Election Day Semi-Open Thread

I love the smell of Democracy in the morning!

I brought cookies for the little old ladies who normally staff my precinct, but they have been replaced by younger folks. I think the prospect of the new machines (with a paper trail!!!) was just too daunting. Or they all died. I don’t know but I left the cookies.

It’s raining here, which is not a good sign for the Democrats. By the time I normally vote I’m in the low 100’s; today I was 63. While the congressional seat will probably be retained by Virginia Everything-Is-Just-Grand-In-Iraq Foxx, there are some very tight local races for school board and county commisioner that would have a greater impact on people’s lives.

I haven’t been this excited since ‘92, and that’s pretty sad.

In the midst of running around doing volunteer for the local dem committee I can say this so far, it’s slow. It’s cold but reasonably clear day here in Lancaster, PA this morning and the voting is not as brisk as I would have imagined. Generally, it’s heavier later in the day anyway. However, with rain forecast for this afternoon and this evening we’ll have to wait to see how that affects turnout.

I did have the chance to listen on some exit polling. In a region where waterfouler’s kin are king, I heard every person say something along the lines of, “I’ve never voted dem before but I cannot tolerate ______ from the republicans”.

Good. Very good.

Back to work.

Margaret, best of luck. When you win, go up to the capital in - wherever it is you live - and kick butt!

dee, here in Albany, NY we still get to use the old lever machines at least one last time. I’m all for progress, but that does not mean analog == bad! I love going into the booth and flipping those switches. And that “Kachunk!” when you open the curtains and submit your vote. Gravitas, indeed.

Optical scan in San Fran… My only problem was that I forgot to study up on the judicial races, so I didn’t vote in them. (I think it’s much worse to cast an uninformed ballot than to skip the vote entirely.)

Back in the home base for lunch and one thing sticks in my mind. If election reform isn’t an early priority of a potentially dem congress then I don’t know what to think. It’s ridiculous that in this country we struggle this.

There’s a ton of thoughts that go along with that. I’ll leave for another time.

The problems that I’ve seen and heard reported here are predictable. They’re no surprise. They take place in precincts you would expect them. It’s the usual, some poll worker won’t hand out paper ballots because they’re too difficult to deal with or problems with equipment.

So, I’m embarrassed to admit that I don’t know more about this: Are Elections Boards generally elected or appointed or ??? Because after watching this unfolding, I definitely feel like I’d like to be more involved in the process in the future. I would guess it varies from place to place; it sure seems like an important place to start mobilizing.

Frozen Sea Skunk, after 2 years of Pelosi, they’ll remember why they never voted Dem.
Let the drinking begin.

Our ES&S iVotronics have little privacy wings on them, which do pretty much nothing when people are shouting out the problems they’re having voting for this candidate or that party.

Once they start updating it, we can all track Tony Barr’s progress here:
http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2006/pages/results/states/PA/H/09/district .html

David, did you mean “cooper” when you said “Murray”?

In Contra Costa County (SF East Bay) we’ve also got ES&S Scantron style machines. You still get to fill in the the ovals and have a paper record of your vote, but the scantron tallys your vote in the precinct.

Sonoma, the last county that I lived in (and actually worked the polls) we also had scantron style ballots, but they did the tallying back at the Registrar’s office.

What’s the problem with scantron voting again? Why the hell do we need these machines that can’t seem to get the touchscreen stuff right? Even in the precincts that are required to have touchscreens (for the blind, multi-lingual, etc) they have machines that are touchscreen, but print out the scantron ballot which is then tallied just like everyone else’s vote.

Siobhan, as for the judges, there was no info on them at all - at least none included in the official state information guide. I tend to also skip those types of things for the same reason. How should I know if this person deserves to keep their job or get their hat handed to them?

And if by election board, you mean the people at the precinct - it can vary by county. But I think it’s almost uniformly volunteer (it is in Sonoma and CoCo). You get paid about $75 as a normal worker and work from 0600-2100 (or later). The Inspector (one in charge - that’s what I used to do) would get a whole $25 more and no real breaks). It’s really the only thing that saved me from being entirely depressed about the whole state of affairs with voting in this country. To actually be a part of Democracy in Action™ was a wonderful thing.

And even though I’m fairly liberal in my politics, all of that stops when I show up for duty. I had an extremely conservative Bush voter working for me at the ‘04 election and we got along wonderfully. I even had to confront a few electioneers for both sides and felt no qualms about that - whether I agreed with them or not.

My advice: if you can hold your tongue for a day and be absolutely non-partisan, volunteering as a poll worker (not pole) will be one of the best things you ever do to make you feel like this country is still worth fighting for, no matter what happens today. Do it.

And, yeah, Cooper go to the county registrar of voters in person today and make sure they are aware of what the heck happened to you. That’s really not right. I don’t mean go and yell at the people because chances are they aren’t personally responsible, but make sure that your situation is perfectly clear. And then make sure to warn people going in to vote about what happened to you.

It’s not about stealing an election, it’s about the *principles* of democracy. And that’s more important to fight for than anything else.

Today I don’t care who you’re voting for, I just want everyone to take ownership of the process and get out there and vote!

Oops! I did indeed mean cooper. I posted a comment to Murray on one of the other threads regarding Tony’s race, and apparently my fingers and my brain were on different pages with that comment.

Our optical scanners are fairly quiet, and the paper stock is thick enough that I was unable to inflict any bodily harm on myself, but there was the satisfaction of two false starts, then the successful insertion of my ballot and the machine’s acceptance of same - sort of like when the vending machine finally accepts your dollar.

Fowler,

You guys haven’t a clue what a leftist is. Nancy Pelosi is a Jeffersonian centrist who gets categorized as leftist because the right is so damned far right that the current notion of the center is about midway down the conservative side of the scale. And John Murtha, who works very well with Nancy Pelosi, will be the next majority leader in the House. Do follow Siobhan’s advice, and do enjoy. We all need a little ethyl alcohol to see us through this grand experiment. Wish I could share in some of the duck. It’s been a good 40+ years since I did any duck hunting.

Hi Everyone- In keeping with the peaceful theme, I want to share some hope…. Remind us what is truely important in democracy, a society founded upon higher ideals… This is red sate blue state harmony, I applaud you all on embracing your civic responsibility!! Namaste, B
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wwXDeVKjdYA&NR

Amen to your advise Landis.
Siobhan, I think your wines are probably a little easier on the liver than my preferred whiskey. BTW, I saw a bald eagle the other day just south of East Tree Stump. I’ve heard rumors of them on the big lakes up north, but not around here.
David, I’ll take your word for it. If Pelosi’s not a leftist, I don’t know one. ‘Cept for maybe you and the ACLU. Next time I come through the Green Swamp, I’ll try to bring you some duck. For the record though, it does need help to make it edible. Wine, whiskey, garlic, or bacon…

Fowler, didn’t you mean wine, whiskey, garlic and bacon?

I know I would—he’s so handsome in that movie!
And speaking of film, that Larry King bit was truly disturbing. “His” figure was outstanding, but dancing skills, not so much.

Also, I agree with Ann that the Larry King bit was disturbing (to say the least!), but disagree about “his” figure. “He” needs to eat more. I was afraid “his” twig-like body would crumple under the weight of “his” mighty silicone breasteses.

Harold, no George just lived over in that jolly old land for a while. I find when I spend more than 2 weeks in Maine that words like “A-yuh” and “Goo-Ud” start popping up in my usual blather. I say we cut George’s Sister’s brother some slack.

sjelly, or under the weight of Larry’s fat head.

Ann, raining hard in Seattle for days on end - that’s so surprising.

Damn, Adam posted simultaneously, so I had not read his when I posted mine. This is just to explain the utter disconnect between his and my post. Adam, you serve honorably as a way of life, as all Felbernauts know and for which we love you, yes we do, Mother Felber’s gift to us all.

Checking in from Minnesota Suburbia. I voted about a half hour ago, and with 2 hours left to vote, I was #1,546 to vote out of about 2,700 registered voters at my voting place. That’s roughly 57% voter turnout (for my area), and it was hella busy. Perhaps my little chunk of suburbia can surpass 60%, which would be more than I’ve ever seen turn out for a presidential election. Also, like “It’s Pat!” noted, yay for optical scanners in good ol’ Minnesota.
I thought I’d never be for cautious optimism again (my entire 4 person apartment nearly had a mental breakdown in ‘04), but… maybe this time.

Well now it’s going to seem like I’m sucking up, but I thought the George Takei line was the best thing in the clip.

It still creeped me out though.

What head?
~Kat
(Landis’ Wife)

This is as good a reason for absentee voting. I’m glad I got to just fill in the bubble with a black pen instead of struggling with some sort of buggy POS at the polls — though I missed out on getting a free bonsai if I brought one of those “I Voted” stickers to the university plant shop.

1. It’s interesting that there are no comments on YouTube about the Larry King thingy. I think it stuns its viewers for a moment. Very effective, stoner-wise.

2. Watch it there with the duck recipes. I’m a Duck (Go, Nike-sponsored University of Oregon, in your most fashionable football uniforms ever! We are hoping that someday there will be a Heisman for that.)

3. Santorum’s going doooown (at least in early polling with an incredibly small percentage of the vote in)!

I actually won.
My 3-town, 4-representative district suddenly and unexpectedly turned 100% blue.

Having just got off the phone with the press, now I must start paying attention to the rest of the country.

Congrats Margaret-
The only color i like more than purple, is blue…. Will you please autograph my mouse!?!!?!?! (F.Y.I. Santorum’s giving a concession speech….)

I retract the silicone comment because I just noticed the HEAD! I get it now, duh!

YEA!! San Francisco Values take charge!!

(sorry Fowler, but I’m psyched… try any of the Claudia Springs pinots or zins; they’ll do the trick, I promise.)

As a Seattle resident, I didn’t care about all these national referenda and whatnot. All I cared about was Seattle Referendum No. 1, which had to do with whether or not the City takes my lap dances away, and Seattle Charter Amendment No. 12, which had to do with whether appointed (rather than elected) councilmembers get to vote on amending the city charter. Local politics is where it’s at.

Oh, yeah - local politics - I voted FOR the library bond, thank you!

I just stumbled in, it’s 1:00 and it took almost 2 hours to drive from the party due to the fog (including the fog outside). I spent most of the day walking door to door, to put a post-it note and Tony lit on all of the Democrat houses in 2 precints who hadn’t voted by noon. Then headed to HQ and cheered as more and more news came in Dems victories all around. At 9 we headed to the Democratic victory party in Altoona.

Everything looked fabulous until they got to the PA 9th.

Bill Shuster 58%
Tony Barr 42%

If I weren’t so heavily invested in this one race I would be elated with the results so far. As it is I’m just kind of numb.

Murray, you and Tony had such an uphill race, I think 42% is something of a victory. Keep fighting the good fight, gentleman.

I voted this afternoon in Idaho. A husband and wife, both looked to be in their late seventies, stooped and somewhat feeble, were voting together in the booth next to mine. The husband was reading the ballot to his wife. When he got to the amendment banning same sex marriage I had to smile when she said, “ooh, no…”and he said “I think we want to vote for the husband and wife marriage…”

In Connecticut, Joe “I {heart} Bush} Lieberman defeated Democratic challenger Ned Lamont, with a lot of help from Republican voters. Lieberman’s spokesperson vowed that he would continue to caucus with Democrats. We’ll see.

[Wow, the internets pipes are still slow this morning!]

In my district, Democrat Chris Murphy ousted 12-term Congresswoman Nancy Johnson. Yes!

Two other fiercely contested House races are still undecided.

My friend Elizabeth got a seat on our school board, which is still dominated by Republicans who think gay kids are not harrassed in school. Elizabeth will beg to differ. Often.

Murray, you and Tony need to take a nice long rest and then you can look back on a campaign that both of you should be proud of. People like Tony and Elizabeth who take the risks and put themselves on the line are the real heroes.

And in a bit of a self-serving message, may I say it’s JUST what I wanted!

Oh yeah, and Maragret, kick their butts!

Happy to report that here in Wisconsin we re-elected Democratic Governor Jim Doyle. Bush Toady Mark Green, Rep. 8th District, had vacated his seat to challenge the governor, and toady State Rep. John Gard was annoited to fill it. Incidently, the 8th District has only had 2 Democratic representatives in living memory…wait, make that THREE! Allergy doctor Steve Kagen whooped him after one of those nasty knockdown fights you’ve been hearing about, where both sides dumped a bazillion dollars into assaulting us with campaign advertising.

So nice to know that 2 toadies are looking for jobs.

siobhan, you absolutely made my day! Well, the voters in California district 11 did, but you broke the news! Thank you. You’re right, it *is* hard to type when you’re skipping for joy

BTW, in my message about Pombo, I didn’t mean to imply that being a representative isn’t a legitimate job. It’s only when someone like him fills the slot that it loses its luster.

I will take a swipe at one Dem - I can’t believe Cold-Cash Jefferson is in front in Louisiana. Appalling.

dee, my bad - you’re not a Sagittarian after all. Ah heck, I like you anyway. Happy Birthday.

Well, we knew it was just a matter of time… I just heard a talking head on NPR refer to Nancy Pelosi as the titular leader of the House.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/11/08/rumsfeld.ap/index.html

WASHINGTON (AP) — Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, architect of an unpopular war in Iraq, intends to resign after six stormy years at the Pentagon, Republican officials said Wednesday.

Officials said Robert Gates, former head of the CIA, would replace Rumsfeld.

The development occurred one day after congressional elections that cost Republicans control of the House of Representatives, and possibly the Senate as well. Surveys of voters at polling places said opposition to the war was a significant contributor to the Democratic Party’s victory.

President George W. Bush was expected to announce Rumsfeld’s departure and Gates’ nomination at a news conference. Administration officials notified congressional officials in advance.

Rumsfeld quit?
oh wow - off to the TV to verify
(not Margaret’s win - that’s etched in gold!)

(and gsny - forgive please, I indvertantly used your “ke-chunk” analogy in another post, another place.)

WHATTA DAY!

I’m just giddy! Elections went incredibly well AND Rummy is out, not to mention Dee’s birthday! Happy birthday, Dee!

The victory would have been much sweeter had Tony won, but his numbers were truly impressive. I do hope he runs again!

Ding dong, the witch is dead! Rumsfeld resigned, the House is ours, and the Senate is one seat away from being ours. I assume that one will be a drawn out, Florida-style battle. But: Woohoo! By the way, dumb question, but how do they figure Lieberman into those Senate balance charts they show on TV with the Republicans having 49 seats and the Dems having 50?

I’m in California, and while sort of happy, disappointed in Arnold Shwarzenneger’s reelection, disappointed that the cigarette tax proposition went down, very disappointed that the alternative energy proposition went down, thanks to big oil company’s efforts.

But all said, very pleased!

Yes, Happy Birthday Dee! The only thing that could make it better is if maybe Larry were to dance at your party…. Ok, maybe not (it just can’t get much better, no?)

Should somebody go check up on WaterFowler and make sure that he isn’t contemplating “cleaning his gun” or drinking more moonshine than his liver can handle? The red wine really is better for you - ask the mice. And don’t worry about Ms. Pelosi, she’s not nearly as bad as you’ve been led to believe (she’s not nearly as much as many of us liberals would have hoped).

Mieke, Lieberman and Sanders are both officially Independents who are being counted as Democrats in those totals as they promised to ‘caucus’ with the Dems. Even if Lieberman is a DINO, he’s absolutely needed for a D majority.

Ok, so I’m confused. Rumsfeld just resigned even though W had expressed nothing but glowing support and an intention to stick with him through the rest of W’s term.

It’s almost like W was lying for public relations purposes, then switched as soon as switching became politically convenient, (aka “the timing was right”).

p.s. After the last election, I (and many FanAp regulars) expressed a deep-felt disconnect with America that often came out as “Am I really that out of touch with how stupid Americans really are?” Now I feel a little more relieved. I’m no democrat lover, but at least I am reassured that the voters are not *completely* blind.

Do you think we can get “Lord of the Flies” and “Lord of the Rings” as required reading for our elected leaders….? More thinking before “duh-ciding”… Always a good thing. Fowler, I’ll keep a candle going for Madame Pelosi!

Fowler, that’s a good thing. They’ll need help from every corner.

Seattle Dan/Tammy or any other locals - What is the delay in the Darcy Burner race? Last I looked there was only 30-something % of the results? Is it something related to all of the horrendous weather? (And hoping you all came through that okay, by the way.)

All that Republican scare talk about how if the Democrats gain the house they would immediately start impeachment proceedings was just such a pile of drivel. Impeaching the Smirking Putz leaves us with…President Cheney.

Of course, one little electrical blip in his pacemeaker now leaves us with…President Pelosi.

Oh my.

Say with me kids…”Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi.” I just want to say it over and over again. What a beautiful, beautiful sound.

And with the ouster resignation of Donald Rumsfeld, George W. Bush can at last begin to fulfill the promise he made at the first coronation inauguration, that is to restore honor and integrity to the White House.

Dee, actually we’d have to get past President Rice before we get to Pelosi.

Really? I, too, thought that the Speaker was third in line. Wait, let me get my pocket Constitution….

Yep, it’s President, VP, Speaker, President pro tempore of the Senate, then Sec. of State followed by the rest of the Cabinet.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_line_of_succes sion

Murray, I was wondering if Tony would say “Next time? Next time you run, and I’ll manage!”

Anyone know a good math tutor?

Hmm, reading that Wikipedia article, I think I’ve been wrong in my understanding. I had the impression that the succession had been changed to put elected officials (those who had had to face voters) ahead of Cabinet members, on the theory that “the people” had picked the successors rather than the President doing the picking. The Wikpedia article doesn’t address that. Now I wonder whether I’m right and Wikipedia is just remiss, or whether I’ve been wrong for all this time.

Happy Birthday, Dee (mine was Saturday; yesterday was the nicest b-day gift I’ve gotten in six years).

Not really anything other than trivia, but that one tiny (383 registered voters) delinquent precinct in Isle of Wight, VA is 5 miles from where I live. Fortunately, for my sense of “my vote isn’t widely dismissed as can’t-make-a-difference-now” it’s not my precinct (by about 1/2 a mile).

Yes! CNN has called the Va. Senate race for Jim Webb. Okay, now what do we do?

http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/11/08/election.main/index.html

My local Congressional race is still too close to call. The Repug candidate is ahead by 460 and we’re still awaiting the provisional vote count.

Okay, if you’re serious that you don’t want corrupt slimebags on either side of the aisle:

Jefferson from Louisiana is being forced into a runoff. It’s insane that he’d get 30%, especially given Louisiana’s recent experience with government officials concerned more with their own well-being over the general public. Fortunately, there is an alternative, Karen Carter. If we’re serious about cleaning house, we’ve got to hold our side to the same higher standards.

You can support Karen here via ActBlue.

I love this pair of editorial cartoons from Tom Toles:

Sunday, October

followed by….

Thursday, November 9

On CNN, they said that Allen didn’t want to drag this out and will most likely concede tomorrow, nato. He knows the chances are slim to none that a recount would shift votes more than a couple hundred, and he lost by over 6000, so it would be a bad PR move for the Republicans. Seems they have decided to resign themselves to this loss across the board, reassure their ex-supporters that they “get it” now (in the hopes that they can win them back in two years) and slink off to lick their wounds. They are clearly trying to stay in (or get back into) the good graces of conservatives by being “good losers”. Bush joking around about their “thumpin’”, Santorum’s kids weeping as their dad encourages his supporters to give a round of applause to his worthy opponent, Rumsfeld bowing out. I highly doubt Allen is going to start kicking and screaming now.

And to top it all off, Britney Spears filed for divorce on Tuesday, making her eligible to become my bride. Not that the Catholic Church really recognizes her godless heathen civil union anyway (or any other marriage outside of the Catholic Church), but still, it does clear up a legal hurdle. (Britney, honey, we’ll start the RCIA proceedings as soon as you’re back from ice skating.)

Perhaps we will invite Donald Rumsfeld, Rick Santorum, and Don Sherwood to the ceremony. For they have all helped make this a banner week.

Why G. Allen will concede:

It would be worse to instigate an investigation into the election process.

Regarding post #117:

GW are YOU flip-flopping now?

Thank you FanAp elves. If I had wanted to read strange one paragraph essays, I’d have gone elsewhere.

Hedera, what I heard about Sen. Macaca is that a recount may have brought out lots of voter “irregularity” that the good Sen. didn’t want to be indicted for. Lots of reports of voter intimidation in Virginia, and He still lost.

Fowler,

We’re white and central to the historically enfranchised. Voter intimidation occurs in predominantly black precincts. I have never experienced any form of intimidation any time I have ever voted. Blacks in Tampa and Jacksonville have seldom not faced some form of voter suppression. Not sure where it would have happened in Virginia, since the governor is a Democrat. Used to be that would have guaranteed suppression of blacks in Virginia, but the Democratic Party in Virginia has come a long way, baby. Not so Senator Macaca and his brand of contemporary Republican. My guess is you are viscerally non-racist, like a lot of contemporary Southerners of all political stripes. Not so older establishment Southern Republicans, unfortunately.

Sure glad blacks are still willing to play football for my Gators, which they’ve only been allowed to do since like 1967. Side note: there can never be too many kudos for Texas Western 1966.

Stupid Fanny Roborat! Hates my posts, but loves my hair. Well, in case my previous post doesn’t make it through, Fowler, try doing a search for “voter intimidation” +Virginia. You’ll find a plethora of reports on the subject.

The post Fanny refuses to let through has a Fox News link (as well as one from Mother Jones and one from NPR, although those two might be a bit too liberal for Fowler’s tastes). And if you want to make my company happy, you could always search via one of our services:
http://www.blinkx.com/results?query=voter%20intimidation%20%2BVirginia

What a difference two years makes! I only wish we still had access to the comments for this, but a glimpse at the Trackbacks will give those of you who weren’t around back then and idea of the responses it generated.

So may I be the second to say “Felber in ‘08!”

nato, he did get better grades than the one you voted for in ‘04.

Harold (#109), Tony Barr is an electable name, Murray Schrotenboer is not.

WF. I’m sure you wouldn’t be intimidated at the polling place and I’m sure you don’t think about race. You don’t have to. If you applied for a job but didn’t get it, you would assume that they hired someone more qualified; if you are black you assume they hired someone white. When you shop, store security doesn’t follow you around. When you drive through an affluent neighborhood the cops don’t stop you to find out why you would be there. You probably don’t have a great uncle who was lynched for not getting off the sidewalk when an important white person walked by. Your parents probably didn’t tell you stories about Tuskegee experiments. If you are white, you don’t think about race, if you are black you can’t not think about it. So if there is a police car at the polling place and he is checking everyone’s ID, you might assert your rights, but your aunt Fay might rather just go home and not take any chances.

They aren’t looking to intimidate everyone, just enough to make a difference.

Oops, I misread siobhan’s post and thought that electronic voting machines appeared to have eaten many thousand voters.

It’s a nice image, though.

How the heck did THAT make it past Fanny and the moderation queue?