Your “I Voted!” Thread

Posted on November 4, 2008    Posted by      479 Comments

You don’t want to disappoint Vote Dog. She could totally eat you.

If you’re an American citizen, GO VOTE, and then come back here to tell everyone that you’ve voted, so we can applaud your efforts.

Note: I’ll be keeping this entry top of the queue for most of the day. There are likely to be additional posts as well; just scroll down.

So: Have you voted?

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479 Comments on “Your “I Voted!” Thread”

  2. My wife and I voted this morning. A lot of people already voted in my precinct compared to the number of people who had voted by 7:30 AM 4 years ago.

  4. I voted! Chicago IL 47th Precinct, 32nd Ward. Got to my polling place at 10 to 6 am and walked out at 6:45. The line was out the door by the time I left.

    This is a beautiful sight to behold in my lifetime.

  6. We voted this morning, in Philly. Been living in my ward for 6 years now, and today is the first time I’ve seen lines. Also, PA requires newly registered voters to show ID, and there were several folks waiting to vote with drivers’ licenses in hand.

  7. I voted early here in Toledo more than a week ago.

    But I may walk down to my precinct’s polling place – the elementary school my boys used to attend – and avail myself of the Election Day Bake Sale.

  8. I voted “early” (absentee in-person) here in communist fake Northern Virginia. Doing Obama/Biden GOTV for at least a couple hours so that we can run up the score for an epic ass-whooping.

  10. Just got back from voting. The volunteers at my polling place told me that more people have voted in our precinct just this morning than all of the voters for the last presidential election.

  12. I voted this morning in Ashburn, Virginia. There wasn’t much of a line but I figure most people voted at 6am when the polls opened so they could make their commute into DC in a timely fashion. At least that’s what I’m hoping!

  19. My three housemates and I walked (0.9 miles according to Google Maps) to our polling location in Ann Arbor and waited maybe half an hour. Fortunately the weather is unusually warm and sunny for November in southeast Michigan. We waited outside probably 20 minutes; I got my ballot at 7:50 am, approximately the 107th voter in the precinct.

    I had voted here before, but the other three hadn’t. None were challenged. For the one who immigrated to the U.S. in 2001, it was her first Presidential election.

    In past elections my precinct has had maybe three to five booths for filling out the optical-scan ballots. This time there were at least a dozen. Elections workers were all over the room ready to answer questions and direct us to the right places.

    I’m leaving work early today to help get out the vote for Obama. Here’s hoping…

  20. Just voted – I counted about 200 people outside and then got inside and there were almost 100 more! They delivered more ballots at about 8am (1 hour into official voting time).

  21. I voted when the polls opened. The lines were not bad early in Maryland. I stood in line for only about 20 minutes, visiting with neighbors who were waiting as well.

  23. I voted. Took only an hour to stand in line in Arlington, VA. And I was interviewed by a Czech TV crew!

  24. The SO and I voted this morning on the way to work, which made me late because there was a huge wait. I’m not complaining; I love to see people take part in our democracy.

  25. My wife and I voted this morning at one of the local elementary schools.

    The polls opened at 7 this morning, we showed up at 7:05 to lines that ran out the building and into the parking lot. By 7:15, the line ran out the parking lot and up the block!
    Even with a relatively brisk pace, the wait was about an hour.

    According to the scantron where I deposited my ballot, I was the 124th voter in my precinct after just an hour of polling. For contrast, when I voted in the primaries, I voted in the late evening and was voter number 200-something.

    Woohoo!

  26. It took me a total of 20 minutes, in my small town in mid-Missouri, to drive to my polling place at 7 a.m., stand in line, sign in, vote, and drive home again. I could have walked, but I was afraid the standing-in-line part would take so long that I’d be late for work.

    Doing my part to turn this red state blue!

  28. I voted first thing; was in line 10 minutes before polls opened (right across the street from where I work! W00T! etc.), and was second in line in the “L-Z” section. I even gots me my “I Voted” sticker, which I shall flaunt before my offspring this evening. Way better than a Pokemon sticker.

    Or so I like to believe (“I Voted” stickers are tradeable, right?)

  32. I voted last week. it took me 4 hours in line, but it was worth it!

    My regular polling place is a neighborhood church with a tiny parking lot. I figured with all the excitement this election is inciting, parking might be a problem, especially since its in the middle of a residential neighborhood. So, I took advantage of GA’s early voting.

  34. My husband and I voted early this morning. I dropped him off to wait in line before the polls opened and went on to get coffee. There were only a dozen or so ahead of us, but by the time we got out the line was getting long.

    Approp of nothing in particular, on the way to Starbucks,I noticed a sign by at the local Episcapal church designating that polling place as district 66-6. Someone either has an overactive sense of humor, or none whatsoever.

  37. I voted at 6:30 this morning (polls opened at 6), I stood in line for ~20 minutes… never before have I had to stand in line. When I put my ballot in the machine (we still have paper ballots, YAY!), it tallied me as 197. I just talked to my wife, she said the tally was up near 500 when she voted.

    This is an extraordinary day, it filled me with great hope unlike any other election before.

  39. Voted at 7am. Arrived at 6:45, left at 7:45. First time in my life there has been a line at the voting station. Made me very happy. My voting number was 32.

  40. I arrived at the polling place @ 6am and found 18 others already there waiting to vote. I was # 5 in my precinct line, & happily said good morning to neighbors as they arrived. I was done & walking out to my car at 6:45am. (the poll workers told us it would be slow to start, then pick up speed. they weren’t kidding)

    The woman at the head of our line arrived at 5:50 and was upset that she had to wait till 6:30 to vote. (!) If she had waited until 6:20 to arrive, she would have had a good 40 people ahead of her, and ours is always the smaller line of the two precincts at our polling place (a local school).

    I passed several polling places on the way to work. At 7:15 am, I passed a church – the parking lot looked like Easter Sunday!

    I am proud of us (as a nation) this year in the voting turnout, at least. People in some countries die for their chance to vote, and here some folks just can’t be bothered. I worked the phones 4 years ago for the Democratic Party. I actually *begged* a man to vote, but he wouldn’t go out because it was raining. (!) We had drivers who would pick people up at their door and drive them to the polls, but he thought getting out in the rain was too much trouble. (ARGH!)

  43. Arrived at 7:00am at my precinct in Hamilton County, OH. Line was 15 minutes long, received ballot at 7:15am, voted, walked out at 7:27am. :)

  45. Early voted last week, worked Obama GOTV for eight hours yesterday in Albuquerque, helping get a few to polling places today here in Los Alamos. Big second to @16 Holly’s hOpe. Yes we can…..

  47. There at 6:30, poll opened at 7 a.m., out by 8:30 and things moving nicely. I’ve little hope my county or state will go Barack or blue, but it won’t be from lack of turnout. As of yesterday over a third of the state’s registered voters had already cast their ballots. 15 Electoral votes on the line.

    There’s been a dirth of political signage in my neighborhood. Last night, they all showed up and Obama/Biden outnumbered the McCain/Palin ones 2 to 1.

    I would like to dance in the streets tonight, so I’ve got hope.

  49. I voted absentee (live in Michigan, work in Ohio).

    Remember, kids: “Shred-O-Matic” is *not* a brand of voting tabulation machine.

  50. I just voted. The polling place is at the club house in my neighborhood, which was convenient.

    I’m in North Carolina, btw. If we go blue it’ll be like Christmas coming early.

  51. I voted absentee weeks ago. Now would everyone else hurry up and vote, so we can find out who won?

  52. Voted on the way to work this morning, and then called my Lovely Wife to tell her that the line was short so it was a good time for her to go.

  54. Both my husband and I voted for Obama this morning. It took maybe 10 minutes. The weather is crisp and clear… the fog burned off not long after the polls opened. I’m feeling more optimistic and hopeful than usual.

    General Zod was not on the ballot, however, which was a disappointment.

  56. My polls don’t open for another 25 minutes, but then the songwriter and I will be strolling down to vote for Barack Obama, against Prop 8, and on a whole slew of other things.

    But for now, I’m eating watermelon and waiting for him to get up like the fidgety political Labrador I am.

  57. No lines, no waiting at 8:15. I spent more time chatting with a poll worker about my dogs than any other part of the process. Ah, the joys of voting in the suburbs…

  58. Voted – Bellevue NE – in line at 7:45, polls opened at 8, back in my car by 8:15…not too bad here…hope everyone else’s voting experience goes this well.

  60. My wife and I voted last Wednesday evening and waited in line 2-1/2 hours. Went with my daughter this morning, start to finish 1:05 hours.

    Kodi looks like a Blue Dog there.

  61. I voted. I was at a new polling place this year but was able to zip in and out. There were 4 people behind me however. It’s a smaller polling site with 1 machine for about 530 people, according to the poll workers. I’m going to drive buy it after work and see how long the line is.

  62. Voted! Went by the polling place (District 123, I think, in South Portland, ME) after I dropped my daughter off @ daycare, around 8:30am. Walked in, no line, got my ballot, filled it out, dropped it in the optical-scan reader and was done. In and out in under 10 minutes.

  63. Voted a week and a half ago at the library down the street from my house. Waited about 20 minutes and was told that was a shortish wait. The poll workers were cheerful, helpful, and obviously a bit overwhelmed…ful. But in a good way.

    Drove by the nearest elementary school this morning and did not see a huge line, but then I wasn’t stopping because traffic was really bad. (Not unusual for that location, though.) My county had well over a third of registered voters cast an early ballot, so today’s lines may actually not be bad at all.

  64. I voted! It took about an hour and a half. I voted for a wide assortment of dangerous and radical democrats, activist judges, and SCIENCE in the form of proposals on medical marijuana and stem cell research! W00t!!!

  66. Voted this morning in Maryland. One of the first 30 people in line, and it went really quick. I just wish it hadn’t been on one of the Diebold machines, but that’s another thread entirely …

  67. I voted last week– when I drove by my polling place this morning (Springfield, Ohio), there was already a line about 40-50 people long… at 615 AM.

  69. Queued up at 6:30 a.m. (polls open at 7) and the line was already a block long. By the time I left an hour later the line was 2 blocks long and it was beautiful to see people engaged in the process and anxious for their voices to be heard.

    Going to an election party tonight where I will raise a glass to positive change (I hope).

  70. I voted early last week at the courthouse.
    What’s been cool to see is the college students (I work at a university) voting for the first time and *excited* about it.

  73. DH, our kids and I were there at 6:50. We were out at 7:10. It was the longest we have ever waited to vote. When we were done, the line was twice as long as when we got there. People had lined up at 6 am–the polls opened at 7.

    No early voting in MN, unless you vote absentee.

  75. NW Chicago suburb at 8AM – no line for paper ballot (using the draw a line from right to left method), short line of 2-3 people for the two touchscreen stations (Illinois’ touchscreens leave a paper trail that you can review before accepting your vote).

    Went for paper, almost missed the Constitutional Convention referendum because it was so long it looked like instructions.

  76. Voted! Second presidential election, first time in person. I was in line for maybe thirty minutes, the ballot was very straightforward, and they were handing out donuts! Best. Election. Day. Ever.

  77. Checking in from the Pacific Northwest: Two votes cast, two free cups of Starbucks coffee, two caffeinated voters. Yes, free coffee at Starbucks for those who vote today! Also, at Ben and Jerry’s it’s free cone day!! As they say on their sign “Democracy never tasted so sweet.”

  78. I voted this morning right after work. The polling place was pretty full when I arrived, but by the time I voted, the lines had shrunk till they just filled the voting room.

    This is the fifth Presidential election I’ve voted in, my third in Virginia. Every time I’ve voted, there has been a different machine. This morning, I used a black felt-tip pen to fill in ovals on a paper ballot. That was new.

  80. Got there at 7AM as usual. I’ve always been one of the first 10 to vote at my table. Today I was 28. Big turn out in Pittsburgh.

  82. I voted at 9am Guilderland NY. No lines, no waiting. I was number 210 which is the highest number I’ve had in 20 years of voting at that location.

  84. @Jason #78 – I’ve voted in Virginia for the past 5 years and it’s always been a paper ballot where you bubble in with a black marker. Today they offered me the option of voting electronically, but I turned them down. From what I could see most people were choosing the paper ballots.

  85. Marcia and I got to the polls at 6:50. The lines were incredibly long (in DC! Where the outcome is FOREORDAINED!), but they moved fast and we were done and out by 7:30.

    Pile on. Run up the score.

  87. I was voter #91 at my polling place. There at 6:45am, got my ballot at 7:30, filled in the balloons & put it in the optical scanner about 7:35.

    Looked like the line was about 1.5-2 hours long when I came out.

  90. Are Lopsided Cat and Ghlaghghee sitting this election out or are they being held back for the west coast voting push?

  92. I can has voted.

    Up at 6am, in line by 7:10, out by 7:45. I’ve never seen a polling station in this town so packed, so early, not even in ’04.

    I have lot of hope, but there will be no partying until the concession speech.

  93. Wow. When I first looked at this (shortly after it was posted, I guess), there were 8 comments. Now, an hour later, 81! Pretty public spirited around here.

    I/we voted on Saturday; there were only two early voting locations in San Mateo County, Calif. (just south of San Francisco), and we stood on line for about an hour.

  95. Voted last week. My wife is working as a poll watcher today in Winnetka (north shore of Chicago) while I got kids to school.

  96. Western PA (non-Pittsburgh) here. Husband & I waited in line 20 minutes to vote after arriving at the polls right at opening time this morning. Never seen much of a line there before.

    Damn, did it feel good to hit that button.

  100. I did. It’s so easy, a blind man can do it. Now you have no excuse. Go vote.

    We got there at 6:50 am. I walked out at 7:50 am, and it only took that long because I wasn’t listed as registered (though my wife was) and I had to stand in a third line to re-reg. The line at the Hopkins Fire Station was two blocks long when we got there, and it was too blocks long when I left. I was voter number 127 in my precinct.

  103. Voted. It took 20 minutes total which was somewhat of a relief, but it was also the longest I’ve ever waited to vote which is also a good sign.

  104. Voted two weeks ago by absentee. Now I hope that I will know the outcome before 5 am my time.
    I am so proud watching the lines of Americans exercising their franchise. It really brings tears to my eyes.

  105. I voted last week, and still I had to wait in line for an hour and a half. I live in Chicago, so I still get to vote a few more times, right?

  106. Just got back from voting in upstate NY, where it’s going to be a beautiful day, with temps in the upper 60s. Lots of business at both the polls I saw, but no lines.

  107. We voted when the polls opened at 7am here in Pennsylvania. The line was to the door already and it took us about 30 minutes to get through. We were numbers 36 and 37 respectively, which is amazing for this precinct. I’ve never been above nine or ten and we always vote first thing in the morning.

  108. I voted. Total time at polling place: approximately 1 hour and 10 minutes. Total time the guy behind me spent bitching about how long the line was: 1 hour and 8 minutes.

  109. At 8:15, I was the 225th person of 2,084 registered voters in my precinct to vote. No lines, no waiting. The poll workers did tell me that there was a line waiting to get in at 7.

    Go us!

  111. Oh, and I thought of Whatever as I cast my vote against every single constitutional amendment on the ballot!

  113. My partner and I voted this morning in the Boston suburbs. Barely a line, and we were in and out in about 15 minutes.

    I grew up in North Carolina. I wish I could’ve been casting my vote there, where it might make a difference in the Presidential election, but at least here, I get to try to eliminate dog racing and prevent the elimination of the state income tax.

  114. I can see my polling place from my house, so I walked over in the fine November sunshine at 9 am, walked right in and up to a machine, and then walked home, meeting neighbors on the way. There has never been a wait at my polling place, which makes me sad for others who have to wait hours. It just doesn’t seem fair. But I’m proud of them for waiting it out!

  116. Mail in ballots for the win! Both my husband and I are spared the fuster cluck at the polls today. Now I just get to sit back, relax, and watch everyone not work today in my office.

  117. Hell yeah I voted. Hell yeah. Nothing could have kept me from the polls, not even kryptonite. Not even a giant ant, not even a phucking third world war.

  118. I voted at 7 am on my way to work this morning. Polls were “unusually busy” this morning, which meant there were about 10 people in the room. (Normally, there’s like 1 or 2 voters when I get there.) The poll workers said they had quite a flurry when they first opened, and that it’s been steady all morning since.

    I encourage people to thank the poll workers when you do go through. I think they will be working extra hard this year, and probably will appreciate a kind word.

  120. Woot!! Vooot!

    Civic duty done! Check! And the best, the sweetest part of all . . . I got to vote at Southfork . . . Mobile Home Park. Yes people. I was one tornado away from being disenfranchised . . . . it don’t get no sweeter than that . . .

  121. I live in dark-red-state Tulsa, OK and on my way to vote this morning right before 7:00 AM I saw the longest lines I have ever seen at a polling place! I had not expected that, as all the polls put Oklahoma for McCain by a wide margin.

    Also, one thing I have noticed over the last few months (and which has been pointed out to me by friends from other states) is the fact that Obama bumper-stickers and yard signs have outnumbered McCain’s by a large margin. This is in even Tulsa, which is considerably more Republican than the rest of the state. Most people don’t realize that Oklahoma is actually a majority Democrat state. The problem is that they’re mostly rural voters who don’t vote as often and who are pretty socially conservative. (However, we DID manage to elect a moderate Democrat Governor last time!)

    Naturally, I can’t see Oklahoma going blue this time. I think all the things I’ve noticed just indicate a real passion and motivation on the part of Obama’s supporters, and a corresponding lack of enthusiasm for McCain. I think the state will still go for McCain, but a lot of people might be surprised that the margin is a lot smaller than predicted.

  122. Done (wipes hands on pants).

    John – just a thought, but you might want to add an additional sentence to your “A Final Note to California Voters”, to remind Florida voters to say no to Proposition No. 2, as well.

  123. Me and my husband voted this morning. Polls open at 7 am in Delaware, there were probably 200 people in line for the two districts our polling place covers. It took us an hour and twenty minutes to get through the line.

    I then came to work and called the Election Commission to complain that the church where we vote (there is no school in my district) was blasting religious music and it seemed to be a bit much. Especially since I heard a couple of poll workers talking about the fact that they’d asked the church staff to turn it off and they wouldn’t.

  124. My wife and I voted this morning, here in Ann Arbor (Hi Susie L!) at the school just down the street from my home.

    We arrived at the polling place at about 8:30, to a line, albeit a short-ish one. It took about ~ 45 minutes to do everything, which was no problem at all. This time around felt different, somehow, than the last presidential election. The atmosphere in the polling place seemed charged up, somehow.

  125. Mailed in my absentee ballot on Friday! I was hoping it would cure of the tendency to be a fivethirtyeight.com junkie. It hasn’t. I still am.

  126. My wife and I stood in line for about 50 minutes to vote this morning. First time we have ever had to wait because we live in a small-ish country community northwest of Dayton. The first hour of voting did not have the school levy on it, so some didn’t vote for it at all or some might have paper balloted it, not sure, but it was on there by the time we reached the ballot boxes.

  127. Voted last week absentee. Didn’t notice until that day that Edina counts votes not based on when the postmark was, but whether or not the ballot *arrives* by Election Day. A week’s long enough to get an envelope from DC to MN, right? I hope?

    Not that Obama is desperate for my vote in MN. But Franken might be.

  128. I was the 104th voter with a last name starting with L-Z at my polling place at about 7:40. I waited in line about 25 minutes, similar to how long I’ve waited before when voting after work. I go the sense that it was more people than usual for that early. My drive to work however took FAR longer than normal because I had to drive past the bottleneck created by another polling place (and the school traffic).

    Going to get my free doughnut a little later.

  130. The wife and I voted early. The news this morning said over half the registered voters here in Colorado have already returned ballots. Large number of new voters in that group, too.

    It’s great to see hOpe motivating people. Too bad some are motivated by fear.

  131. My husband and I voted this morning. Took about 45 minutes, which doesn’t seem bad as our precinct apparently has one of the highest turnouts in the country–83% in the last election. I’m going to go out on a limb and guess that’ll be a bit higher this year.

  132. We got to our polling place at 6:15 and there was a line of about 50 people already there. It was fantastic. We did our part to turn Ohio blue and were out the door by 7:00.

  133. Done. When we arrived at the poll at 6:10 I counted 106 people in line before us. Last election there were 16 people in front of us. No problems voting at all, but I did have to counter (yet again) the “Obama is a muslim” claim while we were waiting in line.

  134. I voted.

    No line to speak of in Williston, Vermont, ‘cept for a flock of white-headed old-timers getting chatted up by some of the local candidates over their thermoses of coffee (white, two sugars.)

    No silly electronics to trip up the unwary, either… just fill in the oval with the felt-tip pen and drop your card in the tabulator. Sure, somebody could rewire the tabulator and make it count electric blue sheep instead, but there’s still all those cards with ovals on them… so no worries.

    Oh, and on the way out, make a selection from the vast array of baked goods made fresh by your neighbors.

    You betcha.

  135. We voted (Chicago, NW side) two weeks ago at the local nature center, heading out to the suburbs mid-day to babysit so my daughter and son-in-law can go to the Grant Park rally tonight. Their business is in Chicago and near an el line, so they’ll leave the car there and take public transportation. If I were 30 years younger and had better knees, they would have needed a different sitter.

  137. I voted! Via absentee in western Mongolia (read: remote). Woo!

    It’s a balmy 40-ish F here, which is apparently about 30 degrees above average at this time of year. Maybe we won’t have (-40 F) winter this year!

  138. I voted (by mail, a while back, as is the family wont). Go President Obama! Down with the hideous Proposition 8! Various less strong exclamations regarding other offices and propositions!

  140. Voted absentee last week. This is my first presidential election, and I am so excited to see how it turns out.

  141. Voted about 2-3 weeks ago. Yay for vote by mail!

    Interestingly, my partner is currently a full-time student here at the University of Montana…and they get Election day off as a holiday from classes. So students there at least have no excuse not to vote!

  143. Voted, in the swing state of Indiana. Our polling place was hopping, too — we had an actual line, for the first time ever! Normally my wife and I are the only two people there when we vote.

    So, we know you can’t legally give someone free stuff for voting. But a few local bakeries are keeping the poll workers well-stocked with donuts and pastries. That made me happy too.

  145. Happy Election Day (finally!!)

    Voted last week and saved my “I’m a Georgia Voter” sticker for today. Voted blue in a perennial red state. Hoping we go blue again for the first time since ’76.

    Saw a lot of voter stickers around Atlanta on the train and in the building today. Most polls here had hundreds of people in line when the doors opened at 7:00 AM!!

    And John, thanks so much for your continued sanity in an otherwise insane time. Your thoughts on the issues and the discussions they inspired were great. I’ve introduced many friends to Whatever over the last few weeks and I hope they come back for more after the election.

    Pat Kodi on the head for me! Me loves me some big fuzzy dog!

  146. I voted last week, during early voting, with my wife. Even late on a Wednesday evening the joint was jumping with some folks showing up to fill out ballots and other folks dropping off mail-in ballots.

    Now, I’ve just got to concentrate on work while trying not to check http://www.cnn.com every five minutes!

  147. I can’t vote, as I’m registered in Hawai’i and I had to make a last-minute trip to San Francisco, and I ran out of time to get to early voting. So I’m making up for it by volunteering at the SF Democrats office right around the corner.

  149. circa 8:30 am, Lexington, MN.

    No line, although the poll workers told me turnout was high today. (Despite being in the Twin cities metro area, Lexington has a low population)

  150. Just voted. Feels great. Tremendous enthusiasm and energy from everyone coming in and out of the polls. Still time to GOTV–please encourage everyone you can to brave those long lines today.

  152. Voted last week in VA. Line was insane, even at 4:30 on a Saturday. Decided to vote Barr at the last minute as a protest against the current state of the Republican party, neither McCain nor Obama had anything much to offer.

    But still, democracy is like Chicago deep-dish pizza: When it’s great, it’s excellent, and even when it’s bad, it’s still pretty damn good. :D

  153. Just voted. Enjoyed it so much that I went back and voted as several other people: Mickey Mouse, Tony Romo, etc.

  154. I was the 88th person in my ward to vote, and the 193rd to stick my ballot in the box. This was at 8 am; the polls had opened at 7.

  155. I voted at 9:30ish. It took about 25 minutes (including the ten minute walk to and from my apartment), but I assume I missed any potential morning rush by oversleeping. It was easy, it was quick, and even though there wasn’t a line, there was a pretty steady stream of people entering and exiting the polling place.

  156. I didn’t used to think of myself as a terribly emotional person, but just the IDEA of voting in this election makes me misty. I teared up when talking about voting to the lady at the pharmacy, I got misty when talking about voting to the lady in line at Burger King. And this morning I got a little choked up in my polling place.

    But I kept it together this morning and voted. Proudest vote ever. I’ve never felt better about a vote than the one I cast for Obama.

  158. I was voter #6 this morning. I got there about 15 minutes before the poll opened. When I finished, there were probably 30 people waiting. I mention this because typically there are two or three voters when I go in. I have never seen a line here (southeast Oklahoma) before.

  159. Gee you Americans get up early. Is it even daylight before 8am? But anyway this is me cheering from the antipodes…
    *YAY*

  160. It’s done. My wife and I both voted this morning.

    She, for Nader.

    Me, I wrote in Mitt Romney for POTUS and Condi Rice for Veep.

    It was a two-fer protest vote in my home.

    Thanks to everyone who went and cast their ballot. Those of us who wear a uniform for the nation, either part or full time, enjoy seeing active participation. Makes it mean a little extra when we have to lace up the boots and stand at parade rest. Truly, the soldier who serves the cause of democracy, liberty, and freedom, is a proud soldier.

  161. Oregon mail in – dropped it off on Friday. Called my mother to check, she was undecided as of Saturday – I gave her my GOP fears, in hopes to influence her, but hey, as long as she goes out to vote, I’m happy.

    Two election parties tonight. Crosses fingers.

  165. My spouse & I voted early here in Dallas (where, when I see a bumper sticker that says “Texas Democrat” I nudge Jen and say, “Look! It’s the other one!”). But since we’ve moved here, we haven’t seen any type of “I voted” sticker at the polls. They were all over the place in California, and I always looked forward to wearing one on election day. :-(

  167. I got up at 6 and went straight to the polls. In a precinct where I have never waited behind more than 2 people to cast my vote there was a line to get into the room to line up for my district. It was a huge party. Brooklyn is taking no chances, we’re getting out the damn vote.

  168. I voted early on Oct 18. The early poling place was crowded for a Saturday afternoon in Durham, NC. I had to wait about as long as I usually do when voting on election day. Now, waiting for the results.

  172. I voted this morning in Fairfax County, VA. I waited longer to vote in the primary than I did today, which is to say I was done in about 15 minutes. Voters here can choose between a paper ballot and a touch screen. While I was there most people were choosing the paper ballot. One of the poll workers said that people had been lined up at 5:15 to vote; polls opened at 6 and were packed apparently as people voted before they went to work.

  173. I voted yesterday.

    Out here, they send everybody absentee ballots, which I hate. I miss the cute little retirees who always work at polling places. I miss lining up in a school gym that smells like socks with a bunch of other people who care enough about our country to put up with the sock smell. I miss the stickers!

    I also get really crabby about the idea of needing to cough up a stamp in order to vote. Voting is supposed to be free!

    Because of that, I always drop my ballot off at one of the approved drop boxes…always spending more in gas than I would in stamps, but dagnabbit, there’s a principle involved, here.

    Anyhoo, yesterday the drop box location was so crowded, I had to park illegally just to stuff an envelope into a metal box.

    Ah, democracy. Ironic, ironic democracy.

  174. Voted! #334 at my polling place, although there wasn’t really a line. I figure the morning rush had passed.

    Here’s hoping Indiana goes blue!

  175. My wife and I just voted. It was the first time for us here (got our citizenship only this year). We were at the polling station at 7:45, and were done by 8: no line at all, at least here (the polling station is in the clubhouse of our townhome complex).

    Nice to know that our votes could make a difference (we vote in Denver), and strange to think that, in the same year, I voted both in the Italian general elections and for the US president.

  179. I voted.
    I woke up 1/2 an hour before my alarm was supposed to go off. And it was raining. In Los Angeles. Beyond odd. By the time I got out of the shower, it had stopped. There were about 20 people ahead of me in line when I got there at 6:35. And about 140 waiting when I left at 7:10. That’s a huge line at my polling place this early in the day.

  180. Nice Vote Dog. My wife and I voted absentee together about a week ago. (Doing things together: a marriage-strengthening activity. Prop 8: Not so much.) Hope everything goes as smoothly as possible at the polls today. Vote!

  181. Voted! Took longer to fill out the ballot for all the judges that were running against no one than standing in line ;)

  182. In line 20 minutes before the polls opened, 10th Ward of Minneapolis, MN. Not even 15 minutes later, the line was down the block. Voter #50 through the Scantron.

    Wished, briefly, that I was in Michelle “Batshit Crazy” Bachman’s district so that I could vote against her. Was then relieved that I wasn’t.

    Walked two blocks home, turned on CNN for background noise while I cranked out some reports for work, and meandered in with my “I Voted” sticker proudly displayed.

  183. Yay we Voted!

    Living in Colorado, I think we’ve been given some sense of what Iowans feel during the primaries. I am very very tired of election ads.

    However, I did enjoy my “mail-in” ballot. My husband and I sat down with our ballots, our blue books, our laptops, and every piece of campaign lit that was mailed to us and had a fine time voting with snacks and refreshments. Dropped off our ballots at the official site this morning, no muss no fuss. I did miss seeing my neighbors at my polling place, though. It sort of sucks some of the community/patriotic spirit out of the whole thing.

    Yay voting with snacks. Not so yay voting “alone.”

  184. We were in line when the polls opened at 7 am. There’s no early voting in my state (absentee, yes, but I don’t qualify), and the increase in registered voters meant the creation of extra polling places, which left mine with fewer voting machines than usual, but we were finished within an hour.

    And now I’m going to go flash my “I voted!” sticker to score some free Starbucks coffee and Chick-Fil-A for lunch.

  186. Voted two weeks ago here in Columbus, still had to wait an hour.

    Out knocking on doors for Obama today.

  187. Jeff and I voted last week. Took about 15 minutes. It’s raining today, I hope that doesn’t affect turnout (although apparently 66% of North Carolinians voted early).

  189. It was 6:50am and to my surprise many had already lined up waiting to vote. I was shocked that it wasn’t the usual crowd of blue hairs that were standing in line but a beautiful mix of color, sizes, and walks of life! Truly a historical event and 45 minutes later I pressed the “Vote” button in my little town of Aiken, SC!!!!

  190. I walked about 3 blocks to a local elementary school and voted. It took about 20 minutes, all told – there weren’t any lines, but there was a steady flow of people in and out.

    I also escorted my boyfriend there for his first vote ever!

  191. Voted this morning after the rush in our battleground state. Walked in, waited not at all (except for while the lady made me repeat my full legal name because I had not used my middle name), experienced the usual freak-out while using the no-receipt voting machines, and voted, provided the machines are working.

  193. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised to see other expatriates posting in this thread.

    My wife and I cast our Florida ballots from lovely Northern Chile.

    We had our own constitutional amendment proposition to ban gay marriage, so we marked “no” very forcefully.

    Thanks, Alachua County, for letting me fax the ballots back! I just hope that they don’t meet some unfortunate demise before being scanned tonight.

  195. Voted last week, using the incredibly convenient California absentee ballot. When I see video clips of poor souls standing in line for hours to vote, I’ve got to wonder: why can’t every state have absentee ballots like California’s?

  196. Voted!

    I live in Nevada and voted for Obama, so I’m also in the group of people trying to turn a traditionally red state blue. Here’s hoping it works!

  197. Husband and I both voted last Wednesday, doing our part to make GA just a little less red.

  199. I voted early two weeks ago. It was so much nicer than waiting in line dreading the boss bitching about my being late to work because I had the audacity to go vote! Yes, it has happened to me more than once. It’s one reason why national election days should be national holidays.

  200. Voted with my wife at the starting bell. College town and a line about four times what it was in 2004–about 90 percent students. That’s two more for Obama in WI.

  201. I voted last Friday. Sadly I know it won’t do anything for my candidate. I’m in one of the reddest states possible. But I do feel responsible what happens in my state, so I voted for the sheer pleasure of denying stupid initiative meassures. That, and I feel representatives count for a certain part of the election process as well, so there’s that.

  202. Just voted for the very first time. After waiting in an hour-long line. I think that’s a good sign.

    Now I get to twitch for the next 12 hours until the results come in.

  203. The workers said that the lines have been steady since they opened this morning. Usually I walk right up – today I waited for 20 minutes in line.

  204. Voted absentee ages ago. The question is whether they’ll count it, because i forgot to tear my stubs off and ended up ripping my envelope open to get the stubs. I left a note and patched it up with tape, but I suspect it won’t get counted, myself. :(

  206. Voted! There was a line, which I’ve never seen at my polling place before, when I got there at about 9:15. The poll workers said there had been a line around the building earlier in the morning.

  207. Voted this A.M. in sunny but cold California… brought DH & 18 yr old daughter to cast their votes too!!!!

    GO OBAMA……NO on 8!

  208. My wife and I cast our absentee votes two weeks ago. Please call off Vote Dog now, she’s scaring our cats. :)

  209. I voted. 2.5 hours in the line before I hit the doorway, then sailed through an efficient voting operation. There were a LOT of young people in the line.

  213. I voted! I left my apartment at 9 a.m. to go to my polling place (2 miles from home) and left the polling place at 9:23 a.m., having only been harassed by one person (we’ve only got two local propositions on the ballot, interestingly enough).

    A wonderful first (presidential) election experience. I had actually been worried I would be late for work (10:30 a.m.), but this is the earliest I’ve gotten to campus on a Tuesday or Thursday this semester, I think.

    Yay civic responsibility!

  214. Apparently people were in line to vote at 4:30 AM here in communist fake Northern Virginia, with lines soon filling the entire middle school gym that is my polling place. I showed up after 10 and had successfully voted about 5 minutes later.

  215. I voted!

    And for the first time in recent memory, there was an actual wait to vote. Four people in line ahead of men when I voted at 9:30!

    Woot!

    Then I unzipped my jacket and wore my Alex Ross Obama t-shirt to go grocery shopping.

    Yay for the democratic process!

  216. I voted! Got there at 8, finished at 8:40 (polls opened at 6). I took my kids (4 and 6) and they were remarkably patient. The other voters and poll workers were almost universally cheerful and helpful. Overall, a great experience. Almost as great an experience as I’m hOping this evening will be!

  221. I just got back from voting!

    Later I’ll probably end up driving my sister to the polls when she gets out of school too.

  224. I did indeed vote. Nice doggie. Down.

    I even split my ticket with some Republicrats and some Democans. I never like the interchangeable bastards to get too comfortable, one-on-one.

    I’ve never gotten to vote against Ted Kennedy, though. Stupid MA Republican party won’t run anyone good against him.* Sigh.

    Regards,
    Jack Tingle

    * Well they once ran Mitt Romney, for certain values of ‘good’.

  225. Voted early — at the Shriners’ Hall around the corner from my house — two weeks ago, as did my wife.

    The Shriners’ parking lot has stayed more or less full throughout the two-week voting period; every time I’ve passed by, there has been a steady trickle of people in and out.

  227. Voted on my first paper ballot! We used to have the mechanical voting booths. I kinda miss the KA-chunk sound of pulling the lever. But it’s cool.

  228. Seattle, WA: Got up at 6:00 am: a rainy day, and I’m coming down with a really bad cold. Ugh!

    Still, I was at the polls shortly before 7:00. The polling station hadn’t opened yet, and there was a line waiting, maybe 50 or so people.

    That might not sound like much, but my polling station is usually so not-busy you can go in, vote, and be out in under 5 minutes.

    This time it took about 20 minutes – still not a huge amount of time, but I go in the early morning to *beat* the rush. I wonder what the lines will look like in the evening, when most people vote?

    I voted and it felt so good to finally, finally vote for Obama/Biden, and Chris Gregoire, and a mostly straight Democratic ticket. Sam Reed was the sole exception; I voted to re-elect him as Sec of State even though he’s a Republican. That man earned our votes many times over in 2004, when he upheld the law and refused to let the GOP make a mockery of the election (the GOP roundly condemned him as a traitor for it).

    Now I’m at work, hoping to be kept very busy until 4:00, when the first of the national returns will be available.

  230. MD 02-008 voter! Not only did I vote, but I drug my roommate to come vote with me – her very first time! In the beginning of the campaigning last year, she was totally apathetic. Then she saw my addiction and my advocacy, and started asking questions. Really good questions, too. Today, she too wears the ubiquitous “I Voted” sticker!

  231. I got up at the entirely uncivilized hour of 5 a.m. to wait an hour in the rains of central VA to vote Obama and if I could, I’d got right to the end of the line and do it again.

    Go Obama! Go Obama!

  234. I got my vote out of the way last week. I’m a Republican who proudly voted Obama. What the party’s become is worse than despicable.

  236. Don’t get to vote in this country – just pay taxes – but my wife just did, and all of my students got given incentives to go cast their *first* presidential votes (well, first for all bar the mature student, anyway).

    More exciting: the two janitors here, who had never even been registered to vote, not only sat with me while we registered them, but both went to vote this morning! Woohoo!

    Now back to hoping that maybe either (i) the Labour party will rediscover socialism, or (ii) the LibDems will get serious. Can I write in Charlie Stross? :)

  239. Voted this morning. After I filled in the circle for Obama, I paused dumbfounded. Here I was, voting for a black man for president of the United States. As a kid I watched race riots on TV news, and today I get to participate in what might be a very historic milestone. I am overcome with emotion.

  240. I voted! NYC has those ka-chunky machines (which I think must be 60 years old by now and needed frequent kicking from the poll workers). But we don’t get a sticker, which saddens me. People will have to divine my voted-ness from the “C’mon, Obama!” glow about me.

  241. I voted for in person for the first time in my life. (2004 I voted in absesntee and in 2000 i missed the regisration deadline becuase of erroneous information)

    I vastly prefer voting in person! Everyone was so nice, everything was well organized and I felt so excited to see my ballot scanned and know that my vote counted. YAY(allbeit in district of columbia where a democratic candidate can do every drug to mankind and cavot with hookers and still get re-elected)

  242. Littleton, CO: We’re on the permanent mail-in ballot list, but things have been so crazy that we didn’t mail in early, so we’ll be dropping ours off this afternoon on the drive home. But I’ve made all my marks and sealed my envelope!

  243. I voted, and I took my son along with me. He’s looking forward to voting in the next presidential election.

    My mother-in-law also reported that she voted–for the first time since she became a citizen. This election has changed her attitude completely.

  244. I voted about a week and a half ago. Yay, Montana, way to go with the early voting thing!

  245. Voted! Got to the polling station at 5:50, and there was already a line. I was the 50th person to submit a ballot at that location and was still out the door by 6:25. I was pretty astounded at the turn out that early in the morning.

    As an aside, the check-in line was amusing: clerks for A-E, K-O and T-Z. Those of us with other letters were scratching our heads a bit. :P

  246. Voted in south central PA this morning. The line was “the longest I have seen in 20 years” according to the older lady behind me. Since my neck of the woods is very Republican, not sure if that’s a good thing or not. But I think it’s at least good that people are voting. :)

  247. I early-voted last Tuesday – yay for convenience and short lines! Yay for democracy! Remember, apathy is the enemy of democracy.

  248. I voted this morning (Louisville, Ky for the record). Got there at ~6:30 and got out at ~7:30. Luckily I brought a book to read.

    That’s the longest I’ve ever waited to vote although the first time voting in a presidential election at this particular precinct so possibly the wait was the norm.

  250. I voted this morning! My three-year-old daughter came with me. I held her up so she could watch me fill in the ovals on the paper ballot. She was mildly interested in what was going on (my husband and I have given her a simplified explanation of the election: “There are two people who want to be in charge of the whole country for four years, and all the grown-ups get to help choose who it is by voting.”), but mostly she was happy to be there because our local polling place is in the room directly above the fire house. She is totally into fire trucks.

  251. I voted at about 7:30. There was no line at the poll, but most of the booths and tables were in use. I suspect many people in this area voted early.

  252. I voted this morning at 9:30, so I claim a Voting Dog Consumption Waiver.

    We were in and out in ten minutes, even with two toddlers in attendance. The advantages of small-town living…

  255. My wife and I voted by mail the day the ballots arrived. And a damned good thing, too. She has MS and cannot stand or walk very far. We drove by our local polling place and it was packed. The wait looks to be about an hour. If we had opted for in-person voting, I would have had to carry her!

    BTW Starbucks has an offer out today–Tell them you voted and collect a free cup of brewed coffee.

    Another reason to love America–freedom to vote and consume free caffein!

  256. I voted a week ago Friday, my wife voted last Monday. Unless I have a crisis at work today I’m going to try to go volunteer this afternoon.

  257. I voted days ago in the early voting. If I were in Chicago, I’d vote a second time and encourage all my deceased relatives to vote at least twice, too.

    I really hope Prop 8 gets trumped in California. I don’t think we’ll progress as a culture until we stop legislating morality beyond the support of Constitutional values, as laid out by our Found Fathers. I wish I could vote in that one. Nothing all that good to vote for in Texas. Many positions, especially judges, it was either vote for the candidate or just don’t vote for that position! *sigh*

    So glad to see record numbers voting for a change, though. I hope more people see how important it is, even if their candidate doesn’t win.

  260. :holds out hand for VoteDog to sniff, checks tail, then pats.

    Good Dog!

    Haven’t voted yet, Spice & I are going this afternoon around two, the traditional low point for the precinct. Went by there this morning, more crowded than the record when we elected Jesse.

  261. Voted this morning in central Illinois! I could have voted early but it’s my first presidential election for me (I was 17 in the last one and so upset I couldn’t vote yet) so I wanted to vote today. I was pleased that the line wasn’t long at all although that’s not that surprising considering I went a little before 10am avoiding the people trying to vote before work.

  262. Walked about nine blocks on this lovely day in Cicero,IL to our polling place. No line to get in at 10:30, but the electronic booths were busy so we took paper ballots. We has I Voted! stickers. Yea!

  263. I voted, yo! I got up at 6:30 a.m. to be there when the polls opened (about a block away); and when I arrived, there were already 50-60 people there ahead of me — despite driving rain and chilly temps.

    Got my sticker, and everything.

  264. The ballots showed up in the mail two weeks ago. My wife and I sat on the bed, carefully marked everything (straight Dem except for Sam Reed), did all the signing and envelope sealing, and I drove them straight to the post office. Rar, mail-in voting!

  265. Voted with my daughter this AM in Philadelphia. Got in line at 6:50, polls opened at 7, I signed in as voter #60 just before 8. Our precinct is traditionally enthusiastic, but I don’t think I’d ever seen a line that long before opening time.

    We’re starting to get some scattered rain-spitting, which I’m hoping doesn’t depress turnout later in the day. If enough folks in places like Philly vote, that should prevent McCain from flipping the state as he’d hoped.

  269. I took advantage of early voting last week here in TX.

    Of course it was a straight Democratic ticket on an electronic machine with no paper confirmation here in W’s home state, so who knows if it went anywhere.

    /cynic

    Yay! I participated!

  270. I voted at 9:30. Turnout was very strong, but it only took ten minutes. We’re having a beautiful day here in Minneapolis, with temps in the 60s. Good weather will certainly make more people turn out. We’re hoping for a record turnout of registered voters.

  273. Voted this morning in sunny SoCal. Process took 30 minutes total. One thing I noticed while in line — most of the people had very crabby looks on their faces, so much more so than usual that it made me chuckle. A very serious crowd. Maybe they just needed coffee.

  275. Got to the polls at 9:50 a.m. Left the parking lot at 11:05 a.m. When I left the line was five times longer than when I arrived.

    I live in a college town in Indiana. My precinct is one of the “campus” precincts, encompassing two of the largest dorms. The poll worker told me that there had been more under-25 voters than over-25 voters. My line was predominately college age. I couldn’t bring myself to believe that the students would actually show. But they did. In larger numbers than I could have imagined.

    I never thought I would see lines at the polls in my lifetime. It was one of the most beautiful sights I’ve ever witnessed.

  280. Hoboken, NJ, Ward 4, District 3. Voted around 7:30. The huge line that made my heart sink at first was for the other district that votes in that space, where they’ve built huge apartment complexes since the last redistricting. Mine was short.

    I realize that it’s not in any way required, and no one should feel obliged to follow suit, but I voted Obama, Lautenberg, skip, skip, Yes, Yes. Skips were a) an unimpressive Dem Congressman who’s going to win anyway, and b) a local Dem who is i) running unopposed and ii) a jerk.

    Questions were a good (but boring) bond issue and one that would allow (not require, just allow) the Legislature to consider possibly at some point in the future modifying the system of appointing judges in the state. Since the current one gives the Congressman for the district veto power over judicial appointments (!) I thought that was worth voting for.

  281. I voted! It was fast and easy! Then I picked up bubbly red wine and the makings for guacamole for a watch-the-election-returns party.

  284. Took 15 minutes for my wife and myself to vote at 10 (got back from the Manassas Obama rally at 4am, so we slept in) this morning in Richmond, VA.

  285. I voted.

    Long lines, many first-time voters.

    On my way back home, a driver stopped me and asked directions to the polling place, which, of course, I gave him — so I figure I should get extra credit for helping him vote, too.

  286. I voted for McCain last week in my humble, rural Ohio county. My wife voted this morning. Didn’t want you to think that your appeal was limited to the left side of the spectrum.

  287. Vote GET! No lines at 11:00ish at the Hudson, Ohio, library.

    Kim voted early last week, and had to wait somewhat longer. She was very encouraged to see many of what appeared to be first-time voters there.

  289. My precinct votes up at the local elementary school. At 7:15 people were parking on the street most of the three blocks to my house, so I waited for the initial rush to clear and walked up. Wow. 2-3 times more voting and check-in stations, three same day registration lines, two (!!) handicapped system.
    It’s wonderful to see this level of turnout. We all win.

  290. Voted in Grand Rapids, MI. #456 in the precinct, although apparently 700+ already voted absentee. Took about 20 minutes.

  291. I voted, yay me. It was busy but no lines at all, while all the early voters I’ve talked to had to wait an hour. Ha!

  292. I voted midmorning. I wanted to avoid the pre-work crowds and the lunch rush. I calculated correctly. I walked into the Edmund Burke School (DC, Ward 3) at 11am and was out by 11:07am. The polling place was well staffed and well organized and not particularly crowded.

  293. Voted on my way into work this morning (a little earlier than usual.) Given my voter number, I’d say turn out is running 30-40% higher than normal. I actually had to wait to use the voting machine (got to love still being able to use good old-fashioned lever voting machines.) Left a line of three other voters behind me waiting to use the same machine, which has never happened before. Lots of lines at the other machines, as well, which is not a typical thing, either.

  294. I voted two weeks ago here in Iowa. I’ve never felt happier turning in my ballot then I did that day.

    I’m also really excited that my state is likely to go from red to blue. :)

  295. Sure did. Permanent mail-in ballot voter here in Seattle; filled it out in dry and warm comfort with reference materials surrounding me on Sunday – love that compared to the hustle and bustle of my prior home states of Mass. and Minn. My hubby who works at home takes to the polling place for me. Rainy day here again – snow in the passes but from my fellow Satellite’s comment above, its not deterring in-person voters. Go Obama!!

  296. Yeah voting! Two weeks ago, we all voted by mail… myself, my spouse, and my 19 year old son cast his ballot for the first time.

  297. I voted. Cambridge, MA, precinct 2, ward 1, vote #411. I got in line at 9:30 this morning, and it took 40 minutes to
    get through the whole process.

  298. I voted a few days ago from the comfort of my office chair. I took my time and perused the voter’s pamphlet online. Then I turned in my ballot yesterday at one of the convenient ballot drops that’s a few minutes walk from where I work.

    God, I love Oregon.

  299. I looked up the list of Virginia representatives and senators who voted in favor of the bail-out, then went to vote and voted for their opposition. I also voted my conscience for President and rejected both of the conventional socialist candidates in favor of true liberty.

    If you’re interested, check here:

    http://www.campaignforliberty.com/

    The lists are by state.

  300. Voted! Polls opened at 7 am, I got in at 7:05 and the room and parking lot was full.

    WIn or lose (and I hope my side win), that was DAMN good to see.

  302. I voted 4 weeks ago (vote by mail). It didn’t reduce the stress induced by the election as much as I had hoped.

    I’ll be glad when this is over.

    Sorry if this is a dupe. I got a weird error message the first time.

  303. I voted in Seattle this morning. No lines, but the polling place was more crowded than I’d ever seen it; usually the poll workers far outnumber the voters. Putting my ballot in the box was pretty emotional; in addition to what’s at stake, this is the last time I’ll go to a polling place to vote. King County is going to go all-mail after this. They were going to do it before this election but couldn’t get it together. I’ve always really liked going to vote, so I’m glad I got to do it this one last time.

  304. My husband and I voted this morning at a tiny firehouse in rural PA–no lines! Poll workers said that they’ve had a steady stream of voters and the electronic voting machines have worked without a glitch. My mom voted this morning, too, in Louisiana.

  307. I did my part to help turn North Carolina blue when the polls opened this morning, then came back home so my wife could do the same. It’s *so* nice to be excited about a presidential candidate for a change.

  310. My adorable husband and I rolled out of bed in Los Angeles at 0630, walked down to the polling place with neighbor Linda and her two dogs at 730, waited in line for 90 minutes, had a little back-and-forth about my recent name change, and voted.

    A young African-American woman came out of the polling place while I was still in line, threw her head back, and emitted a “WOO HOO!” that could’ve been heard clear to the Hollywood sign. That’s what I like to see.

    Also, a friend of mine’s mother voted for the first time today. Big ups to them! To everyone else, *stay in line* and make sure you call out any irregularities you spot.

  311. Jim, Leslie and I voted just after 8am after waiting a little more than a half hour. Three Obama votes from rural PA! Something like 200 had been through the polls by then.

  312. Yeah I voted. And being from the Chicago area, I hope to vote at least two or three more times today!

  313. I live in a very rural township near Ann Arbor, Michigan and I voted this morning, along with my elder son (his first election!) and my husband.

    The line took over an hour to get through. The election workers said that they had over twice as many voters than at the same time of day from any previous election any of them can remember. They are expecting an all time record turnout for my district!

    We have those ballots where you fill in the dots (like taking an SAT test), and there were plenty of little booths for people to use to vote.

    The line actually moved very quickly for the sheer number of people who had turned out this morning.

    Luckily, the weather was perfect! Sunny and seventy!

  314. Voted on my way home from class, around 11:30. Fairly busy for the time, but otherwise not bad. I was in and out in under 10 minutes.

  315. I got to the polls at 7:05 to find a line down the block. It took almost 2 hours to get to the head of the line and finally get to vote.

    John, your post about Prop 8 made me cry. I’ve never given to a political campaign or a ballot issue, but I gave to No on 8. I hope it goes down in flames.

  316. Voted here in Greenburgh, NY. I expect Sen. Obama to get 70% here, but 80%+ is possible. At school my 6 1/2 year old found out that Sen. Obama loves Harri Potter and he had no clue about the name of the other candidate, so…

    This being said, I hope the Republican Party gets the whipping it deserves, Sen. Obama wins in a landslide and we get 60 Democratic Senators and a bunch of Supreme Court judges

    The only excitement is the local State Sen. race which last time has been decided by 50 votes or so out of 10-20k.

  320. I voted two weeks ago. My husband tells me my vote means nothing because it was on a machine. He waited two hours to vote this past Sunday–on paper.

  322. I voted, NY 22nd ED.

    I didn’t vote for every category, though. I refuse to vote for anyone running uncontested, such as most judges (Yeah, ‘Pick Three’ when there are only three people running. I think not.) I also found a few strange ones, such as people who are on the Democratic, Liberal and Conservative tickets, but their opponent is on the Republican one. Odd, I thought. So I voted for the person who was only on one ticket. Kind of felt bad for them, I suppose.

    If you are in NY, please vote YES on the state proposition to make it easier for disabled vets to use their extra 5 point hiring preference for civil service jobs.

  324. I did the early voting thing and my ballot was received and counted, so… nothing left to do but bite my nails and try to distract myself.

  327. Not only did I vote, I stood outside with Obama signs at our local polling place from 8-10:30, then again 11:45-1:15. May go out again. And this with a bad back and a new (relatively) knee.

    Jane

  328. I knew I was going to be out of town today so went before I left on my trip two weeks ago. Bright blue dot in a big red state I am :)

  329. Just voted with my wife at 1:00, here in Chesterfield, Virginia. No real lines, waited only 5 minutes or so. Back home by 1:25. I was voter number 1861. This is McCain territory, but I voted for Obama and Mark Warner for Senator. Very encouraging to see great turnout all over America!

  331. My 19 year old son and I went down to our local polling place, which happens to be a school for special needs children, which works well for me since it means there are lots of handicapped spaces.

    There was a line that stretched down the hallway, filled with all kinds of people, mostly happy. We were lucky enough to stand next to a little girl who has lots of My Little Ponies and wanted to discuss them.

    Meanwhile we watched the voters coming out, often with huge grins on their faces. My favorite was a tall, elegant young black man with a tiny, elegant, old black woman on his arm. She took little shuffling steps that were clearly an effort and beamed and beamed and beamed.

    My son voted, then after signing something saying he wasn’t coercing me and I really did need help voting, my son and I went into the booth and cast my vote. Yes for Obama and no for question two. I’m in Maryland and that’s the constitutional amendment to allow slots. I voted yes for early voting and the other voting changes, no on a couple of weird initiatives for my county and then we left.

    There was still a long line as we walked out, which made me happy. I like that so many are voting and willing to wait.

  332. I voted in the middle of the day today, at a school in the Bradford neighborhood (yes) of Haverhill, Massachusetts.

    I voted for all the Democrats, no on question 1 (poorly thought out scheme to abolish the state income tax), yes on 2 (decriminalize pot) and yes on 3 (ban dog racing). I was a little conflicted about the local ballot question 4, a nonbinding instruction to the state legislators to vote for property tax relief from the state rainy-day fund; ultimately voted no but could see both sides of this.

    It was more or less as usual: no lines worth speaking of, not many people there, though I imagine there were bigger crowds earlier this morning. There were a few people with picket signs right outside the limit, promoting candidates for the state legislature.

    A house near the polling place had a big McCain/Palin display out, with a yard sign surrounded by cute scarecrows holding a sign that said FAMILY FOR McCAIN. Inside, I overheard some people chatting before they went into the little cubbyholes to fill out their optical-scan ballots, hunting for the Obama line on the ballot; there were a lot of presidential candidates listed in alphabetical order.

  333. I voted like… almost two weeks ago… geez.

    Yay for vote by mail! Now I can sit at home, write a couple chapters and refresh CNN obsessively.

  334. I voted at about 8:30 this morning. Very short line but I was #170 in the G-L group. I have little hope my state will go blue but I did my part.

  337. dear sir,

    yes I voted this morning. Thank you for asking.
    “Judge not by the color of their skin, but the content of their character”.

    Mark, American Citizen.

    I would like to take this opportunity to thank the 54th Mass. Infantry, John Adams, Lincoln, Frank Capra, F.D.R, Pete Seger, Bruce Springsteen, Eisenhower, John Steinbeck, and Martin Luther king Jr..

    Thank You All.

  338. Looks like Scalzi’s gonna get his nad kicking done in a day or so, with turnout so high. I was really hoping for 6 months of postings from the road.

    Example:
    Week 4 in New York:
    I finally made it out of the borough of Manhattan. I had to kick lefty today due to an unfortunate fungal growth on my right big toe. I knew I shouldn’t have kicked that banker without putting socks on first. Now on to Brooklyn.

  344. I voted around midday today. No line to speak of (only one other person voting when I went in), and it only took fifteen minutes to walk to my polling location, vote, and walk back home. I expect they’ll get busier again once people start getting home from work/school.

  345. Grand Rapids, MI. I voted for Obama at 7:00 this morning (#32 in my precinct).

    I also voted Yes to expand stem cell research, and Yes to legalize medical marijuana.

  346. Voted in S Central PA in the late morning. My polling place had an hour-plus line when I walked by it at 6:45 AM with the dogs, and I still waited for over an hour and a half when I stopped to vote at noon. The election workers indicated that they had a record turnout for that polling location by that time, and we haven’t even hit the people going out to vote after work.

  347. We dropped off mail-in ballots last week. Wearing our “I voted” stickers today, though!

  349. Voting accomplished! Minor wait, though not much, and an emphatic NO ON 8 made me feel good.

  351. Checking in from AZ.

    Got to the site at 7:15.
    Was on my way out by 8:30, doing my In-your-face-McCain happy dance.
    Woot the Irish! Go O’Bama!
    [It’s an honorary thing :)]

  352. Voted on an e-slate machine.. can’t say I trust them but it’s the only option. Took about an hour start-to-finish but that’s because there were so probably 100 people in line and 6 machines.

  355. I am leaving the office now to meet my girlfriend and head to our polling place in the Atlanta area.

  356. I was so determined to be eligible to vote in this election after living in the US for 5 years, that I became a citizen last October and voted for the first time today.

  357. I voted this morning at 6:30 when the polls opened in Ohio. There were about 50 people in line waiting for the doors to open (I was still in and out in 30 minutes). That’s the most I’ve ever seen that early. When I was student teaching in ’04 I had to vote after school. That was definitely more crowded. I can only imagine the madness after working hours today.

  359. We got to our poll at 6.10 this morning and found a dozen people had beaten us. Another sixty showed up before 7, and then everyone cheered when the official opened things up.

    Here’s hoping Prop 8 is overwhelmingly, crushingly, completely defeated, with a side order of Hope.

  360. We voted early at the mall a few weekends ago here in The OC. A perfect slice of American life: vote for Obama for president, vote No on California Prop 8, and vote to dethrone conservative Republican Congressman Dana Rohrabacher. Then, spend $80 for cat food and litter at the Target next to the polling station.

  362. I voted on the first day of early voting in North Carolina. Cast my die, crossed that Rubicon, burned those ships in the harbor, etc., etc., etc….

  365. Wife and I both voted early, in Knoxville TN, for Bob Barr. Neither Option D. nor Option R. represented my interests or desire for smaller, less intrusive government, so it’s a protest vote. Here’ hoping someone gets the message.

    KsR

  367. I voted early, but went to my polling place ten minutes before voting began. It’s in Nashville, and everyone knows the state is going to McCain, but folks turned out anyway. There are a couple pictures via the link.

  372. The girlfriend and I voted before work in beautiful Bloomsburg, PA.

    And now I’m at work, girding myself for a late night of election coverage (I work at a newspaper).

  373. Voted. 549th person in my area. Washington is going to mail in voting next year and it makes me sad. I like the idea of going to a community place, seeing my fellow citizens and casting my vote. I understand the attraction of absentee and mail-in systems, but I’m missing the feeling of many people in the nation actually casting a vote all on one day. It just seems such a small thing to go spend a few minutes voting each year and to spread it out over time and make it so off-the-cuff… ah well, anyway… I voted.

  374. Has voted …

    Thank you, thank you …

    Thank you very much …

    No, please, thank YOU!!!

  375. Ari B.: What sort of questions did they ask?

    Mainly about turnout and standing in line. The very lovely reporter (what an accent!) asked me how long I was prepared to stand in line. “As long as it takes,” I replied. “I told my boss that I would be late if necessary.” That seemed to make her happy.

    She also interviewed one of my neighbors and she kept trying to get him to say who he was planning to vote for. He fended her off very nicely, even though they both were pulling for Obama. Yes, she mentioned his name in one of her questions.

  376. Voted on my way into work this morning. In and out of the polling place within 10 minutes… followed by an hour of nagging doubt about whether I filled in the scantron bubbles correctly…

  377. I voted this morning and my wife voted this afternoon. For all parties involved, we probably cancelled each other out on the presidential level.

    :)

  378. voted this at in Norwood OH. Got to poll at 6:30, when they open and there was a line already. Was finished voting by about 7:30. Most of wait seemed to be due to poll workers not being able to understand the concept of breaking the crowd in two lines based on alphabetical order. They also took forever to tear the ballots off the pad. At least they didn’t go out for a quick smoke before voting started, and lock themselves out of the building the way the poll workers in the same precinct did two elections ago.

    We had two page paper ballot with stuff on both sides of both pages. The pages were large around 11 x 17 and we color in boxes next to our choice. It feels like you are voting on the kids activity menu from some family friendly restaurant.

    Anyone want to bet on Hamilton County being the last in the nation with voting results?

  379. In Central PA at 11 am I was number 526 to vote. In 2006, I was number 178 at 4 pm. 2004, around 425 at that same time. This is shaping up to be a VERY high turnout.

    Meanwhile, over 1000 Penn State students were in line BEFORE the polls opened at one precinct downtown.

    And in a pleasant surprise, my county has completed the change back to paper scan ballots since last fall. No more Dieboltian vote swallowers here.

  380. Voted in St Peters, MO at about 12:30. One person in line ahead of me :)

    The counter on the ballot box showed I was the 1523rd person to vote at that location.

    I was a bit surprised that there weren’t any campaign workers there. Walking into the polling place often feels a bit like running a gauntlet, but not today.

  381. My wife and I sat down in the middle of our gaming time last night and went over our ballots; she informs me that she dropped them off at the collected place earlier this morning. I love the fact that Washington is moving more and more to vote-by-mail; it feel that it gives you time to sit, discuss, reflect, and vote more intelligently. The latest refinement is that they now have local collection points (any precinct) to help speed the counting process up.

    I’m both awed by how motivated people are to go vote and dismayed by how many people are voting for the first time. I’m also seeing a small but significant (and growing) number of people who seem to think that this one election is going to fix everything. Is anyone else seeing that?

  382. Voted, as did my girl-child. Two votes for hope. Unfortunately, we’re in Texas so it probably won’t matter.

  384. I voted at 6am, when the polls opened; I had to wait behind 20 other people already there. While waiting, we played an amusing game of musical chairs as we all skooched over from one chair to the next up the line as people stood up to vote. There were three portable, computerized voting machines at my polling place.

    Go Mike Pence!

  386. I cast my very first vote on Halloween. Which is also, incidentally, the date of my parent’s anniversary (25 years) and my champion’s birthday (it’s complicated). There is going to be a whole lot to celebrate come next All Hallows.

  387. Went and voted in the early afternoon, as did most of my household here in Lansing, MI. The elementary school behind my house that serves at our polling station was *packed*, and our street has been lined all day with the cars of those going to vote.

  389. I voted by mail in California, made sure to get it in the mail in plenty of time so that it would reach it’s final destination in time to be counted. Now I’m trying not to be a political junky crack ho.

  390. Voted. Gave myself 3 hours before I needed to be at work, but wouldn’t you know it, the line only had about half a dozen people in it at 11 AM in Richmond VA. I was in and out in 15 mins.

    One weird note–the Constitution party is on our ballots as “Independent Green Party”, right above the ACTUAL Green Party, who are listed as “Green Party”. I was voting Democrat anyway, so it wasn’t the least bit confusing for me, but I did find it strange and noteworthy.

  392. Wife and I just voted and had my 6mo old daughter strapped to my back. Never too early to start voting! (well…18 legally, but to start “learning” to vote)

  396. Oh, I forgot to mention this earlier, but I’ve quietly but proudly been wearing my “I Voted” sticker all day today.

  397. Voted in Bethesda MD at 3 pm. There were only two other people there at that time, so it took me all of 6 minutes. I’ve never seen it so quiet, but before today I only went when the polls opened (7 am). I took my 5 year-old daughter, who announced to all-and-sundry “We voted for Obama” as we were leaving. I was highly amused.

  399. I voted! My penis is safe for another election cycle.

    My wife and I took our daughters with us, as always, because this is behaviour they need to emulate. And because they get to play on the equipment at the school where we vote, which is so much cooler than the equipment at the school they attend.

    We went at 3:15pm, and there were only a handful of people there at our polling place in warm, sunny Wisconsin – but I was voter number 942, according to the tabulating machine, and that’s about double where it usually is on election day.

    Go, voters!

  400. Voted by mail a week ago, in Sequim Washington. Obama for prez, Gregoire for guv, yes on “death with dignity.” Partying tonight with the local Dems.

  402. Got there about three, about a half-dozen in front of us. Sign in, get ballot, and we’ve got the same ten voting stations and the auto-mark, and six huge dining tables with six chairs each! All of the stations are full, so I waited a couple of minutes, voted, slid the ballot into the optical counter, collected my “I Voted” sticker, and out to join Spice; we pulled out of the parking lot about fifteen minutes after we got there. So far, there were ~1100 of the 1734 registered (Minnesota has same day registration); “not quite as busy as when Jesse ran, but steadier, so we might hit over 80% again.”

    Voting >> Shooting.

  403. I had voting dreams/nightmares last night. For some reason my identity was in question and I couldn’t prove I was me, even with legal ID. Strange…

    Once the dreams were over I ended up waking way before the alarm went off. The kids in our school district had the day off today so as I headed out the door to vote I had my book and instructed my 12 year old to get started on her chores if I wasn’t back in an hour- no waiting until I got home. I walked into the polling place, had to show 2 forms of ID (? since when is a US passport not good enough?) and was back home in under 15 minutes. Surprised the heck out of my kid, she didn’t think she’d see me for hours.

    It feels really good to have voted. And yes, since I am in a suburb of Chicago I do find myself fighting the urge to vote another 2-3 times.

  404. Voted. Paper ballots with filll-in the bubble and a machine to count and swallow them. Four or five people in line, in and out in ten minutes. Number 127 for the day.

    Trouble deciding between the cranky maverick and the suave extremist. Won’t really matter because Texas is strongly red. Hold nose and vote, hope for the best– hope Obama is as moderate as he claims rather than as extreme as his voting record.

    Either way, wish the winner all the luck in the world, because we all are going to need it.

  408. Voted. Nice speech on 8. I voted yes though. Marriage per se is not a right. Rights come with marriage and in California “domestic partners” have the same rights as married couples. See California Family Code 297 and 297.5. Why call people bigots though?

  410. Voted at 10:30 this morning with my family, during a long, miserable day that included two (non-emergency) trips to the hospital. I usually vote in low-turnout moments, when the polling place is relatively deserted–not this time. There was a line for the touch-screen ballots only, but there voters at every precinct table. I honestly can’t remember seeing the place that crowded before, and I’ve been voting in the same place for, well, decades.

  411. Voting report:

    I got to my polling place (an elementary school in Hawai’i) @ 10:40am. The parking lot was full, but I only had to circle once to find a spot. The voter rolls appear to have ~3,000 people in my precinct (a rough guess based on 4-column printouts with ~35 names per column and 20+ pages). I got inside and had no wait at all to get my ballot or to find an empty privacy booth.

    There was only one scanning machine for the entire room, so there was a line of voters waiting to get their completed ballots scanned. I probably waited about 12-15 minutes to get that done, but it was no hardship. Two or three of us chatted away while waiting, and then I was done.

    Photos here.

  412. Voted at 10:45 this morning, no line at all. Also, my polling place was at the state school for the deaf and blind, which I had never been inside, so that was cool too.

  413. Voted this morning at our little low-traffic polling place. I went in prepared, and it took no time at all. As is my habit, I asked the poll worker for two of the “I Voted” stickers.

    He looked at me, and asked, “Why two?”

    “I’m from Chicago,” I said, to which he replied, “Ah, right; vote early, vote often.”

  414. Todd@407; bigotry is treating people differently based on some perceived difference. If you’re straight and you can marry, why shouldn’t someone gay be able to marry? Why is it the business of the state to set up rules like this at all? Seems unconstitutional, right from the jump, to me.

  415. The library in SE Florida where I work is a polling place. Since I am one of those annoying “morning people”, I volunteered to be the person who was on hand at 5 a.m. to open up the building for the poll workers. When I arrived at 4:55, there was already one person waiting to vote. By 5:20, there were half a dozen people in line. And it just went on from there. Everyone patient, everyone pleasant, and the pollworkers doing their very best to make sure the voting went as smoothly as possible. As soon as I got off work, I drove to my own precinct and waited 45 minutes to cast my ballot. Yes, I’ve voted–so please tell Kodi she can’t eat me. :)

  416. Dragged by flu-racked body out to vote this morning. The polling place was for 2 precincts, but no lines – just a nice flow – one person would finish up and leave, another person would walk in. Voted for Obama and no on 8 and am now trying not to obsess over what happens…failing and flailing miserably.

  417. I voted around 5:15pm in Hoboken, NJ. There was a longish line in one district (with mostly yuppie voters), but a short line in mine (more voters from the projects – I assume they were more likely to come midday).

    My husband said that when he went by at 7am, the line in the yuppie district was across the room, out the door, and around the building to the other side. He decided to come back later, figuring our district was busy too. He voted at 5pm with no problems.

    Go Obama!

  418. We voted. It took about an hour– we arrived at the poll at about 3:10 PM (I had to be at work before the polls opened). Line was out into the parking lot, but moved well. Voting is efficient here in Minnesota!

    Glad we weren’t any later, though…when we left, the line was fully across the parking lot, and the forecast was even longer!

  419. I voted by absentee ballot in California 2 weeks ago. I think McCain would be horrible and Obama worse. Thankfully there was a line for a write-in vote.

    Nonetheless I am still proud to have cast my vote and PROUD to be an American Citizen.

    The American Dream is not dead. Remember those of us who are old enough to remember, as kids, what our parents and our teachers brought us up to believe that America was the greatest country ever, that American’s as a people are the greatest of all time.

    Tomorrow I’ll wake up sober and think, “Did we actually elect that guy?”

    For now at least, i love all of you who took the time and duty to vote.

  420. Voted around 11:30 this morning and waited a whopping 5 minutes before I had my ballot in hand. I was #222 to put my ballot through the machine (one of two). Not sure how many people are in my precinct, but I have a feeling my (mostly red) county isn’t really going to have great turnout.

    Florida for Obama!
    No on two!

  421. Our polling place is in a church hall, and the women of the congregation kindly provide cookies every year. I would like to publicly thank them for making voting cool to my daughter and the other children of the community.

    Voted a little after 4:00 in Lincoln, NE. It was the first time I’ve had to wait in line to sign in (a few minutes), though once in the past the little shielded stands (“booths” seems a bit grand) were all occupied. Happily, we use the charmingly primitive method where you fill in an oval with a pencil, so you can just sit on a chair or lean against the wall if you’re comfortable with that. And the mounds of eraser crud give away any large-scale ballot tampering.

  423. 5:15pm Central Time.
    I was there for about 30 minutes. It actually took me longer to work down the ballot using the list of who I wanted to vote for than it took to stand in line.

    McCain my win Texas, but I hope that Obama gets enough to make the country realize that we aren’t ALL crazy fundies down here. :-)

  424. Voted today at 3:45 here in Colorado. I was so happy to see my daughter also vote. It was her first Presidential election.

  425. Voted. The line was terrible. There must have been two, maybe even three people in front of me. The horror . . .

    Tonight, I believe I’ll treat myself to an evening of watching election returns.

    America rocks!

  426. I voted! I am 18 and I have been eagerly waiting to vote since about the age of 8! Luckily my parents took me with them every year when they went to vote, so it was very cool to be able to actually vote this year.

  427. Nice speech on 8. I voted yes though. Marriage per se is not a right. Rights come with marriage and in California “domestic partners” have the same rights as married couples. See California Family Code 297 and 297.5. Why call people bigots though?

    I thought we established in 1954 that “Separate But Equal” is not equal.

    Rest assured, in another fifty years, people will look at those who opposed gay marriage in the same light as we view those who opposed interracial marriage half a century ago.

  430. I voted. It was moderately crowded at midday in my Seattle neighborhood. The poll-worker wasn’t sure how the audio on the machine was supposed to work, so my first ballot attempt was cancelled. While completing the ballot that he finally made talk, I had to ask nearby pollworkers to keep it down so I could hear the audio which was of inconsistent quality.

    I would have liked the process to go more smoothly, but this was the first presidential election in which I was able to cast my vote independently.

  433. I voted this afternoon (~4:45 EST), because I wanted to see what kind of lines we had. In my precint, no line to sign in, 4 people in front of me waiting for a booth. According to the electronic machine that you feed the scantron sheets into, I was voter 269 (I’m usually in the low 200’s). Only one precint of the six in my location had a line – I think it’s the one that handles the provisional ballots.

    My husband voted last Friday on his lunch break, and had about a 45 minute wait at the Board of Elections.

    My parents voted by absentee ballot last month because there is almost no parking at their polling place, and they didn’t want to deal with the hassle.

    My brother in Colorado was voter 20 in his precint, and most of the names on his sign in sheet were marked as having gotten an absentee ballot. (On my page, there was one person marked as absentee, and two or three unsigned.)

  434. Dang skippy I voted. It’s fun listening to the folks on MSNBC dancing around trying not to call it for Obama already (6 PM Central). “If Indiana is too close to call at poll close… that doesn’t sound good for the Republicans.”

  435. I voted this evening in New Haven, CT at about 6pm. I waited for a little over an hour, which is a little over an hour more than I’ve ever had to wait at my polling place before. The line was well out the door and down the block but spirits were high – unsurprising given the local demographics – and everyone waited patiently. The line was no shorter when I left.

  437. I voted. Line fairly short. Our town usually has a turnout in the high 80% plus for presidential elections, predictions are it could be 95% plus for this one.

  438. I Voted. I voted for Obama which for me is country first. I took my 13 year old niece with me since her parents don’t vote, so she can experience the voting process.

  442. I voted last Thursday and spent today at the local Teamsters hall keeping volunteers fed & happy. I also got to make a couple of runs bringing absentee ballots to people who couldn’t get to the polls themselves. Feel good. And tired.

  444. I voted, as did my husband and our housemate. I know my sister did and the one eligible nephew did. I’m positive my 4 brothers have, they always do.

  446. I voted… in the primary, at 7:30 I was the 4th voter.
    This time, I got there at 6:30 and was the 4th voter, and by the time I left, there were 100+ in line…

    Go Democracy…

  447. Put my absentee ballot in the ballot drop box this afternoon, and got my “I voted” sticker. I think that’s only the second sticker I’ve ever gotten, in, um, nearly four decades of voting.

  448. I voted this afternoon, just before lunch, with my mom and my younger brother. (It was my brother’s first presidential election! Mind you, he’s voted for everything else, even the school board, but he was pretty excited.) My dad voted at 6:15am and was already number 25 at our usually empty polling place. I didn’t wait on line, really–there was only one guy ahead of my mom, and I voted right after her–but almost everyone in the area commutes to work, so they vote in the morning or evening.

    I wish we got stickers. I’ve never gotten a sticker. But at least we still have our wonderful, clunky lever machines.

  449. Voted! Morrisville, VT… we voted a while ago. I like seeing that VT has gone to Obama with no returns in yet (according to NPR)…

  450. I voted. I actually brought a book because I thought there would be a huge line, but there wasn’t at my polling station…it was weird.

    Anywho!

  453. I voted absentee two weeks ago here in California. For the record the two most important votes I cast were for Obama and for No on 8.

  454. I voted at about 2:00 CST – no lines, but all the booths were occupied. Three-quarters of the names on my page of the sign-in book had already been signed. Minnesota usually has a very high turnout, but I’m thinking it will be even bigger than expected.

  456. I voted on Thursday, early. Drove over an hour to Norwalk (in L.A.). Voted yes on Obama, no on 8, no on 4, yes on 5 (reducing drug penalties.) And today I called people on Obama’s behalf for 3.5 hours. I wanted to do more, but I was burnt.

  457. Voted at about 5pm. Nobody in line, except the woman I held the door for, although all four booths were filled and three of us were at the extra table (optical scan sheets). When I fed in my sheets, I was voter #388 in my Village. When I left the line was out the door (about 20 people).

    Made sure all the pole workers had everything they needed, and they had access to all the areas in the building they needed (our firehall). Everybody was very polite, even though I know two of the poll workers are the exact opposite of my politics (and they know mine).

  458. Voted right around 5 PM, here in LA, where apparently 43% of us had already cast ballots as of 1 PM today. This astounds me. Based on a glance at my precinct’s Big Book O’Voters, though, way LESS than 43% of my precinct has voted. I am ashamed of us. *hangs head*

  460. I voted after work here in Sacramento, CA. I was worried about a long line and brought a book, but managed to make it there during a lull. There were lots of people in the room voting but I didn’t have to wait more than a minute or two. The line started building up right behind me and was pretty long by the time I finished. The poll workers said it was busy this morning and most of the day with a few slow times. No matter what, I am happy to see so many people out voting. Apathy sucks, I see enough of it in my students.

  463. I voted — after going to the wrong polling place. My former address is right across the street from an elementary school that is a polling place. So of course my polling place was at the library about a mile away.

    Now I live right around the corner from the library, and now my polling place is — the elementary school. Go figure…

  466. Voted no, voted often, and voted tonight. Sorted!

    Polling worker opined that while the morning traffic had been heavy and foreshadowed still more busy times to come, the current rate (at ~17:40) was surprisingly just right: would-be voters were arriving in a steady stream at a rate just below the need to form queues.

    Chris, proud owner of stub 134 E/S PCT 2408 702503 [1]
    ____
    [1] Yes, the county in which everything gets electronicised has reinstated the paper ballot. The sanity which this decision reaffirms[2] has me at a loss for words.

    [2] Diebold, if you’re reading this: bite me. P-t-t-th-b-b-p!

  468. I voted this afternoon. I did the electronic balot, which made me a little wary, but there’s a paper trail with the machines used in my district, so I feel ok about it.

  469. Just voted in Los Angeles, California with my mother and father. We may have slightly different political views, but the act of voting in such an important and historic election cast all that aside. And I did unexpectedly get chills when I voted for Obama; the significance of that vote will stay with me the rest of my days.

  470. I voted in Oregon. We have mail in ballots but as per my tradition I waited till the final day and dropped mine in the ballot box. There is just something satisfying about doing that rather than mailing it in.

    Oh, and Ohio? I’m proud of you! Thank you, Ohio!

  472. I voted by mail ballot here in Las Vegas, Nevada a couple weeks ago. I did so to avoid the possibility of me not being able to vote during early voting or on Election Day, which is what happened to me in 2000 when I was hospitalized.

  473. Voted this a.m. No line at all at our polling place, one of the perks of living in the boondocks. My husband and I walked in, showed ID and were given ballots. Voted, dropped ballet in box. Total time about 5 minutes. Geoff laughed and claims he had to stand in line… behind me!

  474. I voted by absentee ballot earlier this week, and am really happy I did. Being in college, it was really easy to almost miss the deadline, but I just made it, and I’m really happy I did.

  477. I’m pleased to say that I convinced my nephew back in Illinois that his vote did, in fact, matter. This is the first election that he’s old enough to vote in and he’s done his patriotic duty and voted.
    Yea!

  478. Well, we were both sick as dogs, but my wife and I managed to vote. Our state went against us, and put their own anti-gay marriage amendment into effect, damn it, but we at least helped a number of other candidates.

WHATEVER


Taunting the tauntable since 1998
John Scalzi, proprietor – JS
Athena Scalzi, editor – AMS
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