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What's it like where you vote?

kittynh

Penultimate Amazing
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I love to vote just because it really feels like voting here in New Hampshire. I go to our old town hall, park, say "hi" to the Chesterfield cop on duty. You go in and get a paper ballot, then you go into one of the rickety booths the Boy Scouts made about 20 years ago, and use a pencil to mark your ballot. On the way out you drop it in a box that the Boy Scouts also built. People bring their dogs in with them. The library has a bake sale all set up, and you pick up some cookies or a pie. You chat with a few of your neighbors you haven't seen in awhile.

I don't know, it just feels good.

So, as they say in Chicago, "Vote and vote often"

thank you!

http://www.nhchesterfield.com/


HEY! CHECK OUT THE SITE!!! It says the Chesterfield polls are open from 8pm-7pm!!!

I can't figure out when they are going to be open


:(
 
"So, as they say in Chicago, "Vote and vote often""

Just like they say in Afghanistan.
 
There are two places I go to vote, depending on the election.

Sometimes the voting place is the basement of a small church about a mile away, and sometimes in the gym of a local elementary school a few yards away. It is a mystery to me why the two sites are used. You can't vote at the wrong place so some people who get turned away probably never vote. It will be interesting to see the effect of the new provisional ballots on this.

The school gym is used for national elections, except there is a sign at the church saying to "vote here Nov 2". I'll check before then because I'd hate to wait in line twice.

We still use the infamous punch cards, chads and all. They seem to work fairly well, I've always been in the habit of checking mine for hanging chads and stuff, and never found any.

There are about 10 private voting stations. Any party can use any station. There is a checklist table when you enter where they check your registration and see if you've already voted or are at the right voting place. The lists are out in the open and anyone standing around can read your party affiliation off the sheet. I've never liked that, maybe a small town thing.

A serialized tag is removed from your voting form and kept in a stack, presumably in case needed for verification later. Completed ballots are covered in a sleeve and dropped into a locked box. Voters are given a little stickie that says "I Voted" and sent on their way.

Despite what people outside the US sometimes think, the ballots in each state do not have the same list of names. Arizona has Republican, Democrat, Libertarian, and sometimes Green party on the ballot. Anyone else is a write-in.

It is frequent in these parts to not have a candidate from a party, often I have only a choice from one party which means the real decisions are made at the primary level. A recent change in Arizona law allows Independent registered voters to choose which primary they want to vote in.
 
I'm voting to reelect our Republican gov. (he's a kind of McCain Republican) and our environmentalist Republican Senator and Congressman. They also support abortion!

But, no more Bushling for me.

I'm also voting for someone names "Butinsky". It's a minor office, and let's face it , with a name like that he deserves to win something!
 
We used to have the punch card voting system. Until Florida and the hanging chads. So now we have an electronic voting system. Unfortunately, during the primary, the election workers accidentally entered the wrong precint number for some voters, so they voted in the wrong local elections. I don't entirely trust this new system yet. It's kind of an uneasy feeling to vote, but at the same time, be unsure that the vote I just cast actually got counted. We have early voting here in The OC, so I voted already. At that bastion of SoCal life--the mall. My parents, more traditional, are waiting for election day. They will vote at a church around the corner from us.

Locally, I'm following one politician, who is running for three different elections (State Assembly, the local elementary school board and the high school board). This guy is known for being a total @ss. He was banned from coaching soccer due to his treatment of players and refs. I guess since he has so much free time now that he can't coach soccer, he's trying politics. I sure hope he loses.
 
Except we don't have any minorities that live in Chesterfield/Spofford. I was told when I move in that my neighbors were a "minority" and that the realtor hoped I wouldn't mind. Growing up the in the DC area, I wasn't upset at all. I then found out that the only minorities in the town are my neighbors, and they are Jewish.

Oh, and two gay guys moved in the neighborhood too. But since they have the nicest lawn and the best trained dogs (and attend church on a regular basis) they are welcomed.

So, I guess the evil Republican plot to keep the Jewish family and the gay couple from voting is underway!
 
I walk to the table and give them my name. The pollworker ask me to repeat it because she is no less than 85 years old and hard of hearing. I repeat it, AND spell it out for her. She flips through the book. "I don't see your name in here." Another elderly poll worker takes the book from her and looks. "She's right, sir, you're not in the register." I look down to see that they are in the Ns, not the Ms. I repeat the spelling of my last name. "Oh, there you are. Sorry about that." I sign my name, and then the book lady asks the ballot man which ballot I will have. "Ballot 4234" he says. "What?" she says. "4234" he repeats. She says "4224" as she writes it in the register. All the other poll workers respond in chorus, "No, 4234!" I vote, and then as I leave I wonder if any of these poll workers will live long enough to volunteer at the next election.
 
My mom is some sort of election judge. They gave her the manual on the new electronic voting. She can't figure it out. She is retired and she is the youngest at the polling place. They can only get retired people to do this job (and the pay isn't shabby). But who else are you going to get to work so little time?

It's gonna be a mess.
 
I have to vote at the Senior center. I really hate it cause old people creep me out.
 
I voted last week at my kitchen table. Absentee ballot, perfect thing for the politically-minded slacker. You don't actually have to be absent...
 
Yeah, I worry about the early voters. So organized and methodical, planning ahead.

People like me are always doomed to the last minute voting or that 'working late' pizza instead of leisurely dining out. That's gotta be a mark off on the evolutionary scale.
 
I live way out in the boondoggles so I go to some sort of A.F. Veteran's hall which is manned by little old curch ladies. They still have punch machines. I think the old scan-tron punch card is still the most reliable method. Just replace those blades and you are good for another ten presidents. I've never seen a "hanging chad".
 
kittynh said:
HEY! CHECK OUT THE SITE!!! It says the Chesterfield polls are open from 8pm-7pm!!!

I can't figure out when they are going to be open


:(
Click to expand...
As of this post, they fixed it. Let out your breath now ;)
 
demon said:
"So, as they say in Chicago, "Vote and vote often""

Just like they say in Afghanistan.
Click to expand...

Hate to admit it, but the election in Afghanistan was much cleaner than Chicago is likely to be.

Hardly any irregularity at all in Afghanistan.
 
I went to the wrong polling place. Well it wasnt wrong the last time I voted. Why the F*&K do they have to move precients all the time. At least the line wasnt long when I made it to the right station.
 
I'm going to vote in a short time. I expect big crowds. If memory serves, the polling place (a public school) has a pretty big parking lot.

On my drive to work, I saw a fellow with a Bush-Cheney sign and a bullhorn standing on a streetcorner, urging passing motorists to vote for the incumbent. It was, at the time, pouring rain. I wondered whether anyone would be persuaded by a guy with a bullhorn who was too stupid to come in out of the rain.
 
Brown said:
I'm going to vote in a short time. I expect big crowds.
Click to expand...

Bring a book. I got to my polling place at 6:30, and it still took me an hour and half to get to the head of the line. In the first two hours, my precinct had more voters than it normally has all day during a presidential election.

Guess 2000 taught people that every vote counts!
 
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