Election Day!

[OakLeaf]

Given what the likely demographics of this forum are, vs. the demographics of the places where they kept the lines long, it's not surprising none of us had to wait all that long.

A friend of mine trotted out that old Emma Goldman quote about voting ("if it changed anything, they would make it illegal"). I had sworn I was going to smack the next person who said that in my presence. It turned out even better ... the person who said it had known Michael Schwerner's brother (of Goodman, Chaney and Schwerner). I reminded him of that fact, and of all the efforts that have been put into making voting illegal for so many people, once again, in the past few years. I think that shut him up.

[ny biker]

Given what the likely demographics of this forum are, vs. the demographics of the places where they kept the lines long, it's not surprising none of us had to wait all that long.

What demographics?

[Koronin]

I voted during in person early voting so I have no clue what the lines were like around here. For that matter I have no clue where my actual voting place is. (I know where the early voting place is). I actually got my new October Glory Maple Tree planted yesterday. Extremely happy about that.
Add me to the list of very happy this is over so there are no more political ads. I live in NC so I know they were nothing here compared to other states. I have family in Ohio and have heard from them how bad the ads got, esp during the last few weeks. My sister told me when she got to her polling place she got right in, when she was finished there was a line of around 10 people waiting to vote.

[Irulan]

Here's the thing about ads.

D V R.
REMOTE CONTROL

We time shift almost everything we watch on the tube, and if we aren't time shifting with fast forwarding ads, we darn well use the remote to change the channel to anything that is not advertising. Why anyone would sit there and watch them is beyond me.

The robo calls are a little harder to escape, but with called ID at least I know who it isn't and don't pick it up if it's not someone I actually want to talk to. The rest of them can leave messages if it's a real person who was trying to contact me.

[Irulan]

What demographics?

The implication which I don't think is correct, would be that TE doesn't have many members in Michigan, Florida, Ohio, or any of the superstorm states.

[malkin]

What demographics?

Lotsa women here, for one thing! (probably mostly not in binders)

[zoom-zoom]

Lotsa women here, for one thing! (probably mostly not in binders)

I read the implication that TE tends to lean blue. The long lines did seem to be in red communities. The 3-4 hour waits near limewave and me are in a heavy red area. Our county is a speck of blue in a sea of red.

Funny thing, though, that these states still ended up going blue...booyah!

[Owlie]

I think it's less red-vs-blue and more income bracket related. In order to actually participate in this sport, you have to have some degree of disposable income.

[ny biker]

We had huge lines in parts of Virginia, which is one reason why it took so long to get a result from here. If you were waiting when the polls closed at 7, you were allowed to vote even if it was 10 pm by the time you reached the front of the line. I think it was the more population-dense areas that had the long waits. But we had a really long ballot which included two state constitutional amendments and three county bond issues, as well as senate, house of representatives, county board and school board.

[Koronin]

I voted early (1st day of voting here) and waited about 45 minutes to vote. Actually I do live in a red area of my state (although I actually think it's more Libertarian than anything else). My family lives in a very blue area of Ohio. Trumbull County Ohio is part of the deepest blue area of the north east part of the state. From friends I have in Ohio it seems the longest lines were in Columbus. (Franklin county which is a more purple area of the state). I also would be shocked if the lines were not bad in Cleveland (Cuyahoga County) that's just because the lines there are always bad. Of course there's also Cincinnati (Hamilton County) which is also a more purple county.

[OakLeaf]

The implication which I don't think is correct, would be that TE doesn't have many members in Michigan, Florida, Ohio, or any of the superstorm states.

No, not at all (I'm in Ohio, and I know there are several other very active TE'rs here, after all. But I'm not in one of the precincts where people had to wait for so long). I did say "likely" demographics, but I was afraid someone would take that wrong (and went ahead and posted it anyway ). Sigh.

The only assumption I made, which I understand is a big one on the Intertubes, was that most of us are who we represent ourselves to be here, and that most of us originally came to TE to talk about cycling.

We all have enough leisure time and computer access to be hanging out on the internet. We all have an interest in cycling that goes beyond strict economic necessity, which means we have some leisure time and some disposable income.

And most of all - more than once, people here have expressed concerns about merely RIDING through certain neighborhoods. The same kinds of precincts where year after year, elections officials have posted far too few voting machines for the number of voters. While many times people have said that we ride through those neighborhoods at certain hours and with perfect safety, *not once* has anyone responded with the kind of indignation that I personally feel when people express their prejudices about the kinds of people who live in my neighborhood (which is a whole different set of prejudices, but they can be just as deeply held).

And is it too crass to talk about race, when that played such a big part in so many decisions this year? Only the tiniest handful of us have identified ourselves as African-American or Latina. Of all of us who've posted pictures of ourselves, I can't think of anyone who isn't either white or Asian. That matches the racial makeup of women cyclists nationwide - I can't cite anything off the top of my head, but I know that there have been many surveys as well as local observations. De facto segregation is the reality in most of the country, and it's well documented that the people who live in the under-served precincts are overwhelmingly African-American.

All of the above leads me to believe that very few, if any of us, live in those precincts where people were forced to wait for hours.

[malkin]

I agree about the likely socio-economic status of the majority of TE members.

I didn't know long lines were limited to low income areas--I'm not surprised that low income areas would have long lines and other voting difficulties, I thought other places were having these problems too.

Did Florida get their votes counted yet? What is up down there?

[Irulan]

I agree about the likely socio-economic status of the majority of TE members.

I didn't know long lines were limited to low income areas--I'm not surprised that low income areas would have long lines and other voting difficulties, I thought other places were having these problems too.

Did Florida get their votes counted yet? What is up down there?

Long lines were not limited to low income areas. It was not a precinct by precinct phenomena. It has to do with how a particular state has voting procedures set up, whethere there is early voting, and how many people show up. The whole states of Virginia and florida are low income? I don't think so.

[zoom-zoom]

At least in areas near us that had 3-4 hour lines the issue was due to much higher than expected voter turnout (and these were in solidly "WASP" precincts/areas). Several precincts ran out of ballots. I'm not sure what they did, then, print more...?

[Selkie]

Longer lines might have been a result of some States limiting early voting.... IMHO the attempts to limit the electorate's access backfired, thank God. What about the new voter ID requirements? This sort of thing can make people more determined not to be denied their right to vote.

Oak, you are right on.

Longer lines might have been due to people realizing that this election was very important. Particularly if you are a woman and/or you believe in everyone having the same opportunities/rights.