moving here, and will be grateful to not hear them until the next congressional cycle!

[Opsa]

I hears ya! And yet, I am sad to find that our television reception is completely gone, tonight. No channels! I blame the GOP.

[Swatopluk]

The attacks will of course proceed, though not necessarily as ads. And the next election is merely two years away, so at the latest the campaign will restart in 6 months.

[Opsa]

Don't remind us. But at least the next presidential election is four years away, and they are the worst.

I'm watching the updates here.

[Bob in a quantum-state-of-faith]

Don't remind us. But at least the next presidential election is four years away, and they are the worst.

I'm watching the updates here.

I just want it to be over.  This way, I can see if I need to flee for Canada or not, before the crowd.

As if Mitt the Twit gets the nod?  Good bye to civil rights, and certainly good bye to freedom of from religion...

... but most importantly?  I'll likely see my job sent overseas, like everything else Mitt the Twitt has had a hand in.

[Bluenose]

Voting is compulsory in Oz.  The elections are held on Saturdays and Mrs Blue an I usually work as temporary electoral officials for the poll.  We use paper ballots which are counted by hand.  At the polling booths I have worked at, the count is usually completed within 2 or 3 hours of closing time.  We have a bicameral parliament, members of the lower house (House of Representatives) are elected by a preferential voting system, one member per electorate. All electorates have approximately the same number of voters within specified minimums and maximums.  The upper house (Senate) is elected on a state by state basis.  Everyone votes for the same candidates within their own state and seats are allocated on a proportional basis with each state having the same number of Senators (12) and the two territories having two.  Lower house members are elected for a nominal 4 year term and senators are elected for 8 years.  At a Federal election all the lower house seats are vacated and half the Senate, although the two elections can come out of sync if the government calls an early election as may be the case if the current government calls an election early next year.  This happened back in the late sixties early seventies and was only re-synchronised when the Governor General prorogued Parliament and called a double dissolution election in 1975 after the government failed to secure supply.  There are no limits on the number of terms a Prime Minister can serve and our longest serving PM was Robert Menzies who held the position for a total of over 18 years in two terms, the second being over 16 years far and away the longest term for an Australian PM so far.

Aussies tend to look on US elections with a bit of a sense of bemusement.  Firstly we don't get the voting on Tuesday thing.  It seems bizarre that you conduct such an important part of the life of a democracy on a working day, when many people clearly would have difficulty attending.  Secondly we find the electoral college thing rather quaint and the various rules for how these are allocated differing between the states a matter of some puzzlement.  Lastly we find the whole hoopla that surrounds US elections somewhat distasteful.  It is considered something of an insult over here to say that someone is conducting their election campaign here in a "presidential" fashion.  So, in the end, I hope you get the president you actually voted for - I note that this did not seem to happen on one of The Shrub's elections.  Good luck all you USians, enjoy the next 4 years as well as you can...

[Opsa]

Well, the early news is that Obama's leading, but it's very early yet.

Update: Romney's ahead with two states (KY and IN) to Obama's one (NH).