Voted

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I did my part in the democratic process today. In spite of all the dire predictions of the 'experts' the entire process took me 20 minutes. Everyone was polite and helpful.

I even got a sticker!

 

Same here, though I was voting in an area where I wasn't expecting a line around the block. I got there at 7am, waited in line for about 20 minutes, got a sticker and a hi-five from the kindly elderly poll volunteer on my way out the door.

I can haz democracy!

 

That's odd - I would have thought that neither of you would have been ones to exercise your right to vote.

Anyway, I voted last week, but because I live in Canada, I had to mail in my vote. Hopefully they'll accept a post-it note as a ballot.

 

I was gonna vote, but I decided to torch my poling place instead. Hey, it's a fire station, it deserved it.

 

I leave for work at 6:30 AM, so I vote on the way home. So I have not yet done my part.

I have heard that the reasons some lines have been so long in pre-election day voting is that only a small fraction of the total voting stations open early. It seems like that even if your state has early voting (my does not) that it's not worth the effort to try and vote early if they aren't operating at peak efficiency. It's not like your vote counts any more or less if you go early...

 

I voted via absentee ballot, even though I am still in the same state (too much of a hassle to get back home in time, I have lots of class today).

 

@T2 and DR - take those stickers to a Ben&Jerry's store for a free cone!

I'll vote on my way home, as well. Hubby just got done, and reported longer lines than we've ever encountered before: 20 minutes to check in, and then another 20 minutes to cast the ballot.

Marcus will be with me. I hope he has a snack...

 

It's funny, Rally - my sticker was ripped, and I took it off and tossed it when I changed to go to the gym. A few minutes later when I'm in the car, my fiancee calls and demands my sticker. She didn't get one when she went to early voting last week and was flipping out. When I asked her what all the fuss is about, she told me she just heard on the radio about the Ben n' Jerry's thing, and that my sticker was her only hope for some free schwag. Then I told her I didn't have it anymore, and you'd think by her response that I'd just kicked a puppy. Ah, love.*

* ...of sugar.

 

Why on earth is your voting day during the week, when everyone is supposed to be at work?

I'll be voting this Saturday, which is a much more sensible day for an election.

 

Ben & Jerry's have stores? WTF? It's not like Rally lives really far away from me - if I recall she's in the Philly area, which is like 50 miles north of here if I hop on I-95. I've never seen B&J anywhere except in the freezer section of the local supermarket.

EDIT:

I've never seen it as a problem to vote during the week. The polls open at 7:00 in the morning, and stay open until 8:00 at night, so going to work isn't much of a problem in terms of not having time to vote. I leave for work at 6:30, but I'm home from work around 5:30, so there's plenty of time to vote. I guess it could be a problem if you were working a 12+ hour shift, and in those cases, you would just send in an absentee ballot.

 

Aldeth - I don't even live in the USA and I've seen loads of Ben and Jerry stores, in the USA and in other countries.

 

Hmmm... I just went online, and it turns out that there are no B&J's in my immediate vicinity. It must be just an odd quirk of where I live, as indeed there are tons of them listed. The closest one is about 25 miles away in the Inner Harbor in Baltimore, and I don't go there much. It seems like most of the Maryland stores are down near DC, and I go there even less frequently.

 

Washington only does mail-in ballots now, which frankly I don't get. So, a few days ago I filled mine out and sent it in.

 

The reason we vote on a Tuesday is archaic, as many things concerning our government and political system are. Back when the people had to ride their horse or walk to the county seat to vote, the idea was to give them Monday to travel from their farm or village to the "big city" where the county government was, as obviously you couldn't expect them to travel on a Sunday when they would be at church. Then they could vote on Tuesday and get back to their life.

Of course, now it just makes it a hassle to vote on Tuesday, because most people are working, but tradition, and I wouldn't be surprised to find out written law and maybe even obscure parts of the constitution require that presidential elections be on the first Tuesday after the first Sunday of November.

I got to my polling place at 6:50, where there was already a long line. It moved fairly quickly once it opened at 7:00 and I was out of there and on my way to work by 7:30. In 10 years voting there I'd never seen so many people.

 

I voted at 6 am. I usually leave for work by then and just got to work on time today.

My patients didn't even miss me!

 

We just got back. It only took all of ten minutes and another ten for the polling ladies to fuss over the new baby. But we didn't get any stickers though. That's OK, being a part of history in the making was good enough for Mrs. Chandos and me.

 

I hand-delivered my absentee ballot to the county auditor's office on Saturday.

 

I voted early in the morning, and had a two hour wait. That's ok, though, as I got to keep my sweetie warm.

 

Marcus and I sailed in and voted - done within 10 minutes!

I hear that an "I voted" sticker was also good for a free coffee at Starbucks today.

 

That is nuts. Two hours!?