The machine that counts the ballots isn’t working. I wanted to get there when the polls opened (which I did) and vote early to make sure I got it done, and got my little red sticker.
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I hope they fix it soon. I wonder what will happen if they don’t get it fixed? There were LOTS of people waiting there.
Oy vay! I hope they’re able to accept paper ballots, if need be.
same thing here! (or at least, that’s what I heard).
went to vote at 7 (kid has to be at school by 7:30), but line was too long. SO went in, reported back to me around 8, said the machine was broken, so they were going to have to count by hand… good thing it’s a small district.
I tried calling City Hall and it wasn’t open yet. I’ll try again soon when I leave (a bit earlier) for class. There are other polling places; if it isn’t fixed by the time I get back from class, I’ll find out which other one to go to.
Talk to y’all later!
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Voting machine? Geezlouise, I’m in the Stone Age down here!
We are given a paper ballot at check in and are sent to a small portable cubicle (like the ones they would set up around an elementary student’s desk during the big statewide exams). There are about 2 dozen in the room. (In my case, the children’s classroom of a local Episcopal church.)
We insert the ballot (about 2 feet long and 5 inches wide with punch holes) into a slot (Sign on the cubicle - “MAKE SURE THE HOLES ON THE BALLOT FIT SECURELY ON THE RED PEGS!!!”) on a plastic board. At the bottom of the board is booklet with tabbed pages. Each page blocks out a row of punch holes, and the various candidates and amendments are listed in bold but teeny print on the left-hand page.
We flip the book and punch out the appropriate section with a small awl attached to a coil cord. (Let me tell you, that little stylus is SHARP! I touched the tip and damned near lanced myself! If I was stupid I would sue someone for making them that sharp! I could’ve hurt myself through my own stupidity!)
We walk over to the box, drop in the ballot and walk away with an “I voted” smiley sticker.
Machines? Feh! You have the life of Riley!!
I’ll be voting on my way home since I start here at 6:30. Last time I voted in this state, they had little card-punching devices. Guess I’ll find out about 3:30 or so.
That’s high-tech, screech-owl. When I voted (early/absentee, just to avoid the crowd) at the county courthouse, they had the lil’ cardboard cubicles, but the ballot was just a computer-scannable sheet with the names and bubbles to fill in printed on it.
I voted by absentee ballot about a month ago. I’m registered in my home district, but am living at MSU.
The place where I voted is right across the street from my house. They have 1 voting machine and 4 old ladies doing crossword puzzles. I voted at 12:00 and was the 43rd person to vote so far, they said that in the past they have gotten less than 40 voters all day. Everybody seems to be showing up this time.
We made it in around 9, which is an hour before my wife goes in to work. We were about 25th on the list, so it’s shaping up to be a reasonably well attended election. We use machines from the 70’s. Little levers under the name and all that. Antique.
Course, down here, have one or two broken in the wrong spot and the ACLU and NAACP jump your ass. Or maybe I’m being cynical again.
Most of the precincts in our area are all computerized. They even had on the news a new computerized system for the blind. It uses headphones but I am not sure how they accurately vote.
I will be voting around 2:00 my time.
We have six VERY long amendments to our state’s constitution to vote on here and they have a 10 minute limit set because it’s expected to be very busy and it’s a very long ballot. I have written down exactly how I am going to vote so I shouldn’t take up too much time. In addition to that I figure I will beat the lunch rush, the old people usually vote 10:00ish in the morning so I will probably be voting with the soccer moms.
They reported that 20% had voted early or by absentee so hopefully that will take off some slack.
I stopped in again this morning before class. There were really long lines. I asked if I could vote somewhere else and they said no, and the machine was still broken, but I filled out the paper ballot and they will be counting them by hand, I guess, or taking them to another machine somewhere else.
So I got my little red sticker and now I’m happy. This afternoon my daughter and I will go give blood when she gets back from class, so I’ll get another red sticker. I’m easily entertained.
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I voted but nobody gave me a sticker. What sort of sticker was I supposed to get?
Same here in Va. Lame eh?
You got machines? And books with stylii?
I got a printed ballot and a ballpoint pen. Then I had to stick it into a collector bin thingy that slurped in the ballot kind of like vending machines slurp in your dollar bill. And I didn’t even get my sticker. 
Today I had to wait for 30 minutes to vote, and I think its great !! There has been so much apathy in recent elections.
We had the lever pulley system here, not too advanced - not too ancient. I look forward to the day when I have to wait an hour.
This is the one line where I do not mind waiting. I am very glad to see Americans actually showing up to use their right.
I have been watching CNN all day, it appears that whoever pulls out Florida will win, though for the life of me I do not quite understand why.
NC is not considered a “swing state”, whatever - I thought they were all “swing” as it is an open election.
Welp, despite having registered four months ago, they seem to have screwed up all the registrations from my school, so they gave me a paper ballot and an affidavit to sign saying that I registered. I voted Harry Browne for president, Rick Lazio for senator, and whoever the republicans were for state assembly and senate and judges, and a big fat NO for the Transportation Bond Act.
Well I must REALLY be back in the stone ages then since we have to basically fill in circles. we have arrows pointing to who we want to vote for, the arrow is broken in half and you complete the arrow. That being said though we moved pretty quickly since we had loads of helpers and a number of booths. Wish I could have had something to punch holes with!
screech-owl, we must be in the same state! I’ve HEARD of voting machines, but I haven’t seen them. Though punching the little holes with the stylus is sort of fun. (I’m easily amused.) People all over my school were wearing their stickers, so I’m irritated that I didn’t get my rear out of bed early and go vote BEFORE classes started. I’d have had time. I wanted to sleep more than I wanted a sticker, before I saw how many other people I knew had them. I suspect the turnout, particularly in the under-25 crowd, may be pretty high this time.
I just got back from City Hall, and I was given a huge paper ballot. It was about 2 1/2’x 2’. The print was fairly large. These ballots looked like they’d be a real pain to total up, because they had to be folded several times over to fit into the ballot-box. My town has less than 2000 residents; but still, that seemed like a lot of extra hassle. I didn’t get a sticker, either.