Election Day!

[Selkie]

Like I said before, I miss the off-topic political discussions of the past. Even though they were not bike-related and could get heated at times. For the most part, people were respectful and those who were not usually did not stick around TE, regardless. I enjoyed reading others' perspectives/opinions/experiences since TE is pretty diverse (although no overtly so). Some of those discussions stayed with me in meaningful ways, particularly the ones about marriage for everyone.

In any event, I apologize if I turned this thread into a "non-cycling" discussion (although this thread is in the off-topic section, but I digress). I admit that I have become very passionate about these issues in my dotage, particularly the potential rolling back of women's/minorities/GBLT rights.

[ny biker]

We were talking about voter suppression? I must have missed something. I thought we were talking about long lines.

[malkin]

Long lines are a pretty good way of making it impossible for some people to vote.

Imagine a person who has a long commute by bus to a kid's childcare and then another bus to work and then back to the kid, and then back to home; this person isn't likely to be able to spend 1,2,4, or 6 hours in line to cast a ballot.

So no, nobody at the poll said "Go away. You can't vote." But the system accomplished it pretty handily.

[Trek420]

Imagine a person who has a long commute by bus to a kid's childcare and then another bus to work and then back to the kid, and then back to home; this person isn't likely to be able to spend 1,2,4, or 6 hours in line to cast a ballot.

So no, nobody at the poll said "Go away. You can't vote." But the system accomplished it pretty handily.

To say nothing of eating. And dare I mention without getting this thread locked what do you do when you're stuck in the line and gotta go? My suggestion is since lines are long we send the food trucks. You're still stuck in line but at least you can get Korean BBQ, Samosas, maybe some nice local beer something like that.

But seriously regardless of how we voted we need to make it easier, not harder to vote.

[Irulan]

To say nothing of eating. And dare I mention without getting this thread locked what do you do when you're stuck in the line and gotta go? My suggestion is since lines are long we send the food trucks. You're still stuck in line but at least you can get Korean BBQ, Samosas, maybe some nice local beer something like that.

But seriously regardless of how we voted we need to make it easier, not harder to vote.

I read mention of an elderly lady who brought a catheter bag with her.

[malkin]

Long lines seem like a perfect place for food trucks, whether the people are waiting to vote or to shop.

If I were in line and had to pee, I'd let my line neighbors know that I'd be back after a visit to the toilets.

[Trek420]

I read mention of an elderly lady who brought a catheter bag with her.

Now that's dedication! Regardless of how you voted we must remember the sacrifices made so we get to vote.

Camping out so you can be there first, stuck in line ... you might as well have fun: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRnuFFpkg1I

[Koronin]

I must bring this thread up for one more observation about my particluar voting issue this election. Something I'm not happy about, but not sure what to do about either. I was totally shocked by the number of races on my ballot that had only 1 candidate for the position. Most of these were for non partisen position. 2 were for state legistature (NC House and NC Senate) and had about 6 non partisen races with only candidate. I've never seen that before where I've previously lived so that was a bit surprising to me.