Did it go smoothly? Where did you vote? How long did you wait? Paper ballots? Share a little bit about what, if any, melodrama played out in your life today.
I voted on the south side of Bloomington, at the fire station and maintenance vehicle garage. The setup was very confusing. Certain precincts had to line up in different places which were not labelled. For example, Precinct 22 voted by lining up on one side of a hallway in the main garage and Precinct 12 lined up opposite them. So one hallway was really two mutually exclusive lines. The compound also has 3 or 4 different buildings on it, and again the different precincts in each were not (or poorly) labelled. Election officials helped people figure out where to go but they were all about 90 years old and quite overwhelmed by the turnout.
Regardless, people waited patiently. I waited almost 2 hours. Total time at the poll was about 2.5 hours. "Registration challengers" were present but looked scared shitless to actually do anything. One challenge was raised against a voter who did not have proof of residency and tried to vote provisionally, but the crowd (500+ strong) got very angry and was shouting "Let him vote!" and "Leave him alone!" The poll watcher who raised the challenge looked like he was going to wet his pants.
We voted electronically, an experience I did not like in the least. Overall, though, it was a labor-intensive yet seemingly smooth process.
erik says:
I voted in champaign this morning- a land where the paper ballots still exist. There seemed to be a huge turnout, but my total wait was less than half an hour.
I personally had no problems. I didn't even need to show them my ID, voter registration card, or any proof of residency. However, the woman right ahead of me in line was not allowed to vote because she was recently married and her name was changed. Before you ask, yes, she did have the legal documents indicating the name change. I am assuming that the fact that she married a frenchman and her new name was french had absolutely nothing to do with it.
Liz says:
I went early and it went pretty smoothly. The older woman working the lists got snippy with me when I tried to use my passport instead of a driver's license. I held my tongue as best I could while she waited for her supervisor to come tell her in so many words that a federal document is actually better than a state one. There didn't appear to be any challengers there at all, though the setup was similar to yours- a little confusing.
Shane says:
I voted in good ol Elletsville, Indiana at the Ellettsville Townhall. It took about 15 minutes, the line wasn't long but they only had three computer thingies to vote at. All went well. The only bit of excitement was that one girl was screaming about being disenfranchised because they told her she had to go vote at another location where her precinct was. She insisted that she did not have time to go there and that if they didn't let her vote she wasn't going to be able to vote and they were stealing her right to vote. After she left pretty much everybody agreed it was probably better that she didn't vote.
amanda says:
I voted in Champaign too, and had no wait whatsoever, but was challenged for my residency, because my id didnt have my current address (although both addresses are in the same precinct). I am assuming that the man who had issue with my voting only said so because i dropped my student id on the floor when i got out my id. he picked it up and then pointed out that the address they called didnt match what i had written. i brough a utility bill with me though, so i got to vote and all this really only took a couple minutes.
andy says:
I took Mike with me to a polling place in the Chicago burbs. I'd love to say that there was screaming or that I was challenged for my residency, but I wasn't. In fact, I told Mike I'd be out in 10 minutes. I walked in, signed my name which was compared against my signature in 2004 and then I was given a paper ballot. By the time I'd made my selections and returned to my auto, seven minutes had elapsed. Schneider: 1, Mike: 0.
mike says:
I voted 35th Ward in Chicago. The polling place was in a school gym about three blocks away from my house. I got there at 8:00am. The line was short, with about 35 people (it only represented one Precinct); since there were only two workers and a lot of old ladies flipping through their guides for each of numerous judges to be retained it took about 30 minutes altogether.
There were no challengers; there was a man who spoke Spanish working there to explain how to work the paper ballot. It was the same good ol' paper ballot that locks in with two claps – it was then scanned in front of me after I was done to make sure I didn't vote for more than one candidate for the same office (I could challenge it if it was going to not accept my ballot) – but it worked fine.
Ambrosini says:
Ugh,
I still haven't received my absentee balot I mailed for 10 days ago. I guess they don't want me voting. Does anyone know how long absentee balots have after election day? I'm really not worried about any of the elected positions to much, I just want to get my vote in on a referendum for a new school in my town.
Tim
Wendy says:
I voted in Ann Arbor, MI. It's a notoriously liberal town, and my god, I hope it and Detroit can keep the state in Kerry's camp.
I showed up 15 minutes after the polls opened. So I got there at 7:15 and was there until 8:45. I was voter 653 for the day. Good God. Some girl passed out from not eating breakfast, and they made people take off any political buttons they had on, but other than being long as hell, it was uneventful. Unfortunately my friends on the other side of town didn't have such luck. One friend waited 2 hours and had to leave for work. The wait was so long not just because of the voter turnout, but because challengers were challenging about every 3rd person and holding up the line. Garyn says that people were drifting away like crazy because they had to leave, and many were really upset because they weren't going to make it back before polls closed. Such bullshit. Such incredible bullshit.
kat says:
i voted with a paper scantron ballot at 7:30 this morning just north of san francisco taking only 10 minutes or so, and the biggest disturbance was the one i made trying to collect my "I VOTED" sticker. the dearest part of the day, however, was when i went with 5 veterans to vote at the va here. one sweet guy in a wheelchair had me fill out his ballot for him (legal – i checked), and it was democrat and women all the way down. lovely.
i also got to vote against having genetically engineered produce grown in my county. wheee.
Valerie says:
I stayed up all night and cast my ballot just after the polls opened at 6 a.m. I actually waited 20 minutes after the polls opened, I guess because it was still dark out and I somehow thought the little old ladies who always run those things wouldn't really be ready on time. I don't know why I thought that. I was voter number 37 in my district. No problems at all. The most notable thing was that some kid who must have been barely 18 was trying to vote and messed up her ballot, so had to get a new one. She looked very confused, and I should have felt sorry for her. But I couldn't really, because she was also goth.
eep says:
I had no problems. 64th precinct, in Oak Park, Illinois. I walked in, showed my ID and voter registration, and then they matched signatures to their files. Got the ballot, punched out some chads, turned it in, the end. About five minutes, all in all.
My sister's out in Rhode Island, and she said there all she had to do was show up, give them her name and address, and they handed her a ballot. If she knew people's names and addresses in different precincts, she could feasibly have gone from place to place using other people's votes. It's weird how much voting varies from town to town, much less state to state.
Happy says:
hmmm vote in the 20th thingybobber of cunningham township (east urbana more or less) it was quick painless and I was looked at like I was from another planet when I asked about a write in