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Did you vote?

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Started 2 years ago by alexs
Latest reply from thefiercelime

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hugh59
Aboard the ultimate power in Olde Towne East
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The wife and I voted just after 6:30am this morning. There were a few people at the machines at our polling place in OTE. The man directly ahead of us was confused. His polling location had changed since the last election. He did not seem to be able to understand this. It took several people several minutes before he realized he had to go vote someplace else.

My mom voted by absentee ballot; I dropped it off at the Board of Elections for her. Way to go mom! She no longer drives and did not think she would get to vote. I made certain she did.

Posted 2 years ago #
rus

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ChrisSunami wrote >>

I would find it very hard to trust online voting. I like the voting machines we have now where you see your vote printed on a little piece of paper. I'm not saying that couldn't be tampered with, but at least someone would actually have to physically destroy and replace all the ballot receipts to cheat the machine.

It's not often you and I agree, but on this we do.

It's far too easy to manipulate electronic storage in any number of fun and interesting ways.

With banking, ecommerce, etc. the people running the system have an incentive to ensure it's as accurate as possible, knowing that their records can be challenged by other entities records.

With voting, the people running the system control the only record and there's an incentive to manipulate the system in their favor.

Can't really compare the two, since the environments are so different.

For those who think voting in person is too hard: Get your fat lazy ass off the couch and waddle on down to the polling place once every few years, ya slacking bastard.

Yeah, I voted. Polling place was mostly empty.

Posted 2 years ago #
rus

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hugh59 wrote >>

My mom voted by absentee ballot; I dropped it off at the Board of Elections for her. Way to go mom! She no longer drives and did not think she would get to vote. I made certain she did.

Good for you.

Posted 2 years ago #
Tenzo
Chicago Lakeshore
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For those who think voting in person is too hard: Get your fat lazy ass off the couch and waddle on down to the polling place once every few years, ya slacking bastard.

Well, there is the argument that if you can't be bothered to get your ass to the polling station then I'd rather not have your vote determining the election results. But that kind of gets in the way of the general idea when the country is formed.

In philly the churches would bring them in on a bus. (good)
And hand them a piece of paper on how they should vote. (bad)

Posted 2 years ago #
berdawn
near that stretch of N. High Street in the Short North
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Tenzo wrote >>

For those who think voting in person is too hard: Get your fat lazy ass off the couch and waddle on down to the polling place once every few years, ya slacking bastard.

Well, there is the argument that if you can't be bothered to get your ass to the polling station then I'd rather not have your vote determining the election results. But that kind of gets in the way of the general idea when the country is formed.
In philly the churches would bring them in on a bus. (good)
And hand them a piece of paper on how they should vote. (bad)

churches still do that.

Posted 2 years ago #
columbusfoodie
West Side
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Tenzo wrote >>

For those who think voting in person is too hard: Get your fat lazy ass off the couch and waddle on down to the polling place once every few years, ya slacking bastard.

Well, there is the argument that if you can't be bothered to get your ass to the polling station then I'd rather not have your vote determining the election results. But that kind of gets in the way of the general idea when the country is formed.
In philly the churches would bring them in on a bus. (good)
And hand them a piece of paper on how they should vote. (bad)

Still happens, although they have to do it a certain distance away from the polling location. When I worked the polls during the presidential election in 2008, I did so in a heavily Democratic area (I think we looked up the results for that particular precinct later on, and like 97% of people voted for Obama) - someone was standing in the parking lot handing out cheat sheets that listed all the Democratic candidates. We had one lone GOP representative there to keep an eye on us, but still some stuff happened that kind of broke the rules - for instance, a person is allowed to have someone with them at the machine to read the ballot to them, but one lady wasn't reading, just telling the person "pick this one, pick that one".

All this to say that working the polls is hard work - they definitely earn the money and then some. I was there from 5:30am to 9:30pm when I accompanied the poll location manager to drop off the materials. So show some appreciation today when you go to vote. A smile goes a long way to brighten up a day that seems to drag on forever.

Posted 2 years ago #
FireEngine
Blacklick or Driving Park
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I will be voting in an hour after picking up my son from school. I like him to see that an election is about more than crazy people insulting each other (and my our intelligences) on TV.

Posted 2 years ago #
Walker
The KLD / Downtown / Gay Street
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Heading to vote around 5. Took the kiddo to swim lessons at the Aquatic Center this morning and cursed all those damn voters for taking up all the parking spots today. ;) Ha!

Posted 2 years ago #
Talcott
Clintonville
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gramarye wrote >> I voted last week. I honestly can hardly believe that people actually still take the time to vote in person when absentee balloting is more convenient and allows you to actually be reviewing the down-ballot candidates' Web sites (and other news sites about those races) while you're filling out the ballot.

Exactly! The fact that I was able to sit there with my ballot and look up information on the more obscure races was even better than the fact that I could just mail it in. It seems so weird to me that we used to only have a 14 hour window in the middle of the work week to vote each time. Absentee/early voting makes so much more sense.

Although it feels a little weird to hear all of the GOTV posts while I'm sitting at home, not voting. I feel like I should go stand around a polling place just to look cool.

Voting makes you look cool, right?

Posted 2 years ago #
gramarye
In Exile
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columbusfoodie wrote >>
Gramarye: I can understand the convenience of online voting, but don't see how it can be implemented - between needing to validate the identity of the person voting, needing to make sure no one is intimidating the voter or unduly influencing their decisions, and the numbers of oldsters who don't know how to use a computer and have no desire to learn, it just wouldn't be practical.

I'm not worried about validating identities online. If we can do that for my taxes and for my Amazon orders, we can do it for voting.

I'm less worried about intimidating in the home or in a public library than I am about intimidation at actual polling sites. It's much easier for potential rough operators to have operatives at centralized places where everyone has to show up than to go door-to-door threatening people.

I would still allow paper ballots for technophobes. There are already places that have gone entirely to a mail-in system, and done away with centralized polling locations. Democracy hasn't ground to a halt in those places. I would gladly go there, but I would *also* allow online voting.

Posted 2 years ago #
berdawn
near that stretch of N. High Street in the Short North
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yeah, on-line should be safe:
http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2010/10/dc-voting-system-hacked/

Posted 2 years ago #
coolbuckeye
Weinland Park
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BCNation wrote >>
I was going to vote today, but I actually found my absentee ballot yesterday afternoon, and opted to fill that and turn that in instead.

Hope you turned that in to the Board of elections.

Posted 2 years ago #
BCNation
Franklin Park
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coolbuckeye wrote >>

BCNation wrote >>
I was going to vote today, but I actually found my absentee ballot yesterday afternoon, and opted to fill that and turn that in instead.

Hope you turned that in to the Board of elections.

Dropped it off there in person yesterday afternoon.

Posted 2 years ago #
Tenzo
Chicago Lakeshore
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This is what you had to go through where I lived in Philly to vote.
Black Panther members stood outside polling places with billy clubs and baseball bats and demanded to know how you were going to vote before you went inside.

Yes, they would physically block you.

Posted 2 years ago #
misskitty
Columbus
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you know I found it quite interesting that the whole black panther mess was not more broadcast. But I suppose that would be bad for the hopeful winner of said election.

Posted 2 years ago #
berdawn
near that stretch of N. High Street in the Short North
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misskitty wrote >>
you know I found it quite interesting that the whole black panther mess was not more broadcast. But I suppose that would be bad for the hopeful winner of said election.

yeah, the folks in Lowndes county probably felt the same way.

Posted 2 years ago #
misskitty
Columbus
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That's not very descriptive. Care to fill us under a rock in?

Posted 2 years ago #
berdawn
near that stretch of N. High Street in the Short North
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misskitty wrote >>
That's not very descriptive. Care to fill us under a rock in?

Although legally able to register to vote, those African Americans who did so in Lowndes County were evicted and fired; most moved into tents beyond the county line where they were terrorized. The "Black Panther" party was formed as an alternative to the segregationist Democratic party in Lowndes County. The symbol for the D party was a white rooster and the local black HS emblem was a black panther.

ETA: Stokley Carmichael was part of the SNCC (who did the voter education and registration work there) and went on to create the separatist Black Panthers. Stupid thugs appropriating any part of this is laughable.

Posted 2 years ago #
Snarf
Dystopia
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Tenzo wrote >>
This is what you had to go through where I lived in Philly to vote.
Black Panther members stood outside polling places with billy clubs and baseball bats and demanded to know how you were going to vote before you went inside.
Yes, they would physically block you.

what did those clowns think, it was halloween?

Posted 2 years ago #
melikecheese
Merion Village
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You bet! I remember what happened before 2 years ago, I'm not ready to go back to that just yet.

Posted 2 years ago #