# Election Day Omnibus thread **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [November 4, 2024, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-omnibus-thread/1009683 "2024-11-04T20:15:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 15
**Author:** ![FlikTheBlue](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fliktheblue/32/10972_2.png) [@FlikTheBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlikTheBlue)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2024, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-omnibus-thread/1009683/281 "2024-11-05T21:29:22Z")
> [@rocking\_chair](#): > > in philly we got the paper things recently. i really miss the old lever and ka chunk machines. you would pull this huge lever and the machine would go ka chunk and the curtains would part. > > now they hand you a long page of card stock, you feed it in the machine, make your choices on a touch screen, then touch print. the long page is printed and you view it in a window to be sure it is accurate. then touch vote or you can start again. the long page is then whisked away into the machine, and you fight your way out of the curtain. > > the big ka chunk was way more official sounding. they should be able to do a sound effect and curtain opening thing. > > msnbc went back to the temple location. paul rudd is handing out water to the people in the 2 hour line. I had know I idea those were still in use. The only time I voted on one of those was in 1996, in my first election. ---
**Author:** ![Sylvanz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/fbc32d/32.png) [@Sylvanz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sylvanz)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2024, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-omnibus-thread/1009683/282 "2024-11-05T21:30:13Z")
So, a couple things. I saw a sign on the way to the polls. I thought it was one of the red on top blue on bottom trump signs. Instead it read, “Any Functioning Adult. 2024.” I laughed. I stood in line for 20 min. First Time Ever. My daughter went to vote same precinct. The guy handing out the little ballot applicaton, was regaling the voters (outside the door to the building thus out of hearing of the other poll workers) how there had already been ten million fraudulent votes. 🙄 ---
**Author:** ![Raza](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/raza/32/213_2.png) [@Raza](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raza)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2024, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-omnibus-thread/1009683/283 "2024-11-05T21:36:54Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#): > > I presume they store the printed ballots securely for a couple of years I assume so. The machine self-stored the completed ballots, so as far as I could tell, no present poll worker touched the paper. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2024, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-omnibus-thread/1009683/284 "2024-11-05T21:37:45Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#): > > > [@puzzlegal](#): > > > > I really like paper ballots. The actual “voting booth” is just a cheap divider things to give a little privacy and a hard surface for writing. Cheap. So the rate limiting step of voting is signing in. > > Another possible limit is the number of machines to stick your ballot into for counting. I’ve seen a whole mess of booths and only one machine (admittedly, population in the area is low and the line, when there even is one, was moving at a reasonable pace.) Yes, but it really only takes a few seconds per voter to feed the ballot in and wait for the machine to confirm it could read it, or spit it out as erroneous. (Stray marks or an over-vote get an error. A completely blank ballot gets a warning. Yes, some people go to the polls and intentionally vote a completely blank ballot. But not many. > [@thorny\_locust](#): > > Yeah, there’s two people doing the sign ins. I think maybe there legally has to be, I think there may have to be at least one from each major party. I was simplifying. There were two parallel sets of sign-ins per precinct. It was more than 2 poll workers sitting there to accomplish that. But they could process two voters simultaneously, to keep the line moving along. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2024, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-omnibus-thread/1009683/285 "2024-11-05T21:40:39Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Enigma, Georgia (U.S.) has about a thousand people. Are you sure they’ve figured that out? ---
**Author:** ![liirogue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dbc845/32.png) [@liirogue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/liirogue)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2024, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-omnibus-thread/1009683/286 "2024-11-05T21:42:22Z")
Voted around 10:30 this morning and only had a short wait. My polling location is rarely busy (I usually vote during peak times and have never waited) but apparently there had been quite the rush earlier. They were already out of “I Voted” stickers. The older gentleman in front of me was quite upset when he found out. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2024, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-omnibus-thread/1009683/287 "2024-11-05T21:49:11Z")
We signed up to have our ballots mailed to us, starting with this go-round; voted early in 2020 as well. No risk of having to stand in line that way, something which we would rather not do nowadays lest our backs complain. ---
**Author:** ![Aspenglow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspenglow/32/76_2.png) [@Aspenglow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspenglow)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2024, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-omnibus-thread/1009683/288 "2024-11-05T21:49:17Z")
> [@liirogue](#): > > They were already out of “I Voted” stickers. The older gentleman in front of me was quite upset when he found out. We are a nation of toddlers. ---
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2024, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-omnibus-thread/1009683/289 "2024-11-05T21:49:46Z")
> [@rocking\_chair](#): > > in philly we got the paper things recently. i really miss the old lever and ka chunk machines. you would pull this huge lever and the machine would go ka chunk and the curtains would part. That encouraged straight-party voting. Now, in Pa., even straight party voters have to vote for each office individually. I wonder if other states still have some big level equivalent. Personally, I think encouraging straight party voting is a mistake. Even Gov. Shapiro did not endorse all Democrats (he made no endorsement for State Treasurer). But the big lever was convenient when that was what I wanted. P.S. Maybe you meant that in addition to the moderately big level for a straight party vote, there also was a much bigger level at the bottom to finalize and exit. I just remembered that. ---
**Author:** ![JaneDoe42](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/janedoe42/32/14104_2.png) [@JaneDoe42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JaneDoe42)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2024, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-omnibus-thread/1009683/290 "2024-11-05T21:51:41Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#): > > I presume they store the printed ballots securely for a couple of years Twenty-two months per federal regulations. State retention schedules can require longer, but 22 months is the minimum amount of time allowed before destruction. (Yavapai County microfilms the ballots and keeps them for-fucking-ever because nobody is willing to authorize destruction) ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2024, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-omnibus-thread/1009683/291 "2024-11-05T21:52:00Z")
> [@bordelond](#): > > > [@Loach](#): > > > > Our ballot was surprisingly sparse for a presidential election year. One house and one senate seat. A couple of local councils. A couple of board of ed. Absolutely no questions or ballot initiatives. There are usually a couple of minor ones at least. > > We only had FOUR things to select: President, our U.S. Representative, and two parish charter referenda. Very quick vote. Kentucky had the presidential election, two downballot republicans who were running unopposed, and amendments for school choice (no) and whether noncitizens should be allowed to vote in local elections (yes) ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2024, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-omnibus-thread/1009683/292 "2024-11-05T21:56:12Z")
My daughter just made a FB posting including a photo of the voting station she is working at today. She reported that it was fairly quiet, no lines and no problems so far. She is in Park Slope, Brooklyn, NY. ---
**Author:** ![JohnGalt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johngalt/32/184_2.png) [@JohnGalt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnGalt)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2024, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-omnibus-thread/1009683/293 "2024-11-05T21:58:07Z")
From Minnesota: We went at 1:00 PM, hoping to avoid long lines. Our polling place happened to be at our church lower-level, so we knew where to park and enter from the lower lot. Lots of signs and directions. No one in front of us, and one of our neighbors checked us in. Two-sided ballot, so they had someone explain that we had to turn it over before we got the ballot. The paper fill-in-the-circles ballot had _TURN BALLOT OVER_ on both sides. (When I was teaching a college class I had a double-sided test, and had to add that warning after I had students claim they only did one side. Sigh.) The back side was judges, mostly unopposed; they marked _Incumbent_ on some names, which helped. A state amendment, school bond referendum, school board seats, city council, state representatives, US rep and senate, and president. I marked the back first, then bottom-up to the exciting races. Put the paper ballot into a validator and got my _I voted_ sticker. Seven minutes. ---
**Author:** ![kambuckta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2024, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-omnibus-thread/1009683/294 "2024-11-05T22:01:59Z")
In Aus, for all elections state and federal, we have cardboard booths and cardboard boxes into which we place our ballot papers (folded) once we have voted. The ballot paper for the House of Reps is quite small with perhaps 5-10 candidates to choose from. The ballot for the Senate can have up to 100 names! You can choose to fill out your selection giving each candidate a number from 1 to how ever many choices to pick from, or just pick ONE and leave the rest unmarked. And we are only allowed to use black-lead pencils to fill in our ballot sheets. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![liirogue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dbc845/32.png) [@liirogue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/liirogue)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2024, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-omnibus-thread/1009683/295 "2024-11-05T22:03:27Z")
> [@Aspenglow](#): > > We are a nation of toddlers. I can only imagine how devastating it was for him that he couldn’t post a selfie wearing the sticker on Facebook. Or at least I really want to believe that’s why he was so upset. ---
**Author:** ![Aspenglow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspenglow/32/76_2.png) [@Aspenglow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspenglow)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2024, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-omnibus-thread/1009683/296 "2024-11-05T22:05:19Z")
> [@liirogue](#): > > I can only imagine how devastating it was for him that he couldn’t post a selfie wearing the sticker on Facebook. Indeed. Important matters at stake, here! * * * In more encouraging news, I just saw the results of an exit poll in Arizona, where 68% of voters indicated that if their candidate lost, they did not want to contest the results. _Bit_ of an improvement over 2020… ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2024, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-omnibus-thread/1009683/297 "2024-11-05T22:11:01Z")
> [@kambuckta](#): > > In Aus, for all elections state and federal, we have cardboard booths and cardboard boxes into which we place our ballot papers (folded) once we have voted. Yeah, but you also get a free sausage. We can’t even get that. ---
**Author:** ![penultima\_thule](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penultima_thule/32/3833_2.png) [@penultima\_thule](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/penultima_thule)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2024, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-omnibus-thread/1009683/298 "2024-11-05T22:13:13Z")
> [@Aspenglow](#): > > > [@liirogue](#): > > > > The older gentleman in front of me was quite upset when he found out. > > We are a nation of toddlers. Or maybe he didn’t want to spend the day being harrangued by political activists trying to take him to the polling booths because patently he’d forgotten being old, addled and showing his dotage, rather than having the visual cue of protection from a “Fuck off, I’ve voted sticker”. ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2024, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-omnibus-thread/1009683/299 "2024-11-05T22:18:25Z")
I say learn from countries that manage to hold elections in a much more basic manner. Dyed fingers for everyone. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2024, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-omnibus-thread/1009683/300 "2024-11-05T22:22:06Z")
I like early voting, which doesn’t work with dyed fingers. But it is a solid system. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-omnibus-thread/1009683.md?page=14) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/election-day-omnibus-thread/1009683.md?page=16)