The "I Voted" Thread

9:45 a.m. No line.

I eschewed the electronic voting in favor of a paper (bubble-in) ballot.

5-10 minutes to complete.

Describe your experience: Uneventful.
Where's the polling place?: High school gym three blocks from my home.
Morning: 06:40ish AM.
Uber quick-and-easy: Was back on the street at 06:46 AM.
How did you cast your ballot?: Scanned paper ballot.
How much time did the process take? About 6 minutes or so.
How many offices were up for election? President; US Senator; US Rep.; 6 various state judges; one state rep and one state senator = 11.
Any interesting ballot initiatives/referenda? Sadly no.

Examples of obvious politicking near the polling place? Any poll watchers from the UN? No and not that I witnessed.
Did you get a sticker? I didn't see anyone offering ... so no.

I voted last week at the city's museum.

Afternoon

Quick and easy - terrible acoustics for someone with bad hearing

Paper ballot fed into a machine when finished

About 20 minutes in total

Senator & Representative, a few state offices, etc. I didn't vote for judges.

No UN observers

Sticker offered & declined.

Where's the polling place?

High school gym.

Morning? Afternoon? Evening? Last week?

Just got back!

Long lines or quick-and-easy?

Quick-n-easy.

How did you cast your ballot? Punch ballots? Touch-screen? Colored balls dropped in a fish bowl?

Touch screen, with a printed "receipt" that I checked carefully to make sure it matched. It did.

How much time did the process take?

Five minutes?

How many offices were up for election? Governor? Senator? Dog catcher?

Ooh, a lot. Not sure how many. 30?

Any interesting ballot initiatives/referenda?

Ohio made a law in 1932 that every 20 years voters are asked if they want to amend the constitution. Every time (thus far) they've said "no."

Examples of obvious politicking near the polling place? Any poll watchers from the UN?

Nope.

Did you get a sticker?

Yep.

It took longer than I thought.

There are three precincts that all enter in the same door in a local elementary school. I was looking for precinct 6. It turned out the line for precinct 4 was by far the longest. So after 5 minutes someone said that those of us in precinct 6 could bypass the long line and go inside for a shorter line.

Well, I got to the end of the shorter line and gave my address. "Sorry", they said, but that address is in precinct 4.

Luckily the people in the middle of the ever lengthening precinct 4 line remembered me and let me back in.

I spent 40 minutes in line which seemed excessive until I heard the reports of 7 hour waits elsewhere.

Your voting site seems a bit unorganized.

Every poll site I have ever voted at has always had a table near the front door to the polling site where they act as traffic cops telling everyone who enters which precinct/table to head off to. Then again, I always take the latest bit of election mail I receive that tells me where my polling site is and under which precinct I belong to.

Describe your experience.
Stressful, not because of the voting experience, but other events you'll have to keep reading to discover.

Where's the polling place? Church basement? High school gym? Auto repair shop? Aquarium?

Vacant storefront.

Morning? Afternoon? Evening? Last week?
Afternoon, about two weeks ago.

Long lines or quick-and-easy?
The process was quick and easy - the experience, not so much.

How did you cast your ballot? Punch ballots? Touch-screen? Colored balls dropped in a fish bowl?
Fill in the bubble with black ink pen

How much time did the process take?
15 minutes

How many offices were up for election? Governor? Senator? Dog catcher?
About 25

Any interesting ballot initiatives/referenda?
No - mostly bond measures

Examples of obvious politicking near the polling place? Any poll watchers from the UN?

Did you get a sticker?
It was offered, but I declined.



When BBB and I went to go vote about two weeks ago, I parked near a handicap ramp so BBB would be able to get up over the curb. BBB got out of the car, took a few steps and lost her balance, falling down hard on her right side. Her head was bleeding profusely and she was in a lot of pain. People from the businesses came out to help her immediately. I got a roll of paper towels from my car to apply to her head and mop up blood. Two men were able to lift her up to a standing position and I wanted to take her to the urgent care clinic. She refused and insisted she be taken inside so she could vote. She would not leave the place without being able to vote.

We sat her on a chair inside the polling place while someone brought a bag of ice for her head. They brought her the ballot and she shakily filled out her ballot while the bump over her eye swelled to the size of an egg.

Finally got her back in the car and took her to the urgent care clinic where they x-rayed her face and her wrist to check for any broken bones. No fractures, they cleaned and bandaged her wounds and gave her a brace for her wrist.

Next day, the whole right side of her face and body were turning a lovely shade of black and blue. She was scheduled for outpatient hernia repair surgery and insisted on going through with it regardless of how many medical people came to check out her injuries and tell her it was okay if she wanted to postpone the surgery. She insisted on going through with it. The surgeon was very concerned about her injuries and made a urgent appointment for her at the orthopedic clinic to have her x-rays double checked as well as the rest of her injuries looked at. The ortho doctor said he was fully convinced just by looking at her that she'd have several broken bones but didn't find any.

It has now been two weeks since her fall and the swelling has lessened and the bruising is beginning to fade. She's still in a bit of pain, not able to easily use her walker or crutches because it requires being able to put weight on her injured wrist.

Every person she's met, she's proudly relayed her story of the fall and how she insisted on being able to cast her vote for Barack Obama before letting anyone take her to get medical care.

I'm thinking of sending a letter to Barack to tell him about his Number One Fan and Supporter.

We vote by mail so I voted from my dining room table. I spent a couple of days perusing the phone book sized voter's guide and filling in the bubbles.

We did get to vote on whether we wanted to legalize pot -- possession, cultivation, etc.

They had that table, but it was inside the door where no one could see it. The line went well outside the door. That is why every 5 minutes or so they had someone going down the line to tell people of certain precincts they could skip ahead.

It wasn't the best system.

Describe your experience: easy-peasy
Where's the polling place?: local YMCA
Morning: 8:45 am
How did you cast your ballot?: paper ballot marked with felt-tip pen
How much time did the process take? couple minutes
How many offices were up for election? less than 10
Any interesting ballot initiatives/referenda? yes... MA ballot measures
Examples of obvious politicking near the polling place? Any poll watchers from the UN? one woman was holding up a Scott Brown sign
Did you get a sticker? yes...

If you guys pass Massachusetts Medical Marijuana Initiative, Question 3 (2012):

... then once again Massachusetts trumps New York state in the progressive department. Good luck on this initiative.

Describe your experience: Alarming. I wanted to vote for Obama but everytime I filled in the box beside his name, within a few seconds it would be empty and the Romney box filled! I told the Election Offical, but she just smiled.

Where's the polling place? Church basement? High school gym? Auto repair shop? Aquarium?: Elementary School Gym

Morning? Afternoon? Evening? Last week? This morning at 10:30am

Long lines or quick-and-easy? No line at all

How did you cast your ballot? Punch ballots? Touch-screen? Colored balls dropped in a fish bowl? Paper ballot, fill in the boxes

How much time did the process take? 10 minutes or so

How many offices were up for election? Governor? Senator? Dog catcher?
Can't say exactly but my guess is about 16 - half of which had Republicans running unopposed. Senator and congressman included, the rest local.

Any interesting ballot initiatives/referenda? None

Examples of obvious politicking near the polling place? Any poll watchers from the UN? None, although there were Romney/Ryan signs outside the school grounds - no Obama/Biden signs.

Did you get a sticker? Yes

I mailed in the application the Republican party sent me. Had to do it twice, because I made a mistake the first time. When I received my ballot, I sat on it about a week. Then I voted for Obama and a mix of Democrat and Green Party candidates. I had to buy a 65 cent stamp to mail it in.

The last time I voted was 2008, when Hillary Clinton beat Obama . O course I voted for Hillary and she lost.

I didn't vote this time, but I did make a contribution to Eliz Warren's cause, because if I did vote, I'd vote for her instead of Brown.

As far as Obama vs Romney, Obama will easily beat Romney in Mass. My vote will not help Romney.

Came back about an hour ago or so. Took 5 minutes, tops.

Local Y - no line whatsoever. Paper bubble ballot. I got to vote on medical marijuana and assisted suicide! And I am thinking, do they go together?

The ballot was LONG. Two huge computer pages, one was double-sided. The assisted suicide initiative is very, very wordy. Plus it's all in Spanish as well. There was a sign in I think Khmer at the front, too!

Voted for Prez, Senate, Congress and then a few others like Clerk were mainly unopposed Democrats.

Only signs nearby (outside the Y) were for Scott Brown, except one urging a vote against assisted suicide.

Oh, and I got a stickah!

Where's the polling place? Middle School Gym

Morning? Afternoon? Evening? Last week? Morning

Long lines or quick-and-easy? Rather Long Line

How did you cast your ballot? Punch ballots? Touch-screen? Colored balls dropped in a fish bowl? Touch Screen

How much time did the process take? About 1 hour 45 minutes from arriving to voting

How many offices were up for election? Governor? Senator? Dog catcher? About 5 "offices" and a couple of school board slots

Any interesting ballot initiatives/referenda? 1 to increase our prop taxes to pay for new schools/renovations and 1 to change how we elect a Lt. Governor

Examples of obvious politicking near the polling place? Any poll watchers from the UN? I didn't see any

Did you get a sticker? Of Course

All of the unopposed, here, were Republicans. Several races had a choice between only a Republican or a Libertarian.

I wondered during the process how the order of the choices was determined. Every one was Republican first, Democrat second, Libertarian third, at least on the ballot I had.

I think they rotate but could be in error. The Pres. ballot was someone from a third party first (a woman?), then Obama/Biden, then Romney/Ryan, then two others. For the other races that were contested, it was Dems first, then Reps. For the unopposed it was the listed candidate first of course, then a space for a write-in.

That's most likely the Green Party and Jill Stein.