Wonkette
Well folks, there won’t be any real “news” for hours and hours today, and you keep in sending your nice reports, so we will just cut and paste and get to the drinking early. Here we have EXCLUSIVE ON-THE-GROUND EYEWITNESS REPORTS regarding a sassy lady on the bus in Bed-Stuy, an angry old Irish broad in Bethesda who will move back to the home country for John McCain, and an actor from “Prison Break”!
- I just voted at PS 305 in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn. I waited in line for like 15 minutes before I realized I was in line for the wrong district. Had to basically find my name on the voter rolls for the ancient volunteer, and then a poll worker showed me how to use the machine by popping his head in and going “Who do you want to vote for? Okay, well turn that thing that way!” Was a great mix of, ahem, gentrifiers like myself and neighborhood people, mostly meeting for the first time, I’m sure. Later on this morning, a lady on the bus said “Ain’t no way McCain getting in! Not unless he cheat! I’ve lived here 47 years and I ain’t never seen this many people vote!” to the agreeing nods of the bus driver.
- my roommate and i went to vote this morning at some church in bethesda. we waited in line for one hour, which wasn’t that bad i had a big gulp and plenty of ciggys. once we got up near the actual building there was a table with two obama poll watchers, luckily a crazy old woman walked up and started scolding them for “pushing a candidate down her throat” she then raised her voice and declared she was moving back to ireland is walnuts didnt win. the poll watchers reply: dont let the door hit you on the way out. this literally really happened. everyone in line had a good laugh and the woman waddled away, turns out she had already scolded the same man twice today (at 745am) they should think up something productive for all these bitters to do.
- In a line about 50 deep, still with 20 minutes until the polls open. That’s not exciting.
What IS exciting is that I’m right behind Sucre from “Prison Break”. Vote Sucre!
Thank you to Jessica for her photo of cookies for Democracy Santa.
Sorry, I’m voting T-Bag.
Well, we all voted this morning out here in Wasilla, Alaska, and it seems everyone here voted for Obama, and all of the other Democratic candidates! And friends in Arizona report that they’re all voting for Obama, and all of the other Democratic candidates!
It looks like the Democrats in 2008 will be taking the White House, the U.S. Senate, the U.S. House of Representatives, most of the state Governor’s races, and most of the state legislatures nationwide.
As it should be.
When I was at Stabucks today picking up my free coffee I glanced down and happened to spy a young urchin, most likely 6 or 7 years of age. And he was wearing an “I voted” sticker on his Buster Brown corduroy jacket. Now, that’s either proof of voter fraud or proof he was trying to illegally score a free cup of coffee from Starbucks. And given what I know about kids, they tend not to favor the Coffee.
Whose milk was that?
Oh, how nice! The walnutz cookies are even covered in the blood of the innocent!
My eyes glaze over whenever I read a block of text from one of those people who refuse to use capital letters.
I think I saw Graydon Carter at my polling site…but that doesn’t make sense…does he live in Brooklyn? Also, it took me 2.5 hours to vote because they only had 2 machines for my district, and one was broken most of the time. Someone also told me that they couldn’t open until 6:30am because they didn’t have an extension cord. Hooray for the First World!
I stood behind CogitoErgoBibo and let’s just say that’s a nice backyard.
…nothing has been more satisfying than watch die-hard republicans panic as their candidate circle the drain. I sincerely hope Sean Hannity slits his wrist live on air tonight; speaking of which I need to set my TiVo!
Everyone should come vote in Massachusetts — takes five minutes, you’re in and you’re out, in spite of the turnout.
Let us now praise the famous efficiency of Irish-machine politics.
Wait a minute, which tank is Santa in? Which cookies did he eat??
Points for Walnuts:
-Fat
-Bearded
-Runs a massive, anti-union manufacturing complex
Points for Barry:
-Lives at North Pole, possibly from socialist nations of Canada or Scandinavia
-”Spreads the wealth” to low-income children every year
-Hates giving lumps of coal, wants coal industry destroyed
-Joyful
Serolf Divad: …here in Miami 6 years isn’t just old enough to vote, its old enough to drink!
The Hopey logo I recognize, but are the other cookies freshly slaughtered polar bears?
My polling place, as usual, is staffed with 75 year old women with bad eyesight who move slow as molasses flipping through the registrar pages. Methodical, yes. Mind numbingly slow, absolutely. I want to yell “pick up the pace, granny!”, but I resist after visualizing my own grandmother.
Tommy Says Soooo: Win. Clearly, a win.
AngryBlakGuy: True that. He’s #1 on my list. All the other whackjobs can wait. I want to see Hannity’s head tremor, snaking streams of blood ooze out his eyes and ears, then KA-BOOM! Oxy-clean wouldn’t be able to get the stains out.
Voting story: Went to polling location. Saw very long lines. Drove a couple of miles to the ghetto. Picked up a homeless man. Gave homeless man money. Took him to polling location, where he is now standing in line. Will return in two hours to replace him in line, and give the man $10. He thought it was a great deal, so no harm no foul.
We live in the best country on the planet, unless you are talking about in reality. Nigerians have an easier time voting.
Just voted in Baltimore, waited an hour and a half, nothing but Hopey signs everywhere, and the poll workers were talking out loud about how great everything will be once we have a Dem majority with a “landslide victory” and a “real mandate”. If he doesn’t win, people will be lined up to throw themselves off the bay bridge, they could sell tickets. Either way, I can’t even imagine what it’s like being the one creepy old guy on my street with a Walnuts! sign.
There is a polling place in the next building, I can see the HUGE line from my office window. Each time I check, it gets longer and longer. They keep adding more loops to it because it stretches way down the block past where a construction site has covered up the sidewalk. I wish I could take a picture of it, but then my bosses might know that rather than working, I’m staring out the window frequently saying “damn, that’s a long line.”
Thank goodness I voted already. This election is going to break some records.
I, for one, was highly disappointed in the bake sale. Alls I got was this lousy banana bread. And everything with the polls went real smoothly, too; the line was short, the volunteers were very efficient and friendly. DAMMIT WHERE IS MY RIOT?!
This kind of makes me wish I didn’t vote absentee. I feel like I am missing out on the fun. I live in a red state though, so I would have probably just have been surrounded by bitters.
Oh yea, in Louisville they have kids voting for children who come in with their parents. They get to fill out a fake ballot and get stickers. I think it is kind of cute, but I am in an abnormally good mood today.
I’m looking forward to watching my fellow Oklahomans commit mass suicide tonight, allowing the state to revert to Native American ownership, except for Norman, which will be renamed the Socialist Republic of Sooner-stan.
AngryBlakGuy: How are things looking down your way, GOTV-wise?
The wife said she stood in line behind, like, 40 people this morning @ 9 a.m. at our local elementary school in northeast Atlanta. That’s ten times the previous record line of 4 people in front of her in the ‘00 election (it’s a small precinct, heavily populated by can’t-vote Messicans). They’re saying voting lines in Georgia aren’t that bad, prolly because TWO MILLION people voted early (only 3.3 million voted in ‘04).
I voted absentee-in-person a month ago, so I scoff at your election-day travails. Suck it up, procrastinators.
Early voting went very smoothly in Williamson Cty. TX. Of course, the current count is somewhere in the range of 90% McCain/Palin, so I could have just gone and pissed out the back door instead of voting and had the same impact.
Voted at 9:30 in Fairfax, VA. No lines, in and out in about 5 minutes. They said the line was out the door earlier this morning though!
Ha Ha, doofus ‘Naked Cowboy’ just got interviewed by CNN’s United nations correspondent on CNN. Naked Cowboy ignorantly beleives in McCain ‘Landslide’, CNN guy wants to shoot self. Naked Cowboy started to sing, and the anchor cut him off in about 2 seconds.
VOTED TODAY:
Mothra attempted another failed attack on Godzilla. The battle was epic. Many lost their lives.
- shorts reporting.
Thank gawd I know this now, but CNN is reporting that the “Naked Cowboy” from NYC is a McCain “supporter” (flavin!) I love what a demographic-appealin’ capitalist choice this guy had to make.
IAngryBlakGuy: If all goes according to the plan of the stars Wonkette will be Schadenfreude Central.
Despite Hopemaster’s message there will be a blizzard of rotten tomatoes thrown at anyone standing on the wingnut side of the room. Red sauce anyone?
Tommy Says Soooo: Ha! You’re just looking for your comfort team handjob, aren’t you?
Wish it would quit raining here in central Virginia. McAngry’s to blame for this, somehow; I just know it.
Hamster:
I voted in Maryland, too, in the suburbs of DC and saw similar but no chatter in the polling place. Honestly, though, you’d expect the great State of Maryland to go Obama. We think we’re pretty moderate here, but compared to Texas or other states in that north-south red state pile in the middle of the country, we’re pretty much out and out communists.
Posted this in the other thread, but whatevs:
Just heard from a friend in Queens that Barry’s web site led him way astray as to polling location. The real polling location, according to the nyc.gov site, is way on the other side of Astoria. Maybe the Barry web site has been haxxored?
mattbolt: That’s an easy one.
Santa hates Christ.
Therefore Santa loves Allah.
Therefore…
AngryBlakGuy: Hannity is the only one that matters. We must win, if for only that reason. He must go down and go down hard.
Republicans make me lose my cookies.
Will some one be telling us when to begin stealing the election, or are we on our own. I always get confused on election day.
I voted in Jackson Heights, Queens, using prehistoric machines manned by equally prehistoric volunteers. On a related note, it’s been a whole hour and I have yet to be converted to Islam at swordpoint, sent to a collectivist “people’s farm” in Illinois or have my meager bank account seized.
Slackers. I’m dissapointed.
Here in battleground MO, KC area, lines running about 1-3 hours depending on voting location. I drove around town after I voted, before I came to work. Cruised past 9 voting locations, each and every one with smiling folks patiently waiting in lines that went around the block at least once. Saw no comfort teams or electioneering on the street. Lots of signs…90% of them HOPEY!! Let’s go MO…No More Red!!
The crusty left-wingers at the Harper’s web site are posting sappy poetry with headlines like “Know Hope” and “This Morning, Change Beckons”. I have never read anything even remotely happy in that magazine. Is this the death of cynicism? I “hope” not!
@Hamster:
Yeah, the lines in Baltimore are bananas and filled with first time voters! We had about 4 machines for, roughly, 150 people in line at 6:45am. Though hardly shocking, my line was all a chatter with Barry support.
magic titty: Hannity must go down hard on who, is the question? Someone from the Hopey campaign? A member of the liberal MSM? It really would be fitting punishment. Although, being a Republitard, he might enjoy it too much.
bearbait:
Sure, but when your county reports it’s results, you can see be assured that your lonely Obama vote will annoy a few of the neighbors.
I arrived at the polls in Atlanta at 7:30 this morning. There was 300 people already in line. Took about two hours to vote, not bad. When I came into the office someone said they had arrived at their polling place at 6:00 and he said there was already a thousand people there. Some people in Atlanta think we will get to 75% of registered voters voting. This could mean a big shift for GA into the Blue, which means we can all go to sleep early tonight.
Will McCain have to give a concession speech in the daylight on the lawn at the Biltmore?
jagorev: Even Barry can’t tell the difference between 30th Road and 30th Avenue!
A friend of mine in Queens called me this morning because he was at his usual polling place except… it’s no longer a polling place! It turns out it moved. Secretly.
Why does Queens hate our Barry?
Hmph, I wish I had an interesting voting story. Nothing exciting happened near me except that everyone had to fill out an affidavit ballot because I guess NY stopped counting new registrants in March or something.
Voting was polite and above average in Minnesota.
Only one uncomfortable moment….came out of the voting booth to run into the republican candidate for mayor of my town. He gave me a big hug and thumbs up…I gave him a big smile and a thumbs up back. I promptly went home and washed that hug, right off my body.
Terry: Oh yeah, MD is almost so dem-commie, so much so that the sole McCain supporter in my office of 45 people is the “crazy guy” that nobody talks too. I don’t care what people think after they watch The Wire, I love it here.
Hey!! I just now realized…Sweet Sarah has to go to WASILLA to vote. Grampy doesn’t care about winning…he’s just happy he never. has. to. see. that. cunt. again. HENNNNGH?
bearbait: Why not do both?
Got to my precinct at 7, when it opened - could have gotten there at 6:30, but I didn’t want to be one of those nerds that camps out in front of the high school. Ended up waiting 2-and a half hours, there were only 2 machines for the approximately 300 people in line. And then when I finally got inside, 1 of the machines broke, and no one could figure out how to fix it. (One guy kept plugging and unplugging it from the wall, then moving it to another spot and trying again.)
Despite the wait, I had a good time getting to know my neighbors. The lady in front of me was complaining that there was a Democratic Party poll watcher but no Republican poll watcher. I tried to explain that I’m sure that was because the Republican party just didn’t send one, but she seemed to think there was some sort of conspiracy. The Republican party probably didn’t think there’d be any Republicans at our precinct anyway, what with all the black people and hipsters.
Chicago Voting story- Woke up and was at the polls by 5:45 am in PJs and flip-flops. Was #4 in line and after waiting for the most inept poll workers to ever work a polling place (god bless them, but one of the guys couldn’t figure out how to put a binder together) finally got their shit together, I cast my ballot. Even though Chicago and Illinois are a foregone conclusion for Hopey (we’re not only in the tank for Obama, we ARE the tank!), I would have waited hours in line to cast my ballot so we can throw these Constitution-abusing, war-mongering thugs and their ilk out of office. You can just feel the excitement in the air!
Cogito Ergo Bibo: Barney Frank.
I applied for an absentee ballot and they sent me one for a “poll worker”. It included an envelope that said, “Do not mail this ballot, it must be delivered in person.” I don’t want to be a non-voter statistic!
I doted.
I voted.
I floated.
rina: Yeah, the Queens street system is utter insanity. Even Google Maps usually can’t tell the difference between, say, 20-15 34th ave and 200 34th ave.
Hamster: I gots to proof my posts better.
SuperRounder: …well I took advantage of early voting, but one of my co-workers went to vote at 7a.m. and ended up waiting 3 hours. Probably in another hour when I take my lunch, I will shoot over to the local polling place and take a look.
Cogito Ergo Bibo: On Ann Coulter’s gristly, throbbing cock. Obvs.
moneypenny: Hello, fellow Fake Virginian!
I went at 10am in Herndon. Maybe 20 min total…GREAT BAKE SALE…folks in line told me that they had tried to vote at 6, but the lines were out the door and around the block.
This is the first year I’ve seen them offer either the electronic voting machines or paper ballots. I go paper…I want a physical record for when our fine commonwealth turns into the Florida of 2008.
Those look like ant-eater cookies.
middleamerican: I would [almost] give my left nut to be in Grant Park tonight!!!!
Voted in 2 minutes in Westchester County, NY. Had a major Votegasm pulling the lever for Obama.
Got a text from a hardcore Republican female hunter who went rogue and voted Obama, too.
hockeymom:
like, he attacked you with a hug? you had no choice? you should have thumbs downed him.
So, according to the cookie plate, Hopey’s trademark will replace the traditional donkey of the Democratic party? About time! Stupid ass.
Just voted Obama in the fine state of Murryland. The McCain people showed up at 10AM for “election observation”. SLACKERS. Obama had 5 people there already since 7am. McCain = sucks ass.
Is Chicago the only place where they’re not giving out the “I Voted” stickers? All we get is a stupid receipt…
Republicans hunt underage boys, not females.
hockeymom: We must be civil, as knees in the groin are seldom explanable to rational people.
Voted today in DC - Capitol Hill. I got there at 6:40 a.m. and there was a line down the block already. After I got there, the line became insane … when I left at 7:45 there were at least 300 people waiting, as far as I could see, which was not far.
But the best part was this old lady who was one of the first in line to vote. She was holding a Green Party (DC Statehood) sign and had tears in her eyes as she said, “I’ve been voting here 25 years and I’ve never seen anything like this before.” I chuckled at her. I am going to the same hell that the Muslim Obama is going to.
Also, there was a bake sale!
Leave it to me to originally post this in the New York thread. You people are surly and rude!
California represent! There were 21 people at my polling place in our little burg of Felton. That’s the big city equivalent of twice around the block and three deep.
I may have even run over a Yes on 8 yard sign on the way home…to avoid a deer in the road. Yeah, that’s the ticket.
I voted this AM in the Kensington section of central Brooklyn. No probs, everyone nice & friendly, especially the seniors who just want to feel like they still have something to contribute by helping out. Outside, member of this most ethnically mixed neighborhood in the city took pix of themselves in front of the polling place. Everyone seemd in a good mood.
The only odd part were the asian teens standing in the lobby taking surveys of exiting voters to see if they had problems with translations / interpreters, etc. In there along with all the “what languages do you speak” type questions were these 2 - separated by a few innocuous questions - “Who did you vote for President” and “who did you vote for congress”. I wrote “how dare you” over those 2 questions.
How do they get away with that inside the lobby?
Poor Bed-Stuy reader, had to actually interact with The Blacks. How traumatic!
magic titty: trondant: Wins for both of you!
Also, you assholes should have voted early. Or moved to a state that has early voting.
hockeymom: Voting was polite and above average in Minnesota.
As was everything else in Minnesota this year, except for the Franken-Coleman thing. But do y’all up there in L’Etoile du Nord get pissed that Cariboo Barbie took the cute accent (sooooper-cute Frances McDormand in Fargo) and has made the voice of the shrieking tribune of hell? Just asking….
TheRealJimbo: “You people are surly and rude! ”
Aww… thanks!
All I’ll say is, people get really pissy when you masturbate in the voting booth. Like it’s my fault there was no curtain.
HuddledMass: I voted in Boston’s South End with the people from the projects across the street and gentrified homosexuals like myself. We showed up 40 minutes before the polls opened and lines went for 2 blocks. When polls opened, we whisked through because everyone else there lives in the ‘popular’ ward. It also helps that most democrats are running unopposed, so there was little time wasted ‘thinking’. Too bad the only nail biter decision was up-ended when one of the candidates was arrested last week stuffing bribe money into her bra.
Barbie is hiding the fact that she voted for Hopey back in Wasilla! She just refused to answer a reporter asking who she voted for.
billy c: I laughed this morning when I realized what a perfect metaphor for this whole thing the speech locations were. Hopey: outside, open to all, site of 1968 troubles and concerts and a people’s park. WALNUTS!: a super-exclusive resort with 39 manicured acres and $600 per night rooms.
AngryBlakGuy: Dude, FoxNews is going to be the only way to watch the returns tonight. The pale haggard faces of Sean Hannity and Bill O’Reilly crying as their dreams are shattered will be priceless. But the respite for Bill-O will be short lived. The war on Christmas season is just around the corner.
BklynKen: How do they get away with exit polling?
I voted this morning at the middle school in Colleyville, TX. There was no parking because there never is, I don’t know why, but literally there were like 20 booths set up and maybe 3 people voting because who gives a shit this is Texas and we haven’t gone Democrat since 1976.
Palin is ALL Rogue on MSNBC, she will not SHUT UP. Her handler keeps thanking the reporters and the bitch won’t shut up! She keeps taking questions!
I’m black. I voted. I cried. I can’t even believe I was able to vote for a viable African American candidate for president in my lifetime.. I wouldn’t have voted for a bad candidate, but I believe Obama will be good for America. My parents are dead. My grandparents are dead. They couldn’t have imagined this day. A year ago, I couldn’t have imagined it either.
My sister and her husband are taking their children with them to vote. This will be my 4-year old nephew’s first election. He voted with his mom in the primary and goes up to people with Obama t-shirts and says, I voted for Barack Obama!!!
Even if Obama doesn’t win; This is a victory for America. And a victory of Obama’s Grandma (whose absentee ballot vote WILL count)
California is already blue, but I want Obama to have a mandate. Now please, God-I’m-not-sure-I-believe-in DO NOT LET ANYBODY KILL HIM!! (This is the great fear of African Americans who are used to seeing black political leaders assassinated.) Win and Stay Alive, Barry!!! We’re almost there!!!
My precinct line in Manhattan (EV) took all of 20 mins. at 9am, tho all other precincts were out the door. Yeah, ancient workers but sweet…mix of hipsters, blacks, latinos, lots of college kids, etc. I heard that they had registered 800,000 new voters! Jesus, is that possible? Excitement all around, comfort stations, bake sale, wacky neighborhood ladies, etc.
No big lines here in Wyoming (who’d a thought) but all the pollsters had elephant buttons with Cheney printed on them. The bitters weren’t sad, here, but there was a riot. My two year old daughter knocked over a number of the plastic, top-heavy, voting cubes. She kept babbling something that sounded like tank. We were asked to hurry up and leave. Their patience with the cute girl in cowboys boots faded after a casual glance at my ballot indicated I wasn’t one of them. The rest pointed at us and shrieked. I think they had shot-guns.
Naked Bunny with a Whip: Oh man, I thought it was pearly white Ivory liquid soap. You bastard!!!!
BklynKen: Hello fellow Kensingtonite! Weird to hear from someone else on Wonkette who lives in the most diverse/least interesting neighborhood in NYC.
I voted up in Minnesota’s 6th District, home of Crazy Michele Bachmann!
You know how campaigning and campaign t-shirts aren’t allowed within the blast radius of the polling place? I vote at a middle school, and there was a gaggle of 8th grade girls in Obama shirts yelling at incoming voters to ‘GET YOUR VOTE RIGHT!’
The jailbait is IN THE TANK!
I’m so happy I’ll stop getting campaign mailings from crazy Michele now.
Cogito Ergo Bibo: She’s probably not registered.
messickc: I would love to be there too- unfortch, I registered for tickets 2 hours after the original e-mail went out to Illinois supporters, and by then, I got waitlisted. I work downtown, though, so at least I get to see all the hoopla before I head back home and watch coverage (on MSNBC, of course)!
I literally drove past a line of cute lesbians dancing in one of our major street this morning, all waving “Yes! on Prop. 2!” signs. Dang, who knew an engaged electorate could be so much fun?!
Voted in Southie (Boston) this morning - no line at 9am, but The Husband reported a line out the door just half an hour earlier. Must’ve beat the “going on time to work” crowd. I think voting is a perfectly good excuse to show up late to the office. Here in Mass we still use the tried and true “fill in the oval with a black marker” voting method. No drama, no lines, lots and lots of blue-haired old ladies and people holding signs for a local Congressman. Have to admit, I was disappointed to miss out on the histrionics, but a swing state Massachusetts surely IS NOT. We vote calmly and Democratically.
jagorev:
BklynKen: Word, neighbors!!! Was on line at 5:45…I finished voting at the school down the street for me, but my experience, although funny, was decidedly…..not smooth. Voted for Hopey, though!
dano: War on Christmas season already started! The e-mail forwards about Home Depot NOT MENTIONING CHRISTMAS ON THEIR WEBSITE (which, again, is just plain untrue) are already making the rounds among the dial-up connections of rented PCs in trailer parks across Real America(tm)
And, by the by - Joe the Plumber and other faux proles - SUCK it: http://www.tampabay.com/news/humaninterest/article888082.ece
the invisible woman: Sigh. I have to be snark-free and say bless ya. I’m with ya. Now back to normal…if you’re Halle Berry send me your panties.
betweenstations: Please tell me Bachmann is on her way out. That kind of crazy should be illegal. She actually made Chris Matthews look like the sensible one.
Itsjustme: I loved that reporter from Japan who kept wanting Palin to talk foreign policy and all she wanted to talk about was what a super trade partner Japan is. Keep sending that fish, y’all!
AlexTrebeksGirl:
Well, in their defense, it must be hard to get out of bed when they pretty muck know they’re gonna lose today.
Early voting in Texas last week was quick and all done in a Randalls in the uppity, elitist part of Austin, TX. I took half a day off for voting even though it only took about five minutes that morning. After I got my “I voted!” sticker, I bought a donut, coffee, and an orange juice. I slipped next door to Gamespot and bought “MotorStorm: Pacific Rift.” I contemplated going to Twin Liquors for some whiskey (good sale, $34 for two bottles of Black Jack). then i took a shit?
From Evanston IL - Chicago suburb.
I voted a few weeks back but decided to walk by my polling place on my way to the train. Polls are in grammar school auditorium on stage and line went out the school building. Could see about 30 waiting outside. Line was moving and most of the people on the train were wearing their “I voted stickers”. Very Obama neighborhood - Obama signs have been up for 21 months all over the city and have only seen one McCain yard sign (that quickly disappeared and never returned). Expecting not only shock at the number of votes cast here, but a bigger spread than any polls have forecasted.
OH NOES! I am Irish and Living in Ireland. Please keep that crazy old broad. We do not want her here as we have enough bigots of our own thank you very much….in fact if bumfuckbackwards Texass or one of those deep south places decide to annex themselves perhaps we could organise a shipment of our trolls over! Hows that?
GOBAMA!
dano: Guarantee you O’Reilly voted Hopey. Guarantee. I also guarantee Sean Hannity made his wife blow him this morning, so he could feel good at least once today.
Gingah: Well I don’t think they’re “engaged” yet. And in that scenario from my head it don’t end in VOTING.
I got my voting done at 7:30 here in Camden, New York. No fuss. Early this morning, the local news in Syracuse showed the constant stream of people volunteering through the night for the local Obama campaign headquarters. The McCain camp was empty and locked.
My husband just got done voting in rural Fairbanks, AK. The wait was 5 minutes, which is 4:54 minutes longer than usual. The only bizarre twist was that we had a Dem poll watcher! Go Hope machine!
SuperRounder: It’s hard to say. The campaigning in our district has been absolutely nuts between her and Elwyn. Last poll I saw was ‘too close to call.’ It’ll all depend on who votes, and they’re expecting an 85% state turnout.
I voted last week- yay for Oregon mail in.
I’m a disenfranchised Canuckistani in NYC but I think I’m just going to go stand in line (or was we might say, “a queue”). Any recommendations for best polling spot? I promise I won’t say anything or make any eye contact or try to make friends with pretty girls or be drunk.
My Hubs voted this morning. Living in an area where red goes all the way up to the neck and beyond, he was not surprised to see short lines. McCainacs have no idea that the whisper campaign is no yard sign is a yard for Obama, so they think its a lock. Course there were a few carrying red Bics into the polls, and two, TWO of them stormed out without voting, on their own accord, for being scolded for breaking the no cell phones, no campaigning within 100 feet rules.
Its also raining here, and will be all day. North Carolina goes blue at 7:30 PM.
Loudoun County, VA reporting…
Got in line at 5:45AM and the line was around two sides of the school. However, the election workers and process were incredibly efficient and I was out the door with my sticker by 6:30AM.
I was in line with my neighbor, a Command Sergeant Major (retired) and another neighborhood vet, and we were ALL voting for Hopey. One douchebag in line challenged the Obama table because he thought they were too close to the door. They just politely showed him the 40 foot line.
Virginia is going blue and that’s the way I like it.
HuskyMescan: Were you successful with your dad?
Southfield, Michigan–suburb of Detroit, largely African-American and Jewish (I am neither). My wife voted on her way to work–long lines of good natured Democrats. Lines moved quickly–Michigan has had optical scan ballots for a few elections and things have been smooth. I work second shift so I just voted, typically smaller mid-morning crowd at the school. The usual indefatigable old ladies and a few old men running things smoothly.
Southfield is insanely in the tank of Obama.
the invisible woman:
I think seeing the tears of joy streaming down Michelle’s face at the victory celebration will undoubtedly push me over the edge. And I’m a big white dude!
Serolf: Old enough to be a father in Wasilla - keep him away from Piper!
I had to wait almost 10 minutes in my tiny city in Michigan, which is about 10 times the amount of time I usually have to wait. There were obviously a lot of newbies, because one poll worker was explaining the difference between “straight ticket,” “split ticket,” “mixed ticket,” and “non-partisan” over and over and over.
They don’t let you wear partisan clothing to the polls in Michigan, so I dug out my old Wonkette t-shirt (from the Gawker days). That got some funny looks. Then I voted and sent McCain spiteful twitter he’ll never read because he doesn’t know how a computer works.
Now I have to go knock on some rednecks’ doors to see how many death threats I can accumulate before the victory parties start.
larz: Good old, crazy old Evanston. Since I’m back in Mass. now, I’m one of the very few voting for Obama for the fourth time.
magic titty: Barney Frank.
FTW!!
I had an encounter with a crazy person in Bethesda at a church one time…a screaming man who claimed that he had met the risen Christ, and he was a black man living in Bethesda, the nicest man he ever met. It eventually deteriorated into random curse words and stripping off his clothes. As we drove away we saw him being strapped into a gurney.
Waitaminute…maybe he Wasn’t crazy…Did Hopey ever live in Bethesda???
Cogito Ergo Bibo: You must’ve seen Jon Stewart last night, explaining how Hopey made the rain go away. Yes we can!
Are the long lines a recent phenonomon? I’m 61 and my lifetime wait to vote is somewhere around 90 min. Total. For the past decade I’ve lived in Oregon with mail-in voting, but before that even in Seattle I went to a neighborhood church where very earnest and civic-minded folks got us through the system PDQ. Before that, Pt. Reyes Station, CA - a few card tables and 5 min. in and out. Before that, Berkeley - um, no real memory; maybe too stoned to recall. Before that, Army and the good ol’ absentee ballot. Until Rachael Maddow’s segment on it the other day I had no idea there was such a big problem. So why can’t everyone have mail-in voting like Oregon?
just got off the phone w/my 78 year old grandmother from Bitters stronghold western PA and she and all her friends are voting for Obama!!!!! FU Murtha!
Oh, and another bad omen for McCain- I work in investment banking and over half of our office voted for Hopey. Capitalist fatcats are in the tank for Obama!!!
choinski: Too bad the only nail biter decision was up-ended when one of the candidates was arrested last week stuffing bribe money into her bra.
Yeah!! Go Wilkerson in ‘12!! The Exhibitionist Party!!
dano: Yeah but I can’t wait to here them cover some county school board election where Republicans swept the board as a “sign” of Republican strength. In a sea of blue, those bastards are still going to make it seem like a victory for the Republican party. Just you watch.
Arrived at my polling location around 6:45 a.m. Even at that time the line was around the school’s gym and out into parking lot and past the first block of the school. Doors opened at seven o’clock, a.m., and I stood in line for nearly two hours before voting. By the time I made it out of the building and back to my car, the line was three times as long as it was when I first arrived. People loitering in the parking lot happily screamed ‘I voted for change, Obama!’ They took photos with cellular phones and cameras, hugged and laughed. The outcome alone in my precinct was historic, the lines usually max at about one hundred, if that. My community is a mixed community of black, white, old and young. If you were just watching the little assembly in the parking lots, you would have sworn in was some kind of a family reunion.
I seriously almost cried when my thirteen year old brother called my cellular to make certain I cast the right vote. To quote him: “Good, because I’d hate to think I spent a day out of school for nothing, NOT! … Oh, will you bring me a sausage biscuit?” I am on a ‘HOPE’ high right now, I know my community is in the tank for Obama.
ivenson: Oh yes, I forgot to mention, about my polling place in Medford — OUTSTANDING bake sale! We are all so happy here in indigo-cerulean-cobalt-cyan-blue Mass.
AfghanVet: Jeez, CSM’s for Hopey??? Wow, usually the most conservative of people. Look out for the Barack-slide, I guess.
Everything smooth and liberal in MD!
On a totally unrelated note, it sure warms my heart to see how many people outside the beltway give two shits about politics and frequent this blog. Awww shucks….
Itsjustme: Oh !! I think so! It took an afternoon and a barbecue (like Walnuts!). My dad is a programmed dittohead, so I had to use pictures and websites, and reverse-hypnosis. He now knows that Obama is not a socialist, he may be a centrist, and he will not tax him because he’s too god damn poor. If he votes today, that means he voted for Obama. He’s not the type to waste his vote.
Cogito Ergo Bibo: Todd’s voice makes me laugh. And, why does she always say “WE” when she speaks of accomplishments in Alaska?
Turnout in Wythe County, Virginia (read: Appalachia), is already surpassing 50% with more than 6 hours of voting left to go. The longest reported line was 1h15m earlier this morning. Somebody’s energized and I don’t think it’s the Mark Warner folk.
What ever happened to Harriet Christian?
The results of my office poll here in Scotchland are in! Hopey O’Bama: 27, Walnuts: 3, No response because they are 2 dum 2 no wat is goin on: 5. So I guess that’s the office of a British telecoms company in the tank. woo, amirite?!
the invisible woman: I can see you now. You are beautiful, with that bright light shining all around you.
Love the Obama cookies. Nice idea for anyone having a party. I’m planning on staying up till midnight watching Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert and going to bed at midnight since I have a class at 9am. I voted at a church too and the line wasn’t bad at all. A good little group there which was nice.
Usually there are people out in front of the church from campaigns but this time I didn’t see anybody from either campaign. *shrug* Yay Obama!
Lazy Media: I don’t think of it as procrastinating. I think of it as tradition.
off-white working class: had she been undecided before? Just curious to see if he is getting last minute changers.
the invisible woman: You made me cry and all the snark just flew away.As a Resident Alien will someone please vote on my behalf? Go Hopey.
Terry: Yeah be a rebel!
ivenson: Oh yes, I forgot to mention, about my polling place in Medford. MA — OUTSTANDING bake sale! (We are all so happy here in indigo-cerulean-cobalt-cyan-blue Mass…)
HuskyMescan: How does Walnut BBQ with all that lifting and stuff?
RE: Focks Nooz
I think they’re pretty stoked on an Obama presidency. They’ve been blasting the muslin horn for the last two years with much chagrin. When Hopey wins this thing they get a pass from having to report actual news for the next four years. Now they have a scapegoat. Instead of going to all the trouble of figuring out creative ways to defend the Republican party and W they can just stick their dicks in Obama’s ass and blame the Democrats for EVERYTHING.
Uh, I saw Helen Keller, Willie Mays, Jim Nabors, and Tallulah Bankhead at my polling place. Knew I shouldn’t have eaten the elephant-shaped fungus pies the Republicans were distributing to us Hopesters.
Apparently, my support for Obie has become well-known: my polling-station has me regarded as “Andre”, not Andrew (my Christian name). Today, & always, I am a cheese-eating surrender monkey.
Also, I live in Tosa, which has, to the eternal dismay of Cheney biographer Stephen Hadley (Tosa East High, Class of ‘89), gone very purple, almost blue, but I saw an older couple looking like denizens of my former Stallis hometown (West Allis Central, Class of ‘98, am I) coming out of the polling as I entered. The lady — purest emphysema lady — was wearing an unironic “let’s roll” tee-shirt. Great, I thought. In fact, I almost yelled, “Walnuts!” Hopefully, there are not many like her.
Itsjustme: Megan lifts and flips , Walnuts bastes, while Cindy snorts.
I waited in line 2 hours in Crown Heights, but it was pretty exciting. A lot of people were first time voters, and not all of the first timers were young. A lot of talk of whether to come back after work got out or stick it out, so hopefully some of the people who left the line come back.
Tip for dog owners: Please DON’T linger around in front of your precinct holding a steaming bag of fresh dog shit! It scares away the voters.
Thanks.
(This message brought to you by your friendly neighborhood precinct volunteer.)
Hamster: Someone killed Edgar Allan Poe doing what you’re doing. As Carlos Santana once said, “Those who refuse to learn the lessons of history often have to repeat the 11th grade.” Make sure he gets some food before you lay the dough on him. If he isn’t there when you return, it’s because he forgot why he was there. Stuff happens with guys like him, so don’t be too angry.
josereyes.theroof: I had always wanted Tosa East to change their mascot from the Red Raiders to the Infections.
I’ll be watching the returns tonight from my sister’s off of 91st and North; it’s the only Hopey sign in a sea of WALNUTS!
(But it could be worse; in my lil’ neck of the woods - Palmyra - I’ve got a Paultard sign on my block.)
Voted early here in New Mexico two weeks ago. Obama/Biden signs everywhere. Listened to Leonard Cohen this morning:
“Democracy is coming,
To the USA!”
Cried like a baby. A very happy baby.
At my polling place in Kensington, MD (in the Republik of Montgomery County), the democrat’s table had dunkin donuts coffee and donut holes. The republican table had a bunch of fliers held down by big rocks. Sign of the times, this.
I think I may have just convinced an undecided republican colleague of mine over to Obama. He lives in Maryland, so he’ll be getting him anyway, but I want him to be able to live with himself in a year from now.
Here in St. Louis, I waited in a 2.5 hour line with a bunch of fellow libtards in my University City neighborhood. Cautiously good spirits all around here! Lots of young people. Obama supporters were hanging around with chairs, water and graham crackers. One lady had extra coffee for people. No stickers though, boo! Overall, it was a great experience, and its 70 degrees and sunny here. God is totally in the tank.
Voting in a middle-school in WA, kids leaning out doors every few minutes and piping in with “VOTE OBAMA” only to scurry off when the Principal rushes to shush them. It was like Whack-A-Mole.
Limeylizzie: Consider it done. (I’m verklempt, too.)
I voted here in Dallas, TX, in a small courthouse last week. I waited maybe 5 minutes even though there were about 20 people ahead of me in line. There were 30 machines working so no problems. The only exciting thing was that my little convertible almost got run over by a ginormous SUV in the parking lot.
Highlands Ranch, CO - Home of Tom Tancredo…no lines in the high school cafeteria which doesn’t even smell like a cafeteria. At least 30 election officials and volunteers. Choice of paper or machine ballot. One incredibly hot woman in a tight blue knit dress. With a glance she reminds me of my lowly standing.
But I can still vote! Then to Starbucks for a free tall coffee, two sugars and cream. I pour it out on the curb for all my failed candidates from elections past.
Haha, in Bethesda, they can’t afford shift keys on their keyboards.
I waited for just over an hour, here in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, at 11:30 in the morning (i.e., the time when people are usually working). The last two times I voted in this same hood (granted it was for the primaries and ‘06 Senate election), I waltzed right in. Hmm, this tells me people actually care about this election? But what’s so different THIS time around?
This morning in Norfolk, VA my partner and I waited for approx. 45 minutes to vote - 42 minutes longer than it took to vote in 2004. Props to the very efficient poll workers at Ocean View Elementary who kept things moving quickly and taking the time to recognize first time voters. Every time a first time voter checked in, they would let out a celebratory ‘woo hoo’, it kept smiles on everyone’s faces and was definitely a behavior I have never witnessed among past humorless poll workers.
from the people’s paradise in Potomac, MD:
got over to my polling place @ 11, and decided not to park in the lot, which
looked jammed (and was). walked over and totally missed the mccain lady b/c
the Obama table had a great display–and a life-size cutout of Hopey! brought out
my digital to take a photo, and the one of the nice Obama ladies took my
picture with Cardboard Hopey.
walked in, and the line was all the way down the hall. white, black, Asian
folks in line. many folks with their kids. I brought a novel.
greeter walked the line, asking folks if they needed to sit down while
they waited, and letting us know the approximate wait time. one of the
school kids walked the line, offering sample ballots.
got in to the room, and saw election judges of all different ages and races.
special table with a provisional ballot judge and plenty of paper ballots.
everyone in a cheerful mood.
done in 20 minutes.
for many folks, this is a special day because we have a great choice in one of
our candidates, an exceptional person who is African-American. many of us did not
think we would see this happen in our lifetime. let’s also remember that there was
a time when neither blacks nor women could vote–and look at what our Dems did
this year.
what a great day to be an American, and to see how much faith we have.
Mr. Cold War and I went this morning…no waiting in our little hamlet. His parents (our neighbors) were in front of us in line. It was his mother’s first time to vote. She just got her citizenship this summer. So we sit down at a table to fill out our ballots, and she votes for WALNUTS! We are not pleased. Can we revoked her citizenship under an Obama presidency?
My semi-rural county in PA is and, since God made man, has been 2:1 Repug. (But the town I vote in has a tiny lib arts college.) Despite the Repug numerical advantage, the McCainsters are emptying out the nursing homes. At my polling station, it was 1/3 20-somethings, 1/3 aging hippies (fumbling for their glasses) and 1/3 very, very, very old people. I nearly broke neck avoiding the aluminum walkers and Hover-rounds.
I voted mid-morning. However, the lines were still twice as long as when I voted right after work in 2004.
Oh, yeah. I even saw two black people. One was a voter and the other a volunteer.
A word on behalf of pollworkers (or whatever they’re called):
I know most of them are even older and slower and more aggravating than walnuts, but I did that job once back in the 90s and let me tell you, it’s a long, hard day, even for a whippersnaper like I was at the time. I was an Employee of the Great State of Illnois (aka Land of Lincoln = the last hometown boy we sent to DC w/ a “thin” resume), and we always got election day off so we could earn our clout-secured jobs fair & square by leaflettig and committing vote fraud and things like that. Usually I just slept in, but one year in a fit of stupidity I volunteered to work at a polling place, and learned that: you have to get your ass in there at some outlandish hour like 5:00 am (!), and then after the polls close you still have to dick around w/ dropping ballot boxes off at assigned locations and folding up tables and crap like that until something like 11:00 pm. So, don’t be too hard on the slow oldsters (sloldsters?) at your polling place — they’re just pacing themselves!
I voted early, but I’m hearing lines here in L.A. are nuts, though moving quickly. I was being silently judged for not having an “I Voted” sticker, so I have clipped my ballot stub to my shirt with a paperclip. Take that!
And my boss made election cupcakes, so that is awesome.
I am going to sob like a child tonight, I just know it, no matter what the result.
See, in NY there is NO early voting, and NO electronic machines! Booyah! We rule!
I voted in Fairfax, VA. Starbuck’s offer of free coffee may be well-intentioned but I’d do better if the ABC stores were handing out shots of bourbon. I got in line at 12:30. There were only a couple dozen people ahead of me but it seemed to be a steady stream. I expected to be out-numbered by the elderly and soccer moms but it was the opposite. I was offered a choice between paper or touch-screen. I chose paper. I wasn’t alone. The four machines were empty while the tables to fill out paper ballots were all taken. I didn’t see anyone use a machine while I was there. It only took maybe 30 minutes from the time I parked. The exit had a small huddle of college kids offering terrorist fist-bumps and a thanks to everyone as they left. I’d held the door for an older woman to leave in front of me. Glad I did as I got to watch her reaction to the excitement. She couldn’t stop giggling at them as she mastered the bump.
South Minneapolis
I got there at 10:30 am and had to wait an hour and twenty minutes, the line stretching a good block down and snaking around inside the building. Most people in line were pretty quiet. Lots of young people, several who were registering at the polling place (hooray for our progressive voting laws!)
It is a beautiful day, the sky bright blue and the leaves on the trees orange and yellow.
I got a little choked up once I got into the building and looked back on that long line of voters behind me. Fuckin’ A!
Hate:
McCain is talking shit about Obama’s patriotism while breaking the tradition of campaigning on election day. Fox News is following Bill Ayers around and asking him who he voted for. And it’s 527’s Rev. Wright ads all morning on all the cable news channels.
Hope:
A sea of Americans at Manassas , 90,000+:
http://www.americablog.com/2008/11/this-is-what-democracy-looks-like.html
BlindHabaneroJefferson: My cousin owns Enchanted Grounds in Highland Ranch. Way better than Starbucks, but (so far as I know) no free coffee today.
There. Now my cousin can’t say I never did anything for him.
gossipgirl: Word.
There was a short line at my precinct this morning at 10; turnout was extremely high. I saw a lot of young’uns around which was amazing. Normally my fellow voters are elderly and barely mobile! Rumor has it that turnout is stunningly high in the city, particularly in the areas that are probably in the tank.
smashtheduck: Agreed on the bourbon. Use it to mix up a Hot Chuck Toddy: http://urbzen.com/2008/11/03/election-cocktail-special-hot-chuck-toddy/
Voted in Valley Park, MO this morning which is a very conservative, distant St. Louis suburb (we tried to force illegal immigrants to live in cardboard boxes or something a while ago - wikipedia it, it’s true). The wait this morning at 6am was just over an hour long (I’ve never had to wait more then 5 minutes to vote) and I only saw maybe 10 people who came out refuse to take an Obama sticker. And the weather in St. Louis IS beautiful today - I’d actually prefer to go stand in line in the sun for another 2 hours rather than sit here staring at my computer for the rest of the day. Lots of people are going to vote!
betweenstations: Woo hoo. Thanks for doing your part to end one of our state’s biggest embarrassments - Michele Bachmann. I hope she gives an encore interview on Larry King tomorrow, after she’s been voted out of office.
How many other people do you know in the 6th who are voting for Tinklenberg?
hockeymom: Which district are you in? I’m concerned about Madia/Paulsen and Bachmann/Tinklenberg on top of Coleman/Franken.
black panthers on fox news. race war!
UPDATE - in other parts of St. Louis, MO (North County, where a lot of African-Americans live) there were glitches with the equipment and the line started SINGING. That sends a chill down my spine. KSDK.com reports:
Voters said they were not discouraged by the glitches.
“Everybody just stopped,” said Janice Harris, a voter from Florissant. “Then, a song began and they broke out singing. People joined in a chorus of Amen and said, ‘we’re not leaving.’ It doesn’t matter how long it’s gonna take and we began talking and just waiting.”
Ken, can you put this thread at the top so people keep posting. I love reading everyone’s posts.
AfghanVet: Yeah, me, too. This is really amazing to suffer through the hours with all my fellow Wonkette devotees.
jennx: My brother and his girlfriend voted FoBama in Fairbanks, AK!! Woooo!!!!
alreese: alreese: Dammit! I’m weepy enough, and now I learn people were SINGING?
I can’t hold it together much longer…
I was canvassing for Obama today and some low-rent young woman yelled at me and told me I was ruining the country.
I said ‘Thanks!’ but then I wonder if I should have asked her if by my presence in this world in general I was ruining the country or more specifically because I supported Obama. Now I wonder. That was the only person who yelled at me today anyway.
Smooth sailing over here in Kew Gardens (Queens - NYC). I arrived around 7pm and went straight to the booth, no line for my district. According to the sweet widdle old ladies manning the district 49 table, the place was crazy in the morning. Cops at the front desk near the entrance were making plans for IHOP they were “in a waffle mood”.
dollywould: They didn’t have “I voted” stickers in Kew Gardens either. :[
On another note - my CEO declared tomorrow a staff holiday if Obama wins! First a free coffee and now a day off. woot!
Godot: WIN