I voted today!Follow

Nope. I voted last week.

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I don't vote, I send money. Boring election what with being over Friday when the Nevada early voting numbers came out. It'll still be interesting to see how the Senate shakes out, I guess.

That's fine, as long as you didn't visit one of those archaic "voting booths" that they force people to use in 3rd world countries.

I voted last Wednesday, as I had to get dress that day and had wheelchair in the trunk of the car.

Not being able to put weight on my right foot would have made standing in line today a pain, and only knowing we may find someone willing to put wheelchair back into the car, allowed me to vote this year. Jonwin can't lift anything heavy right now, so I try to do things with crutches as much as possible, but when we can get help the wheelchair is better for me.

Foot still hadn't started to heal after 2 months, so I'm off it for another 4 weeks. Much of my time is spent on open futon with foot raised on pillows. Since I don't go outside, but for appointments and a few social activities, I just stay in the T-shirt I slept in all day.

Smash sends money to poor people and directs them how to vote for him.

Random Election Day observations:

• In addition to the Form 10 Official Thank You For Voting Receipt (lol), our polling location is now giving out those cheap paper wristbands they put on you to buy beer at a concert. Still no "I Voted" stickers; the struggle continues.
• There weren't any yahoos outside my polling location this year trying to sway my vote at the last minute. Could be that they show up during the after-work rush, but I'm a bit disappointed I didn't have the opportunity to give them a dead-eyed stare and politely tell them to fuck right off. I'll have to make up for it on the random yahoos that flag you down in the Loop trying to raise money for Greenpeace or whatever by saying things like "Hi, do you care about the environment/children//gays/etc.?".
• I feel like Illinois could save a few bucks on ink by not printing ballot lines for the 30 or so local judges and Water Reclamation Officials who are running unopposed. The only options are to vote to retain them in their current positions or to not mark it at all; you can't vote "no confidence" or anything, so it seems like a waste.
• I'm always tickled by the non-binding City polls they include on my ballot. This year, it was a few things like "Should the City of Chicago work with State and Federal officials to perform a study and make public parks more awesome?". I voted no on all of them because: 1) they were conspicuously worded in a way that made it almost impossible to disagree with, which, 2) leads me to believe the results will be used to support spending more money on dumb shit we don't need.

You don't even have a space to write-in a name?

Left all of those blank this year. There have been enough articles about how our water district representatives are surprisingly corrupt, and yet they continue to go unopposed anyway. Would have felt weird supporting them, but on the other hand, it's not like leaving it blank is really a major setback for them or anything. One of these days should probably figure out what it is they actually do there.

Edited, Nov 8th 2016 3:32pm by someproteinguy

Illinois doesn't allow write-ins unless the candidate registers to be a write-in. Since no one registered for that office, there's no reason to add a write-in line.

Since the Supreme Court decided that lying about your military service is kopacetic, I bought a uniform from Goodwill, put a bunch of eBay ribbons and medals on it then went to vote, telling everyone that I'm part of Seal Team Six. God bless the First Amendment.

Smash sends money to poor people and directs them how to vote for him.

Promises. You don't have actually pay those suckers. It's not like they can afford to sue after they post their ballot selfie.

You don't have absentee or mail in ballots where you live? You might want to look into that if mobility is such an issue.

I'm honestly curious: Do people actually have long lines to wait in while voting? Every time I've voted where I live, there's usually more poll workers in the polling place than voters. I get a mail in ballot (so I can just fill it out in the comfort of my dinning room table instead of in a booth), but drop it off on election day, which generally involves sauntering in, handing the envelope to the worker, having them verify that I signed and dated it, watch them drop it in the box, then pick out a fancy sticker and walk out. Seriously, like 1 minute from the time I park until I'm back in the car driving away.

Suppose it helps that I intentionally go during a less busy time (so like between 10AM and 11AM, or 1PM to 2PM). I imagine trying to vote early in the morning or late afternoon might be different, but aren't employers required to allow you time to go vote now? Or is that just a hippie dippy California thing? Dunno. Just curious how things differ from area to area.

Edited, Nov 8th 2016 3:06pm by gbaji

Flea reported a line this morning. When I went an hour ago, my own precinct didn't have a line (almost all the booths were full though) but I had to walk past a line for a neighboring precinct. I assume a lot of it has to do with where you live, both "My vote matters!" swing state-wise and also general population density.

Illinois has a pretty robust early voting program as well (no reason needed) so the lines would be shorter than states with no/restrictive early voting.