Election Day - 11/4/2008

Thought I'd open a thread for the election, being as it's a rather huge, ENORMOUS, subject today.

Some rules: You can say anything you want on any subject. Just be civil. No character assassinations. NO PARTISAN BICKERING!!! Have fun! Be Happy!

I'll start things off by predicting an Obama victory. And a possible landslide. I initially thought this would be close all the way. But with it seems like the worst economic climate since the Great Depression, I think people will want a party change at the top. It's unfortunate for McCain, serendipitous for Obama.

Obama will bring many Dems on his coattails, both nationally and state-wise. The dems will have plenty of power come January, but what a challenge they have in cleaning up the many messes both nationally and internationally.

The GOP will be ready to pounce in 2010 if the Dems don't change things dramatically in the next two years.

Thank god that the Political Ad's can now stop... If I have to look at Merkley or Smith on my TV screen many more times after today, I may have to start shopping for a new TV, because this one may not last much longer.

Aren't you glad we don't have to stand outside in the rain waiting to vote?

Great point, A_Fan. Kinda like the mail-in vote myself.

Also great point, aleppiek. I'm also sick of the TV ads, especially how negative they always get. I'm also sick of the phone calls and ringing doorbells that disturb my peace. I realize they're just volunteers, but I'm more than ready for it all to END!

75 and sunny for voting here in South Bend. Friday and Saturday call for some lake effect rain and snow...this will be the second snow of the year for the Bend....

As for the politics - I will also predict the Obama victory, but I did my part to try to fuel McCain's come from behind victory. He will obviously need Indiana's 11 electoral votes, and I predict he will get them. The South Bend area is a largely Catholic, democrat voting area, and I know Obama distanced himself from the Catholic democrat by being a proponent of late-term abortions - just an ugly stance no matter how you try to spin it.

My district will likely re-elect a moderate democrat, Joe Donelly, to congress (a "pro-life democrat" is pretty popular in this district). This will not add to the democrat numbers in the congress, but it will keep the GOP from gaining any ground there.

Either way, I simply hope that all our elected officials will become elected leaders. In my opinion, our country needs actual leaders at every level: federal, state, and local government, schools, corporations, not-for-profits, FAMILIES, churches....everywhere.

I dont understand 2 things about elections in the US:

(1) Why every state doesn't do 100% vote by mail like Oregon does...?

(2) If we stick to in-person voting, why is it Election Day in the US in most states... shouldn't we allow voting over the course of a week (like early voting in several states). Or at least a couple days, including a weekend? Voters shouldn't have to take time off of work/school to vote. But let me be clear that you should do it... My employer allows time off to vote on election day... but voters should have the opportunity to vote on a day off.

Have you seen how Nevada does it? They set up banks of voting machines not only in schools, etc., but in shopping malls and other public places... there were no lines what so ever, many available machines, etc...

And, for the record, I am 100% opposed to any form of voting that does not create a paper trail. There MUST be a way to manually recount, and something for a voter to look at prior to "submitting". Again, Oregon is a great example. (Why couldnt we have electronic voting machines that spit out a paper ballot that then gets dropped into a ballot box? The maching could generate a ballot that another seperate system could read...)

I do like Oregon's vote by mail, but I gotta say there was no problem in Indiana for me today. First, you can vote early in indiana - anyone can if they plan ahead. Second, there is basically a voting station in most neihborhoods in South Bend, whether it's the fire station, school, a local church, etc. Lastly, I know my employer allows me time off to vote, although I did it in my lunch hour with time to spare.

I suppose there could be major problems in bigger cities, but the obvious answer is having a greater number of polling stations.

And yes, as an auditor, you absolutely must have an audit trail!!!

Oh yea - I'm sure a lot of people saw Stoney post this, but I just read through it and it really is super interesting re: the urban/rural split in oregon:

http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/2008/05/oregon-swing-state-or-latte-drinking.html

I voted for Obama . Long time Republician who disliked Bush and can't stand Sarah Palin. Go Pilot Basketball and Obama.

81 degrees and sunny but I mailed mine in rather than stand in line waiting behind half of the elderly winter population in America (the other half lives in Florida). J/K

I also voted for Obama, here in the panhandle of Florida, Tallahassee is the only Democratic stronghold.

What I would like to see is Election Day become a national holiday. How many people out there have to work long hours and they simply don't have time to vote or try to go vote during lunch or whatever and the line are too long? It's just insane that some people have to wait in line for hours just to vote. My thoughts on the matter... make election day a Monday and have voting booths open throughout the three day weekend. A lot of European countries do it like that, and it works quite well.

Another thing I'm interested in, though not really sure how it could be done totally safely, is on-line voting. I mean... I pay my taxes online. Why can't I vote online too? I'm sure at some point this will become a reality.

Not that it really matters, but can you stand Joe Biden, and, if so, would you have voted for him for Arizona senator over McCain? After all, it is John McCain running for president, not W or Palin.

One thing I have been dissappointed about with McCain is that he never heartily re-buffed Obama for basically saying that John McCain is GW Bush (he finally did this once in the last debate). I have always thought the democrat's "I'm not George W. Bush" platform was weak on substance - it was a strctly emotional platform. I think the very recent economic trend is the only reason that has worked for Obama.

The internet is the devil!

I forgot to mention that I proudly voted Obama and Merkley.

And I agree with Stonehouse that someday, I hope there is a way to securely vote online... with a paper trail, of course!!

Online voting would be nice, but it makes me sooo nervous. I mean, with paying taxes or using credit cards online, at least you can monitor both sides of the transaction (i.e., you have your reciept of payment, and you can see the "canceled check" or credit card charge in your own records. With voting, sure, we would get some sort of "receipt", but if there were a security breach, there would not be that hard copy piece of paper to go back to.

The way it is now, with ballots electronically scanned, there is always the paper copy to go back to if the electronic data is compromised. Anywho, just thoughts.

Rochin54 wrote:The way it is now, with ballots electronically scanned, there is always the paper copy to go back to if the electronic data is compromised. Anywho, just thoughts.

Agreed. There must be a physical back up (paper ballots) in case of power failure, corruption, system crash, flood, "PC Load Letter" error, or other mishap...

And just a question: with all of the reported problems in the electronic voting machines (like selecting one option on the touch screen and the other is selected, etc), why is it so hard to fix??? The concept of an electronic voting machine/system is not rocket science... it displays options and tallies the results. I cannot believe that it would be that hard to develop a system that works properly...

Conspiracy anyone? (I am not a conspiracy nut, I promise.....)