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Just a reminder - no matter what state you're in or who you're voting for, get out there and vote today! Even if the Presidential race is decided where you are there are a lot of state and local races to be done. This is the most important election in my lifetime - so make it out there. :)
My wife and I voted last week via absentee ballot. I really, really recommend the absentee ballot system.
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
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8 comments:
Dude, no doubt. I sat on my couch and researched all the issues last week. It took two and a half hours. Still way better then waiting in line.
Yet we will still have idiots that think the current system is bogus and that we need a day off work to vote. I actually think that would make it worst.
Excluding absentee (which I did 3+ weeks ago), we (in Ohio) can vote in person at a number of locations over the past 30 days. Of course, this past weekend the wait was 5+ hours, but that's what they get for not planning ahead.
Absentee is ideal given there is always some odd ballot issue you've never even heard of before seeing it on the ballot. If that happens in the booth you are screwed, at home, you can do a bit of research.
Absentee ballots do not get counted unless the entire number in one direction can sway the cote. Voting absentee is the easiest way to throw your vote away and demean any of its limited value.
I say this as someone who voted absentee for a decade.
Copey - agreed, and it was a real help with today which was super busy anyway.
Felkan - one of the things I like the most about the absentee ballot is being able to go do research and vote all at once. It's very convenient.
William - they do in Washington. Don't know about what they're like elsewhere, but in Washington I believe something like 25% of all voters vote. (actually, it's much higher according to this website - 90% of all voters in washington vote by mail or absentee!) So I'm not worried about my vote not counting; that's just how we do things here, and it's the unusual way to count them via normal voting.
We have a specific law in place that allows easy vote-by-mail folks, which is why we've got such a high turnout. It might be different elsewhere, but at least in Washington it counts.
That's pretty amazing, man. Sounds wonderful. That's not the case in Tennessee, Florida, North Carolina, and Massachusetts; all the states I lived in while in the Marine Corps.
Washington seems to be well ahead of the game. Good for them.
@william: Not counting absentee ballots make perfect sense (sort of pointless to count something that won't mater); however, it has to be done on a per issue or per position basis.
If your local school council has a close race that could be decide by absentee ballots, I would think the entire ballot would be read (it's done by machine any way). But the fact that they "ignore" your vote for your state senator is more systematics than a real travesty.
Travesty is in the eye of the beholder.
All of the fighting men and women overseas are voting absentee. And regardless of whether their vote matters one way or the other, the possibility that it *will not be counted* is a bloody travesty.
IMO.
Well, in my opinion, the real travesty is in the fact that anybody can think that their vote didn’t matter, and thus decided not to vote at all.
Sure, if it’s a landslide in your specific state and your mail in ballot didn’t need to be counted, your vote “technically” didn’t matter. But the fact that it didn’t get added up to the masses that already won or lost by a COMPUTER isn’t really important. The fact that you cast a vote in some form, and had it been close that your vote would have been counted is what mattered.
It’s about the “what ifs”. People getting up set and saying “votes don’t matter” is what causes other people to think “maybe that guys is right” and then not bother voting.
You want to talk about Travesty? How about the fact when I get home at 6:00 (MST) the polls will still be open here and every where West of here. Open for two more hours in California. Yet on the east coast all the media outlets are starting to make projections about who is going to win before all the votes are counted. This in turn could make a west coast person decide not to fight the traffic or lines because his candidate is already ahead or behind. A state like Florida (with an ‘Effed up record when it comes to voting) could dissuade someone in California from voting at all. And that could make a difference if enough people stayed home.
/dismount soap box
So, my Badge Rings/Trinkets/Neck Pieces with armor aren’t so great anymore, eh? TRAVESTY!!!
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