Genre: Opinion/Argumentation

After surviving this line today, I'm exhausted, dumbfounded but mostly enraged at our Republican Govenor Rick Scott for reducing the early voting period in Florida.  According to the official wait times tracking website, the lines were 4 hours today in Aventura.  I'd reckon that most folks today waited at least double that time ... it took me 9 hours! The line was so long it is difficult to make out, but it snaked many times back to the trees at the back of the picture and started with a winding row down a flight of stairs to the left. I doubt most folks here will ever forget this day.  Democracy is being challenged but the people will persevere and win this fight. 9:16 PM PT : Thanks everyone!  I've been humbled twice ... by the dedicated folks who selflessly stood in line and the kind recognition of the community here! A tag is a way to search for this diary. If someone is searching for "Barack Obama," is this a diary they'd be trying to find? Use a person's full name, without any title. Senator Obama may become President Obama, and Michelle Obama might run for office. If your diary covers an election or elected official, use election tags, which are generally the state abbreviation followed by the office. CA-01 is the first district House seat. CA-Sen covers both senate races. NY-GOV covers the New York governor's race. Tags do not compound: that is, "education reform" is a completely different tag from "education". A tag like "reform" alone is probably not meaningful. The racial makeup of the county was 60.90% White , 29.50% Black or African American, 0.40% Native American, 4.20% Asian, 0.10% Pacific Islander, 2.10% from other races, and 2.90% from two or more races. 7.90% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. The racial makeup of the county was 75.17% White , 14.96% Black or African American, 0.39% Native American, 2.20% Asian, 0.07% Pacific Islander, 4.66% from other races, and a 2.56% from two or more races. 17.99% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. Are you ready to Vote? Are you still 'allowed' to Vote? -- Are you sure? A poll worker will come out and get people who are in wheel chairs or who have an obvious disability. That being said, there are reports here on DK from voters who suffer from disabilities that are NOT obvious - arthritis, fibromyalgia, heart conditions, people who have had hip or knee replacement - they may all look fine, but they're not. I think if they have a card in their wallet (that they would have to have for air travel), they can use that to get moved up, but if they don't, they're SOL. "Focusing your life solely on making a buck shows a certain poverty of ambition. It asks too little of yourself. Because it's only when you hitch your wagon to something larger than yourself that you realize your true potential." - Barack Obama front of the line because he has leg issues and I have had two hip replacement surgeries.  We did not ask for special treatment, but the staff were observant and noted our walking skills, or the lack thereof....LOL  The staff in Miami Dade County at the Library in South Dade were so thoughtful and so caring that I almost forgot they were working.  They took us to chairs, and had a person stand in line with numbers for us and when our numbers were called, we voted.  It took about two hours, and we were sitting the whole time except when we had to go upstairs.  We took the elevator, got to our seats, and moved right along.  It was crowded but everyone was in good spirits, and talked, laughed, and discussed the issues of the day. What a pleasant way to spend some time doing what is a right and obligation! Thank you, South Dade, for showing how it should work! BTW:  Rick "Snott" Scott will be repaid for his deliberate inaction when it comes to accommodating the public....and it will hurt, Ricky! As my friend said," I am not renting out space in my head to anybody." Voting shouldn't be this hard. I live in a small town in upstate NY and just can't fathom waiting 4 hours, let along 9 hours, to vote. Love to see those long lines of Pro-Obama voters in the Pix, though. It was always obvious that democracy would take a hit - real or attempted - by the forces of negativity in this election.  Those forces were enraged when Obama won in '08. Now they're just totally bonkers. She hasn't voted yet.  She's upset with me that I'm going to see the President today and that I'm taking a vacation day on Tuesday to help one of the OFA volunteer groups. She said "I'm sorry, but that man has no place in the White House.  Black people are not supposed to be there -  he has no business being there." I've known for years she was prejudiced, she constantly reminds me "Obama is black, you know."   Yeah, mom, I know - but I'm like MLK - I'll judge somebody on their character, not their color. When she said that to me last night - I blew up.  I called her an ignorant bigot.  My mother is 86.  I know I can never change her, but I was so angry and upset last night.  She lives 300 miles away, I go up there every 6 weeks to take care of things around the house, deal with some of her financial things she doesn't understand (her IRA that my dad left her), help her run errands that she can't do alone.... but I just hate her attitude.  She wonders what is "wrong" with me and where she went wrong raising me.  See, I'm supposed to be an ignorant bigot, too. I am sick over this.  Is everybody in the Greatest Generation like this?  I've been sorry that we're losing our WWII generation by the thousands - but if they're all like this, then the generational die off isn't happening fast enough - and that includes my mom, whom I love, but right now I don't like her very much at all. I call her every evening at 8:30.  I don't know if I can even talk to her tonight. "Focusing your life solely on making a buck shows a certain poverty of ambition. It asks too little of yourself. Because it's only when you hitch your wagon to something larger than yourself that you realize your true potential." - Barack Obama from nursing home care via the block granting of Medicaid (assuming her IRA is not the size of Mitt's). Not all seniors are that way by any means, but the proportion gets higher in older groups. I am 71, but that puts me in a group that came of political age during the civil rights movement. My impression is that anyone older is more likely to cling to racism than those younger though their are 20something bigots too. It is the most depressing thing about this election -- those who have the most to lose with Romney in power are the most likely to vote for him. My father was a terrible bigot but my mother was the most open and tolerant person I ever knew. It is OK to be mad at your parents for being stupid or wrong. And if you can not talk to her for a couple of days that is OK too. Just remember that we are all imperfect beings in an imperfect world and that our parents never really measured up to who we thought they were. my mother, who is 89, has been a lifelong democrat. we have had many a politically charged conversation the two of us. I'm so sorry your mother isn't of the same mind as you. you're right that you can't change her.  My sister and I are on opposite political sides so I kinda know what you're going through.  I gave up trying to convince her of the error of her ways, there is no point. Many times I've seen her get mad when people attacked Mormonism. Last night, though - she told me that she had hoped a lot of people would decide they couldn't vote for Romney because he IS a Mormon. I was surprised to hear her say that. She shares my feelings for Mitt Romney - utter loathing. She can see the lack of compassion in him, same as the rest of us, and he creeps her out (me too). Mom doesn't like getting into political discussions, though - because sometimes people forget who they're talking to, and get rude, or mean. Or just stupid. She's got a temper, but doesn't like to use it. :) My mom is amazing. "We have only the moral ground we actually inhabit, not the moral ground we claim." - It Really Is That Important would be 82 and 84 and they were advocates for equality and ciivil rights. However my grandmother on my dad's side was racist. And he would allow us as kids to challenge her and even make fun of her racist views. He did not consider that disrespectful and he was big on respecting one's elders. But he would not tolerate racism or hate going unchallenged and he was proud that we felt the same way. I think we should always challlenge racism and if it means getting into a fight and blowing up, so bit it,  if the person truly loves us, they will respect our views and know we cannto accept their bigotry. The worst mistake we can make is not challenging hate and bigotry even if it means some blow ups and lost friendship and estranged family members at times. If people spew bigotry and hate, I call them out..I always have and always will. And if they do not like it, tough,...they can make a choice as to what is more important in their lives and live with the consequences. She voted for Barack Obama in 2008 and was proud to do so, although she was for Hillary in the primary and was disappointed she didn't win. She was as thrilled as I was when it was announced that Obama won. I was living with her and taking care of her at the time. The first black president prompted us to talk about racism that she saw in the South before the civil rights movement. She told me that she hated how blacks were treated, and things she saw happen on the busses, for instance that made her angry, though she never felt able to act or speak out. I have two brothers who are both right wingers, one of them is clearly racist. Mom, and Dad (who died in 2006, both Roosevelt Democrats, never knew where they went wrong with them. I don't know why some people are  racists, and some aren't even though they were surrounded by it all their lives. If we could figure that out, we could really solve a lot of problems. to allow ANYONE to spew racist crap in your presence. I say "tell her you love her," yes.  But tell her too that you don't care to hear about her bigoted ideas and she needs to respect that. There's nothing loving about what this mother is doing or saying to her son in this regard. Loving would be allowing him to be the adult he is, make up his own mind about who he's going to vote for and why. Most importantly, she'll be happier if she respects her son's rights to his beliefs, instead of driving him away. "A typical vice of American politics is the avoidance of saying anything real on real issues." Theodore Roosevelt. ate speech ever, not under any circumstances. We must always confront it and make it known where we draw the line in the sand. If people want a relationship with me, I tell them they have to respect me on this as I will not tolerate hate speech and racism. Life is too short and too precious to put up with hate speech and bigotry as it is toxic.  What a person can do though is let the parent know their hate speech and racist talk will not be tolerated in one 's presence. Hang up on these people, they will get the message. The bigoted mother may not change her views but she sure as hell can stop spewing that talk in the presence of the child or over the phone. It is OK to draw lines and boundaries with elderly relatives. It leds to better communication if they respect those boundaries and refrain from hate speech when talking to you. My Mom and Stepfather are both more tolerant. In fact, I told my Mom about MSNBC a few years ago and she absolutely has to watch Rachel Maddow every night (her name usually comes up when we're on the phone ;-) -- and this from a person who voted for Bush in 2004! "like this"... but there's research to show that your mom can't help it. Really. Older adults lose their inhibitory ability - so they say things that make their kids hair stand on end, things that even if they had spent 80 years privately thinking them would have never come out of their mouths in front of others. My own grandmother was a lovely, wonderful woman, but int he last years of her life, WHOA - her sons never thought she'd ever knew some of those words. And her nurses, when she was in the home... I can't tell you what she said in front of some of them! Here's an article that's been around a while, that might give you some comfort and understanding. Taking care of an elderly person is one of the most emotionally challenging things you can do - and having to travel 300 miles to do it must be exhausting! I hope, for your sake, that you can line up some support for yourself during this last season of your lives with your mom. It's absolutely wonderful that you have taken off days to do things YOU want, for the world YOU want to make.. and that part of your motivation in volunteering for Obama is because you are looking to protect the elderly, people like your mom, who truly can't protect themselves or vote in their own interests. s and they learned to restrain themselves and to respect boundaries as their kids would set boundaries for them not to cross and they abided by them. My parents would not tolerate my grandparents bigotry, disrepect,  periods of rage and anger, and other such behaivor.  They drew lines in the sand and my grandmother got to the point where she did not cross those lines out of respect and love for my parents. But sometimes it's not so simple as "taking a hard line" - my own Grandmom had issues with dementia. When a family member has or develops a disability that has cognitive and/or behavioral issues, adult or child, the simplistic response of setting boundaries is not practical or helpful. Also, advanced age, and the onset of fragility, comes at different rates for different people. cannot be expect to honor and respect boundaries. But there  are a lot of parents and grandparents who are older that do not have dementia but go into this bullying thing and that should be nipped in the bud. My father knows that he is still a bigot and only made worse by mindless allegiance to Fox News. He has heard me blow up about his voting efforts that ultimately hurt his own children and grandchildren. I like him less these days as a person with identifiable qualities, but he is still my father and I have decades-old familial love and a sense of responsibilities to him that compel me to communicate and work on essentials. However, I speak to him less freely and for shorter periods of time, nowadays.  People can change at any stage of their lives if in decent enough health, I feel - he's had his chance many times over and is only getting worse in my eyes. We should never stop appreciating what they've done for us over the years that was generous, helpful and healthy, or at least intended to be so.  But, the terms of rearing children should also be open-ended: we need not live within the confines of their beliefs as we grow and mature. In fact, they should fully expect that we will become our own people as we grow - otherwise, they risk being selfish parents who want to see living, breathing versions of themselves outside the mirror. Perform your duties and responsibilities, but there is no need to respect their qualities which degrade their character - and especially which happen to harm you - in your eyes.  I would suggest keeping communications to a minimum outside the basics and already-common subjects that have kept you bonded, at least for a time.  It works for me and keeps frustration levels lower. "So, please stay where you are. Don't move and don't panic. Don't take off your shoes! Jobs is on the way." to refrain from airing his bigoted views in your presence and basically to put a Lid on It around you ?  If he respects you , he will do so when you are around or the phone with you. I think it is not too much to ask our parents to respect our opinions and to respect how we chose to live our lives. Many would be surprised how parents respond when you draw a line in the sand and ask them to respect that, most will do so rather than lose the adult child or piss of the adult child.  Now there are some toxic and dsyfunctional parents like my mother in law who cut off myhusband years ago because she refused to show any respect for him and was very , very abusive. But usually most parents will respect their adult kids enough to not talk about their hate and spew it around an adult child who objects to it. I commend you - many if not most people share the political views of their parents. Pity her and continue to be the dutiful, loving child that you obviously are. Those in the "greatest generation" have many wonderful qualities, but they were not given that moniker on the basis of their political beliefs, but rather on their shared sense of duty and sacrifice during the war. My own parents are if anything more progressive than I am. My father has always admired communism in theory ("it just hasn't worked in practice")  and as a doctor has always advocated for a national, single-payer health plan. However, I remember when I dated a black boy in high school both of them were alarmed and disapproving. Some prejudices take generations - and changing demographics - to dissipate. My dad is a 78year old white guy in east Texas and has been a liberal all his life. Years ago, probably at a Sunday dinner with my grandparents, he was ranting and raving about racist white people, he remarked that he hated white people. My grandmother piped up that he was white and he replied "that is your fault, not mine.". He also gets a kick nowadays of telling people "I voted for the Kenyan even though he is a damned moderate not a liberal" My mom is 87 and had a injury about 5 weeks ago. I've been taking care of her and we've had some really great conversations about this election. She always ends our conversations with "how come everyone doesn't know these things?". Sadly I have to tell her that some people are so used to living with their bigotry and falsehoods that the truth cannot get through to them. But I also tell her their numbers are dwindling. The younger generation are more tolerant of differences. She's finally come around on her thoughts about gay marriage. She doesn't embrace the idea, but she now says it isn't up to her what others do. It's a start. Growing up, out right racism in our house was not allowed. Using the 'n' word would have brought us a bar of soap to our mouth. But, I still remember overhearing my dad and mom discussing the first black family that moved onto our street. The words "property value" are ones I remember. It was years later that I understood the racism in their words. and passed the Voting Rights Act and all the other civil rights and anti-poverty legislation of the Sixties. Boomers were most of the people in the streets, but the people in power, Kennedy, Johnson, Humphrey, etc, were your mother's generation & older. She is 76.  She keeps telling me that I've been contrary since I was little.  (contrary=questioning authority)  I blew up at her.  Can't fucking stand the incessant holier than thou bs anymore. I will be soooooo estatic when the President is re-elected.  I really want to rub her face in it.  Her asshole husband's too. Told her all about the rally and how excited I was to be able to see and hear the President in person and take pictures. She's been like this her whole life.  My dad was, too.  It's partly the way they were raised - both born in the mid-1920's, in Germantown, PA. My mother's family came from Germany in the 1850's.  My dad is an anchor baby - his parents came from Ireland through Ellis Island, met and married in the US and had him and his sister (they became naturalized shortly before dad was born). The neighborhood they lived in was divided into ethnic groups - Italians, Irish, Germans, Polish, Black, Puerto Ricans, a few "Asians" - and they all called each other by typical slurring names.  My dad called my uncle that "crazy wop" forever - it was good natured after my uncle married my dad's sister, but before that wops, spics, chinks, n-word... that's just they way they classified each other. He was infuriated that my son's best friend in cub scouts was a little boy from Haiti.  They put up their first tent together and I have a picture of the two of them, ear to ear grins (with the typical missing front tooth gap of a 7 year old), with their arms around each others' shoulders, so proud of their lopsided tent.  My dad said who's the little "nxxxxx" kid?  I was appalled - DAD!  Can you please not use that word in front of Ryan?? My dad had a good heart, as does my mom, but they just can't get past the past.  They were both Ike Republicans and they just didn't get that those Republicans are not the same Republicans that we have now.  My dad passed away in 2007.  I'm an only child so my mom has nobody but me.  She won't come to live with me - refuses to leave her house up there, hates south Florida (although she lived here from 1947-1981) because "nobody speaks English there any more."  She can't understand why I don't just quit my job and move in with her - after all, SHE didn't work once she had me, she thinks it's awful that my own son grew up in day care from the time he was 6 weeks old.  I don't think he turned out so bad - Salutatorian in high school, Eagle Scout (although he's embarrassed about that now - he hates THEIR bigoted stance on gay people), graduated with high honors from UF, went to vet school at UI, has been a practicing vet for 6 years, got married, bought a home... and he has friends from every background / race that's on the planet. My parents didn't understand him either - how can he be friends with people who are not like him?  I don't get THEIR attitude... I just don't get it - but you learn to deal with it the best you can - I just really blew up last night because I'm so sick of her saying President Obama does not "belong" in the White House.  Here is a good man, a smart man, somebody who gives a shit about every American out here, somebody who was elected, fair and square by a majority of the American people - I guess we're all crazy. I have to put my pix from today in Photobucket and make a little diary.  I'm exhausted and sunburned, so gonna hit the sack and will try to upload my pix tomorrow after work. Thank you for all the encouraging replies - I'm sooo glad to know that not every member of her age group is bigoted and that other non-bigoted children of people like my mom are also having to deal with it.  I probably won't yell at her for awhile - with the election over and all those stupid ads stopping, she won't be so cranky (and neither will I!) "Focusing your life solely on making a buck shows a certain poverty of ambition. It asks too little of yourself. Because it's only when you hitch your wagon to something larger than yourself that you realize your true potential." - Barack Obama First, my deepest, deepest thanks to all those people who withstood a nine-hour wait. Second, I hope that everyone in that line, and everyone who sees or hears about it, will remember that there were no such lines in Florida in 2010, when Gov. Scott was elected.  He's the anti-democratic bastard who made that line possible, because he didn't want those people to vote. So in the next off-year election, everyone in that line, and everyone they know -- they all need to vote that bastard out of office and vote into office someone who cares enough about democracy to allow full and open access to the ballot box.  Without nine-hour lines. mixed income mixed race neighborhood. NO PROBLEM with lines. because no one wants to impede people from voting there needs to be a law that states need to allow voting to happen in a certain time period, beyond which it can be said they are impeding voting and violating the voting rights act (or something like that) that makes voting such an endurance test for some of it's citizens. In Dublin, a fairly large busy city, where I've voted for thirty years in a variety of locations both well off and poor, I've never had to wait at all to vote. Not for local elections, European elections, referendums, national elections or Presidential elections. Never. And we all vote on the one day and have no postal voting and still it's a quick and easy process. It just doesn't make sense that it should be this difficult in the wealthiest nation in the world. And it should be done as soon after this election as possible. Maybe we can rise above some of the bullshit if congress critters aren't quite so in campaign mode. We should take a page out of ?ALEC?'s book, cobble together a broad plan, and just start hitting our representatives/senators with it. And before the mail-only purists chime in...remember the story from Friday about the clerk in Oregon that was filling in blank circles with GOP straight ticket.  There has to be auditing of the process...and the partisan nature of election commissions strains the process.  There are often no quality standards met across a county, let alone a state. I poll clerked in 2006 in Jack Layton's former riding (Toronto-Danforth).  The lines weren't super busy, mind you, but there was a general high level of respect for the process by partisans and non-partisans and wanting to make sure every vote was counted properly - vote count scrutineering is permitted with one representative per party. We had to sign off on the station's results (both the clerk and me the deputy clerk).  The votes (paper marked with an x) were sealed shut in a plastic bag with signatures, then sealed in one box with the voters list with another signature seal, and then that box was put into another box with other Elections Canada general documents and signed/sealed again.  These final boxes were given to the riding (district) election returning officer (or a deputy) and they were taken to the riding administrative office.  They would be unsealed only on a judge's order (i.e. for a recount if the thresholds were met by law). Seriously, what's the difficulty? "now this is not the end, it is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning." W. Churchill in the U.S. it is an aspiration. The Constitution established the formal framework, but legislated inequality from the start. Participation was severally restricted and some humans weren't considered even whole persons. Turning the aspiration into reality has been a tortuous process. Even the enfranchisement of the entire adult population didn't happen until a mere four decades ago. Then, for the next three decades it was a rubber stamp occasion. While candidates for public office often appeared to be self-selected, most were actually chosen in various kinds of smoke-filled rooms. Participatory democracy is in its infancy. Indeed, in New England, the prototypical town meeting is being phased out in favor of "professional" administration by people who make decisions based on cost in an environment where the flow of money is constricted by the banksters. Withholding funds has turned out to be a lot easier than arguing communal need. Withholding funds has turned out to be a satisfying route to power. Just saying no is a power play. I don't know any large country where national voting is not managed by a national board. I don't know any country were partisan elected officials manage the voting. Where you can tag along many other local elections and questions and amendment and what not so filling up a ballot takes 10 minutes or more, for those who do it. Where the actual voting system changes by county and by state. A system for voting designed at the end of the eighteen century when only a third of the population of the country could actually vote but just having ballots mailed out that people could fill out from home if they so desired would be great, too.  (One potential problem with this is that people could more easily control the votes of others). Then you wouldn't have people filling out a 10 page ballot while others wait behind them.  Just makes no sense, living in the states would baffle your mind thor....Especially the south.   The red stronghold and dictator type of governing and flat out craziness is as bad as any uncivilized country.   It is sad, but Scott's politicial days are numbered because there is a huge effort, even with the old republican types to rid us of this corrupt POS.  The more I am here, the more I am convinced he stole Florida.    Can't find many who admit they voted for him. We the People have to make a difference and the Change.....Just do it ! Be part of helping us build a veteran community online. United Veterans of America in Florida. People stand in line at Disney World all the time. People spend hours sitting in traffic jams. A regular Sunday church service takes three hours, though that does involve sitting some of the time. That's why it's a good idea to bring chairs to the polls. If people can wait three hours to get in to see the President, they can wait to cast a vote for many candidates. The cons are lazy. That's why they think people will be discouraged by the physical exertion of standing in line. special provisions for physically handicapped persons. In some voting districts, I was informed yesterday, poll workers come to the curb with an electronic machine so a handicapped person need not exit the vehicle. Apparently, such provisions must be demanded by citizens. to address this. The board of supervisors or the supervisor of elections needs to be contacted during their down time, preferably in connection with budget considerations to insure that adequate provisions are planned for and included. This is a long term effort. Dollars are not determinative, but they do provide a good handle to exert some pressure. I don't think it was anticipated that part time legislators would use their power over the purse and public resources to insure their continuation in office (nobody expected that legislative bodies would become sinecures for people who have no practical talents), but since they do that, they have to be called out on the conflict involved in restricting the participation of the electorate to which they are supposed to respond. They need to be made to understand that the law is not designed to let them rule. Scott. He was very clear about what he would do in regard to voting. We saw this coming from miles away. And we started to fight on this issue right after Scott took office. Funding has been cut resources diverted, hours shortened, voter registrations challenged on many fronts. This has been a part of a plan. Not a CT but a public acknowledge and publicly discussed and debated plan. The whole rotten system in Florida is corrupt through and through. And there is no end in sight. Corruption has been around since prehistory and our system here in Florida is designed to be corruption friendly. Nine hours in a line? At Disney, to use your example, they would hand out fast passes to balance the load. Disney is designed to manage huge crowds and they foresee 99% of all eventualities. Your preferred example might be Universal or Six Flags. But if this election were run by Disney you would be in and out within two hours and have your picture taken with Cinderella on your way out through the gift shop. And hours would be extended until 3:00 AM to handle the crowd. No one should have to wait any lengthy time to vote in this country. There simply is no justification and no coincidence that 99% of the time those waits happen in poor and minority heavy places. Over the last 28 years, I've voted in my small, Connecticut home town (pop.3500), Boston, NYC, Stamford, CT and my new smallish, Connecticut town. The longest I've ever waited was in Stamford and that took all of 15 minutes because they were having a problem with two of those old mechanical, pull the lever machines. No one would have to take extra time to get accommodations if adequate voting facilities were provided.  No one would have to hope for good weather, or the good nature of politicians and officials.  No would have to fend off intimidation. And YES, we do expect that politicians and officials will and have throughout history used the power of the purse and public resources to insure their continuation in office and the hold on that power it provides. This IS a long term fight, and it's been going on forever.   I ask again, are you really that naive or am I not getting the snark in your comments? The priest said, "Today's sermon is called 'Liars', but first I have a question. How many of you have read Chapter 66 in Matthew?" Nearly every hand went up. "You're just the group I need to speak to," the priest said. "There's no such chapter." were targeted for deprivation and abuse. Then equal treatment arrived on the scene and the proponents did not consider that equal could encompass shoddy and that the ideal would be used to treat everyone worse. Nor, even though there's a long history of deprivation of rights under cover of law, was it anticipated that legislators would again resort to the law to subordinate the citizens they are supposed to serve. Our legislative bodies on the national and state level have been good at pointing the finger at the executive. But, the laws legislators passed in Tallahassee and the allocation of insufficient funds to pay for adequate voting facilities and processes was done by legislators, just as the AUMF and the Defense Authorization Act which permits domestic spying with drones was passed by Congress.  Pointing the finger at the executive who subscribes his John Hancock to the bills is not just disingenuous, it's deceptive. The long time political class in Florida, both Republican and Democratic has been exploitative. The wetlands were drained, the fish were killed off, and the forest resources were used up by exploiters -- people who take things to market for a profit and put nothing back. Because Florida was not part of the South before the Civil War, the locals pride themselves on being different, but, for all intents and purposes, the influx of retirees from other states was prompted by exploiters who consciously stinted on social services so that when the young retirees got old and needy, they'd be prompted to go back where they came from. The social infrastructure sucks almost as bad as the physical, which has to be constantly rebuilt because of shoddy work in the first place. I'm not naive, but I also don't have a lot of patience for wailing on election day. We've known since before 2000 that Florida is a mess and twelve years later nothing has changed. Republicans got a foot hold in Florida because Democrats were corrupt and self-serving. Government in the sunshine laws did make it possible for citizens to become involved, but few bothered and now, as far as I can tell, the laws are being steadily eroded. Yes, incompetent exploiters we will always have with us. They must be restrained and that task is never done because we keep producing more of them. Having to stand in line waiting to vote is the least of Florida's problems. But, that people are turning out to vote is a good sign. Also, that the dereliction of duty can be quantified in dollars is a good sign. Having to stand in line for hours not the least of Florida's problems.  It is at the root.  When voting rights are suppressed,  and waiting for hours clearly suppresses voting, all that stems from them is challenged.  If this basic right, the backbone of democracy is so easily made the least of our problems, then we have truly have no real democracy. Voting in this country has become so unimportant precisely because that is what is desired by those who want to limit it, namely the plutocracy, the oligarchs, the captains of industry, the monopolists, the crooks, liars, and bigots, etc.  They are getting what they want and most of America just shrugs. When the so many believe that they're vote doesn't count, that the fix is in, or the system is rigged, do we really have a democracy? I have to go now, so please forgive if you respond and I don't get back to you for a while.  I'm headed out to help make sure our polling locations here in town are ready for tomorrow.  Just got word that the power is back on at the schools. The priest said, "Today's sermon is called 'Liars', but first I have a question. How many of you have read Chapter 66 in Matthew?" Nearly every hand went up. "You're just the group I need to speak to," the priest said. "There's no such chapter." the good news is that absentee voting is unrestricted in Florida, just request a ballot and it will be mailed to you.  I dont think i would have been able to vote this year because of my disability.  I drove past an early voting place in Polk County today, the Lakeland Government Center, and lines were far out the door.  Four years ago the lines were short and all inside the building. ...sin that pays its way can travel freely, and without a passport,whereas Virtue, if a pauper is stopped at all frontiers. from The Sermon, Moby Dick would not choose to stand in line to see them at a rally --lots of elderly people, lots of folks who have jobs that they have to get to, people who could not stand that long, etc. They should not have to wait 3 hours, or 8 hours, to vote! Yes, it's a nice time of year in Florida but waiting hours to vote is ridiculous. "At stake are not just the details of policy, but fundamental principles of social justice and the character of our country." ~Sen. Ted Kennedy an attempt to excuse the inexcusable. There is no constitutional right nor no civic duty to stand in line at Disney World or to go to church for three hours on Sunday (seriously? People spend three hours in church?!). For the young and healthy it may not be too much of an endurance test but many people find queueing even when sitting very painful and young mothers with children would be severely compromised as well. If it was as difficult to vote in my country as it is  for some citizens in yours then I would have been only able to vote a fraction of the time instead of having a thirty year 100% record. It's disgraceful. the voter suppression - leaving the GOP legislature blameless!  And of course, GOPers are silent as voting lines extend for blocks and voters wait in lines up to 9 hours to vote - courtesy of the GOP legislature! somehow there are always plenty of voting machines for suburban whites, and never enough for inner city people of color.  Even on election day, the photos of lines tend to be heavily African-American, in places like Ohio. lenty of suburban whites. At the one early voting location in the county guaranteed to have plenty of suburban fundie white Republicans going there. Voting machines in every corner they could put them. Line in the shade. The line was at least half African-American. That's nowhere NEAR the racial breakdown of that neighborhood or the county as a whole. But if you take public transportation you may still add 2-3 hours each way to your vote time just to reach someplace without a 4-8 hour line. And depending on work schedule, how much you can pay a baby sitter, how much else you have to get done just to live, you may not have those extra hours either to stand in line to vote or to sit on a bus. "Madness! Total and complete madness! This never would've happened if the humans hadn't started fighting one another!" Londo Mollari if a habitat is flooded, the improvement for target fishes increases by an infinite percentage...because a habitat suitability index that is even a tiny fraction of 1 is still infinitely higher than zero, which is the suitability of dry land to fishes. If you work in the service, retail, fast food or medical industries, you're still working on national holidays. Often times you're working even on Thanksgiving and Christmas. And those are the work places filled with the working poor who are the same ones waiting in those long lines. "Madness! Total and complete madness! This never would've happened if the humans hadn't started fighting one another!" Londo Mollari if a habitat is flooded, the improvement for target fishes increases by an infinite percentage...because a habitat suitability index that is even a tiny fraction of 1 is still infinitely higher than zero, which is the suitability of dry land to fishes. earlier today.  We live in a suburban area in OH and have never had to wait to vote, whether voting early or on election day, not even 5 minutes. It's not fair, but until people wake up, get active, and vote out Republican governors and secretaries of state, it's not likely to get better.  Gerrymandering stacks the legislature against us, which makes winning state wide elections critical to block the Republican right wing agenda. The judicial system has been some help, but governors like Scott feel free to ignore the courts as well as public opinion.  If Republicans get control, the court appointees will not be sympathetic to voting rights. said rebelle. I think Rick Scott and his ilk deseve a prison sentence. In spite of them this will be a win for Obama and Democracy. Thank you Florida Democrats and like minded independents.. You are awesome. "America is the only country that went from barbarism to decadence without civilization in between" Oscar Wilde should be run against the Secretary of State and any other obstructing official whose responsibility involves elections. If these people know they're going to get pounded for their intransigence, it might have a beneficial effect. "Yes, reason has been a part of organized religion, ever since two nudists took dietary advice from a talking snake." - Jon Stewart; The Daily Show and who ever runs against him (whether Alex Sink runs again or the Dems put up someone else), they have a LOT of fodder to run against Scott.  He is fucking AWFUL, and the damaging he's doing will take time to undo.  I remember waking up to the "Rick Scott narrowly becomes Florida's new Governor" and I was like - NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO... God my state can be so STOOOOPID. It's all the Repubs in the Florida legislature. Democrats must take back both houses and the governorship - and then redistrict immediately. Forget the 10-year thing, the gerrymandering is facilitating the destruction of the state. Actually from what I can see districts have been drawn more compactly as required by the fair districts constitutional amendments--the reason Republicans dominate the state legislature is that they are the only organized party that holds real power in the state, and of course they have money out the wazoo...they are a united force and their fanatics vote consistently, unlike Democrats who move to Florida but treat it like being on permanent vacation rather than a state where they are involved in civic life. Try looking at this .  Notice how district 9 is completely surrounded by district 4?  Any guesses who lives in that squid district 9?  Poorer people.  Black people.  Democrats.  Notice the tiny strip of riverfront property at the bottom, that's in 4?  That's the Jacksonville elite, along with some middle class folks like me. On the national level, Corrine Brown's district is still that ugly snake of a map twisting its way through a third of the state, so as to create an overwhelmingly Democratic district - leaving the others comfortably Republican. if a habitat is flooded, the improvement for target fishes increases by an infinite percentage...because a habitat suitability index that is even a tiny fraction of 1 is still infinitely higher than zero, which is the suitability of dry land to fishes. You can't have a line like that and not have some system for getting people back to the same spot in line for things like going to the bathroom. Not unless you're going to be entirely inhumane (which, granted, undersupplying machines to the tune of a 9-hour-line is completely symptomatic of anyway, but...). A kind woman actually called her brother to bring some food and drinks for six of us ... I don't think a complete stranger has ever done something like for me before but the moment, I think, really brought folks together. of all the PISSED OFF turnout that are sending a message to the FL Gov. And yea - does OFA have something going to donate for chairs and snacks and water? I'll contribute. if a habitat is flooded, the improvement for target fishes increases by an infinite percentage...because a habitat suitability index that is even a tiny fraction of 1 is still infinitely higher than zero, which is the suitability of dry land to fishes. and thanks to all those Floridians who showed that criminal of a Governor that he won't take away your vote. Honestly -- besides the reduced days -- there should be more polling sites for early voting.  He is a total bastard.  I hope the DOJ is keeping details on every single polling place and that Scott gets slammed after the election. most people around me were very casual about the whole experience.  I think people were trying to be positive.  Also, since everyone was strangers, I think people did not want to risk getting into a heated political discussion for the next 9 hours! When I brought it up that this was a result of the reduced voting hours, folks certainly were already well-aware of the changess but none actually took the bait to complain/elaborate so I let it drop. What I don't understand is, why don't they have MORE voting booths in the early voting locations? There are so few of them compared to how many polling locations there are on election day. We had only 20 where I voted (West Boca Raton library). although she's not the best SofE (there have already been issues with absentee ballots). So, no, it's really not that obvious an answer and it is a valid question.  Unless the answer is that pRick Scott decides how many voting booths each early voting election is allocated (I assumed it was up to each county's SofE, but maybe I'm wrong).  Otherwise, since early voting ends 2 full days prior to Election Day, there's no reason why there can't be 40-50 voting booths at the few early voting locations around the county (Palm Beach is a LARGE county, as is Miami-Dade). He knows full well that early voting was what helped Obama cruise to victory in Florida the last time around and he's determined to prevent that from happening again. We have SUCH a plan for that guy when his term is up, you see. We're going to make sure that he's not re-elected as governor. But we're fighting one battle at a time. Meanwhile, rumor has it that none other that Charlie Crist (the former Republican governor of Florida who ran for a senate seat and lost) is planning a comeback---as a Democrat this time--- and that he plans to run for governor again. This should get interesting. vote enough in mid term elections. Actually I was talking about the strange phenomena of Republican governors in staunch Dem states with other politics nerds on our Irish politics site yesterday. Could this be why that seems to be a relatively common occurrence? The lack of voting in midterms by dems? there was no way in hell I could have done that.  Even with a stool it would have been very difficult.  I am sure there are lots of disabled people who would vote but can't.  Hopefully they are voting absentee--and hopefully that vote is not being thrown out or not counted. We should not be fighting about equal pay for equal work and access to birth control in 2012. Elizabeth Warren some relatives and friends of the family vote in that people over a certain age (somewhere in the 70s) or using assistive tech to get around automatically get cut to the front. I'm assuming the poll staff who manage that (they'll tell you if you're eligible when you get in line even if you don't know about the policy) would probably include people with non-assisted visible trouble walking in the definition. in Utah, and even that was enough to stress my knees! Standing is harder on the joints than walking. 9 hours? I'd be curled up on the ground. Chairs would help, but the repeated getting up and down from the chair to move up would strain the knees too. I did have to find a second location in the suburbs, as the first location had such a long line that they were cutting people off/ encouraging them to try a different location. At the second location, the poll workers looked to be willing to stay as long as it took. People were still getting into line after the cutoff time. yeah, Utah, my national votes won't make a dent, but I was happy to add to the popular vote total. There has got to be a way to address these long lines in the big state urban areas. It's been going on for years now. Any chance of national legislation mandating tying numbers of machines to numbers of registered voters? Does that pass constitutional muster? Otherwise, yes, TOSS THE GOP OFFICIALS overseeing the suppression. 2010 really brought a toxic crowd into both state govts and Congress. It's intolerable. of voting.  Between the travesties in Michigan, the dishonesty in Florida and Ohio, and the shenanigans in Waukesha County, WI, it is clear that there needs to be uniformity and supervision.  But getting Congress to take up the issue is another thing entirely. We should not be fighting about equal pay for equal work and access to birth control in 2012. Elizabeth Warren The west coast is truly the model for the rest of the nation.  Many of the other states so badly bungle voting that they make our country look like a laughing stock.  But not us in the west.  Of course we do take forever to count up our ballots. ...voting here has always been a breeze. Want to vote early at an early voting location?  Just drop in. Want a mail-in ballot?  Just ask.  Want to be on the Permanent Early Voting List so that you always get a mail-in ballot?  Just fill out a simple card.  Didn't mail your ballot in?  Drop it off at a polling place.  Oh, and if you want to vote in person on November 6th, you can do that. I've never spent more than ten minutes at a polling place.  It should be this easy everywhere. Early voting here is fairly busy, but never a hassle. The king here is voting by mail. I think I heard in Pima County this year that 60% of voters have gotten mail in ballots. Both parties vote heavily by mail. No one except a few fringe wacko wingnuts want to get rid of vote by mail - especially not elected officials. It's how they got voted in, after all. is awful.  In CA I was on a permanent mail ballot option.  Each election I'd get my ballot well in advance of election day and I could fill it out and mail it in....no hassles.  Better yet, I got non-biased information about the candidates, who they were (important for lower offices) and a brief statement from them. Even better was the detailed information on ballot initiatives...always a quagmire in CA because many of them are underwritten by special interests and can often have misleading titles.  All of this and Internet research really helps you feel you know who and what you are voting for. In PA...swing state...an absolute tsunami of totally awful advertising (and from both sides unfortunately).  Trying to make an argument in 30 or 60 seconds about important issues out to be outlawed. Then we have the long battle over Voter ID...the Repubs pushed it through....the courts after detailed arguments said it will not be imposed at least for this election.....and the Repubs are STILL running ads about Voter ID to try and increase the confusion. No independent advance information available about candidates or issues either.  You are totally on your own. Instead, you get the state spending 5 million bucks they don't have for education or health care to a GOP hack PR firm to "explain" the now-defunct Voter ID law to the voters...a law which they had to admit in court, was pushed through a GOP Legislature despite the fact that they could not cite a single case of voter fraud in the state. Worse yet, as a newcomer it is often hard to tell whether the ad you are seeing is for a candidate you can actually vote for or against....what is their district?  Are you in it?  We need national laws on voter qualification and a system which fairly allocates voting machines so classes of citizens aren't systematically and unfairly forced to endure denial of early voting, long waits in lines and artificial impediments to being allowed to vote. For everyone else: WA is 100% vote-by-mail.  Every registered voter with a valid mailing address gets a ballot and is expected to return that ballot at the price of a postage stamp (poll tax = &lt;$0.50 per person). It has drawbacks, but it's still the best deal until we can all do 100% internet voting (free via public library). On an ornery and arrogant note: Ain't all you all doing the same thing? You can also drop it off at the nearest drop-box 24 hrs a day (till election day, when the cut-off is 8 pm), or ballot collection van (those are more temporary). Price of gas, bus fare, or if you already have a bus pass or live in walking distance, then you can do it for free. I'm curious, though, why you don't think it's easier to fill out your ballot in the comfort of your own home, wearing pj's & fuzzy slippers if you want, enjoying pizza or bon-bons, seated in a nice soft chair with as much time as you need to read through the pamphlet and make your choices. "These are not candidates. These are the empty stand-ins for lobbyists' policies to be legislated later." - Chimpy, 9/24/10 ones, as I've moved around -- and the "line" is generally nonexistent or one person in front of me at the table where you pick up your ballot.  Maybe two, if it's really busy.  I have to wait longer to buy cookies at the bake sale in the lobby! absentee.  It was heavy this  year and we have to keep pushing it.  That way if some choad cuts EV even further we still get our votes in and counted. That that bald asshole sees these lines and intentionally doesn't want to vote is about as anti-American as anything I've ever seen of heard us.   A clogged toilet has more redeeming qualities than him. I live in Minnesota, I've never waited more than a few minutes to vote. Minneapolis has a population of about 380,000 people, and we have around 130 polling places. And there are plenty of voting booths. Every citizen in this country should have that same right to vote, free from frivolous challenges, free from waiting in long lines. How many voters are assigned to that polling place? Do you live in a highly democratic precinct? How do your local representatives stand for something like that? I'd love to know more about how Florida sets up their elections. If this only happens in Democratic or Minority areas, because far more voters are assigned to the polling places than elsewhere, I wonder if there could be some VRA or HAVA-based legal recourse. I know a lot of states have a maximum cap on how many voters are assigned to a polling place so that DOESN'T happen. And at least where I've lived (not FL), you aren't assigned one. I had a few choices of where to vote early, and my current county allows everyone the choice of which to go to. The entire county worth of voters could theoretically have piled into the one at the county seat on the first day of early voting, and there's nothing but the 'I can't stand in a line that long' factor discouraging later arrivals from staying to prevent exactly that from happening. This system handled 1.4 million voters during early voting this year statewide in TN. I have not been this pissed off in a very long time. It's like we're a fucking third world country. I hope this shame is broadcast all around the world. I voted absentee from the comfort of my dining room table in Cali. If you can find money to kill people, you can find money to help people. --Tony Benn My county elections dept told me if a signature is questioned on a mail in, the person will get a letter and can come in to verify their vote. If there are so many outstanding that it could affect the election, (which there never is), the county would withhold its final numbers. in Florida whose absentee ballot was rejected for that reason.  She was going to court to ask either that it be counted, or that she be allowed to vote in person on Election Day.  (They said, despite the ballot being rejected, that she'd had her shot at voting.) in the running....despite repeated court rejections of his schemes he keeps coming back for new ones.  The latest, announced within the last 24 hours claims that the voter is responsible for listing which ID they used to get to vote and if any of the info is wrong, their vote will be thrown out.... The law actually says election officials are required to verify the ID provided, but Husted doesn't care.  He also fired two election officials in one county who revised to limit early voting hours in the state, and won a court ruling that if someone votes in the wrong district due to having received incorrect information from a voting official (Ohio polling places get moved a lot...especially in Democratic areas) they are SOL as far as having their vote counted. This guy is a REAL piece of work.  I wish the courts would haul him up on charges of criminal interference with voting rights. exposed.. Credit card crap.   People are stupid.  He is young, attractive and people vote based on that,  If he looked like Lurch he wouldn't win but then again look at Scott. I may have to retract my statement. We the People have to make a difference and the Change.....Just do it ! Be part of helping us build a veteran community online. United Veterans of America We dropped the ballots off at the post office across from the cafe and were done.   This is Washington state. The Republicans are playing with fire.   The one thing that makes this country really unique is our committment to universal sufferage.   (The Rs seem committed to universal suffering except for a few.)   This is why even after a debacle like the Gore/Bush election we can have political transitions without violence. Aside from the morality of voting rights for all, it contributes in a large part to our country's stability.    (One civil war is enough.) They'll keep doing it as long as they can get away with it. It's unbelievable that this is acceptable, or allowed. It happens every election. Brought to mind how finally a law was passed that airlines couldn't trap passengers on a parked plane for more than 3 hours without fines kicking in. A strange comparison, I suppose, but there is a point there. Without a federal regulation, the airlines would not/did not care. voter suppression are blatantly unconstitutional per the 14th and perhaps 15th amendments, and I keep getting these lawyers claiming that it's not, I'm wrong, and there's almost nothing we or the feds can do about it. Which, not being a lawyer, I'm not qualified to dispute on technical grounds, but which I still firmly believe is 100% horseshit. Interracial marriage was illegal until 45 years ago, until such laws were found to be unconstitutional. Just because some anal-retentive, passive-aggressive lawyers with the imaginative capacity of a wood borer don't have the stones to take on conventional legal wisdom doesn't mean that we have to accept this nonsense. Everything's impossible until it isn't. Well, not everything, but you know what I mean. "Liberty without virtue would be no blessing to us" - Benjamin Rush, 1777 The biggest thing is that voting rules must be applied equally across the population.  Other than that, states have a lot of leeway. This is why Ohio's early voting was successfully challenged by the Obama campaign - they wanted to allow early voting on the three days leading up to the election to only military and their families.  The court said no, you can't do that.  If the SoS were to decide that no one gets to vote in person early, then the Feds can't stop that.  Same with Florida.  Everyone gets the same chances at voting early.  If this were unconstitutional, you'd better believe that the Obama campaign would have already been all over it. (Not a lawyer, if any lawyers find fault with this, feel free to correct! But this is what I've seen.) As an American citizen who has voted in every election since 1980 but whose Presidential vote has never counted once (I live in Oklahoma and the state has gone Republican for President in every election since 1968) I want to thank you for waiting in line 9 hours to vote.  You just voted where I could not, for 9 hours, in order to vote in a place where it counts.  THANK YOU. I had every intention of voting earlier but ended up in the hospital two weeks ago and put on life support in ICU for a week from a COPD exacerbation. If I would have had to have faced those lines after being so so sick, no way would I have been able to have waited that long. This breaks my heart that our people have been put through this. At least my story does have a happy ending...I quit smoking after being a 2 pk a day smoker for 40 years. Not even wanted a cigarette in over two weeks now. COPD put me in the hospital last year (but not ICU, fortunately). I had to get supplemental oxygen again for a few weeks last winter. And yet, I have struggled to quit smoking, and the guilt (and fear) is enormous. I've had clean stints (2 weeks max), but haven't been able to sustain them. I have to quit. I don't want emphysema. Tobacco addiction is evil. completely knocked out those first few days of withdrawal when the breathing tube was in. I know it sounds weird but you are in a very relaxed state through the worse part of the withdrawal so when I finally woke up and the tube was out and the worse of the actual physical withdrawal was over and from that point on it was me and the cigarette fighting the battle. I really didn't have any choice but to quit. Let me tell you though, I fell like a new person already...not completely healed but so much better. I can do so much more already than I could months before I landed in ICU. The docs told hubby I was just a just a very short time from death by the time they got me intubated. I feel like I was given a second chance to enjoy life. Now i am in physical therapy, occupational therapy, and will be taking respiratory therapy also as soon as I see my pulmonologist to get everything set up in early Dec.. So THANKFUL for good insurance. HEalth care for everyone!!!!!! This is what happens when people don't vote. In 2010 when most Floridians stayed home, they gave Rick Scott a license to destroy Florida. Here in NC, we experienced the same thing in 2010. Nobody came out to vote and the Republicans took over the NC House and Senate. They are poised to win the Governorship on Tue. and we will be in trouble in 2014, 2016 and beyond. If we win on Tuesday, I hope Democrats will really feel empowered. When we are empowered, we can accomplish so many things. Unless you include the time it took me to research and make a choice on those infernally long and complex ballot initiatives we had in Seattle...in the comfort of my home or a local cafe, after which I walked my ballot in or dropped it off in a collection box, which once I arrived took all of 2 minutes. This is surreal. This is rediculous. This is infuriating. This is insulting. What this is not is democracy as it should or is meant to be. And will someday be, once these racist troglodytes are finally extinct. It will happen. "Liberty without virtue would be no blessing to us" - Benjamin Rush, 1777 Line was only slightly shorter. I got there at 3:45 - didn't get my ballot until 6:30. While walking out at 6:45 (polls close at 7pm) there was still a long line - no way everyone got in to vote. Important side note - part of the reason for the wait were 11 constitutional amendments on the ballot, all of which were crap. these were purposefully added by the Republican legislature to slow down early voting, I'm convinced. I saw some older residents reading the entire ballot, must've taken them 30 min to fill it out. It took me 15 min and I already knew exactly how I was voting CA has been democratic at the state level since the Latinos got up and roared at Pete Wilson (Gov-R) who attempted racist anti-immigration legislation.  In 2010, not a single R was elected to any statewide office. And in this state, registering is a click at a website. If registered, an absentee ballot is a click at a website.  The Ballot arrives a few days later.   It can be mailed, or dropped off for free at multiple locations fairly close to the residence of the voter. For those who lack the web, there are the usual paper-oriented methods, again easily available in multiple locations. In our state, we want people to vote. I feel for people in states that only want the "right" people to vote (no pun intended).  If you break the logjam, ever, and get some statewide power, get your people to pass legislation reversing the suppression tide. Aventura is in north Dade county. Despite the vociferous Cuban population here, Miami is heavily Democratic.  North Dade is home to a very large portion of the county's black residents, and Aventura is the nearest EV location for many of them. Encouraging to see so many out here, but discouraging to know that many were not able to vote the day I was there. Amador County California has a Democratic registration of 32%, and a Republican registration of 46%, and the further right AI party has 4% registration. In the 2012 primaries, 36% of the ballots cast were by Democrats, 50% by Republicans, and 4% by the AI party. Gee, I wonder why you never had to wait more than 5 minutes to vote? Could it be that the Amador County powers that be are also Republican, and they just happen to want to make it nice and easy for their Republican voters to cast their Republican votes? robably true a few years back, however, I believe the Democratic registrations have increased over the past few years. I can tell you that the Registrar of Voters in this county and the Elections Department are totally non-partisan. I helped to certify the voting machines in the Nov. 2006 election and there were Republicans and Democrats overseeing the process from beginning to end. So in spite of the fact that there are more registered Republicans than Democrats in this county, what you suggest about voting times is complete bullshit. As for the "powers that be", I can tell you that based on working with Sheldon Johnson the Clerk/Recorder/Registrar of Voters you couldn't find a better more impartial person running things. Sheldon has been in office for 34 years and has done a fantastic job over the years in elections and in the Clerk/Recorder's office. Sadly, he will be retiring at the end of December. Finally, I've lived here for over 20 years and I wouldn't hesitate to vouch for the fairness of the Elections Department. He has no doubt done a fine job and now gets to enjoy his well earned retirement. Would only that the voters of Florida and Ohio had such a man to ensure that they would not have to wait in lines for up to 10 hours to vote. If only Mr. Johnson could have been there to stop the higher ranking Republican powers that be from disenfranchising voters in Democratic majority areas. I am sitting here at the opposite corner of the country, crying for our democracy. I don't give a damn what party you belong to, who you are trying to vote in or out, or what crazy beliefs you might have about taxes, labor laws, abortion, or anything else. This is just FLAT. OUT. WRONG. "These are not candidates. These are the empty stand-ins for lobbyists' policies to be legislated later." - Chimpy, 9/24/10 I live in a predominantly white area, and I have never waited for more than about 45 minutes to vote. I only waited about 15 minutes this time. Yet folks in predominantly black areas have always posted 3+hour waiting times. It's complete BS. Time is of no account with great thoughts, which are as fresh to-day as when they first passed through their authors' minds ages ago. - Samuel Smiles Over the next two years FL Dems should hammer Scott and the GOP over this, and promise to fix this if Floridian return Dens to power. Crist has a good tack record on this and he should emphasize this as a major issue. Coming Soon -- to an Internet connection near you: Armisticeproject.org If white, suburban voters had to go through this to cast a vote, the voting laws would change overnight.  It should be a priority that voters should wait no longer than 30 minutes to vote (like those in the 'burbs).  The early voting lines in my county in Maryland routinely had 1.5 to 2.5 hr waits all day long.  That is ridiculous to put people through even a two hour wait to cast a vote. I know a handful of states are really moving forward alternatives (mail in ballots), I wish the others would follow. "When a nation goes down, or a society perishes, one condition may always be found; they forgot where they came from. They lost sight of what had brought them along." --Carl Sandburg if only Democrats had turned out like this two years ago, we wouldn't have these long lines and the rest of Scott's voter supression to fight against. This is what happens when we only vote in Presidential years (and, as in 2008, only vote for President leave the downballot blank)....a lot of people don't realize that the federal government has a very limited role in regulating elections, it's the state and local officials who decide how easy it will be for you to vote. Five minutes was the wait time to get my ballot.  Photo I.D. not asked for.  45 seconds to fill out one ballot wrong, have the receptacle spit it out as such, another 3 minutes to receive another ballot and finish voting. Of course the down side was the number of local offices with only one person running.  I spent more time researching the County Forest Preserve Board choices because of that. Florida's mess is the result of stupidly electing an unknown CEO who doesn't give a shit about reelection. Huge tax giveaways and destroying union jobs is why Scott is there as weel as profiteering. Don Siegelman is wasting away in a Louisiana slammer for nothing while Rick Scott requires drug testing that enriches his spouse's businesses. being in Florida and knowing this year was under Scott, I voted absentee but had the satisfaction of turning it in in person.  No problem other than questioning things and making sure the vote got counted. We the People have to make a difference and the Change.....Just do it ! Be part of helping us build a veteran community online. United Veterans of America I know exactly where you voted (we spend about a month a year in Sunny Isles), and there is ZERO excuse for there being any kind of wait.  Up here in Mass, I wait 10 minutes - MAX - and am usually in and out in less than 5. Why on earth is this tolerated? Congrats on voting.  Which seems like a very odd and unacceptable thing to say.  It just shouldn't be an ordeal. we simply don't have queues to vote in the UK.  You just go in, collect your ballot paper, go into the plywood booth, mark it with a pencil (on a string, in the booth), then come out and drop it in the box. I've never seen more than a couple of people waiting for a spare booth. When 37 polling sites in Miami-Dade and Broward counties opened at 7 a.m. on the last day of early voting, two had five-hour waits. The wait was four hours or longer at three other sites. And the waits only got longer. Voters in line by the time closed at 7 p.m. were allowed to vote. At 6:42 p.m., the Miami-Dade elections department estimated that a half a dozen sites had six-hour lines. On Friday, the Miami-Dade voters had stayed open until 11 p.m. At least one person left without voting due to the long line: At the West Dade Regional Library, 59-year-old Rolando Gutierrez, who was next-to-last in line at around 2 p.m., told the woman behind him, 45-year-old Maria Corro, that he was thinking of leaving to avoid the three- or four-hour wait. "Maybe it will be less," said Corro, a nurse who had been dropped off by her husband. She had brought along her 11-year-old daughter, Sofia, who sat on a bench doing homework. "You have to think positive." But a few minutes later, Gutierrez walked away. "I don't have a choice," said Gutierrez, who works the night shift loading trucks for UPS. "I have to sleep." He said he plans to go to his precinct on Tuesday, to vote for Obama, whom he voted for four years ago. But despite Rick Scott's voter suppression efforts, there's this: As of Friday, Democrats led Republicans by about 187,000 in early, in-person voting . Republicans led Democrats by 84,000 in absentee ballots cast. That's an overall advantage for Dems of 103,000 votes as of Friday.  Obama defeated McCain by 200,000 votes in 2008. I'm just saying. I'm probably still in my little dream world (swore I picked up an hour there somewhere), but there should be some sort of federal directive, immediately after this election, that takes all this bullshit out of the voting process. I get antsy waiting five minutes for a pizza, I could not imagine. I've done it by mail mostly the past few years, although I did head down last year for a local vote on school issues. Not a problem here in TinyTown, Vermont. Head down to where they store the snowplow, nudge awake the town clerk, and vote. Ridiculously easy, which should be the motto of my dream directive: Voting: It's Ridiculously Easy I swear, in many areas of this country, it sounds like you're suiting up to search for the fucking grail whenever you go to cast a vote. Fixing this should be high on Reid and Speaker Pelosi's list come January (hey, it's my dream world, I'm throwing the House our way too, hehe). with folks in poor health or the older population standing in line for so long to exercise their right to elect the leader of our country. Of course the Governor and his ilk have no shame. Power is their drug. I guess Hell's just the place for "kiss ass politicians" who pander to assholes. Take note Florida's Rick Scot, of how a state that cares about America and democracy reacts! Voters in New Jersey now have two more ways to send in their ballots in an already unusual election season complicated by superstorm Sandy: via fax and email. http://online.wsj.com/... . Also in an effort to protect democracy and insure that all of our citizens' voices will be heard, "People will also be able to vote somewhere other than the county in which they are registered, the administration said." Yes, I am worried about voting machines in Ohio, and long lines in Florida, and Project ORCA poll watchers tying to mislead and intimidate voters in Iowa, and misinformation in Colorado, anonymous billboards in Wisconsin, and, and, and ................. but am glad to know that in New Jersey at least,  even a hurricane can't stop  the vote. "The elective franchise, if guarded as the ark of our safety, will peaceably dissipate all combinations to subvert a Constitution, dictated by the wisdom, and resting on the will of the people. " Thomas Jefferson the waiting time is so long.  I've worked in the polls in Michigan for over a decade, so I  don't have to stand in line anymore (which frankly I miss) as I now vote AV.  But being a poll worker, I can say that our wait time might be no more than an hour.  What's going on in these polling precincts that creates such a long wait?  Not enough poll workers, not enough booths, super-long ballots, just an overwhelming number of people wanting to vote early?  It's outrageous that people have to wait the equivalent of a work day to vote!  Any politician who has a hand in this (at best) inefficient or (at worst) suppressive practice should be held accountable when they come up for re-election.  Trust me, Michigan has had our own issues with our Secretary of State and I'm going to be working hard to see she's not re-elected.  Stills999, thanks for sticking it out and casting your vote! "People the world over have always been more impressed by the power of our example than by the example of our power." - Bill Clinton, August 2008 On October 26th, I e-mailed a request for an absentee ballot to my county elections supervisor.  They return messaged me that my request was being processed and I could expect my ballot in 2-3 days. By yesterday, November 3rd, at 6:00 PM, I still had no ballot, and so I e-mailed an urgent notice to the elections supervisor advising her of my plight. As a number of you know, I live in rural South Dade in the area where your winter veggies and tomatoes come from.  My mailbox is a rural route cluster installation three miles away from my house.  On Saturday, we don't go get the mail  if no one has had to go "into town" that day -- trying to be green. Fortunately, LimeSpouse had to make a milk run (He must have his milk and ice cream bedtime float each and every night w/o fail!) and remembered to pick up the mail on the way back.  There was my ballot.  It was post marked "November 2nd"!  Not the 2-3 days after my request, as promised. I promptly filled it out, made sure my signature in the red box on the outside of the envelope appears exactly as my name is printed on my Voter ID.  It awaits delivery later today into the overnight post office box at our substation (10 miles away). Wouldn't want to cut it any closer! Of course I voted for President Obama, Senator Bill Nelson, and Joe Garcia. What did you think? I almost sent my wife to that voting place for early voting but she will vote on Tuesday.  I voted absentee and received my email today that my vote has been received.  I voted for Obama of course and every other Democrat.  I voted "no" on every amendment and yes to retain every judge (that is the democratic party position FYI). This is my first voting in Florida after living in Manhattan. My wife got her citizenship and voter registration just last month and is a first time voter.  I am so happy at the strength of the vote of my wife and I.  Two new democratic party Florida votes in 2012!! but in Michigan you have to have one of the following reasons in order to vote by mail: -age 60 years old or older -unable to vote without assistance at the polls -expecting to be out of town on election day -in jail awaiting arraignment or trial -unable to attend the polls due to religious reasons -appointed to work as an election inspector in a precinct outside of your precinct of residence. (I use this one) I know a couple of people (and I'm sure there are A LOT more) who get absentee ballots even though they don't meet any of the requirements.  They just say they're going to be out of town.  I'm bound and determined to change this in Michigan so that ANYONE can get an AV ballot and I also want Michigan to go the early voting route as well.  The states are all over the place when it comes to early voting, AV ballots, etc.  Do you  have differences from province to province like we do from state to state?  Or do they all follow the same policies/procedures? "People the world over have always been more impressed by the power of our example than by the example of our power." - Bill Clinton, August 2008 I should note that, at least in Chicago, mail-in absentee ballots are opened and counted after election night, along with provisional ballots. So you are sort of treated as a second-class voter, in that you don't get counted on election night. That's crazy!  Our AV ballots are counted throughout the day and are included in the night's totals.  The more I hear about what's going on from state to state, the madder I'm getting that we don't have some kind of standard across the country for national elections.  This is nuts... "People the world over have always been more impressed by the power of our example than by the example of our power." - Bill Clinton, August 2008 But people have different reasons why they want to vote in person, and to vote on election day. I've stood at a lot of precincts as people vote in person (both early and on election day), and I have a sense these are the two general reasons: * Distrust of the mail-in system.  Definitely a legitimate concern.  I've verified with my supervisor of elections that if my signature gets rejected, I would be notified on a timely basis. Even so, I don't feel 100% confident that my vote will count. * Joy of taking part in the timeless tradition of showing up and casting a vote in person. I had read an article (I think its posted somewhere above) that many mail-in ballots have been thrown away due to questionable circumstances such as signatures not being considered as matching.  There were also issues that the envelopes were inconsistent in different counties such as people were signing them incorrectly.  Thus, as a new citizen I wanted to vote in person to be sure as possible my vote counted. Call me crazy, but I have high suspicion, especially inthe current climate, that employers (or others) might demand to review their employees' ballots as a condition of employment, where mail-in voting (and thus lost ballot secrecy) was available. Other nefarious purposes are also available. It may not be a shorter line on election day, additionally many people have work situations that prevent them from voting on election day. For instance a friend of mine lives 40 minutes from her work in a different county, she might be able to get off work in time to vote but does not take the risk of an unforeseen incident keeping her from voting. open more voting centers and booths. Hire more people to do this and we can fix 2 problems with one expenditure: long lines at the voting booth and the unemployment office. What somebody already thought of that? Why didn't they do it?...Well, that's stupid. I am happy to report my wife and I were able to vote about five minutes after the doors to the Oshkosh Convention Center opened on October 22, the first day of early voting. In anticipation of larger than usual turnout, the city fathers moved the Early Voting from City Hall to the Convention Center. We were already registered, so we were sent right through. We received our ballots, filled them out for a solid pile of Democrats, put them into the envelopes, and we were out of there. Gotta stop that!!  We've had early voting here for weeks in Ohio.  I was out canvassing in a predominately black neighborhood and almost everyone said they had already voted, but the Obama campaign had to fight the Republlcian Secretary of State who was trying to stop it! Every November my coworkers and I have to sit through a powerpoint presentation detailing our health insurance options. And every year, we find out how much of an increase we're going to see in our ... For those of you doing GOTV, or convincing family and friends to vote for our president, please feel free to link to this. A woman I know, who is in her 70's, listed these out, and asked me to pass ...