Early Voting

[malkin]

Early voting is brilliant!
Completely saturated, over-saturated, filled to the gills, sick and tired of political everything, having voted, I am now exempt from all of it and will ignore everything, even the results.

[luvmyguys]

+1000

I plan to vote this week and join you in ignoring everything.

[thekarens]

I'm also voting this week. It's a nightmare to vote on election day.

[Blueberry]

I wish I could ignore it. We are being inundated. TV, mail, radio, and now even Hulu, Pandora, and online streaming shows from the networks. Plus the door to door people who are rallying to get out the vote for their candidate, and the never-ending telephone calls on my unlisted cell phone. I'm not even safe in my house with all devices off!

It's to the point where I've been sorely tempted to tally the interruptions in my life and vote for the guy/gal in each race who has annoyed me the least (there's one who is a PRIME offender). I believe in democracy, and I would never do that. But I'm sick and flipping tired of the intrusions into my life.

[OakLeaf]

We have a phone line that's a legacy of dial-up internet, and now it's the number we give out whenever a business or nonprofit asks for our number, but it's not a "real" number and we don't answer it, the ringer is turned off, there's an answering machine in case it's something real like a bank trying to resolve a suspicious transaction. I've never been so glad for that line as I have in the past few weeks.

I don't think voting early will stop the spam. I could've done it a couple of weeks ago, I may not get around to it until election day ... I never planned to vote by mail, so the choice is trying to find the time to vote on a trip into town, vs a nice five-mile round trip walk on election day (provided the weather isn't so crummy that we drive instead :rolleyes:).

[goldfinch]

We have vote by mail only. All signed, sealed and delivered. Glad to be done. I'll also be glad when politics fades from our morning breakfast group.

[Koronin]

First day of in-person early voting started here on Oct 18th and we were there that day to vote. Of course AFTER I vote I start getting tons of junk in the mail. UGH! I already voted don't send me the junk now, esp if you couldn't be bothered to send it before early voting started. I'm tired of the ads as well. The worst part is I'm in NC so we aren't getting hit that hard with ads like people in Ohio are. Most of my family is in Ohio and they are much more sick and tired of it. My mom told me she had one entire set of ads that were nothing but political ads.

[Trek420]

Voted, mailed it in and already checked online and they got it.

Thanks for voting, everyone.

[malkin]

Living in Utah, my vote means pretty much nothing for all but the most local issues, and it's dubious even then. If I lived in Ohio, I'd probably have to leave the country for a month.

[Koronin]

I grew up in Ohio and this year is worse (from what I've heard) than any previous year for all the ads. I'm not convinced my vote means much either, and I live in a supposed swing state. I'm just not convinced NC is yet a swing state. I do believe it's headed that way, but I don't believe it's actually there yet.

[emily_in_nc]

One huge advantage of living in Belize! We voted absentee online (emailed in the scanned ballots), and the only ads we see are the few on the networks stations our satellite TV beams in. The stations are all in Mass. or NY, both uncontested states for the Presidency, so very few ads. No robocalls and no mail either. :)

[Koronin]

emily, that sounds wonderful. Should I even ask how expensive it is to live there?

[BikeDutchess]

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8333/8129709107_4801190183.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/48330200@N04/8129709107/)
Get out and vote! (http://www.flickr.com/photos/48330200@N04/8129709107/) by DutchRosie (http://www.flickr.com/people/48330200@N04/), on Flickr

I voted early too, although living in the same state as Malkin, it almost seems futile. But I became a citizen a few years ago in part to be able to vote, so I'm going to exercise that right!

[TrekDianna]

No home phone, NEVER watch TV (I'm not even sure it works). We vote by mail here. I ignore all political ads. The only ones I see are the ones that are places along the roads. AFter the first few days, I tune them out and don't see them either. All of the crap is wasted on me.

[Bike Writer]

Voted absentee ballot. I don't pay attention to the ads, robo calls etc because those things tell me little about a candidate. My mind's been made up for a few months now and unfolding events over the last few months have only solifided my choice.

What really bothers me is the amount of money that is spent in national elections and by special interest groups to sway people. It's mind boggeling. I have no solution to that problem because of freedom of speech and the right to be able to be enterprising and raise funds to accomplish that. I sure wish someone had a viable alternative to the billions spent though.

[Owlie]

I don't have cable, so I've missed most of the ads. Since I live in Ohio, I'm pretty glad of that. Not that they do much beyond annoy me, anyway.

My absentee ballot's all filled in, in the envelope and sealed. I just have to drop it in the mailbox.

[luvmyguys]

Truth be known, I don't live in a battleground state, so the ads haven't been too bad. What I'll be looking forward to the end of is all the ranting and raving of otherwise sane people around me of all political stripes.

[OakLeaf]

I hope you all realize that the real shenanigans are going to start after all the votes are cast. Ohio's voting system almost guarantees that. Sigh.

[emily_in_nc]

emily, that sounds wonderful. Should I even ask how expensive it is to live there?

Sure, Koronin -- I wrote a blog post about that very thing: http://bebelize.weebly.com/1/category/budget/1.html

Costs are really all over the map and should only be one of several major considerations if you even have an inkling about moving to a foreign country, though.

The advice I give everyone now: visit before you move, rent before you buy property, and make sure the place you are considering is really a good fit for you long-term.

As I've mentioned on several other threads, we are planning to move back to the US next year. It's been a fun and interesting time here, and we have no regrets about giving it a try, but long-term, it's just not the place for us. Yes, it's warm year-round and beautiful, but there are drawbacks as well. Some are general things that would bother anyone (for example, crime), some are specific to us (for example, can't do road cycling!). Sometimes you don't even realize the things you'll miss and things you take for granted until you no longer have them.

Sorry for the thread hijack -- feel free to PM me if you have further questions!

[malkin]

I hope you all realize that the real shenanigans are going to start after all the votes are cast. Ohio's voting system almost guarantees that. Sigh.

Absolutely.
I'm arming myself by loading my iPod and planning to be media free (for the next 4 years if necessary).

[skhill]

Oh, would that we had early voting... Absentee ballots are available only if you really expect to be unable to get to your polling place on the day. Likely to get even more restrictive in the future, as that's where much of the vote buying happens (with pot/ pills as preferred payment). And here in KY, the polls are only open from 6 am to 6 pm. Our voting machines make true recounts impossible, too; we have to just pray that the votes are correctly recorded, with no way of knowing if they are.

For the presidential race, we're a safe republican state, so we've been spared those ads. But this is expected to be one of the closest house districts in the country; 2 years ago it was about a 500 vote margin, and may be even closer this time. Same 2 guys running, and their ads have degenerated to calling each other liars and criminals. My brother's in Ohio, and he says the ads he's seeing are no where as nasty. More of them maybe, but not as vile.

[GLC1968]

We vote by mail here and I have my ballot but haven't finished it yet. I will probably drop it off later this week. Not only have I seen very little in terms of national ads, we just moved and still have no TV or internet yet, so we've been in a bubble of non-political bliss lately. ;)

That said, I did spend a little over a week in FL in September and it was INSANE. I don't envy those of you in battleground states!!

[Crankin]

I haven't been following this thread, but I have had it with the ads. Massachusetts is not a battleground state, as we are predictably the most liberal state in the US, but NH is a battleground state, and they only have one of their own TV stations, so we get all the ads. We get the ads for the national race, the Massachusetts and NH state races, and now this year, we've had a lot more because of the insane senate race between Elizabeth Warren and Scott Brown. That race is even closer than the presidential one, if you can believe it. I am sick of seeing Scott Brown's wife telling me that he supports women's issues. It's just crazy. And of course, Romney was our governor, even if he would like to deny it. His campaign is headquartered here, so there's a certain amount of hoopla around that.
I know who I am voting for and I have tried to ignore it all. I don't even answer my phone around dinner time or if I am home during the day. I gave money to a political cause and now I am getting incessant emails.
I've always been obsessed by the news, politics, and history, but this is turning me off. Everything is so mean and personal. And all the political signs on people's lawns are driving me nuts, too. It looks so ugly and I swear some people are putting them on their lawns, not so much to promote the candidate, but rather to proclaim their "values."
Ugh.

[Catrin]

...I've always been obsessed by the news, politics, and history, but this is turning me off. Everything is so mean and personal. And all the political signs on people's lawns are driving me nuts, too. It looks so ugly and I swear some people are putting them on their lawns, not so much to promote the candidate, but rather to proclaim their "values."
Ugh.

I agree. I voted yesterday and have long been disgusted by many of the ads. Personally I think they should take all of the money from the ads for the next 5 days and use it for storm relief from the B*tch that just hit the east coast. That would be a far better use of those dollars!

[Crankin]

I wish we could vote early.
We still use paper ballots, where we mark our choices with an X :).

[Catrin]

I wish we could vote early.
We still use paper ballots, where we mark our choices with an X :).

For early voting - this is how we do it. They don't use the machines until actual election day, at least not in my county.

[Kerry1976]

I voted last week. I work at a state university and they set up a couple of voting booths in our student union, so I walked over and voted during a lunch hour. I love that they did this for this election and hope that enough other people take advantage of the service that it will be offered on campus in the future.

[zoom-zoom]

I must say that Google Voice has been our friend in recent weeks. I get a real kick out of reading those transcripts, as they are reduced to utter nonsense by the Google Voice computers.

[Blueberry]

I must say that Google Voice has been our friend in recent weeks. I get a real kick out of reading those transcripts, as they are reduced to utter nonsense by the Google Voice computers.

You mean there are messages it doesn't reduce to utter nonsense? It seems to particularly have fun with my Grandmother's voice. Those have been downright comical at times. I've been rather extensively using the blacklist feature on my cell phone. It's starting to cut down on some of the calls.

I think we're going to vote on Friday. Early voting ends Sat, and the lines are always long the last day. We might wait and vote on election day, but it's a stressful day for me (lots of professors decided the best way to celebrate democracy was to make students take exams).

[Selkie]

I live in a battleground state (VA) so every other ad is a campaign ad. The worst are those put out by the PACs. I agree that there is too much money spent on this stuff and Americans would be much better off if there was a mandatory cap on how much a candidate can raise/spend. But I digress.

This is an important election, so I'm closely following it. I've know for whom I'm voting for at least two years (ahem). I admit to feeling very strongly about the issues, particularly those impacting women. Yes, the economic issues matter a lot, but the fact that the new president could be appointing a couple Supreme Court justices.... enough said there. I will be voting on election day.

[OakLeaf]

For those who haven't seen this yet:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=OjrthOPLAKM

[ZenBiker]

I voted early too, although living in the same state as Malkin, it almost seems futile. But I became a citizen a few years ago in part to be able to vote, so I'm going to exercise that right!

Yep, I'm in the same state/State. :rolleyes:
Sometimes I wonder if I'll even bother to vote, but I always do (and thank you, BikeDuchess, for reminding me to appreciate it). I'm glad to have the early voting option here, and took advantage of it this week.