Early Voting & Voting Online..

[Gonzo]

Has anyone here done the early voting if its availble in your state? Indiana has it, but it doesn't start until October 25... I saw that folks can vote online in the state of Ohio! Not so sure about doing that....

I do think I will do the early voting... hopefully it will save me the hassle of waiting in long lines...

 

[PineappleMama]

Early Voting was AWESOME... at one of the fire station/training places... no line, easy peasy.

SOOO much less cranky than Day Of Voting... drives me nuts to see all those blasted signs up and down the school sidewalks and then there's the people there (the exact minimum distance from the door) that'll try and interrogate you, hand you stuff, etc.

Leave me the heck alone, my mind was made up (through RESEARCH *gasp*) before I ever left the house!!

So, yeah... early voting is a beautiful thing IMO.

 

[RabbitMage]

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I've never had this happen. I'm guessing we might have laws in place about it here.

I've never voted early, my schedule has always been pretty open, so I can go vote mid-morning or mid-afternoon when the polls aren't too busy. I don't see myself ever voting online.

 

[PineappleMama]

I don't see how voting online would be remotely secure... but then there were those votes by Mickey Mouse and such so doesn't seem like the regular kind is all that secure either.

There are laws about it... signs and people have to be X feet from polling place, but you have to go through the gauntlet to get TO the polling place so.. same difference. I know there's one that says you can't wear anything political in the poll place... IE a button is a no no... I've never even seen a plain old flag pin just to be on the safe side I think...

But as I said, many of our polling places are schools so I don't mind that the signs and such aren't inside...

It IS a pain though for the school because the voters take up all the parking spots... including the bus zone, handicapped, in front of the drives and fire hydrants... makes pick up time really hard on the parents and kids. It'd save a trip to just vote when you head up to pick up/drop off your kiddo... and you only have to park once... but if you can't do that I'd recommend going between 9 and 2... after school's firmly in session and before it lets out so that busses can do their job, less traffic = less risk of wrecks/kids hurt... all that good stuff. But those same hours are when most folks are at work so that makes it tricky. Of course waiting until... ohhh 15 minutes after the bell would work too, usually not even that long before the grounds are nearly empty.

Easier, if you can, to just do the early voting... my plan again this year.

 

[Dunkopf]

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Actually the Mickey Mouse thing was just people that were paid to register voters falsifying voter registration cards. Nobody actually voted under those names. Certain media outlets reported it as news but they were falsifying the news.

I think it's ridiculous that they can't come up with a secure method to vote on line. The reason it doesn't happen is that they want voters to have limited access. It has been proven that the majority of the US population lean in one direction but have problems with getting to the polls because they have jobs with longer hours and less pay and can't take the time. A famous person once said that we want fewer people to vote. The more that actually vote lowers our chance of success. That is why a famous group with the same name as what squirrels horde was put out of business by blatantly false claims. They were very effective at getting certain groups to the polls.

Fortunately where I live the pools are always walk right in and do your thing. When I see the lines at the polls in downtown Denver it blows me away that anyone has the fortitude to stand in line that long.

 

[PineappleMama]

Yeah online would be UBER easier for a lot of folks, being able to log in and vote during your 15 minute break would be awesome... bet dollars to donuts there'd be a LOT more voter "turnout"...

But the security issue scares me. Every day it seems like there's another virus or another system hacked. Shoot even the Disney Movie Club was raided for CC info for crying out loud. Knowing that there are hackers out there who get their jollies botching people's lives... just for FUN, not even money... well I hate to think of one of those creeps having more than one vote's influence on elections.

Voter fraud's been going on for AGES, it's like they just can't resist... didn't they even suspect that maybe that's what Poe was up to when he died... wearing someone else's clothes and whatnot? Seems like that's the right one, but could be wrong. Paid to vote, go change, vote again, different locations, etc. All sorts of things like that have gone on for a long time... seems like computers would just make it require less actual humans to pull it off.

Hey (if it's not too far off topic?) what kind of ballots have y'all had? I've had paper ones, that look/act like a scantron... fill in bubbles, then you put it into this big blocky scanny jobber thing (yes that's the technical term

)... and then I've had ones that were touch screens, NO paper at all... but you could request paper if you were more comfy with that... never had one with the whole chad issue, no poking of any kind... glad of that because knowing me I'd be one to leave a hanger just because I'm not always the most observant you know?

Just curious what the norm is for other areas?

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

We have a limited form of early voting, and they keep trying to pawn off mail in ballots. I will not vote early unless there is a specific reason that I KNOW I will be unable to go to the polls; ditto for mail-in ballots. Don't care for the concept of on-line voting, and would definitely not feel comfortable with its security. To me going in on election day is important. We have enough polling places that there is never a very long line; maybe 20 minutes max when I go in during peak times there there is a heavy turnout. Usually there is only a couple of people ahead of me. For the primary there was no line at all.

There is one state (Oregon or Washington, maybe?) that went to all online or mail-in ballots. I think I would sue.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

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I believe the mantra for political machine was/is "vote early & vote often." I imagine that voter fraud has existed as long as have elections.

 

[Dunkopf]

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You're probably right. Look at all the voter fraud that goes on with the electronic voting machines. No paper trail. I think that Elections for federal positions should have uniform rules through all 50 states. The states can do what they want for local elections. Messes like they had in 2000 down in Fl shouldn't be allowed to happen. Every vote should count.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

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You're probably right. Look at all the voter fraud that goes on with the electronic voting machines. No paper trail. I think that Elections for federal positions should have uniform rules through all 50 states. The states can do what they want for local elections. Messes like they had in 2000 down in Fl shouldn't be allowed to happen. Every vote should count.

I agree. Although it was not just Florida; it was also a bunch of votes from military personnel who were deployed that never were counted. I personally think that military votes should be tallied on station (or nearby large station and reported in just as if it were a specific precinct. Probably more complicated for those counting as there will be many different ballots, but, much less liklihood for votes being ignored.

Our ballots are a huge paper sheet where you connect two halves of an arrow with a thick felt tip pen for the person or position you are voting for. Then you feed them into a machine that talleys all the votes for the precinct and also stores the ballots.