Election Day

FROM: Terry Murphy
DATE: Tuesday November 7, 2000 -- 1:13:13AM

In this swing state, the election is vote-by-mail so there is no polling location to go to, and the election is already over (almost). This is the first time I have NOT gone to the polls since age 18.

And yes it felt absolutely fantastic to fill in bubble next to GWB's name with a #2 pencil. Laboring over the 26 state ballot initiatives, on the other hand, was not as pleasant.

FROM: Tina
DATE: Tuesday November 7, 2000 -- 8:37:31AM

You're a paltry 25 years old??

No, really.

FROM: dave
DATE: Tuesday November 7, 2000 -- 9:16:44AM

This was the first time I have voted in a booth for anything important (the other time I did so was for some local North Carolina election so I could claim residency). It went pretty smoothly, although there were a LOT of people floating around distributing "sample ballots" and stickers.

Needless to say, I took all the Democratic gear I could get my hands on.

Ryan...I didn't see Dr. Hagelin on the ballot...did you write him in?

And for the Oregon voter above...No On 9!

FROM: Robert
DATE: Tuesday November 7, 2000 -- 9:35:58AM

I went at just after 7 this morning. It felt good to put all my talk about not voting for Gore or Bush into an actual vote for Nader. Hooray for me!

FROM: Ryan
DATE: Tuesday November 7, 2000 -- 9:39:42AM

Terry -- that's funny that had you use pencil, since it makes fraud that much easier... did they have that special paper that tears apart if you try to erase it?

Tina -- Yeeeup. 25.

Dave -- Yes, I wrote him in. Unfortunately, he only made it on 38 ballots this year (I believe in 96 he was on all 50). Here's why.

My voting experience was a good one... I really wanted one of those booths with the levers, but unfortunately, we had the anticlimactic paper ballots. Fill-in with black marker and slip into what looked like a paper shredder.

I'm a little PO'ed, though, because we never received sample ballots in the mail. I had to really hunt to find out some of the issues we were voting on the state and local levels.

What I liked seeing were the number of people that were smiling as they came out of the polls... I was impressed. And there was a little bit of a buzz about the polling station.

FROM: Robert
DATE: Tuesday November 7, 2000 -- 10:04:58AM

Ryan--I tried the first candidate selector you had on your blog. Apparently, I should have voted for the Socialist candidate. What?!

FROM: Ryan
DATE: Tuesday November 7, 2000 -- 10:15:08AM

A lot of people have more socialist beliefs than they think... I've seen David McReynolds speak a few times and he has some good points. Some of his ideas about taxation are a little over the edge for me, but he's not as "extreme" as a lot of people make him out to be. IMO, at least.

FROM: Paul
DATE: Tuesday November 7, 2000 -- 12:05:24AM

Ryan -

Fill-in with black marker and slip into what looked like a paper shredder

Uhm, that actually was a paper shredder. Welcome to the voting process!

FROM: Ryan
DATE: Tuesday November 7, 2000 -- 12:18:32AM

Paul -- Oh my goodness! :) It really did look like one, too... funny.

And thanks to Ping reader Scott for that analogy. ;)

How was your voting experience today, Paul?

FROM: Paul
DATE: Tuesday November 7, 2000 -- 12:51:19AM

I can't say because it didn't happen yet. I have to go back to Berwyn to vote, which I didn't have time to do before work...

Man, this really should be a national holiday!

FROM: Tina
DATE: Tuesday November 7, 2000 -- 1:26:46PM

I voted by absentee ballot right after I registered to vote, so they probably aren't even going to count my vote unless things get really hairy. Had my lunch ruined by some loudmouth going off about how nice it was going to be to get back to a moral and upstanding leader - to have a respectable president in the White House after all these years. I almost spit out my sandwich in disgust. Wow, we have a choice between a man who doesn't know how to speak English properly or a man who is so incredibly boring I'd rather watch paint dry than listen to him speak English...

FROM: liz
DATE: Tuesday November 7, 2000 -- 1:57:37PM

i voted by absentee ballot, too. i wanted to go into a booth, but i wasn't about to drive the six hours home to do it. oh well.

FROM: Ryan
DATE: Tuesday November 7, 2000 -- 3:05:03PM

I believe the way absentee ballots work is this: they are counted in the final tally (the ones that go into the history books), but are not announced immediately (on the news, etc.) unless the results show that they need to be. That may be the case this time around...

FROM: Matt
DATE: Tuesday November 7, 2000 -- 6:43:14PM

Tina- I think that entertainment should have nothing to do with who you vote for as president. I believe the brainwashing techniques through the years that everything has to entertain have worked. I bet you wanted the Persian Gulf war to have more deaths, so it would have been more entertaining. Also proper speech techniques don't have anything to do with leadership skills.
As for voting, I vote in the town of Clifton, and basically there you will find some of the nicest people you will ever meet in your life. We all were a little bummed that the bake-sale table hadn't been set up at 6:30 am. But yes this is an exciting day for me. I have felt the tension in the air all day, but I've been praying alot too about it.
I felt great to vote on Phillips, but was a little bummed that Hagelin wasn't on the ballot for Ryan.
As for who I want to win: although I want Phillips to win I know that all my vote is doing is helping the party in the future. So I'll have to go out on a limb and say Bush. No matter if I agree with him or not on most issues, heck I think both major parties are pretty much the same, but I still have to always support Life. I can never in my conscious support someone who helps contribute to the genocide.

FROM: Paul
DATE: Tuesday November 7, 2000 -- 9:35:45PM

Sitting here at 8:32cst... it's still extremely close, with Bush locking in the majority of the south. IL went Gore.

I haven't heard anything about Nader!

My voting experience was fine. The judges there know me, and there was no line, so I just up and voted. I will say that the three pages of voting judges in/out was nuts because they were offset... the exact place to punch was too confusing. And, there were only four referendums.

All in all, a fine experience. Felt good to finally vote!

FROM: Aaron
DATE: Wednesday November 8, 2000 -- 1:38:08AM

I voted first thing this morning. There are many voting locations in
San Francisco and mine was just 6 houses down the street. So, it
wasn't super crowded, but it was full at 10:30am Pacific. I was
buzzed after I voted, it was fun. I not only voted for Nader, but
also for some important local ballot measures. I'm happy to see that
CA Prop 38 (allowing school vouchers) didn't pass. We'll see how the
San Francisco propositions turn out.

I feel vindicated this year because I grew up in Washington State and
from 1980 (the earliest election I can remember, I was 10) to 1992
Washington State was always so inconsequential. The race was way over
before they counted our votes and tallied our paltry few electoral
votes.

So, I'm happy for my parents (who still live there) that they can
finally feel that their votes really counted. I'm also psyched to see
that Slade Gorton looks to lose his Senate seat. That guy has been
such an unabashed, shameless big-business lapdog for so many years,
I'm glad to see him finally go. I'm not a knee-jerk anti-capitalist
here, from all the things I read living in WA, it sure seemed to me
that the dude is pretty corrupt.

FROM: dave
DATE: Wednesday November 8, 2000 -- 10:58:24AM

I stayed up until 1am EST. I'm exhausted. This feels like one of those Third World elections where nobody knows anything for weeks. I'm just waiting for allegations of election fraud.

I'm quite pleased to see that the late Gov. Carnahan won...besides the historical quirkiness of the event, I can't stand Sen. Ashcroft.

FROM: Paul
DATE: Wednesday November 8, 2000 -- 2:23:27PM

Bush is now declaring victory with a huge asterisk attached.

The descent begins . . .

FROM: Matt
DATE: Wednesday November 8, 2000 -- 2:34:40PM

This is INSANE! I saw that Bush had won at 2:30 ish and made a few phone calls and got some and then went to bed. I woke up to see that Florida was not his again and they were doing a recount. Now I am really glad that we do the Electorial College. Popular votes never helped teh true winners win in High School

FROM: Robert
DATE: Wednesday November 8, 2000 -- 4:21:53PM

Matt--In high school it's the true losers who need help.

FROM: DJ Q
DATE: Wednesday November 8, 2000 -- 5:17:09PM

Damn those lines were long. But I ain't complaining. I think it's comical how ppl in "a certain nation's capital" were about to come to blows over the long lines but yet these same pppl will camp out over night for a stupid Sony Playstation. ...no priority having...

FROM: Ryan
DATE: Thursday November 9, 2000 -- 12:13:26AM

Good point 'Quay/DJ Q -- misplaced priorities.

What time did you go to vote? Supposedly, 10-noon and 2-4 are the best times to vote, if you can.

FROM: Tina
DATE: Thursday November 9, 2000 -- 8:55:55AM

Matt - I'm sorry, but there just wasn't enough room for me to cut and paste my thesis paper on why the government should take some lessons from the entertainment world and finally learn true world domination through subliminal messages preaching self-doubt and insecurity. Just kidding! :)

FROM: Ryan
DATE: Thursday November 9, 2000 -- 10:30:57AM

Tina -- Yeah, the presidential election would be a lot different if it were two thin-as-a-rail supermodels running, huh? Instead of debates, we'd have runway battles...

Possibilities.

FROM: Robert
DATE: Thursday November 9, 2000 -- 10:40:37AM

I, for one, would like to see a presidential knight fight.

FROM: Robert
DATE: Thursday November 9, 2000 -- 1:25:34PM

Actually, I meant "knife" fight, but that did make for a happy accident.

FROM: Tina
DATE: Thursday November 9, 2000 -- 1:59:34PM

Maybe we could make the election into a musical! Jets vs. Sharks, Maria, Tony, lots of costumes and....nah, it'd never work. I hear Bush can't sing.

FROM: Matt
DATE: Thursday November 9, 2000 -- 7:24:28PM

I would prefer a duel involving one game of Galaga each. Highest score wins!!!

FROM:
DATE: Saturday January 1, 2005 -- 2:56:04 pm