A bit past 8 this morning, Thom and I arrived at the polling place (Carver Center on South Queen Street, which serves Arlington’s 38th Precinct), and we didn’t get out of there until after 10 a.m. Whew. There was quite a line, and for most of our wait, only three of the five touch-screen voting machines had been working; they got the rest up and running by the time we were near the front of the line. Well, I’ve cast my ballot. Have you? Go vote!
I will be spending the rest of the day at home. I woke up with a sore throat, which I thought would just disappear, but while I was in line waiting to vote, I began to feel worse: sluggish, achy, and so forth. So I’m back at home to rest. Tempted as I am to keep myself glued to the TV or the internet all day, for now I will resist and instead comfort myself with chicken soup and a nap.
[Addendum (3 Nov.): And now for a frivolous aside, just because I can’t bear to read actual news today: a few days ago I ordered two pairs of pants from the Gap, and have been tracking the package on the UPS website. Monday and yesterday, the package made its way through a couple of swing states, Ohio and Pennsylvania. Was it doing some last-minute campaigning?]
7 replies on “I voted”
I hope you feel better soon. And yes, I’ve voted.
I’ve voted! I hope you feel better. Glad you’re getting some rest.
Ack! Hope you feel better soon–make sure to get lots of rest, fluid, etc….and have lots of chocolate nearby (not exactly evidence-based medicine, but it makes me feel better!)
And congratulations on the official moving in! 🙂
clock the vote
This morning, Jeff and I cast our votes, his first as a resident of the Commonwealth of Virginia. We waited on line a little over two hours to do so. I was musing at one point with the guy behind…
Did you have any problems due to your recent move? I’d love to hear about voting via touchscreens…here in NYC, we still have the ancient black booths with levers.
Congratulations on your persistence! Democracy is worth a bit of effort.
A crazy result of how the world is today is that I’m more worried about the conduct and results of the USA elections that I was about the elections in my own country (Australia, even though the ‘wrong’ party won in Australia.
Amazing that you have to queue so long. It usually takes less about five minutes wait to vote in an Australian election, even though the voting system (transferable quota preferential in the Senate and full value transferable preferential in the House) is complex.
How to run a federal election:
1. register every citizen using standardised and enforced federal forms and procedures
2. have the voter rolls systematically and continuously audited by the federal elections agency
3. federally fund and administer the federal election process, using federally hired casual staff if required (I’ve been one of these!)
4. keep data on waiting times and make sure they are less than 10 minutes
5. use eye readable paper ballots in big print
6. record issue of ballot papers using computer coded voter rolls that can be automatically checked later
7. count the ballots in the polling booth immeadiately after closing and telephone the preliminary results to a central tally room in each state — in Australia this rarely takes more than two hours.
8. Cross tally the number of counted ballot papers counted with the number issued.
Result: an almost foolproof simple election. Most of Europe seems to be able to do something similar.
Good luck America!
I know what you mean about being glued to the internet/TV; that’s what I’m doing right now….and it’s not looking good for Kerry. Ugh. But, things can change in a moment’s notice, right? Take care of yourself!! Fluids, rest and Vit. C!