Election Day!

[tulip]

My neighborhood is low-income and 85% black. I bet many people on these forums would not want to ride bikes here, although its an awesome and quiet community where people look out for one another. The cops say it's one of the quietest neighborhoods in the whole city. There were lines early when alot of people went to vote at the same time before going to work. Only interior lines in the gym when I went at 9:30 am. I heard about long lines in other parts of the city (some very white) and some issues with power outages, wrong information being asked by poll workers (which party, for example), and long, long lines at the end of the day when people who didn't vote earlier showed up to vote before the closing. I'm in Virginia, by the way.

I don't think there was some big conspiracy by "Them." If there was, apparently it didn't work because "Them" didn't win.

[NbyNW]

Washington State makes it really easy for expats to vote. They rolled out the mail-in ballots a few years ago, and I believe the state has now gone exclusively to that system, or at least King County has. When we moved to Canada in 2009, I was able to sign up to have my ballot sent to me electronically. This involves filling out an online form, and then sending back a printout with signature via email, fax or snail mail. And there's a website where you can go to track whether your ballot has been received and signature verified. I've been really impressed with this system, compared to other places where I've voted.

[Crankin]

I have a friend who worked at the polls in one of the most affluent counties in Va. He was there for 17 hours.
No early voting here. For such a "progressive" state, we don't like certain kinds of change.

[Irulan]

I have a friend who worked at the polls in one of the most affluent counties in Va. He was there for 17 hours.
No early voting here. For such a "progressive" state, we don't like certain kinds of change.

Uh, yeah.... it was a problem statewide in many areas.

[ny biker]

Virginia doesn't have early voting, but you can do absentee voting early in-person. The lines for that were also very long this year.

[Trek420]

Washington here. We voted by mail. I read this was the first presidential election handled by mail in WA. We're happy with the results overall yet wish I'd done more (volunteering). A they say; now the real work begins of healing and uniting. Just no robo-calls.

[OakLeaf]

I don't think there was some big conspiracy by "Them." If there was, apparently it didn't work because "Them" didn't win.

Well, I don't remember using the word "Them." The people I'm referring to have names, mostly with the word "Defendant" after them in a whole lot of successful voting rights lawsuits. Jon Husted, Ohio Secretary of State, is one of them. There are others in Ohio, in Florida, and in other states as well.

Husted, for one, was not up for reelection this year, so his actions can't have been on his own behalf. What do you call it when someone does something illegal in concert with other people? That's the legal definition of conspiracy.

As far as whether "they" won or lost, I'm as glad as anyone and more surprised than many that the presidential election was over on election night, but there are still many important races that hinge on the outcome of provisional ballots and suppressed votes. Many of those races have implications for the conduct of the next presidential election ... and far more implications for the lives of everyday Americans than the presidential race.

I WILL let this rest now, but I can't let it go without pointing out that dismissing the existence of voter suppression is not an effective way of keeping it from happening.

[tulip]

Hey, I'm with you. But I prefer to keep TE somewhat bike-related (or cat-or dog-related, as the case may be). I just think there are more appropriate forums to discuss such issues.

[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