Voting In the USA. This is History in the making

[redmerlin777]

I am not a political animal.
I have always been somewhat bemused by all the hullabaloo associated with US presidential elections.

Being British we make do with the odd rap on the door and a jolly little individual politely asking who I may vote for....I usually reply...That's my business!"

The more radical people in our street may even put up a little sticker in the window announcing who they support.

Come election day and we saunter to the local church where there is a makeshift booth and two nice ladies looking decidedly chilly with the inevitable flasks of tea and Digestive biscuits to keep them company.
Nobody else can be seen. As we walk in they beam at us as we have relieved their lonely vigil.
They may not see anyone else for at least half an hour....

Tonight I watched in amazement at US citizens QUEUEING for 4 HOURS in order to get their votes in early.

Could that ever happen here?

[redmerlin777]

yes but its the queue for the pub bar next door to the polling station

or the ticket office selling Take That concert tickets

[TheGingerJar]

Loved your description of how things work over there! Lucky for me I live in a small town of about 1400 of which about half are too young to vote! Next Tuesday I'll just walk in, (to the senior center), give my name (even though they know who I am already), they'll hand me my paper ballot, I'll go sit at an open booth and fill my ballot out in pencil, then go over to the nice person who stands at the ballot box and feed it in. (You always end up wondering if it is really a paper shredder LOL)! Then you go over and give your name again (never could figure out how they forget it from the time you walked in about 2 minutes ago). Well, whatever happens on Tuesday I figure it can't be worse than what we have now so I'm really looking forward to it. My daughter's 17th birthday is that day so she cannot vote yet but even she is following the race closely. She says she gets a new president for her birthday!

[JerseyDevil]

At some point our beloved President Bush lost his marbles and sold his soul to Big Business. So it's good for the Nation that his term is coming to an end.
Sadly the two alternates may be offering even more incompetence.

[burgyeb]

Definitely history in the making, no matter the outcome.

[greycastleus]

At some point our beloved President Bush lost his marbles and sold his soul to Big Business. So it's good for the Nation that his term is coming to an end.
Sadly the two alternates may be offering even more incompetence.

This is the first time I have actually been frightened of the possible results of an election. From what I hear in the news there have been two plots uncovered to kill Obama. Regardless of his competence I fear that he will simply not survive very long. Too many crazies out there.
Same goes for McCain. He would have been my pick 8 years ago. But a lot can happen in 8 years and I also fear that regardless of his competence he will not survive very long. Too old...
So we are really voting for the Vice President who will take over when the running mate dies...

[astral276]

Sadly the two alternates may be offering even more incompetence.

It is unfortunate that in (so called) democracies like yours and ours the country is run by politicians. The people least equipped and capable of running anything. If they were any use they wouldn't be politicians.

[pearlygirl555]

Hi Ginger Jar!
Love your description of voting in your town; that's how it is where I live too. Prior to living here, I lived in Chicago and voting there was more like what Redmerlin describes in the original post.

When I first voted here, it was in the basement of the garage where they kept their seed corn. The voting booths were shower curtains hung on wires from the ceiling, I was amazed to be handed a fat black Sharpie pen, and a ballot in a manilla folder. The election officials were two nice women in their 70s who knitted and asked me all about my pedigree, trying to find a name they recognized. One of them said, "This is probably very different from how you voted before you moved here" and I agreed. Well, there was a third election official who now popped out from another corner and snapped, "I suppose they use MACHINES to vote there!!" I said well, yes, they do and she gave a very loud SNORT to indicate her displeasure with all modern frippery.

My grandfather became a judge in the old-school Chicago Democratic fashion; the Czechs wanted to get the Irish guy out, and their guy in. They came to grandpa and asked if he would do the job if they got him the election; he said yes, and they delivered. He ended up writing important legislation to further women's property right in Illinois divorce cases, and eventually became a Superior Court judge.

Happy voting, all!

[TiasTreasures]

Here in California we have a better option, we can register to vote by mail. I've been doing it now for about ten years. We get all the literature and the ballots by mail. I can sit down and actually read the propositions, changes to laws, candidate profiles, etc., at my own speed, read the arguments pro and con, go back and see who's telling the truth. Then I fill out the ballot, put a stamp on it, and mail it. Mine probably got delivered about a week ago. Apparently around 45% of California voters are now doing this.

I can totally tune out all the crazy ads during the last week before the election. I've been watching my old movies and listening to music.

[pearlygirl555]

Hi Tia!
We vote here by mail too, if we want. Mom did hers by mail and I just voted early at the courthouse.

I remained a registered voter in California for a few years after moving to Chicago because I thought I might go back at some point....I used to really enjoy reading those ballots. They were full of such colorful people and referendums!