I’ve already decided to be at my polling place when it opens at 6, because I have a very busy morning ahead of me and I’m really worried that there’ll be long lines when I would normally show up, around 7.  My neighborhood is CRAZY excited about Obama, and I’m thinking people will turn out in much larger numbers than usual this year, and much earlier. 

And if not, well then how cool would it be to be able to say I was the FIRST to vote for Barack at my polling place?

Unfortunately, nothing’s going to change.  Voter suppression works for the GOPpers; they’ve said as such.  And since many bosses are idiots who vote for Rethuglicans becausde they don’t want to pay their part of the social contract, this works for them, too.

As temp workers, my husband and I just won’t call in for our schedule until our votes are cast. But that could cost us several hours’ wages.

MINNESOTA ELECTION LAWS – 2008
204C.04 EMPLOYEES; TIME OFF TO VOTE.
Subdivision 1. Right to be absent. Every employee who is eligible to vote in an election
has the right to be absent from work for the purpose of voting during the morning of the day of
that election, without penalty or deduction from salary or wages because of the absence. An
employer or other person may not directly or indirectly refuse, abridge, or interfere with this
right or any other election right of an employee.
===================================
In other words, you don’t want your employees to take the morning off sitting in line, you make certain that voting is fast and convenient for them.

If you’re in California, the hotline number given to us by the California Democratic Party is (877) 321-VOTE.

I hope the people watching these polling places keep a close eye on people who are not registered or do not qualify to vote. They people should be rejected, don’t let them pass if you suspect any wrong doing. I’m worried about the urban areas in particular…

Those of us who were laid off had/have time to wait in line

Pepper:

I hope the people watching these polling places keep a close eye on people who are not registered or do not qualify to vote. They people should be rejected, don’t let them pass if you suspect any wrong doing. I’m worried about the urban areas in particular…

Yeah. Especially keep an eye out for the ones who are brownish of skin, or who are wearing an obviously pro-Obama getup. Can’t trust ‘em.

This is why the rethugs HATE Oregon’s vote by mail.  No lines, high participation.

What is the excuse to not do it?  It “makes voting too easy”.  I think we know what that means.

Hey Pepper: Go to hell.

Not this time. Not this year.

This is why the rethugs HATE Oregon’s vote by mail.  No lines, high participation. What is the excuse to not do it?  It “makes voting too easy”.  I think we know what that means.

This is the first year for “no reason needed” voting by mail here in Ohio. I LOVE it. I never will vote at the polling place again, at least until we get another asshole Republican Secretary of State who takes it away.

If you aren’t registered, you don’t vote pepper.  Funny how those who are “so woooorrried” about these things don’t have the first fucking clue about how the whole process is run.  I find it amusing - it really seems that you have never bothered to vote and don’t even understand what the poll workers do to the extent that you are showcasing such ignorance.

Stupid troll, no cookies for you!

I’m just saying the polling monitors have to be on their game. Do not let fraudulent voters pass through. You want the election to be fair don’t you? . I employ 12 people, they have time to vote before work or after, and if they take work off I will dock their pay. I’m not fooling around, this is not a holiday.

Pepper, election workers are volunteers.  You are welcome to volunteer.  Otherwise, you are welcome to shut the fuck up.

Employ 12 workers my ass.  Like, line up your cheetoes?  You obviously have no fucking clue about both voting nor about running a small business, asshat.  If you did, you would be calling people who might give a fuck about your candidate, or actually running your business,  or working at a polling place to keep things legit like you say ...  and not pissing around here with your unwanted drivel.

I’m just saying the polling monitors have to be on their game. Do not let fraudulent voters pass through.

Have you ever actually voted before, Pepper?  Because honestly it’s pretty simple.  Beside each set of booths (or machines) is a table, staffed with a couple of non-partisan poll workers.  In order to vote, you go up to this table and give your name (confirming this with ID if you live in a state that requires ID to vote).  If your name is on the worker’s list, you sign the list where your name appears and proceed to the voting booth.  If it’s not, you may be allowed to fill in a provisional ballot which will only be counted if your registration can be successfully located and connected to a precinct in your jurisdiction.  It’s really pretty simple.  No name on the list, no vote.  Workers don’t really have to be “on [their] game”, aside from being vaguely sentient and literate.

I employ 12 people, they have time to vote before work or after, and if they take work off I will dock their pay. I’m not fooling around, this is not a holiday.

Employers are required by federal law to give their employees sufficient time to vote.  This could be before or after work hours depending on employees schedules and the hours of local polling places.  If employees have insufficient time to vote before or after work (I believe it’s something like 2-3 hours of open polls), employers are required to give sufficient time off to vote.  If you do not do so, you are in violation of federal labor laws.  I’m not exactly sure what the penalties are for this, but I’m sure they exist and can be enforced either by employees in the know or by outside individuals you were stupid enough to inform of your illegal workplace policies.

I’m just saying the polling monitors have to be on their game. Do not let fraudulent voters pass through.

They should also be on the lookout for unicorns and leprechauns.

Ok, I’m a canuck (most of the time anyways) but how is it that you don’t have adequate polls to move people through at a clip? We just finished our election and my polling place was in my freakin apartment building. Three pollsters, one observer (there could have been more… or none, it’s up to the parties running in the district), one ballot box. In my mom’s neighbourhood (where I used to vote) it was in the local public school gymnasium, 7 voting screens to go behind and mark your ballots, two ballot boxes, 7 or 8 pollsters tops. The key for that I guess is to get as many little polling places set up as possible, all under multiple eyes and all ballot boxes serial-numbered and accounted for.

If everyone in my building voted at once the line might be an hour and a half long. As it is I took my card and my id with me to work and voted before getting on the elevator going home. The longest wait I heard of was 20 minutes.

I don’t know if this is because our ridings are smaller than your districts, but maybe instead of more partisan gerrymandering some bi-partisan group (or poli-sci class?) could look into a way to break down the districts so that they could adequately handle the volume of voters expected….

The reason why you have long lines in these urban polling places is because it’s a clusterfuck. Many people; illegals, felons, frauds (mostly democrats) showing up who don’t belong there, or stupid people who don’t know how to punch a chad, etc.

It’s takes away from the law abiding voter and uses up time for the worker at the polling place.

just to be clear I’m not accusing anyone who posts here of partisan gerrymandering… it’s just that’s the only re-districting that I’ve ever heard of from the USofA. (it’s late and I’m tired… but Pandagon was breaking IE at work today so I didn’t get to check it until now, and this really does baffle me)

also pepper, chill the fuck out. Unless you can prove any of your unfounded accusations I don’t think you’ll get any traction on this board and you might just stress yourself into a heart attack or a hernia or something.

Shorter Pepper: Voting is slow because of black and Hispanic people!

Kodiak - American districts are redrawn in accordance with census figures every ten years.  Of course, this is overseen by the government, which means that the party in power can wield undue influence on exactly how those boundaries are drawn so as to strengthen their hold. 

Also, re lines—honestly this is the first year I’ve heard of long lines to vote anywhere other than, duhhhhh, swing states (i.e. Ohio in 2004).  I’ve never waited more than 10 minutes to vote, and my polling place has always been conveniently located to my home.  I think some of the long lines people are experiencing with early voting has to do with the fact that early voting is a relatively new thing here, and not federally mandated.  Each state has its own procedure, and there’s no requirement that early voting be convenient or widely available.  However, my state doesn’t have early voting at all, so I don’t speak from experience here.

but how is it that you don’t have adequate polls to move people through at a clip?

I was immediately reminded of this post from back during the primaries.

An excerpt:

Unfortunately, it appears that the system is rigged so that convenient polling places are only available to some people, which changes the demographics of who actually votes. Surprise surprise, one of the targets of such abuse is a historically black university outside of Houston called Prairie View A&M;.

Basically, this is (for the republicans) a feature, not a bug. It makes things difficult for the people they don’t want to vote to do so, while (usually) being only minimally inconvenient for the people they do want to vote.

I found out today that the UI college republicans are going to be “verifying” voters in my town on election day, and it occurred to me that Republicans are going to know damn well that they lost since they pitched such a fit about voter fraud.  Yeah, count those votes twice, buddy.

My mother turns 58 next month.  This is the first time she will cast a ballot, because she has been unregistered up til now. 
Back in 2000 I chattered nonstop about how excited I was to vote in my first election, and she listened patiently.  She listened to my enthused babbling again in 2004, and again this year in 2008.  Still, every election cycle, she just listened and never talked about actually voting herself.  I knew she hadn’t registered, but never really pressed the issue as it seemed like a personal matter.  About a month ago, I lost patience and flat-out asked her why she never registered to vote.  My mother was quiet for a minute, and finally admitted that she thought she was too old.  Somehow she had gotten the message that you can only register to vote when you turn 18.  How she heard that and maintained that belief all these years, I’ll never know.  (It’s also a failing on my part for never asking the right questions.)  In any event, we had a good discussion, and I convinced her that it wasn’t too late.  I left her house embarrassed that I’d been so oblivious, but hopeful that she’d finally register.  And register she did; I’m proud to say that my mother registered to vote on my birthday two weeks ago.  Tomorrow I get to call my mom for the first time and ask “Who’d you vote for?”  That’s the best birthday present I could hope for.  (Don’t mean to hijack the thread, but I had to share with someone.)

Back on topic:  If I understand correctly, polling station hours are determined state-by-state.  What if polling hours could be federally mandated?  It would help ameliorate the modern-day poll tax to have polling stations open for 24 hours (12am - 12 am) so as to minimize the impact of the wait to vote on a person’s work shift.  For example, my mother works 2nd shift, and can vote in the morning here in Alabama where the polls are open from 7am to 7pm.  One of my brothers, however, works a 12-hour shift from 6am to 6pm in a city that’s a full hour’s drive from his house.  He also has a newborn baby at home, and needs all the hours he can get at work.  Having the polls open for 24 hours would help people like my brother who work long hours and have to commute far away from their voting precinct.

Lonelyshoes, I think Oregon’s solution gets around it the best.  A mail-in paper ballot for everyone. 

Because the genuine hard part seems to be moderating between giving people a lot of access to the polls and yet realizing that you have to have people to work the polls, and you have to occupy a large space (usually in a public building like a school or library), and other practical considerations like that.

A mail-in paper ballot would solve all of those problems.

Agreed, Opoponax.  And poll workers get little enough thanks as it is.  Hey, if the USPS is good enough for our tax forms…

Our big problem in Philly is that the polling places are based on the prior presidential election and if there is a dramatic population shift (like in my neighborhood with a multitude of condo conversions from formerly uninhabited buildings) there are hundreds more people in a polling place. The adjustment won’t be made until the next election cycle.

And if you call 866-OUR-VOTE in Philly, you may see me following up at your polling place. I’ll be out assuring a safe and fair election. VOTE EARLY! Celebrate late.

I got nothing to add, but: Pepper, fuck you.

Because the genuine hard part seems to be moderating between giving people a lot of access to the polls and yet realizing that you have to have people to work the polls, and you have to occupy a large space (usually in a public building like a school or library), and other practical considerations like that.

Schools.  Saturdays.  It’s not that difficult to figure out…

Kodiak:  You’re right, there’s no good reason why there have to be long lines and other delays.  It should be easy enough to fix.  Because if voting were easy, ANYONE could do it. 

For one party, that’s a happy vision, and for the other, it’s a nightmare fit for Hieronymous Bosch.

Like Ruby says, it’s not a bug, it’s a feature.

kodiak:
One Canadian to another, I wondered about that, too.  A poster on another blog pointed out that part of the delay comes from the fact that American ballots aren’t just for one MP with an occasional initiative, as it is for us.  They have multiple matters on which they vote: Senate, House and State offices are also up for grabs.  More things to vote on = more time.

Shorter Pepper: “NIGRAZ AND BEENURZ SHUDN’T VOET!”

May I suggest a quick comparison between Pepper and a stick, or at least offering our trolling friend a spacious bag of penii to asphyxiate upon?

Pepper:

The reason why you have long lines in these urban polling places is because it’s a clusterfuck. Many people; illegals, felons, frauds (mostly democrats) showing up who don’t belong there, or stupid people who don’t know how to punch a chad, etc.

This is, of course, not true. The reason why you have long lines in urban polling places is because a lot of people live in urban areas. If there weren’t a lot of people there, they wouldn’t be urban areas. Because that’s what the word “urban” means.

I would like to join Damian in invoking the stick rule.

I employ 12 people, they have time to vote before work or after, and if they take work off I will dock their pay.

Better check your state laws first, unless you want to pay a fine.

Oh, I forgot, you’re a conservative—you don’t give a damn about the law, do you?

“About 80 percent of Americans—and 94 percent in Florida—now live in cities or their adjacent sprawl, known demographically as “metros.”

http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,584381,00.html

this is why i hate hearing about “Small-Town America”, because it’s nearly irrelevent. very time a politician denigrates “Urban Areas”, they’re insulting the vast majority of citizens in this country. it’s nauseating.

”....you don’t give a damn about the law, do you?”

Or even odds that makes him a blogging law professor.

redwards:

Indeed. The thing is, Small Town America was always a false ideal to begin with—it only ever existed because the country was primarily an agrarian nation. Port cities were always important even then, and then the Industrial Revolution rolled around and caused even more people to gravitate towards the cities, out of a need for a better job, or a new life, or just plain boredom.

That’s why I loathe gated communities—they’re trying to create a “small town” that is no more than an enclave to keep out The Wrong Sort. The concept of community that conservatives idolize is a disturbingly isolationist one, somewhere between libertarianism and feudalism.

Pepper:

I do believe you’re living in the wrong era. Get lost.

Or, alternately, if smalltown life is so goddamned great, why is it that much of the Renaissance happened because of the urban merchant classes’ rediscovery of liquidity? Evidently land is far less fungible than money, and an enterprising serf with a lucky connection could make a fortune in the city rather than living on the land as a dirt farmer.

(This is not to be taken as an endorsement of libertarianism and its bullshit “bootstrap” narrative, btw. Libertarians are tremendously obtuse about the necessity of support systems and lucky breaks when it comes to opportunity.)

Yep ,I’m with Kodiak on the big confusing on why people have to wait 10-fuckin-hours.
In Australia I’ve never waited more than 20 minutes down the local school, church hall whatever.And I have voted out of state in some remote areas.

I mean we have compulsory voting for every adult here. You have to vote or you get sent a $200 fine,

Sorry for the ” Well ,back in my Country ” rant, but.. that’s seriously Fucked.

ANother WBIMSR: I’ve never had to queue to vote in the UK at all. Of course, we don’t have propositions in addition to the main ballot - my vote consists of writing one X in pencil on one piece of paper, folding it in half and posting it into the ballot box - so it probably goes a bit faster, but still. HOW can the polling stations be so inadequately staffed or equipped as to make 10 hour queues happen?

Vote by mail, as we do in Oregon, and you’ll eliminate a lot of the problems. The ongoing argument at home is whether the fact that you need a mailing address - thus bypassing eligible homeless/transient voters - is still an issue, but we’re working on that. Drop boxes save you the cost of a stamp - I dropped my ballot off at the downtown library. It’s not a perfect system, but I really, really like having two weeks to peruse the inch-thick accompanying mailing that explains, in detail, all of the ballot measures, and the bios w/supporting-opposing statements by and about the candidates. I miss standing in the voting booth sometimes, because there’s a weight of tradition behind that, and more of a sense of community, but I certainly don’t miss standing in line.

Well, as far as the presidential election is concerned, any US citizen over 18 who is also a non-felon should “qualify” to vote, after all.

I still don’t get why you don’t allow fellons to vote. Voting is the most basic of civil rights, and if you strip someone off this right, no matter how awful his or her actions were, it’s as if you were stripping them off part of their citizenship, if not all.

Elgie, that’s not the only right felons are stripped of.  The right to owns guns, for example.  Most felons have committed egregious crimes and have thus stripped themselves of these rights.  You do the crime, you pay the time.  To my understanding, you can appeal and get at least the right to vote back after some review of your history and such.  I’m not sure about that.  But I don’t have any sympathy for rampant murders and rapists not being allowed to vote.  That’s just me.

And Damian, I’m wondering why every time you want to insult someone (deservedly so), you go for the homophobic insults.  I’m sure you could just as easily tell Pepper to eat shit and die.  I think it would behoove you to check your homophobic rhetoric.

Pepper, eat shit and die, btw.

I still don’t get why you don’t allow fellons to vote.

Depends on the state. Most states allow felons to vote. Some don’t. Even the ones that don’t generally have a process where a convicted felon who’s served his time can apply to have his voting rights restored. I certainly think some crimes are serious enough that I can see the justification for believing that a conviction for committing one should strip you of your right to vote. Generally, though, these crimes are few and far outnumbered by the number of crimes that are technically termed “felonies.” The problem, as I see it, is that politicians have a vested interest in determining the makeup of the electorate and will probably abuse this power, given the chance.

Why aren’t felons allowed to vote?  It has been debated here at Pandagon and elaborated elsewhere:

[I]t is no coincidence that the War On Drugs heated up after the civil rights movement achieved a set of huge victories that gave this country a moment of hope for something like racial equality. Now we have a country where 1 in 15 black people are currently in jail.

Amanda Marcotte, “The brainless, pointless War On Drugs”, March 6, 2008

One should also remember that a real wave of felony disenfranchisement laws gained steam at around this time.  As the law in the USA currently stands::
* only two US states have no laws on voting by felons;
* only inmates convicted of a felony are barred from voting (with their right to vote restored upon release from prison) in 13 states;
* felons (in prison and on parole) are barred from voting but can vote upon completion of parole in 5 states;
* inmates, parolees, and probationers are barred (and so can vote only upon completion of all supervised release) in 20 states;
* inmates, parolees, probationers, and ex-felons are completely barred from voting (restoration of voting varies by state) in 10 states.

Given that Blacks are grossly disproportionately represented in the American prison population it should come as no surprise that every single state of the former Confederacy is found in the two categories with the toughest restrictions, as are three states which were Confederate Territories in whole or in part, as are three states that remained in the Union but had majority-Reb populations, and “bleeding Kansas”, which is currently aggressively pro-GOP.  (Further, many of the felony disenfranchisement laws in the Old South started during Reconstruction as the former Confederate states cast about for ways to prevent their’n newly free and unacceptably uppity niggers from votin’.)

Don’t forget that these lists don’t have to be accurate to stop a person from voting.  By way of example: many, many people in Florida (mostly Black) in the notorious 2000 presidential election found themselves unable to vote because of being erroneously listed as having felony convictions, and could not get their right to vote restored in time or at all.  (It was, I’m sure that we all agree, just a coincidence that the list was provided by a Texas GOP firm to a state with a GOP governor, a GOP legislature and a GOP Secretary of State - Katherine Harris - who was disgustingly overt about her efforts to stop people from voting Democrat.  And most Blacks vote Democrat.  Just a coincidence.)

Last week in North Carolina I voted next to a “Pepper.”  A white guy in his mid-70’s, appearing to be a farmer, struck up a chat with the person in front of me (this fella was behind me), and I found myself in the middle of a stupidity sandwich.  He started going on and on about how in “downtown Greensboro” they had folding tables set up and you could register 10 times to vote, the lady in front of me concurred that this was awful and added up her own factual tidbit about how they were paying people to make up names to vote.

I calmly closed The Golden Compass and said “you know, that’s just not true.  Even if someone registers to vote 10 times, all those registrations get sent to the board of elections and it gets sorted out.  Nobody can vote more than one time.”

The Pepper character then leaned down so he was right in my face and began menacingly lecturing me: “I sure am glad I live in a country where I fought for the right to have an opinion.  Don’t you want your children to live in a country where they can have an opinion?”  I said “we shouldn’t talk politics in line.”  His wife agreed and urged him to be quiet.  He then then started speaking to my back something about the radio, I repeated my “no politics in line” line, his wife kept urging.  After a minute or so of silence, he said “you want to go outside and have a screaming match about this”?  which I ignored.  His wife tried to hush him.

The irony?  What started him on his diatribe of hate was seeing a couple of black folks walk by with registration forms in their hands.  He commented to the lady in front of me about how he thinks it’s too late for that, you can’t register anymore.  Then on with the folding tables in Greensboro screed.  Anyhoo, the very irony was that the white soccer mom that he was commenting to about how it was too late to register and those black folks are S.O.L. had a voter registration form!  He didn’t even notice it.  It was invisible in her lily white hands, I suppose.

Elgie, that’s not the only right felons are stripped of.  The right to owns guns, for example.

Sure, and the right to freedom of movement too. The thing is, I can understand stripping someone off some rights that could potentially harm others - Like, removing a doctor’s license due to a malpractice sentence - but casting a vote isn’t inherently related to any harm that you could do and is, on the other side, a most basic civil right.
It’s even more important when you keep in mind that the candidates you vote now will issue the laws and policies that will affect your life and that of your relatives for decades. It’s too important a right to be denied.

Next you know, you’re denied your right to vote because you can’t read, or can’t see, or are too old and suffering alzheimer.

I guess my bias comes from the fact that in my country, anyone over 18 y/o can vote, and you don’t have even to register to do so. It’s a right that’s granted for everyone (even some non-citizens can vote in the local elections), even for those very terrorists that threaten our system 2 days before election day.

“long lines at polling places are a poll tax.”

And that is why early voting is the game changer:  it allows the working poor to vote when they have a day off, and they don’t have to stand in line for hours and hours when they should be at work.  Of course, that only works *if* they have a day off.

Beligerant old men are funny, aren’t they.

Come here and say that!