I’m from NY and never heard of that before. What a great idea!

Not yet. We do mail-in ballots in our area. So you miss out on that rush of pushing the button for your candidate. Looking forward to a hellish existence starting in January though!

I could vote early, but I am specifically waiting until Election Day because I want to be part of the excitement of official day voting!!!

We have early voting via mail in absentee ballot (or in person at the county registrar I believe). Then MN laws say that you need a reason, one of four they allow, but they’ll allow you to just say you “might” not be in town on election day, if you would like to do this early, because it will mean less people in line in a year when they expect 90% registration and 80% voter turnout (and I think they’re underestimating).

But for me, part of voting is voting on the day. I like to go down there with my wife and son after work (I’m home by 5:30 or 6:00 and the polls are open till 8, and they’ll keep the polls open so everyone in line by 8 can vote). The polling place is right down the street for our neighborhood, and even when it’s busy, they do a good job of making it move fast, and it seems that Minnesota has had some of the best turnout rates in the nation and they’ve never had any logjams of any significance at my polling station, so for me there’s really nothing to worry about. Though I may get so excited I’ll just vote on my way TO work and tell my wife to vote mid day if she’s not working that day, that way we can both vote at the least busy times (I don’t go to work by 9, most of the rush would happen between 7 and 8 am and probably from about 4-close).

I don’t plan on voting. I really don’t care who our next president is. America is screwed either way! Viva La Depression!

@Kiev749, you can tell your kids about it. “And that, son, is why you’re wearing that uniform!”

I could, but think i’ll wait for THE DAY. Voting now won’t shut up the stupid ppl around me or make the ads go away.

I am poll watching, which I always find exciting and will vote then.. The struggle for one vote per person was hard-won. I am sad at Kiev’s cynicism. Why would a Depression be good? The sufferers would primarily be the middle-class and working stiffs and dreadful for those on welfare and food-stamps.

@dd: I agree that the rhetoric has gotten abrasive and nasty; but the country is in dire straits. And not all people are stupid.

I don’t know what Kiev749 believes, but I’ll say I’ve run into more than one person (often either people who don’t vote, or who only vote for 3rd parties…often Ron Paul supporters in fact) who believe the best thing for the world would be the utter destruction of our capitalist economy, and our being forced to move back to an agrarian, self sufficient lifestyle where people don’t have jobs and raise their own food, there are no classes (lower, middle and upper), because there is no money, only barter, and everyone lives within their means.

Others who make comments like this are just so jaded with politics in general that they can not conceive of such a thing as an honest politician, and believe that ultimately, every person acts only in his own self interest, and therefore any illusions we may have as to someone making the world a better place are just pipe dreams.

@gail I know not all ppl are stupid; most are tho. But it’s because they CHOOSE to be.

I believe we need a clean slate. that The current administration has messed up this country. Think about it. When Clinton was in office, we took down the national debt clock. when Bush was in office, they took it down again, to add more digits. I guess 0–999 billion wasn’t enough debt for ole’ George. It will take so much to pull the country out of this hole we got ourselves into.

This is the first year we’re doing early voting. One of the polling stations is right next to my dance classes. I kind of wanted to be part of the big day, but then I realized that my job would probably put me squarely in ridiculous lines right after work (I get in before they open). So early it was!

I don’t believe we have early voting here in Florida, however I just moved here, so I could be wrong. As awesome as it seems to be able to vote early, I don’t quite understand why you would, unless you wouldn’t be around on “the day” to vote. So, no I haven’t voted. I am greatly looking forward to voting, I’m glad to hear there are people out there who enjoy voting as much as I do. :)

I went to vote early, and bubbled “Obama/Biden,” but I’m in Florida, so it registered as 65 votes for McCain/Palin.

just kidding! and also, @stargazercrys, we DO have early voting, for 2 weeks before the big day. That means next Tuesday is the first day, I think. :)

I voted yesterday! And it did make me really happy. To vote absentee in Wisconsin, you don’t need any “reason.” Just show up at city hall and do it. It was kind of festive, everyone seemed pleased to be there. I had a bounce in my step for a few minutes after I was done. I’m going to be out of town on election day, flying back from my brother’s wedding, so it’s a relief to have it all taken care of.

One practical reason I can see to it, and though I’m not going to do this, I applaud anyone who does, is so that you can take the entire election day off and volunteer to call swing voters, knock on doors and maybe even drive people to the polling booths.

We don’t have early voting in NJ except by absentee ballot. I am definitely looking forward to the day and excited about casting my vote.

@trex: what do u mean by ” and that’s why you are wearing that uniform”? I take great offense to that and I believe you were hitting on the troops. Such a typical comment to come out of a mouth of a person who has never worn that uniform. As to the original question nope I haven’t voted yet Georgia does do early voting but I really haven’t had much time I think ill take my chances on election day

I mailed in my “resident currently residing outside of the US” emailed ballot two weeks ago. It should be in Chicago by now, complete with an Antarctic cancellation on the stamp.

@smullane, I wasn’t referring to the uniform worn by our brave military people, whom I support completely. I was referring to the ones worn by the Hitler Youth.

BTW, smullane, you don’t know shit about me, so shut up.

I voted today! (Wed, Oct. 15, 2008) It was the first time I’ve ever voted early. When I lived in Maryland we didn’t have the option. West Virginia allows it and the first day to do so was today. I was not alone…there were quite a few people voting. I was very excited, but I did miss the sticker. : (

The only thing I regret about voting early was the lack of sticker.

You’d think they’d give us an extra cool sticker, ya’ know?

I knew what you ment Ichthe, well not necessarily the Hitler Youth, but it seems pretty obvious to me that you’re speaking as if someone in the future in the US is speaking to their child about why they are now forced into conformity (because back in 2008, we fucked up)...military didn’t even cross my mind!

@ Empris – I love that sticker!

@Bri_L, If you love them so much, why don’t you marry them?

Long live Obama!

@Dale: military crossed my mind, but I thought it was about the draft since the dreaded “d” word does come up sometimes when talking about the wars.

@tonedef – hehe. I would rather just see one on the side, string it along, only to find out it was a psychotic sticker with an obsession who killed my rabbit and boiled it in a pot then snuck in my house to try and kill my beautiful wife cutting me up with a knife while I tried to save her just before I forced her head under the water and drowned her or so I thought as she rose up behind me only to be killed by a gun shot by my lovely wife in the end.

@Bri_L it’s like r. kelley’s hit hip-hop-epic, “stickered in the closet”

@ tonedef – hehehe – now I have that stuck in my head. hehe

@pixie, I live in DuPage. It’s probably best if I don’t get a sticker. We’ve had a rash of vandalism on Obama yard signs out here.

@Ich: It just lets people know you voted. Not who you voted for. Technically. I mean, you’re in IL. If you aren’t voting for Obama… doesn’t McCain even have a field office here?

im a minor:( so no.

I’m voting for Obama, Pixie. People around me are aware of my party affiliation. McCain does have an organization here. They’re probably the ones taking down Obama yard signs.

Okay who here didn’t vote for Obama?

Just curious

Not yet, but I keep watching the mail for my absentee ballot. I will be voting for Obama.

EmpressPixie: Your question posted 10 hours ago so you beat me by 3 hours. I taped my ballot stubs to the wall. My challenge is how many things people had to vote on.

1 pres/vp
1 congressperson
1 city supe
1 judge
4 bd of ed
4 community college bd
12 state props
23 city props

Maybe with a shorter ballot I would have finished earlier!

@galileogirl: Do you have any idea where voters can view the ballots in advance (so we can look up the people we don’t know!)?

In California we get state issued booklets, 1 was the state props with arguments pro and con. We also get a booklet of personal statements of local candidates. I also got lists of recommendations from my party, from my union, from the labor council, from the tenants union, and that is just in the last 7 days. California’s booklets are on line

@galileogirl – I LOVED those booklets! I wish those were standered.

In Minnesota our Secretary of State has a sample ballot online that customizes based on your address.

I wish every state took as much care to inform the voters as CA does. I had to wing it on a couple of issues that I’d never heard about!

I am now getting a bunch of emails saying that I Need To Vote Early (!!!) that it Will Make A Difference In The Election (!!!).

?

Is this just because, for some odd reason, the Obama campaign is afraid people will change their minds or forget to vote?

I am not going to change my mind, and I am not going to forget to vote.

So is it okay if I wait until Election Day so I can enjoy voting amidst the excitement of Election Day? Or is David Plouffe not kidding me that it will be more beneficial for Obama for me to vote early? If so, why?

@girlofscience, I’m getting those emails, too. The Obama campaign is working very hard to contact undecided voters. They update their databases daily, using data from campaign workers and early voting results so as to know where to send their volunteers. They don’t want to send volunteers to the households of people who’ve already voted, or to those of committed Republicans. By voting early, you can help the campaign use its resources most effectively in the weeks remaining until the general election.

Obama thinks if he can get you to vote early, then it will make you feel more invested in the campaign, and might make you more likely to volunteer your time on election day (you’ll now be more free to do so).

Also, if you vote early for him you can’t change your mind later.

Also if people think he is a shoe-in, they may not bother at all

I just read this on 538:

When local field organizer Christian Lund took the stage just prior to Joe Biden’s appearance on Tuesday night in Marietta, he asked those in the attendant crowd of about 4,000 to look at the sheets in their hands. Each sheet held four names, and each name had a phone number and a bar code for later data scanning. Lund asked the people in the crowd to make four phone calls to this targeted group, and then he demonstrated.

Lund got voicemail. Over the microphone, he left a message informing his phonee about where and when to early vote, as well as where and when the Obama volunteer office was located in town and what it’s hours were. After he was finished, it was the crowd’s turn. “We even got extra cell tower juice just for tonight” Lund told the crowd, so go ahead and make four quick calls on Barack Obama’s behalf. They did.

The other day at Obama’s rally in Toledo, the local organizer asked everyone in attendance to (1) early vote; (2) make 40 phone calls or knock 40 doors; and (3) take Election Day off to help the volunteering effort. This is routine practice at every single event the campaign holds, even at Denver’s Invesco Field acceptance night speech. The largely Democratic crowd is given concrete, practical and manageable field tasks to accomplish.

The goal is gathering a larger and larger volunteer base. A whole night’s shift of phone calls may seem intimidating to a lot of people, particularly introverts, but it’s pretty hard to say no to four calls. Cleverly, Obama’s campaign reasons that the most difficult part of volunteering is the first four calls or knocks. The first part is always the hardest, particularly for volunteers who’ve never worked for a campaign before. Once over the comfort threshold, a potential shift volunteer now feels invested in the work.

I think it’s all part of the campaigns efforts to engage as many supporters as deeply as they possibly can. Seems pretty damn brilliant to me.

In the same post they have a picture of McCain’s field office in Columbus Ohio, of one of their phone banks with 40 phones and one lonely caller staffing it, less than 3 weeks from the election.

I always thought of rallies as something only the converted would really go to anyway…like I’d go to an Obama rally if he comes back to Minnesota (I’ve had something of pressing importance every single time he’s been in town which has precluded me from attending so far). I see the McCain and Palin rallies where it’s largely an exercise in whipping up hate and derision for the opponent…a completely partisan affair which raises money, but does little else. But to turn that into an impromptu get out the vote effort…WOW!

Consider this. When talking about door to door voter contact (and I’m going to assume the numbers in phoning are similar), 1 in 4 people is home and answers the door, and of those, 1 in 12 is someone who wouldn’t have otherwise voted for your candidate who will now. So, about 1 in 50. Say that with the phones it’s only half as effective, so 1 in 100 calls makes a persuadable contact. You 4,000 people at a Biden rally, and he does 2 of these a day for about 50 days of the campaign, so 100 rallies, 400,000 people. Each of them calls 4 people, that’s 1.6 million calls. One in 100 of those calls results in another vote for Obama. The VP candidate alone brings in 16,000 new votes in swing states! Obama has probably done 300 rallies, and he draws 10,000 people at each rally. He can drum up 120,000 votes!

And if he can get even a small handfull of the probably 15 million people he’s had come to one of his or Biden’s rallies or speeches, say 5% of those people who actually come to hear him speak, or 750,000 people to see that hey, this wasn’t so bad, I can DO this, he gets 750,000 more volunteers, each of them volunteering to knock on enough doors or make enough phone calls to persuade say 5 voters. That’s almost 4 million new voters he can bring to the table just by doing these rallies, where he can raise massive funds to pay for the office space and materials so these people can be effective at what they do.

So, I think getting these emails asking you to vote early is just one more tentacle in a no stone unturned strategy. I personally have given significant money to the campaign, and I’ve tried to persuade people in a way that’s comfortable to me, I am not going to take the day off work or volunteer and I’m not going to vote early and miss out on the excitement of voting on election day. But I commend his efforts and think it will make the difference between a win and a repudiation of failed Republican policies once and for all.

I voted by absentee ballot yesterday for Barack Obama. I live in Massachusetts, a state Obama/Biden will win in a landslide.

Also, I want to give a shout out to my friends who have posted to this Board. In particular, Dale, who I really miss since he left that “other” site. ~ Lin

Lin,

Glad to see you over here. I have to admit, I don’t miss that “other” site in the slightest. I can only imagine how hostile and assinine it’s gotten over there on the political discussions, I don’t even want to look.

Any idea if we will be able to redeem gold, Lin?

Not yet.
Still waiting.

We only have early voting for college students who are out of the county, or business people traveling for work on election day.

I just cast my ballot on my lunch hour – Illinois is an early voting state, and @pixie – I GOT MY STICKER!!!!!

Lucky.

@Ich: Not fair! Do you know that this qualifies you for a free scoop at Ben and Jerry’s?

You mean I missed out on free ice cream, too? Hmph!

You can bring other proof of voting. They gave me a pamphlet that I could probably bring, but I’ve since lost as I didn’t know I might need it for ICE CREAM.

I got nothing. I would have insisted on some proof had I known I could get ICE CREAM!

@Pixie, @augustlan, I’ll buy you an ice cream cone if Obama wins the election. You can even make it a double.

Free ice cream available only from 5PM to 8PM on election day in selected stores.

@Ich: That’s a dangerous offer!

I’ll provide the hot fudge sauce!

We just got the final tally on YouthVotes for high school students. Bill Clinton got about 70% in 96, Gore and Kerry got about 65%. This year Obama got 87%. I get that San Francisco teens are are more liberal than average but this is quite a jump.