Election 2008

[Sporting16w]

FOCUS:

Tell us about your voting experience. If you town/state has any strange propositions we want to know about those.

[Frank]

I have done my civic duty. We have a lot of very good local Republican candidates, and I voted for many of them. In fact, I only cast my ballot for Democrats in two offices. One was for a very competent, mostly centrist incumbent. Want to guess what the other one was? I'll give you a hint: I am scared to death at even the idea of yet another incompetent moron being second in line for the presidency.

That said, my polling place was full of fucking idiots. They set me up the first time to vote in the precinct bordering mine. Since I live in a rural-ish area, that means they gave me a ballot that would have me voting for a proposition to raise taxes in a town I don't even live in. Fucking morons. How many people who wouldn't realize they weren't supposed to be voting in that precinct do you think voted on a tax increase that doesn't affect them? I guarantee I am in the .01% of voters who realized the mistake and demanded they fix it.

And so it begins. Electronic voting is awesome.

[Sporting16w]

I am heading out in 10 minutes to vote.

[Ken]

My state has only two propositions. #1 is to legalize the use of medicinal marijuana and #2 is to legalize embryonic stem cell research. You wouldn't believe the hard-on that my town has to shoot #2 down. It's ridiculous how many lawns have signs on them that say "2 goes 2 far." The biggest objection, judging from the ads on TV? That it would raise taxes.

Go small-town America.

[_tom]

I voted, and Starbucks is giving away free coffee to any who votes! Awesome! I am not used to this much caffeine! I am loaded for bear!

[BanHammer]

Originally Posted by _tom

I voted, and Starbucks is giving away free coffee to any who votes! Awesome! I am not used to this much caffeine! I am loaded for bear!

Actually they are giving it away to EVERYONE because what they wanted to do is kind of illegal.

http://www.kirotv.com/news/17885256/detail.html

[Sporting16w]

I just voted and I got my free coffee. God Damn, I love America.

We have an open space proposition on the ballot and it would raise taxes $0.06 per 100k. I just know this town is going to vote that down.

[Shua]

Originally Posted by Sporting16w

I just voted and I got my free coffee. God Damn, I love America.

We have an open space proposition on the ballot and it would raise taxes $0.06 per 100k. I just know this town is going to vote that down.

We have a similar one for Parks. Never mind that it gives people a place to go with their kids, raises property value, cleans the areas up. If it raises taxes a penny it may go down. I sent in my ballot 2 weeks ago. I ended up voting for the incumbent party in only one race and that was for town council and I drink with the guy downtown once a month or so.

The only thing I really care about is Prop 8 (Gay Marriage.) I can't belief that people would vote yes on that. I have talked to a few people arguing yes on it and when I get to my point on do you think it is right to take anyone's freedoms away they say no. I then ask if they think it would be right to take away the right for black people to get married. And they always answer no. Then when I ask how is taking the right from gay people any different they always resort to "It just is." That just blows my mind.

[GcDiaz]

We've got a proposition here to decriminalize marijuana ($100 fine and no record for possession of an ounce or less). Then there's the question to kill the state income tax (bad), and one to eliminate greyhound racing (meh). No theatrics at the polling site, just one pickup truck with Obama/Biden plastered all over it (gee, I wonder which way this town will go?). No lines either, but I was there at 8A to avoid them.

[jess]

I voted on Friday. There were long lines, I was surprised. I had to be in one line because I moved and they weren't certain my change in registration went through, so they had me re-register there. My line was over an hour. The line of registered voters was much longer. Made me feel good.

We also had to vote on a county sales and use tax in place of the property tax to pay for parks, EMS and public transportation and also whether or not city employees should get paid sick time.

As we were handing in our ballots to have them signed by a witness, an older black man approached me and asked if he'd filled his out right. I go over it with him, and explain the difference between voting straight Democrat/Republican or going through each position and selecting the individual. He asked me if I'd voted before, and I told him I have been since I turned 18. He seemed surprised and I told him I felt obligated given that people of his generation fought and died so that I could vote. He told me he felt sheepish being 63 and voting for the first time, but he'd never had anyone to vote for before. Like a lot of people, he said he never thought he'd see the day. Then we both got teary eyed and handed in our ballots.