well we voted today

Dennis appreciates every vote, dys.

yes, yes he does, he sent me personal thank you note (and a tofu dish idea)

Easy. I liked the vote early option. They were busy, but it wasn't any kind of long line to get in the voting area. Might not be as easy as an absentee ballot, but it wasn't difficult, and there was the added sense of being part of a community.

Vote frequently !.

I voted early too. One more vote for Obama in a state that leans red.

My brother voted early too. When I visited his home recently, my nephew proudly announced that his dad voted for McCain. His dad nodded in the affirmative, after which my 10-year-old nephew said, "Yeah, 'cuz we don't want a Muslim for president."

I think the utter look of shock on my face caused my brother squirm uncomfortably. I told my nephew that Obama is a Christian--not a Muslim, but what difference would it make if he was? My brother interrupted and said, "I don't want my tax dollars to support some guy on welfare...." Whatever! Ignorance annoys me. I also can't stand it that my nephew is learning hate at his dad's knee. It's repulsive -- and it's happening in my own family!

My vote for Obama and my sister's vote for Obama canceled out my brother's vote for McCain in our red leaning state by a margin of 2 to 1. I hope Obama wins the election. Perhaps then all the children of our nation can see--first hand--that the prejudices they are learning from their parents are unfounded. My other sister in CA voted for McCain, but she told me her vote didn't count because CA is a blue state. That still doesn't excuse her participation in the Obama email smear campaign. This election has shown me things about some of my own family members that hurt my heart.

I constantly get waylaid at work, by ignoramouses complaining that "Muslim" Obama will subvert the nation and also Israel. Because I am working, I can't indulge discussing such things. I have to wait in polite silence til they wind down.

Kinda of ironic. The land of religious freedom.

I have reasons to want to be close to family, with the cousin closest to me being furthest from my views, and the one that wants space being closer in view (there you go - to give her some room, she considers herself fraught with too much happening and needing to qwell it - she shut the rest of us off. Still like her, of course.)

So, what we have is me being closest to the one married to the john bircher. I haven't really discussed all this with them for a lot of years - my husband did, he was cool about not turning the room into flames, where I'd probably react in some holiday ruining way.. I didn't go there, past plain explanation of my thoughts, once or twice, probably with a wild face, now many years ago.

Meantime, these two are the ones who care about me.


I hate that voting can be about cancelling someone. Yack, I'd like it cleaner. But it naturally happens.

I envy you guys in states with extended voting days. I'll probably have to stand in line Tuesday for quite a spell. Only way you can vote early in Mass. is to get an absentee ballot. And even then, as I understand it, it's not automatic; you have to give a reason why you won't be able to come to the polls on election day.

I only voted by absentee ballot once in my life. That was for Bill Clinton the first time. I didn't know very much about Clinton at the time but I would have voted for just about anybody to kick Geo. Bush the elder out of the White House. I was living in New Hampshire at the time but got an absentee ballot because I knew I was going to be in Texas on election day. What would that have been? 1992?

I sent for an absentee ballot this time, thinking I could do that - and when I got to the early voting place had to sign an affidavit that I'd not sent that in (or sim language) and was voting only there and then. Which was true.

I'd gotten the absentee ballot in case I was somehow stuck - but the early voting thing was, as said, easy enough.

My husband has already voted but I am waiting to Tuesday. I just like going into the polls even if I have to wait in line and voting. Also it is a great way to chat with neighbours not seen for awhile.

My whole immediate family will vote blue in a blue state (well, two blue states). But, my extended family is mixed leaning more heavily towards McCain (voting in 2 blue states and 2 swing states). We Obamas outnumber them by one, the best I can figure.

Over here in Florida, you don't need an excuse to ask for an absentee ballot. Which brings up an interesting question. What happens if a person drops dead between the time that he has absentee or early voted, and election day? I wonder what is happening in the hospice houses?

I am very happy that so many people are voting. Thirty years ago, I was lucky to get a non-political job with the federal government. Out of a bizarre compulsion to prove to family and friends that I am non-partisan, I stopped voting completely. Sometimes I regret that.

the dead obviously vote for Lyndon Johnson.

Osso pointed out one of the really serious problems in New Mexico. Not only do they send out blanket mailers encouraging people to apply for absentee ballots, they are available to anybody who applies for them and they don't ask for a reason. But whether or not you got an absentee ballot, you can still take part in early voting or vote on election day. There is virtually no chance you would be caught voting twice. I honestly don't know how many actually do, but I am pretty sure that some do.

Phoenix also raises the next problem of absentee ballots and the unscrupulous use of them by people who vote on behalf of those who cannot or will not vote.

A few years ago I was a few places back in line at the voting place when a woman almost fainted when she saw her husband's signature on the line above hers as she checked in. He had died 30 days before.

In the days where people had to make the effort to be registered two to six weeks prior to the election--time enough for the authorities to get the names, addresses, etc entered into the system prior to the election--and then had to make the effort to get to the polls to a designated precinct and vote on the designated election day, I suspect we had a much better informed electorate and much more honest elections. It still didn't keep dead people from voting, but that is a very small part of the problem here, and I suspect a small part of the problem in most places.

In most cases, I would agree with you. But what about very tight race? Illegal votes might very well shift a winner.

Well that's true. Here in New Mexico, in recent elections both for President and representatives to Congress, the winner has been decided by razor thin margins. And that's even without the mysterious 'lost' ballot box that almost inevitably shows up later when the vote is very close, and it is that 'lost' ballot box that concerns me in the face of all the voter registration fraud.

Our District 1 Democratic candidate for the House of Representatives recently demanded that the State Police escort the ballot boxes from the polling places in this election because his Republican opponent is the Bernalillo County Sheriff so he doesn't trust deputies to do it or, apparently, even the city cops. It has really gotten wierd out there.

Yes I know the feeling as my best friend , best man at my wedding and as near to a brother as I will ever will have is voting for the McCain-Palin ticket.

I can not bring myself to go near the subject with him as I know that I will begin to chrew the carpet if I do so.