Why vote early?

Because whoever is calling you has decided that you are likely to vote for their preferred candidate. Once your vote is actually marked as cast by balloting officals they can see who is left on their list and continue pestering them.

As time goes on they whittle down their list of "haven't casted a vote yet" targets and start visiting them door-to-door.

Ack! I'd better vote. I've had enough door to door political guys and gals to last me a lifetime.

Funny thing, today I got mail from both parties.

Both parties are also afraid that uncertainty about new voting technologies will lead to lawsuits in swing states (ala FLA 2000). The best way to avoid this is to tally votes as early as possible.

We just voted. Long line but it moved quickly. A lady from VA was raising holy hell because she was denied the right to vote because she moved here from VA about 6 weeks ago and has not yet registered. Of course, she is SOL for this election cycle.

Hi Steppenwolf.

I can understand that reason for other states, but not for Oregon.

It seems like both parties have wasted a lot of money sending me, and I suppose every other Oregonian, fancy pieces of mail urging me to vote right away.

To me, and to many others that I know, the beauty of vote by mail is that you can do it at your leisure. All this pestering is getting downright annoying.

Can she go back to Virginia and vote, Larry?

What state are you in?

I am in TN. One of the poll workers was of the opinion that since she no longer resided where she was previously registered, she can not.

I've had only two husbands--very unlike each other--but both of them made it a Matter of Principle to procrastinate on filling out important paperwork.

i'd be/have been a lot more serene about this little personality quirk, but both men filed important paperwork in stacks--mutable stacks.

By deadline time the important paperwork could be anywhere in the house.

Maddening. Vote early.

Why vote early?...because it beats not voting at all.

Good point, Noddy!

I always vote and I agree it beats not voting.

Honestly though, with our vote by mail system the closest you get to that community voting spirit feeling is by dropping your ballot off at one of the designated sites on election day. I kind of miss that election hub-bub and buzz.

Maybe its silly at such a cynical time but I remember going to vote with my parents, its one of the ways they instilled the power of voting in me. For a impressionable kid, democracy in action was a thing to behold. I feel kind of sad that Mo won't get a chance to see that.

I received my absentee ballot today. In another envelope, I received a sample ballot from my local Commissioner of Elections. I was horrified to observe that it was very difficult to read the print on the ballot.

I also was upset that on the real ballot, the instructions were to mark your choices with a #2 pencil. In an accompaning sheet, the instructions said to use a dark pencil or pen. Well guys, which is it? If someone uses a pen, and not the #2 pencil as per the ballot itself, will it screw up the results?

boomerang- I am very happy that I will not have to stand in line at the polls. I understand that in the first day of early voting, it was like a zoo at the library where the voting is taking place. Well, that's my community for you. They LOVE doing things early. I would bet that some folks have already started sending Christmas presents up north to the grandkids!

I agree with you. Voting is not just civic act, it is a civic ritual and anything that diminishes that ritual diminishes the power of the act of voting. At one time in NEw England (18th century) the entire community gathered at one time to vote, and the votes were counted immediately. Men (this was way before female enfranchisement) gathered at the appointed hour, lined up in two or more groups depending on who they supported and were counted. This made voting not just a community act but a communal one.

Thats it exactly, Acquiunk! I couldn't wait to vote - it was a big, important, adult thing to do.

My sister used to drag me along to donate blood (she's on the board of her local Red Cross now) and I have always been a blood donor since I was old enough to do it. I took Mo with me for the first time just this week. In another 14 years he should be good to go.

Phoenix, it has become frustrating, hasn't it? It really feels like they're leading us by the hand right off of a cliff!

I got this weird automated call last night asking something like "Would it change my vote if I knew that in Mass. that the teachers were rewriting the kindergarten ciriculum to include the acceptability of gay marriage?"

KINDERGARTEN?

Okay it wouldn't change my vote but really now, I don't want any kindergarten teacher discussing homo, hetero or any such thing with my kindergartener. I'm perfectly capable of doing that myself, thank you. Additionally, as Mr. B and I are Mo's guardians that he calls "mom and dad" he is always pleased to tell people that he has two moms or two dads (depending on who he's with). We've learned to shrug off the smirks and smiles but really, by the time Mo is in kindergarten I really hope he's not ostracized for his unusual family.

Okay... the point of this whole story was that I was madly pushing "0" trying to get an operator so that I could have my say - none was forthcoming.

I imagine that if you try to get hold of an election official to voice your displeasure that you'll be pressing "0" just like I did.

A proven Carl Rove technique.