They had more machines than people at the polling place at 10:00 am today. When I got to the "starting gate", a volunteer said I'd have to wait, because they stopped to count votes every hour. That's something new, or else I always happened to miss it before. Then another volunteer waved me on, so no waiting at all.
I walked to the polls in the pouring rain this morning, what the oldtimers in this area used to call a Democrat day. No waiting I was number 78. I thought of my grandmother on the way to the polls. My grandmother was a lifelong Republican and always voted a straight ticket. Years ago the Republican candidates were listed in row A on the ballot and the Republican slogan was row A all the way. One year the Democrats finally made row A and when my uncle asked grandma how she voted she smiled and said: "Row A all the way!!!".
We have a new registrar and the polling place was highly inefficient. Although voters were divided by alphabetical groups inside, they had only one line leading in so even if your table was empty, you'd have to wait for the others. Then they wouldn't let people into the voting booths until the whole line of booths were empty, rather than letting people vote when there was an available booth. As compared to other places, our lines aren't much to worry about, but the only time I have seen a longer line in Millinocket was one year when the machines broke.
You can't see those counts from the list here anymore. It's all done on a computer. My first voting machine was the mechanical one, with the big lever, and the little levers, and curtain all hooked together. A friend who grew up in the deep south said when you voted straight ticket on those, it made even more noise than usual, so everyone knew who voted straight ticket. Apparently in the South, if you voted straight ticket, they knew the party also. I never quite understood why. Maybe because many of one party ran unopposed? Or more likely they only provided straight ticket for one party. Stranger things have happened. lol
I was 146 at our polling place this morning, and there was a bigger line than I have seen in a long time. It was cold outside, so the line was packed in. We have low population density here, so I don't know how many people usually vote at our polling station.
Every thing went smooth, and people were happy and friendly at our polling place. After last night’s thunderstorm, it cleared up this morning, and was a beautiful , sunshiny day, and even halfway warm; so that prebebly helped, too. Voting itself was pretty easy, just walk up, show them my ID, they found me on the list of voters, and sent me down to get my paper ballot, and then off to a table to fill it out. Once done, they had kind of a scanner machine that each ballot went into. There was a police car when we got there, but gone when I came back out; so maybe he was just there to vote as well.
How about early vote counting ? This is a great example of fake news, and MSNBC is now trying hard to talk their way out of this and say they were “just practicing some numbers”, with their announcement last night of today’s Florida gubernatorial election results. https://deadline.com/2018/11/msnbc-...YZeAGlK-nBRddDJFCNrXiehh79O5wHbs2AD_FWxw6mTbw
Voted this morning here in the Desert (Maricopa County, AZ). No line at all. I asked one of the workers, and the only line was when they opened the doors this morning (at 6 a.m.) there were about 15 folks in line.
I have to somewhat disagree with Veritas on this, @Martin Alonzo. I was a poll worker for many years. It is not the job of a poll worker to decide who is eligible to vote. Back then, if a person was registered to vote, their name was in a poll book. The poll worker's job was to find that person's name in the book and verify who they were and their address. Nowadays everything in on the computer but the job is basically the same. It seems to me that the poll worker in the video is saying that if that person is registered , he is eligible to vote. The reporter repeatedly assures the poll worker that her friend is registered. In that case, the onus would be the Board of Elections. Here, he would be given a conditional ballot which would be kept separate. The Board of Elections would check to see if he was registered. If he was, his vote would be counted, if not it would not be counted.
Today, in Waterville, Maine, where there are a couple of colleges, a group of students showed up together to vote, using only PO Box numbers as an address, several of them using the same PO Box. They were given provisional ballots and allowed to vote. Most likely, they have voted absentee in their home state, as well. Supposedly, their votes will be added to the count only if it is decided by the (Democrat) Secretary of State that they are eligible. Our registration laws specifically state that Post Office addresses are acceptable only as mailing addresses, but must include a physical address, yet Millinocket has several people registered to vote using only PO Box, and the same Secretary of State refused to do anything about it, and has repeatedly denied having even received such reports.
@Hoot Crawford My wife and I resided in Maricopa County for 20 years. Back then, the town of Maricopa itself, situated off I-10 south of the South Mountains Park, was a sleepy little place most intent on getting the annual cotton harvest all done. Probably then, majority Hispanic, few actual business establishments such as stores and the like. The main Metropolitan Area included Phoenix, Tempe, Mesa, and probably Chandler and Gilbert, which by the mid-'90s had become basically one huge city. Near the Town of Maricopa, Harrah's Casinos chose to build their "Harrah's Ak-Chin Resort, which drew folks off of I-10 as well as I-8, which carried east-west bound traffic. We lived in Laveen, on the north side of South Mountain, just west of 51st. Ave., and made the drive down to Maricopa often, especially when my wife's folks were visiting. We lived there until 1999, at which time we moved to Missouri Ozarks. Ah, S(Hoot), I've meandered; it's about voting. Well, Maricopa for some reason attracted a huge following of retirees and newcomers, who no doubt tipped the balance vote-wise down in that previously quaint, quiet, "South of the Border" atmosphered place. Never will it be the same, again. I would be interested, Hoot, to know where you are in that giant county, and for how long. Frank
They ask if an illegal can vote and they said yes. Why do the democrats want all these illegal voters in ?
@Frank Sanoica - I'm in Geezer Nation, aka Sun City West, been here about a year and a half. I haven't made it to Maricopa.
@Hoot Crawford Know the area quite well. In the '80s and even early '90s, S.C. West was only beginning. Surprise had almost nothing, an old dilapidated antique store (or was that Wittman?), and is today bustling and booming. As I see it, being closer to Wickenburg would for me be desirable, higher, more scenic, hilly, vegetation growing along the Hassayampa River. Town of Maricopa is located of course way down at the opposite catty-corner.......can I ask what brought you to Sun City West, and from where? Small aside: When I was laid off in 1982, we bought an old school bus from a guy in El Mirage who had been there forever, had bought perhaps 5 acres eons before, and collected stuff over the years until it looked like a lumber yard/scrapyard. Bought a lot of lumber from him, hauled it clear up to Show Low, where we built and lived in a cabin at 6700 feet. Most here know the story. El Mirage, of course, is right there in your area. Frank