Election 2012 live blog

[Landshark]

The wife and I went and got our votes in before I headed to the office this morning.  Anyone else having good/bad experiences at the polling places? 

[Cathal]

Pretty simple for me. I was in line for about 30 minutes before I could vote. Couldn't be simpler.

[Brian Fein]

I have heard from several independent sources that Rick Scott, Florida's governor, is purposely sandbagging the polling places to make it inconvenient to vote, make wait times excessive, to help Romney's cause. 

How is this not considered election tampering?

I went to the polling place at 6:30 AM and didn't leave until after 9 AM.  They had 10 voting booths inside a gigantic middle school gymnasium.  This is ridiculous.

This process needs to be improved and Rick Scott needs to be impeached.

[Cathal]

^^^ I'm ignorant, but why would it only help Mitt's cause? Wouldn't everyone be inconvenience?

[Brian Fein]

because the affected counties are typically Obama supporters.  Low voter turnout favors Romney in these areas and could give him the 29 electoral votes to swing the election.

[bsfins]

There were more people working the polls,than people voting at my precinct.

After I handed my drivers licence to the worker (not required here,but it makes tons easier for the poll worker to find your name) I got asked two more times to verify my address,verbally to two different people.

I'm curious.... If you guy's get a sample ballot,or look at the ballot online before you vote?

I'm always shocked,by the things that I've never heard a peep about that are on the ballot...I had no Clue about Prop A on the Ballot(till I paid my rent and my landlord pointed it out to me),because it's about giving the control of the K.C.,and St.Louis police departments back to the cities from the state.

[Spider-Dan]

^^^ I'm ignorant, but why would it only help Mitt's cause? Wouldn't everyone be inconvenience?

Urban areas are more likely to have long lines and congestion.
Urban voters typically vote Democratic.
Connect the dots.

I voted by mail (in CA) a week ago.  I think the Democratic Party needs to make a huge push towards vote-by-mail registration to sidestep the voter suppression tactics that are recently becoming popular.  I read about people waiting 7 hours in line during early voting; that's totally unacceptable.

[Phishfan]

I voted by mail (in CA) a week ago. 

I hope you signed it completely legible. This is the voting method where most votes are not counted because the signature cannot be read/confirmed.

[SportsChick]

Problem with confirming signatures? I changed my name in my license last year after I got married. The lady at the DMV also changed my voter registration over for me. I didn't have to sign anything. What do they have to compare my signature to? What they have on file is my maiden name and obviously my signature is quite different now.

[Spider-Dan]

Yes, I am aware that (in CA) your ballot signature must match the signature on your registration (which is not the same thing as being legible).

[Brian Fein]

They mail out sample ballots but no one reads them.  There were 12 amendments on our ballot, each of which read like a doctoral thesis, and people who weren't familiar with them took about 30 minutes longer to fill out their ballots (and likely got duped into voting against themselves by the wording).

[Buddhagirl]

I downloaded my sample ballot online and studied up.

[SportsChick]

Yes, I am aware that (in CA) your ballot signature must match the signature on your registration (which is not the same thing as being legible).

What I'm saying though is that they have no signature on file for me with my married name. What then?

[Spider-Dan]

If your signature-on-file does not match the signature on your absentee ballot, I believe your ballot will be rejected.

I find it hard to believe that the DMV would be able to change your name on your license and your voter registration without requiring a single signature from you, though.  It may be that you signed once for all the paperwork, and that signature was used for your new voter registration signature-on-file.

You should probably look into it.

[CF DolFan]

I have heard from several independent sources that Rick Scott, Florida's governor, is purposely sandbagging the polling places to make it inconvenient to vote, make wait times excessive, to help Romney's cause. 

How is this not considered election tampering?

I went to the polling place at 6:30 AM and didn't leave until after 9 AM.  They had 10 voting booths inside a gigantic middle school gymnasium.  This is ridiculous.

This process needs to be improved and Rick Scott needs to be impeached.

This cracks me up because I think you are being serious. You elect a Supervisor of Elections in each county that oversees the election process. So if you are in a democratic part of town I would be willing to bet you have a democrat that heads the election process. I would find it very unusual if they were sold out to Scott.

Find your Supervisor of Elections below
http://doedoe.dos.state.fl.us/soe/supervisor_elections.asp


With that said I think it's really bad how much both sides distrust each other because of the propaganda from both extremes.  That says more about the US of A than any political ad could ever do. It's really sad.