Phone Post:

Go go go!!

lunaris_ offers us this sticker to help proudly proclaim that we did our civic duty. She swears she doesn't mind people hogging her bandwith, so we'll see how that goes ;)

OMG the turnout at my voting place was insane! I got there at about 6:45. I would've gone earlier but I figured there'd be a backlog for them to slog through what with all the commuters and anybody who might have been waiting eagerly for the doors to open. I was not wrong. When I got there the parking lot was already full (I lucked out with someone pulling out as I was pulling in) and the line was already huge. To give you a picture, the polls were on one end of the second floor. The line when I got there went from the polls, made a U throughout the polling room, down the hallway, down the twisty staircase, then to the front door (which was by the stairs). And that's when I got there. By the time I left it was starting to cover the length of the first floor as well, and I left at about 7:10. I absolutely suck at guesstimating crowds but if I had to ballpark a number this could easily have been about 150-200 people waiting in line by the time I left.

Props to the people manning the polls, though. They kept things moving pretty fast. Once we got near the voting booths they bunched us up by street, which streamlined things. I'd say it maybe only took five minutes tops for me to check in and then go through the whole voting process. About the only holdup was when the women at the booth didn't understand that I was asking them for a copy of a printout of what number corresponded to what ballot question rather than prematurely asking them for my "I voted!" sticker. Though it was cute to see one of them try to kindly explain to me that I'm not allowed to get the sticker until I'd actually gone into the booth. (And FWIW the questions were printed inside of the booth as well, so it turns out I didn't need the printout anyway - though they did give me one).

My sticker is now safely in my pocket, as I'm saving it for when I go to work. Beyond that about the only thing left to do is sit back with the news and wait for tonight. Eeeeeeeeeee! I'm excited! (Er, and also talking like a kitten, apparently ;) )

Oh - and I wore my black hoodie 8)

Now then, what the heck are you reading this for? Go! Go go go go go!

GO VOTE AND GET DUBYA THE FUCK OUT OF THE WHITE HOUSE!!!!!

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!

Vote, vote, VOTE!!!!!

Sorry to spam you guys with the voting stuff, but I feel this one is important -

I'm already hearing from friends around the country who say that they're seeing a lot of Kerry supporters at the polls, even in red states.

VOTE! Seriously, ignore whatever color your state is supposed to be. Red, blue, whatever, VOTE! Not to bring down the wrath of the whatever from high atop the thing, but the whispers seem to be that it's a damned stupid thing to sit at home if you're in a red state that supposedly has no hope of going to Kerry, 'cause the odds might be better than you think.

Please please please please PLEASE treat your state as though it were up for grabs, because it is. Don't assume your blue state is going to swing for Kerry, and don't assume your red state doesn't have a prayer.

If nothing else you know the actual count of the popular vote is going to be a significant part of any debates about who deserves to hold the office of president for the next four years, so even if you're the only person voting for Kerry in your entire state do it anyway. EVERY vote counts!

Also? I'm not hearing any reports of the lines slowing down. If you can get to the polls now I'd do it.

Further bulletins as yadda yadda.

(VOTE!)

Voter challenges

Reports are coming in about voter challenges. If you haven't voted yet, educate yourself about what to do if somebody tries to challenge your right to vote.

Bring two forms of ID, just in case. Photo ID and a utility bill are often enough, but check to be sure.

Find the voter advocate at your polling place, ideally before there is a problem

Call 1-866-OUR-VOTE (1-866-687-8683) if you experience problems and things aren't handled to your satisfaction.

Don't let somebody take away your voice!

God, I love them so

The Daily Show is doing an Election Day blog, that they're updating throughout the day.

Sample entry:

But seriously, please get out and vote today, folks. Because Sean "Puffy" Combs will be personally checking the voter lists to see who lives... and who dies.

10, 9, 8.....

Ten minutes until the first polls close! EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!

(Assuming they do close. Something tells me there's still going to be people on line.)

Booze?

Okay, I'm already up to the part where I'd like to be drunk. Stupid having to go to work tomorrow. Stupid strep throat that made me take so many sick days so I felt guilty about asking for tomorrow off.

The red states make me sick to my stomach. Not that any of them are a surprise, but it's the same sick to my stomach feeling I get when I remember that yes, people really do hate me and want me to go to Hell even if they've never met me, because my religion and/or sexuality is enough for them to decide. (I don't mind it as much when people hate me after having met me. After all, there's plenty of reasons 8) ) Political point being, it's quite a dose of vertigo to realize that there's such a fundamental difference between how I see reality and how other people see it. And I'm not talking about the cool new U2 song either.

The newscasters are already struggling for stuff to talk about, and Dan Rather's busting out the Southernisms ("Let's put some more gravy on these biscuits" - Okay!) I turned the TV off for a breathing into a paper bag break, and will try again in a little bit.

BTW? Ed Gillespie on CNN trying to play the wounded party in terms of voter intimidation? Man oh man, is THAT brass balls the size of alpha centuri. I'm sorry, but when YOUR party has sent letters out to people telling them that Democrats are supposed to vote on November 3, the only thing you are allowed to do is SHUT the FUCK UP. Thanks and please drive through.

In the meanwhile, we pray.

Fancy that!

Huh. Kerry currently has the majority of the electoral votes, but not the majority of the popular votes.

Fancy that!

The thing is...

The thing that esp gets me is that as of right now, what I think a lot of people don't realize is that for the past four years we had moderate Bush. We had a Bush who, somewhere in his head, had a thought that basically amounted to "Let me hold back a little here, because I'm going to need to appeal to the middle ground voters in order to get re-elected."

A Bush who wins a second term is one who doesn't have to do jack shit to please anybody, except maybe the Republican party (and even then not really, since what's the worst the party could do to him after the fact?). Considering all the crap he's done already, can you just imagine what he'd do when he doesn't have to care about making sure enough people like him when he's done?

This is the kind of thing that makes me want to cry and curl up with alcohol.