I voted today!

[Choop]

Dunno if/when/how the rest of the country's doing it, but here in Georgia we're allowed to go to the county election office this week and vote early. Basically, I filled out an application for absentee ballot, and they gave me an absentee ballot, which I traded in for an electronic voting machine (EVM?) card.


Now here's hoping Diebold doesn't fuck us all up the ass with a pitchfork.


Anybody else?

[Asherdan]

Now here's hoping Diebold doesn't fuck us all up the ass with a pitchfork.

I have a hand in some of Diebold's R&R work.  If it makes you feel any better, you can attribute a small digit holding the pitchfork (pinky?  ring?) to me.

As for voting, Spouse has already mailed in the absentee she requested but I'm going to show up at the polls on the day just so's I can get the little I Voted sticker.  I plan on adding it to my monitor collection with the other three.

[CortJstr]

My office gives us an hour off on election day but I'm considering going in Thursday to beat the crowd then leaving work an hour early Tuesday anyway.

[andalucia]

Wow, it's frustrating to be observing this with the knowledge that I can't make even the relatively nominal contribution of a vote.  (I canvassed during the last Canadian election, which I couldn't vote in either, but that's quite a different game).  Things are even noticeably tense around my school, which apparently has vast quantities of Americans.

[arkabee]

i've had my "i voted" sticker since last week.

let's hear it for still believing in chad technology! let's go west tennessee, let's aim to achieve!

seriously, though, these new-fangled electronic voting machine systems scare the beejeezus outta me.

[CortJstr]

seriously, though, these new-fangled electronic voting machine systems scare the beejeezus outta me.

The worst part for me is that every time I vote they explain to me how a touch screen works, the difference between "OK" and "Cancel" and what the Back button does. It adds like 10 minutes per person to the process every election.

[Pedro Picasso]

I'm a voting official this year.  I'll be putting in a 12 hour day at the precinct fire house.  I encourage everyone to vote early if you can.  It's a lot easier on your county.

Our system is neither computer nor chad.  Our ballots have little arrows with the middles missing, if you want to vote for someone, complete her arrow.  Machine counting is unbelievably accurate, and the people that do it wrong generally make understandable marks that can be easily hand counted.  (They'll circle a candidate or something stupid.)

[wombat]

Aw, hey, this is cheating.  We're all supposed to go out and vote on the same day like one big happy family.

Really I'm just jealous that I can't do it where I live.  What I really miss is when I had an excuse to vote absentee ballot. I always preferred take-home tests.

[Asherdan]

I'm a voting official this year.  I'll be putting in a 12 hour day at the precinct fire house.

I kinda admire that, Pedro.  Here's hoping you get free donuts delivered!

[Pedro Picasso]

I kinda admire that, Pedro.  Here's hoping you get free donuts delivered!

Thanks!  They do give us money, but not much.  JL has promised to bake cookies.  I'm looking forward to it.

[Nabubrush]

I'll be voting here at work (right on the Arctic Ocean, some of the farthest north US voters). However, in Oregon, everybody votes by mail. I'm still registered in AK, but that'll change after this one.

[slink]

I was intrigued, I saw that they have blocked access to Bush's site from outside the US. Now, they claim it's for saving money and making sure it stays up, but it does highlight the 'no one else matters' point of view of the Republicans (and Democrats to a large extent).

Best though, is the advert they were trailing on georgewbush.org, which said Kerry is unfit to be President for he is a Jew... Hmmmmmmmmmmm.
Zieg fuck*ng heil Mr. Bush, Sir!

I know, I know, but come on, it's just too funny!

Also, this is the website that features this text:   An inspiring celebration of America's greatest ever 21st century President.
Ah, I want to live on that site. It is so fine:

"He was sworn into office by the Rehnquist Supreme Court on January 20, 2001, after a campaign in which he unveiled inspiringly unspecific plans to never ejaculate in the Oval Office, transform America's public schools into Protestant madrassas, bestow the budget surplus on our patriotic defense contractors, transform Social Security and Medicare into vague memories, and systematically shatter the wall separating church and state."

[Nabubrush]

It's cool to live in a country where the leader is Satan.

[Pedro Picasso]

Two little ranty bits of info:

1. One hundred thousand civilians have died in Iraq due directly to coalition violence according to a survey that discounted Fallujah (which is nothing but violence right now), and asked two households in every neighborhood for actual death certificates to make sure people weren't just making shit up.  One hundred thousand innocent people.  That's 9/11 times twenty (to quote Team America.)  Guess who I'm blaming when I cast my absentee ballot?

2. Safe Haven Laws - I never knew about this.  In North Carolina, like many states, it is legal for the parent of a newborn baby to walk up to a policeman or medical professional, hand off the baby stating that they would like the child to be cared for by a safe haven, and leave.  The professional cannot demand their name, and they cannot be prosecuted.  This is to prevent children from being abandoned and to prevent unprepared parents from being prosecuted for leaving their child (an irresponsible act) in a responsible manner.  I think that's awesome.  Why don't more people know about this?  We should be making all sorts of public service announcements.  How's a law like this going to save babies unless the sixteen year old mothers at the wits' end have heard of it.

[Asherdan]

I think that's awesome.  Why don't more people know about this?  We should be making all sorts of public service announcements.  How's a law like this going to save babies unless the sixteen year old mothers at the wits' end have heard of it.

Cali implemented the same type of deal a little while back with a little hurrah and then no follow up.  Every time a baby is found discarded out here (and it's disturbingly common) in a semi-spectacular fashion (the boring kind don't make the news) local news reports on it with sad shaking of well coiffed TV heads.  Every time Spouse and I look at each other and harp along the lines of "would it completely screw their delivery schedule of disastor and tragedy to hammer home FOR 15 SECONDS that this shit NEED NOT HAPPEN".  They never do, though.

The first point plays into my suspicions.  Shit.