I always vote. A long time ago, before I was a parent, and before things were so divisive, I didn’t always vote, but I do now, every single time. Where I live, it was hyperlocal, but the Girl Scouts were at the polls, selling cookies.

No. But in my state and county, there were no elections.

My daughter, who lives in a different county, did vote.

I voted but I’m not sure we survived another exercise in Democracy. I’m reading “stop the steal” echoes on our local bulletin boards which are very distressing.

@janbb – I work as an election inspector and I had to assertively correct a few lunatics stating blatant mistruths about the voting machines. A couple people justified their irrationality by stating their allegiance to Trump, which I thought was somewhat introspective and hopeful. In the end, not one person at my polling place requested an electronic review of their ballot. It’s not real distrust. It’s antagonism as hobby. Somehow I’m still optimistic that things will change.

I did vote. I was considering not voting, but I have a “thing” about voting so I decided to not use an excuse to not vote, and just do it. Plus I wanted to show my daughter, who’s a teen, a good example.

I’m about an hour north of NYC but the NYC race is important to us, as things that happen there impact us (Covid numbers, charging drivers to drive to the city, etc.). My County is mostly Republican, so I figure the Dems need all the votes they can get, too, which was another reason for my voting.

As of this morning, NJ Governor’s race is neck and neck, 50/50. It will be interesting to see what happens.

I always wonder why anybody would want to be a politician. Lots of work for not a lot of money and lots of upset people, no matter what you do or how good your intentions are.

@jca2 – I always wonder why anybody would want to be a politician. Lots of work for not a lot of money and lots of upset people, no matter what you do or how good your intentions are.

I think the revolving door is part of the why
https://www.opensecrets.org/resources/learn/revolving.php

And the show Veep is insightful as to the how.

@Smashley: I have friends who are local politicians and it’s not all power and big time stuff.

My bff’s husband is a local pol and he gets about 6k a year for it, and it involves many nightly meetings and when they go out in public, people want to come up to him and talk about local issues, which of course is part of the job but it’s like 24/7.

@jca2 – true true. Local politics can be thankless, but also more meaningful to your community. I think it is hoped that people genuinely interested in serving their community will put up with the low pay and stress, but it also works as a maintainer of the status quo. The same people ie those with the free time and money and family name, continue to dominate local politics.

I did not vote yesterday. I voted by mail two weeks ago. It ;is nice to be able to thoroughly read the ballot and take as long as I want filling it in.

I knew someone who would not vote, because he did not want to be called for jury duty. That takes away his right to complain about the government, which he frequently did,

There was only one local measure to vote on here, and I voted on it by mail about a month ago.

Looks like a yesterday was a big win for Republicans across the board.

Yes. Because I cared about what was on the ballot. Sadly no opportunities to vote against wankers this time.

Yes.

No because they have to redistrict before we can vote, should have new districts drawn by December and elections will take place in February or March.

@Zaku – if only we enjoyed winning as much as seeing someone else lose! Sorry, I’m not picking on you. Most of us are like that.

@Tropical_Willie – Fascinating. Is it special circumstance?

@Smashley I enjoy winning very much – when someone wins whom I actually strongly supported not just because they’re not terrible.

We agreed to vote after dinner….then we realized we moved to a new county and we’re not registered here.
Just didn’t even cross my mind.
I’ll be registered faster that you can say Jack Robinson!

Yes. I voted for Princess Blanding in the VA’s governor race, left a bunch of fields blank and voted for a few politicians at the local level as well as voted to reject a proposed casino. I’m done voting for corporate Democrats.

@Smashley Yes, the 2020 Census counting was delayed and when the dust settled. . . the population had changed and requires districts to be remodeled.

Nothing in my county.

Actually, I worked as an election inspector – from 5 am, one hour before polls opened, to set up machines, until about 10 pm, one hour after polls closed, to shut down and secure ballots.
(Anyone complaining about elections being stolen should do it. They will see first hand how many checks there are and how baseless the claim is.) (At least in my district.)

I used the Early Voting option available in my county and voted last week.