Was that a guy who was officially there for the polling place, like hired by the town or something? It was it a partisan poll watcher working for the Republican party? I’ve done both (well, i worked for the Democrats) and they are very different jobs. I’m the first i was basically non-partisan and was part of the apparatus to make sure polling was fair and followed the rules. In the second, my job was to
Mark off voters so people who hadn’t voted could be called at the end of the day
call a lawyer on retainer if i observed anyone being denied their viewing rights.
The Republican was mostly there to make sure people who had moved or died didn’t vote. (Or that no one voted in their name.)
The Republican and i chatted when no one was voting, and basically got along well. We both recognized that what the other was doing was legit. But i also both left at some point to turn on my list (back in the old days of paper) so calls could be made.
I’ve mostly done poll watching in quiet suburban communities, and I’ve never seen anything inappropriate. Maybe a voter is asked to remove a pin, or maybe someone isn’t on the lists and is allowed to cast a provisional ballot. That’s about as weird as its gotten.
The state or county (I forget which) does indeed send around “evaluators” to spot check proceedings at voting centers. “Watchers” are nominated by someone else, like one of the political parties, activist organizations or even candidates.
The guy wearing the flag paraphernalia was a watcher but I was not privy to the name of his sponsor.
I’ve been lazy, but the wife and I got in at the last hour of early voting in Maryland. But we got it done and got our stickers. There were quite long lines, it took about 15 minutes to get a voting machine. I don’t know if this was increased enthusiasm or just a lot of others like me who waited 'til the last minute.
Wait times were 20-30 minutes here in Carroll County almost all day long Monday and Tuesday. And the voter counts for last Thursday and Friday were slightly higher yet.
Our daughter voted yesterday, my wife and I voted today. Missouri was NOT prepared for the rush of people wanting to vote. St. Louis City and County set up satellite polling places at the public libraries. Seemed like a good idea since the libraries are nicely spread geographically. But the libraries are not noted for having a lot of parking, and there have been traffic jams going out into the streets and up the roads. St. Charles County actually had to ask voters to find alternate routes for one of their polling places, as traffic had backed up on to I-70.
Between standing in line and filling out a ballot with national, state, county and municipal candidates, constitutional amendments, bond issues and the like, it took us about 90 minutes, pretty evenly divided between waiting and actually voting.
St. Louis County estimates >30% of registered voters have already voted.
I voted Wednesday. About an ninety minutes total. Parking was easier than I expected, especially when I pulled up and saw cars parked all along Telegraph. But there were several spots in the lot.
My wife texted me an hour and a half ago to tell me she had been in line for a half hour, it would be at least another hour and forty five minutes, and she needed to turn off her phone because the battery is dying. I haven’t seen or heard from her since.
Tuesday night the director of our county Board of Elections was helping us close out at the end of voting. Upon leaving, she was followed out of the parking lot back to her offices by a member of the county’s Republican Central Committee.
The crazy lady, who had also been escorted from the premises during the 2022 election for repeatedly violating the no electioneering zone, sat in her car and watched our director unload material from her car.
Nothing overtly threatening but the local DA procured a “peace order” against the woman, which is kind of a watered down restraining order.
We’re a relatively sedate red county but we have our crazies. Some precinct is gonna be tested Tuesday.
I just voted a short time ago here in my small town in rural Connecticut. It was quite unusual for me to vote in person at Town Hall on a Saturday. It was very easy and low-stress with no crowd or even a line to vote.
This is because Connecticut has early voting for the first time ever for a general election. This required a state constitutional amendment, which was approved by Connecticut voters in 2022, and subsequent legislation enacted by state lawmakers last year.
The only difference between early voting and Election Day voting is that you sign and put your name and address on an envelope they give you (in addition to a sticker they put on the envelope with the same information and a bar code), then you go into a voting booth to fill out your ballot, and then you seal your ballot in the envelope. Then they scan the envelope and you drop it into a lockbox that is inside the voting room.
Before this, you could only vote in person on Election Day, or request an absentee ballot by mail if you had a valid excuse as to why you couldn’t vote in person on Election Day (like you would be out of town, sickness, disability, religious reasons, etc.). We have a question on our ballots this year for another state constitutional amendment that would allow for “no-excuse” absentee voting.
P.S. My ballot had just seven offices to vote for (including three federal, two state, and two local offices) along with one ballot question. Pretty simple compared to some other states that I see mentioned.
P.P.S. How times have changed since I moved to Connecticut in 2002. Believe it or not, the state was still using lever voting machines that appeared to be many decades old. It felt so archaic. They replaced them shortly after I moved to town and switched to paper (actually card stock) ballots in which you fill in the bubbles with a sharpie.
Before that I voted in Texas, first in person, then absentee while I was on active duty in the military. Texas used punch cards at the time (with the possible “hanging chads” if you weren’t careful or if you didn’t pick them off manually). This was relatively easy if you voted in person because they fit into a machine. If you voted absentee though, you had to look up what each punch corresponded to using the guide they sent you (i.e. a vote for the Republican nominee for Senate corresponded to B-2 on the punch card). It was like playing Battleship. They also helpfully sent you a paper clip to do the punches. I remember kneeling on the living room carpet to do this exercise.
I don’t remember in what year we last used those lever machines; but I’m pretty sure it was at least 2002. – Wikipedia says we were the last state to do so and it was 2010. IIRC it was because NY had security requirements for the electronic systems which none of the early systems could meet. I was one of the people yelling (not literally yelling, writing vehemently) at the legislature to require a paper ballot backup system, which I think a lot of states have now.
I’m pretty sure that I heard this morning, as I had coffee, that 98 million people have voted so far. Did I hear correctly?
Has anyone heard similarly?
(ETA: I’m voting Tuesday.)
It appears that early voting is popular. Maybe we should make sure to continue it. Meanwhile, I appear to be the only one so far who voted curbside. We’re American for goodness sake! We don’t leave our cars unless it’s mandatory. Where my other lazy peeps at?
(Seriously, I spent the morning in the car. Voted curbside, stopped by the bank for the drive-through ATM, went to the drive-through pharmacy to pick up a prescription then a stop at Target where I ordered online and they brought everything out to my car without any delivery charges.)
Unfortunately, I cannot work completely remotely no matter how much my patients request it. I actually diagnosed atrial fibrillation in a new patient a few days ago. He was being treated for his blood pressure by telemedicine and nobody had bothered to actually physically examine him for years.
Voted today. Filled out my ballot today. Dropped off in mail before 6am. Confirmed on Michigan’s absentee voter website was received this afternoon. Pleasantly surprised at the speed and ease.
Question (because I am also in Michigan) when the website says “ballot received” on such and such date, does that mean they counted it or only that it was received? I mailed mine in like 4 weeks ago, dropped off my wife’s in a ballot box at WCCC campus today. Wasint sure how to check that my ballot was received…
