There was a long line for my polling place in Phoenix. I dropped my ballot off and didn't use the machine. We'll see if Obama can take AZ. It's supposed to be close.

I voted! 7:30 a.m.

NO SIGNS outside the polling place. No election signs, no party signs, no candidate signs, no nonpartisan "This Is A Polling Place" signs. I walked around for about seven minutes trying to find where to enter. Turned out to be at the gymnasium at the back of the building. Way to welcome first-time voters, guys.

(The 800 number for the Obama campaign here is inoperable, but I left a message at the local campaign office trying to get them to get a sign out there.)

There were actually two wards voting in the same polling place, and thus two lines. The Republican committeeman was clearly a veteran, well-organized, with a street list, directing people to the correct line. Everybody was pleasant. Signs were hanging up clearly informing people about their rights as voters. (I think there is a county- or state-level law about deception, apropos yesterday's thread.)

And boy howdy, are there a lot of white people in my new neighborhood. Quite remarkable. I think I saw two people of color in the entire gym, out of about 120 voters.

Oh, I don't vote, now that they let simply anyone do it.

Did anyone else in Virginia get asked to show ID? Apparently even an employer-issued ID card will suffice. Even so, first time since 2000 anyone's asked me for that.

I went to vote at about 7am. The line wasn't long but the set-up was so dumb that it still took about an hour. There were only two booths, both of which were often empty as the pool workers were slowly, slowly looking up names and writing them down. They had only two poll workers and didn't split up the books by names or the like. The organization was very poor but the people (in Harlem) were so far cheerful and excited. The line was still about the same total length when I left at 8am.

Got in line at 5:50 or so for a 6:00 opening -- the line was half-way around the block. Took about 45 minutes to get through, though it would have been half that if the people running the voting had made it clear from the beginning which precincts were supposed to vote in which room of the elementary school where the voting was taking place.

I saw the line from my window and went and got in line at 6:50 AM. Got to vote at about 8AM, so I at least got to work on time. There were at least 3 outside volunteers there to help people who were having trouble, take reports of machine and other problems, etc.

Did anyone else in Virginia get asked to show ID?

BR didnt get asked. I showed mine to the lady before she asked.

4 - I didn't show ID, voting at Luther Jackson Middle School in Vienna.

Showed up shortly after 8am, waited 40 minutes, no problems. There were 3 lines based on last name:A-J, K-O, P-Z. My line (A-J) had a 40 minute wait. P-Z had zero wait time. Methinks there could have been better organization on that point. Also the poll workers reported that the wait was over 90 minutes when the polls first opened at 6am.

This was my first election in VA, so I was pleasantly surprised that they give a choice of machine or paper ballots. I'd like to get rid of the machines completely for everyone but special needs voters, but you take what you can get. The bad news is that the polls close absurdly early: 7 pm.

My girlfriend was in line from 7:45-8:30; I was in line from 8:45-9:15, at the same polling place (fire station in a dense urban neighborhood). Tragically, my "I Voted" sticker has already fallen off.

The ballot-counting machine (optical scan) indicated I was number 347, which seems low for those kind of lines, so I'm wondering if they had to empty it and put in a fresh counting cartridge once already or something.

My line (A-J) had a 40 minute wait. P-Z had zero wait time.

Same thing for us in Richmond!!!

Exit polls say "More A-F's in VA!"

I sent my absentee ballot in my mail last week, thus relieving some of the strain on the poll workers at my precinct in Posh Deep Blue Suburb, who sometimes have to manage queues of voters that can grow as long as four or even five people.

I'm presently in a southern African metropolis where the local media are positively abuzz with talk of the election. Strangers hear my American accent and ask me if I think Obama will really win. My anecdotal impression is that Obama would win by a Stalinesque margin if a vote were held here. Just a few minutes ago I passed a young labourer wearing a tee-shirt with an image of Barack and the slogan "Africa Loves Obama".

As I also said in other thread. 7:40 AM voter #56, absolutely no line. There never is except right at opening; our precincts are small and there are 3 machines (also looked like normal traffic at the several voting locations in the river towns that I passed.). Perk of the Suburbs! Keyyyy....rist. But in general I do not recall PA having many mega-lines in the past, hopefully under control this time as well. Just checked, some reports of long lines around here, most seemed to be at poll opening.

Exit polls say "More A-F's in VA!"

It would seem that NoVa resident Ana-Marie Cox has made it more socially acceptable to be an ass-fucker in Virginia.

Copying and expanding from the "Wait" thread,

Park Slope (8th St. btw. 5th and 6th Ave.), in line at 7:40 out slightly less than an hour later. A lot of people there, poll workers working fairly well, though some trouble keeping things organized.
Also, with the way the machine is set up, many people are not going to notice the proposition on the ballot in New York about civil service rules involving injured veterans.

I figured you would go for the P in the Z.

Exit Polls:

Read a short interesting piece somewhere this AM that noted that Exit Polls are going to be particularly tricky to interpret this year given the amount of early voting and the change in historical Dem/Rep balance in the early voting.

Further from what I mis-posted on the Pittsburgh thread: in to the polling place sometime around 9:45 AM, out less than two minutes later. This in a small town in NJ which is essentially a suburb of another, more notable, smallish town in NJ. The place seemed a little disorganized; I had to walk past multiple entrances to find the one with "vote here" on the door. Once inside I was confronted with a bake sale which seemed much busier than the room where the voting was happening. I somehow voted and left without getting a sticker, to my lasting chagrin.

Tragically, my "I Voted" sticker has already fallen off.

Go get another!

4: In Arlington, I showed my registration card before anyone asked, but I don't think they were requiring anything. I might have got the people near me in line worried, though. They asked what kind of ID you'd need, and I told them I didn't know but I mentioned that I had my registration card and (as always) my driver's license with me. But I'm pretty sure everyone within hearing distance of me voted, so whatever they had with them must have been enough and they didn't get scared off.

In the heart of Communist Cambridge, polls opened at 7, I was there at 7:15, on my way to work a few minutes before 8. First 7-8 minutes I was in the wrong line, because we have two precincts voting in the same place and since before I always just walked right in and voted, I didn't realize there were separate doors with separate lines (they snaked around a lot, and it wasn't even obvious (to me) that there were two lines at all). The lines moved fast, though--when I arrived there were easily 100 people in line for each door. Lots of people brought their kids, and on my way out I heard one guy saying to his friend "well, I tried to write in Fidel, but..."

Knecht - Which African metropolis are you in?

Reporting from Madison, TN (in Metro Nashville) - got to the polling station about 10 mins before they opened at 7, and had to wait an additional 10 mins for the 20 or so people in front of me to vote. I got to work WAY earlier than I normally do (around 8AM) and bought bagels for everyone in the office. I thought about telling the McCain supporters NO BAGEL FOR YOU but then decided against it.

Any other Nashvillians on here - come join us at the Flying Saucer for election night returns, etc, starting around 7PM! It'll be the Thursday night Drinking Liberally folks mainly.

I voted for Tut, Gramps, Choom Gang and Ray for county council.

22: check your e-mail

Voted ten minutes ago. Once I found my way into the voting area in the bowels of the government center, they took my reg. card, did not ask for my ID (correctly) and then had me recite my name and address. GRRR. I'd rather show my ID then mess with that. (Of course, if they did ask for ID, you still had to do the recitation.)

No line for M-Z, four voting machines (no choice of paper, dammit) with all four occupied, waited two minutes and cast my vote on the tiny tiny tiny ballot. (Am used to ballots with 30-40 contests on them.) Took three minutes to have it explained to me, and 30 seconds to vote, no receipt. Maybe it even counted!

max
['Bleh.']

Speaking of Africa, the link to this video was sent to my partner, who was born in Nairobi. She found it hilarious.

I just got back from my polling place, an elementary school in Bed-Stuy. Not nearly as bad a wait as I'd feared: in and out in 45 minutes. The place was set up for at least 8 electoral districts, each with its own Edison lever-machine, but only one---mine, of course---had a long-ass line. I was one of maybe ten white people, out of about a hundred fifty. Everyone was glowing, but very restrained. There were SO many volunteers. Five at each table, and I have no idea what-all they were doing. I saw paper ballots, I saw provisional ballots, I saw affidavits, I saw one optical scanning machine. I was also completely taken aback by a proposition on the ballot, something about veterans' benefits certification. I fucking hate being surprised like that.

Witt seems frequently to be surprised by white people.

Good grief - 1321 polling places in Allegheny County, with its 1.25M people. One polling place for each 950 women, men, and children. No wonder we don't have lines.

JM: The prop is this .pdf . Haven't seen any analysis of whether it's a good idea, it superficially sounds like one.

It's very convenient to have a polling place five doors down, BUT I noted that the instructions for the scantronesque vote counter asked voters not to insert "more then one sheet at a time". Naturally I stomped right out of there without casting my vote—I have principles.

I just had another canvasser.

Haven't seen any analysis of whether it's a good idea, it superficially sounds like one.

As I was reading it a second time, the old dude behind me in line and the elderly volunteer with the freaky walleyes started going "Miss? Miss? Young lady, you alright in there?" so I just voted yes and left.

More crowded than usual at my polling place in Westchester NY. So I had a little trouble parking and had to wait in line a few minutes.

After Sir Kraab yelled at us the other day, I was paranoid there would be long lines and that I would cause a key Obama voter to miss the election. There was no line. Kraab is just trying to ruin my life.

Still, you should vote Obama two or three times, Walt, just to be certain.

27 is fabulous. I will listen to it constantly, probably all week.

Gah, that took forever. Each voter had to get something from each of three poll workers before getting to vote. The poll workers were incredibly slow and unhelpful. They twice suggested to me that I might have to vote provisional. First they claimed not to be able to find my address, and then they claimed to be unable to find my name, which was RIGHT THERE in the book.

There were ten voting machines, but there were never more than 2-3 of them occupied at one time, because of the idiot poll worker bottleneck. On several occasions, all ten voting machines stood empty for at least a minute, while the poll workers scratched their heads and tried to read the registration books.

By the end my head was about to explode. I had to check my ballot over three times to make sure that I didn't misvote in my blind fury.

I'm also in a small town in Jersey. I got there at 7:40 a.m., didn't have to show ID, signed the register and voted in less than 5 minutes. No waiting in line at all. I wasn't even late for work.

Somehow I never get a sticker for voting. What's up with that, Jersey? Super-efficient polls, yes; stickers, no.

50 minutes in a blue suburb with a very efficient operation.

I dropped my ballot in the mail yesterday.

voting was awesome! I always forget how much I enjoy voting. There were no lines and I got to vote for Obama Kerry and to reduce marijuana penalties! The only unfortunate bit was that the didn't have I voted stickers

Please ignore the part where I misspelled my own pseudonym. GOBAMA!

That invalidates your vote, pasdquoi.

Argh. I just got to work from voting. There wasn't much of a line (maybe 4-5 people) at my polling place, and it woulda been no problem except for the total incompetence of everyone involved.

First, I got asked for ID. I said, you don't have to have ID to vote (even though I have my ID in my wallet--I'm difficult like that). Then they asked for my voter registration card, which I also declined to show (even though it was also in my purse). I say, it's not required! So I give my name and they look me up in the book.

Not there. Like, really not there. "Are you sure you're registered?" "Yes." "How do you know?" "Because I got my voter registration card in the mail a few weeks ago." "Can I see it?"

I tired of being difficult. So I showed it. Yup, I'm registered. Yup, I'm at the right polling place. So they act confused for a while. Then one guy goes, "Oh! We should check the other list!" There I am, on the "Supplemental Poll List." Dunno what the fuck that is. But despite the fact that it supplements the poll list, I have to go through all this other nonsense to do it.

I of course am asking a bunch of questions and the woman gets frustrated with me. "Will you just come back later?" Fuck no I won't come back later. She wanted to call the Board of Elections, but claimed she had been trying to get through for two hours and could not. Lovely.

Then she says "well, I don't know what number to give you!" They all talk for a while about that. They finally decide to make me number 151. Then she starts to fill out this affidavit-thingy, which I had to sign, and has to be signed by two judges, who sign that they "know the voter" and that "s/he lives at xxxxx address." Which is total bullshit, because these election judges don't know me from Adam. But they don't seem to be reading it. She puts the form down and goes to get me a ballot, and I pick it up and look at it. Of course, it's been filled out wrong, with several items left blank. I bring this up, and say look, I'll fill it out myself.

At this point, they are starting to get really annoyed with me. I don't give a shit, so I give them the business about how they are asking everyone for ID and to see their registration cards. And one woman says, well we're not turning people away if they don't have it, so what's the problem? So I launch into my speech about how it creates the perception that people need ID to vote and this keeps people away from the polls who don't have it and etc. Like I said, I'm difficult.

Meanwhile, the woman who told me to come back has just told another woman to come back later, and I don't realize what has happened until she walks out the door.

They finally give me a ballot, and I vote. But I don't understand why, despite the fact that I was on a list that said I'd registered, I had to go through all this nonsense, signing an affidavit, getting other people to sign this affidavit, before they would even give me a ballot.

And I get back to work and find out that my co-worker who lives a few blocks away, and registered at the same time as me, wasn't in the book and they didn't even check the list. But she was registered, so she was probably on the supplemental poll list and they just didn't think to look there.

I voted at 10:30 in the morning in Chelsea, at the local jr. high school gym. Voting was organized by address, with optically scanned paper ballots. I think there were 8-10 scanners. No line but a steady stream of people coming in the front door. Everyone looking very happy.

46: Wow. That is infuriating.

Good for being difficult, M.

46: wow. that's crazy. and infuriating.

I should also note that my co-worker, because they didn't check the supplemental poll list (basically, because she didn't raise hell like me), had to vote on a provisional ballot. Even though she's registered, and had her registration card on her.

I'm at a science conference (hence all the free time to comment!) and an awful lot of speakers are slamming McCain / pushing Obama. A geneticist just said how useful fruit fly genome analysis was for her project, "with all due respect to Governor Palin."

Leblanc was Difficult For Freedom!

Got to my urban polling place (West Hollywood) at 6:50 and there was already a line several hundred feet long. Paper ballot, no ID required (I had my voter pamphlet), cheerful and helpful volunteers. Got out, with my sticker, at 7:30.

Also, my sticker was insufficiently sticky and it fell off. Now I can't find it. :(

Gosh, I'm surprised that GWB ended up not staging a terrorist event and then cancelling the election and installing himself as emperor. I believe that was the consensus opinion just a few short months ago.

Off to vote. I am wearing my Goldwater '64 button. Most people don't notice, but the reactions of those that do are worth the effort.

Also, my sticker was insufficiently sticky and it fell off. Now I can't find it. :(

ATTENTION MUST BE PAID

I haven't gotten a sticker since 1996. :(

Off to vote. I am wearing my Goldwater '64 button

Does it read "Au H₂O"?

I did have an elderly Asian woman who was walking her grandson to school stop to ask me when the poll closed, because her daughter was a registered voter, and she needed to vote for Barack Obama. I told her that Democrats vote on Wednesday.

59. Sadly, no. It is a gold color with black letters and a picture of the candidate. No glasses. It reads "Goldwater is '64"

I would love to have the AU H20 button. ebay?

Goldwater was Reagan before Reagan was. I won't play counterfactual on his presidency, but he had integrity as a legislator.

This morning I waited to vote for an hour at a poll where I've never waited longer than ten or fifteen minutes before. I stood behind our state attorney general and watched while he nearly got testy with a poll worker trying to organize alphabetical lines. I also overheard an elderly Republican poll watcher on her phone asking "But can't I challenge that? Can't I?" Generation Awesome turned out in bigger crowds than I've ever seen before and when I walked out I overheard a 60ish guy telling a young woman that he'd never seen so many young people voting. Then he asked her for a date.

I voted in Boston at noon. I was really surprised that there were only 2 or 3 people in line for my precinct, although one of the other precincts at my polling place had a fairly long line.

This was my first time voting in MA so I knew I had to show something with my name and address. I don't have a driver's license so I brought a bank statement and a paycheck -- either one would have been enough according to my registration confirmation notice. But the poll worker still asked "Do you have ID?" and I stupidly just pulled out my passport instead of pointing out that I didn't need to show anything else. I should have been more difficult!

Also, I didn't get an "I Voted" sticker. Between that and the 5-second wait in line, it almost feels like I didn't really vote at all... very anticlimactic.

I voted absentee, but I did get to yell at an anarchist who told me he wanted to shower after going to vote for Obama ("I know, it's great that he's black, but less superficially").

No line here. About ten people detectable in the building (church), four election workers, three bake sale workers, and three voters. This is just like it was in 2004.

Meanwhile in Republican dominated Lancaster county, there were no lines in 2004, but now my relatives who got there before 8 AM had to wait 45 minutes.

We just voted.

No lines at El Suburb Megapolling Place and Church/Senior Center. No on 8 people were out in force. I was voter #103, but they had a separate box for provisional ballots (we voted on paper) and from the lists, it looked like 1/3 to 1/2 of our precinct had voted by mail.

We stopped to get coffee beforehand, where the credit card reader was being poky. I think Diebold was trying to suppress the Northern California vote by slowing our coffee supply. I was wearing this and saw a guy wearing this. I got a sticker, but since I'm working from home today I'm also using a picture of the sticker as my icon on work IM.

Overall, the mood in Communist Lesser Eastbayia is cheerful and cautiously optimistic.

However, I don't know if my vote counted. At the end there's supposed to be a blue screen that says "Thank you, your ballot has been counted, et cetera". I think I got that screen, and then the screen went all black. But I wouldn't swear that the screen appeared, it may have been some other blue screen.

One person in line ahead of me at 9:30 a.m., in my deep blue precinct in my deep blue state. Friends are reporting lines at other polling places, though.

In line now. I miss the short lines and gracious poll workers of my former, heavily older-republican skewed polling place. Stupid student ghetto.

some other blue screen.

Ominous!

Yay Leblanc. That shit is so fucking wrong.

Seriously. My polling place is across the street from my apartment. There was a huge table full of cookies, cakes, coffee, and tea for voters, and I stood in a line of two to be directed toward my district's booth. It took a minute for them to get the spelling of my name, and they said, "ID?" I raised an eyebrow, and they said, "Of course not." Then I waited for another 45 seconds while the woman ahead of me voted.

The machine is one of those super old-school ones where you pull the lever to the right, turn down switches, and pull the lever back to the left. I love them. (Look, an X next to Obama and Biden for the Working Families Party!) The whole thing took maybe five minutes of my life, despite the fact that the entire gym of the school was totally full of voters. Park Slope has this shit down.

On the "I strive to be a good person" front, I did not steal one of the Shepard Fairey Obama VOTE posters pasted to every street lamp. WANT.

Huh, it seemed like there were a lot of provisional ballots at my place, but I figured it was lots of new voters or something. Turns out there was a problem. I wonder if those provisionals had the MA ballot questions, and if not, might they make a difference? (I have a feeling Cambridge is going to skew heavily on at least two of the three questions.)

Went at 7:15, no line, no wait. Quoth Rory: "I'm excited, too, Mom. But you really need to calm down."

Ominous!

MSFT is in cahoots with the GOP?

I have a feeling Cambridge is going to skew heavily on at least two of the three questions.

I am planning to use all that money I don't have to pay in income tax any more to bet on dog racing.

46: Jesus, Leblanc. Aren't you in Chicago? That's just insane.

I voted already before, but was looking up stuff for a friend this morning. The DC voter information brochure has a picture of a ballot and a pencil saying "You complete us."

I almost died of laughter from that. Voting is funny!

I thought 27 was going to link to this video. Or perhaps this.

I'm looking forward to keeping more of the returns from my pot sales.

San Franciscoids, How is Proposition R doing>?

I am planning to use all that money I don't have to pay in income tax any more to bet on dog racing.

But don't smoke up until after you've place your bets.

also this is sucky but maybe was a bigger deal for early voting than for day-of. Although I'm sure it resulted in people being cranky and discouraged and not coming back.

I wonder how critical Virginia Tech is to the election in Virginia, because apparently the polling station for VT students is six miles away on an unmarked road with no public transit access.

The Cambridge thing is nuts. Several of my friends were tripped up by it; the fact that they were on the printed rolls posted outside and had voted in the primaries just makes the error more galling. I can't say I'm glad I moved to Somerville, exactly, but I am disappointed in Cambridge.

Ezra Klein has a story about 4 people in Chicagoland who ran into the same issues as Leblanc did. They ended up with provisional ballots. Jesus have mercy!

Back from voting. Two precincts in one polling place, so one had to know which table to go to. They had maps, and helpful blue hairs helping clueless blue hairs.

No line, but every booth was full. Long ballot, took about five minutes in and out. Scantron machine read the ballot, and all was right with the world.

Yeah democracy!

I was in and out in two minutes, voting at 9:30. I babysat for a neighbor while she voted, she said it took her about 3 minutes at her polling place.

I was in and out in two minutes

Mrs. Chopper was disappointed.

Headline on the Fox news homepage right now:

Early Votes Could Skew Election

I just hate it when people change the outcome of the election by voting.

Need to get fired up and ready to go?

I understand that voter intimidation is localized in certain areas, but I expect to see that it doesn't have the intended effect, in that Obama voters are a lot more motivated than McCain voters this year, and Republicans are likely to lose the few votes they have in those areas by creating intimidating circumstances. It's sort of like how Nancy Pfotenhauer thought it was a good idea to hate on NoVA on TV. Seriously, McCain didn't want any votes at all in that region? Was maligning part of the state really supposed to get the southerners fired up? Everything about the disenfranchisement shit, the "real" America crap, etc., has just got to backfire.

91: I just watched that. So cute.

92 - It's the Nixon politics of resentment. It's not working this time because Obama is pulling in people who are voting *for* him instead of *against* the other guy. It's hard to hate on hope. This is the first election I've voted in where my Presidential vote was 100% for the candidate and not at all tainted by a lesser of two evils calculus. The Republicans could have been running Lincoln and I'd still have gone with Obama.

91: Good lord. He is just a master, isn't he? McCain is so overmatched it's actually a little bit sad.

77: Yeah, Di, I live up in Rogers Park. Polling place a block from my house.

You know, you can vote however you like.

People in other towns got "I voted stickers," but my precinct in Boston doesn't give them out, and the bake sales were lame.

I did, however, get my free cup of coffee at Starbucks.

97: Damn, that's adorable.

We're back! No line, as predicted, but the workers said that there was a line down the steps (which would represent 25-40 people) at opening. I was Voter 222, which is already more than the primaries, which was a big day. So.

Saw a couple neighbors there, including the GF of the drug dealer next door. Civic-minded.

I am planning to use all that money I don't have to pay in income tax any more to bet on dog racing buy decriminalized weed.

the drug dealer next door

Voting yes on 5?
http://www.voterguide.sos.ca.gov/title-sum/prop5-title-sum.htm

The Republicans could have been running Lincoln Jesus Christ his holy self and I'd still have gone with Obama.

I showed up with my vouchee in tow 5 minutes before the polls opened. In our historically low-turnout precinct there were already 30 people in line. We got registered and signed in fairly quickly, and I was shamefaced before my once-and-future colleagues for flaking on being Chair Judge this year. Out the door by 7:25.

I forgot my voter's guide though, so I had to leave most of the judicial and Soil & Water Conservation district races blank. Voted on all the referenda, however.

Remaining hopeful that this will give a few folx who really need it some breathing room to agitate for actual social change.

Obama's Grandmother voted absentee, so her vote still counts.

Which is a good thing, because it's going to be a real nail-biter in Hawaii.

103:
"I bet you'd vote for Satan if he was a Democrat!"
"Not in the primary!"

No lines in Havre. Come to Havre and vote!

Supplemental, at least in NY is supposed to be for people who changed registration too recently for regular book. M. Leb, call and report what happened to you to 866 OUR VOTE. It's the election protection organization run by the Lawyer's committee for civil rights, I've done volunteer work for them, and am doing more right now.

Early Votes Could Skew Election

Oh, great, this will probably be the right-wing talking point on why Obama's election was illegitimate.

As in, "McCain won the election ON ELECTION DAY" or something like that.

110 -- What, you think they're going to stop with the AfroIslamoCommunist stuff, just because there was an election?

107: Just curious: How does Satan poll with the key swing voter demographics in the battleground states?

112 - this is the George Will/David Brooks remix.

How does Satan poll with the key swing voter demographics in the battleground states?

Telephone calls, mostly.

113: Just slightly better than Al Gore and John Kerry.

Hour plus wait here. Just my precinct, though; we used to have two locations and now we only have one. Line took forever, but I did get cookies at the bake sale and interviewed by the eight-year-old reporter for the local affiliate.

Everyone seemed to be in a good mood. The last time I voted here it took all of five seconds.

I early voted, I think last week. Diebolds I think, and my vote probly got lost or switched, but this is Texas.

This afternoon I walked the dogs round the neighborhood, and managed to pass by three(!) voting places. Din't see many voters, but the dogs pissed on every notification sign banning electioneering, and also marked two copcycles.

Say what you will about the tenets of Islamofascism, at least it's an ethos.

We're having a lull in Havre. FYI, I'd say that First Americans* are running a little ahead of their 9% of the population, while residents aged 18-24 are running well behind their 14%. To be fair, folks in the latter demographic may be concentrated in the precincts up by the University.

* I'm not plugged in enough to know if this term has been adopted, or is aspirational. I did snag one of those First Americans for Obama signs.

My wife and I were both victims of Republican election fraud/vote-suppression tactics. We showed up to vote this morning and were told were not on the registration lists. My wife's complaint here was especially valid because she had actually registered to vote. I had not registered but raised hell anyway. They eventually let us both vote, but it was a close call.

I think Brock is making some sort of joke again.

No, actually I'm not.

121: You didn't register??

Great. One vote for Bob Barr, one vote in the trash pile. GEEZ BROCK.

I just got invited to a lutefisk festival. Emerson, what're you doing next weekend?

Dude, Brock, you obviously need me as an older sister. The hell, man?

126: Look, I meant to, the deadline just snuck up on me. But they let me vote anyway! (Seriously.) So all's well.

126: Who doesn't? Well, other than him.

Not to get overconfident or anything, but this sort of thing looks promising:

Americans turned out in numbers unprecedented since women were given the right to vote in 1920. Secretaries of state predicted turnouts approaching 90 percent in Virginia and Colorado and 80 percent or more in big states like Ohio, California, Texas, Missouri and Maryland.

But they let me vote anyway!

They let you fill out a piece of paper. If this day goes badly, Mr. Emerson's hogs are going to want a word with you.

130: They let you fill out a piece of paper.

And put it in the big box with all the other pieces of paper. What's your point?

The Offspring voted in West Hollywood around 1pm, took about half an hour, which is waaay long for WeHo. The Biophysicist & I tend to vote absentee ballot these days, as our polling place is up a steep hill a block away, with only two handicap parking spots, so driving there is not really practical.

By the next major election, I shall have had both knees replaced, so trudging up hill will be a lot easier. As will dancing the samba.

131: I was assuming provisional ballot. If you successfully bluffed them, yay you.