pull the lever

Anne and I just got back from voting.
Our polling place was well-staffed by very friendly and helpful people, and there was absolutely no line at all. We were in and out in about ten minutes. The Los Angeles Times was conducting an exit poll at our location, but I didn’t get asked to participate. Darnit.
I was a little unsure about how I’d use our new optical scan ballots, but they are actually identical to the punch-card ballots I’ve used since I was eighteen, with the only difference being we stamp the card rather than punch it.
So as of about 8:15 this morning, John Kerry has two more votes from California. šŸ™‚
My friend Kathleen is a poll worker in Los Angeles, and she wanted me to share the following blogging.la post with Los Angeles voters:

I know, I know. You’ve been told to vote by everyone and their uncle already. However, as your friendly neighborhood election official, I feel an obligation to ask you to vote. If you don’t know where your polling place is, you can go to LA Vote, My Polling Place, or My Polling Site to find out. If you haven’t received confirmation of your registration, just locate your polling place and bring a photo ID. If we can’t find you on the rolls, we can issue you a provisional ballot. If you’ve recently moved, or you have any other reason to think your registration hasn’t been processed, you can at the very least go to your local polling place and find out. It’ll be busy there, but we’ll make sure your vote is counted.

I hear that people in Florida and Ohio are waiting for several hours to vote, and I hear that there are already massive instances of voter intimidation in Ohio and attempts in South Dakota, so I consider myself very fortunate that I cast my ballot so easily.
Today is our day, America. Get out there and make your voice heard, and be sure to thank the people who have volunteered to work the polls. They’re probably going to have a long and difficult day.

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213 thoughts on “pull the lever”

  1. Hey Wil,
    Just letting you know that my mom and I just got back from voting, so there are two more votes for Kerry in the state of Missouri. I didn’t have to wait in line at all, it was all done in just a few minutes. Let’s hope we can get Bush the heck out of the White House.
    -Emily

  3. Oh Wil!
    Thank you so much for voting for Kerry! Voting went well here in Brooklyn babeee!!! I’ll bet Corey Feldman voted for Bush. He seems just dumb enough.

  5. Shoot! I just went to coreyfeldman.com and he’s voting for Kerry. My bad Corey dude! Sorry to you and yours, and I loved you in “Dream a Little Dream”.
    Now let’s send that dumb cokehead in the White House back to the killing fields of Texas where he can get “Fishin’ Accomplished”.

  6. How to tell you are voting in Oregon:
    You had your ballot conveniently mailed to you two weeks before for either mail or personal-delivery return, it’s 1 day to final election day (procrastinator), you have settled into a nice soft chair in Starbucks with a nice iced herb tea (more fun than your kitchen table, which is also an option) and… you are deciding on some environmental issue at the moment.
    When I realized where I was and how I was, I had to bust out laughing. šŸ™‚
    Sheesh. Time to get some wild salmon filet, eat it with some local microbrew with no view of Mt. Hood out the window because it’s raining… in other words, how seriously Oregonian can ya get!
    I wish every citizen could vote like we do here in Oregon! ;-D

  8. Terrific, Will! I suppose the whole world is keeping their fingers crossed tonight for Kerry. I know we in Austria are, anyway. So good luck to kicking that moron out of the White House!

  9. Hey Ignace, what does “We can’t afford a friend of God four more years.” mean? You aren’t actually bashing someone over ther beliefs are you? I’d appreciate an answer.

  10. Sick feeling in my stomach caused by the possibility of a fake in the White House. John Kerry is a disgrace to all that have served in uniform. 30 years of feeding at the public trough and nothing to show for it.

  12. GO KERRY-EDWARDS!!! I was out and voted first thing this morning here in GA. Took about an hour, but I feel good about going and exercising my rights….here’s to a new president in the morning!!
    Jules

  13. I live in a small town in Minnesota. I was done voting in 10 minutes. I went around noon and didn’t have to wait at all. My husband voted before me and didn’t have to show any ID.
    We used paper ballots where you fill in the dark circle with a black pen to the left of the candidate of your choice. Then the ballots were fed into a computerized reader.
    I believe South Dakota also uses paper ballots. When I lived there years ago, I just showed up at the polling place and the little old ladies gave me my ballot. They already knew who I was – no need for ID…a little like Mayberry.
    I’ll be watching tonight and waiting to see who will be the next President!

  14. I really doubt that Kerry will win, but I am happy to see that voting has become the “cool” thing to do. I am a member of the 18-24 age group (or whatever that silly one is that doesn’t vote often) and everyone I know has voted.
    No matter who we select for the next president, we are in for four years of excitement!

  15. Thank you for a great post to encourage voting. Voting is so important no matter who you vote for.
    It is nice to see the posters here so respectful and tolerant of other’s beliefs.
    Go W!

  16. I planned on huge lines at the American Legion since I was voting after work (5:30pm) but I was in and out in under 15 minutes. And that counts participating in The Los Angeles Times’ exit poll. It’s a bummer you didn’t get asked, Wil.
    I’m in Akron, Ohio and haven’t heard about any problems around here, but there have been in other parts of the state.
    One more vote for Kerry!

  17. i’m an ohio voter going to school in pennsylvania and absentee-d it a couple weeks ago. i know of many friends who never recieved their absentee ballots (one of whom was actually an intern for the kerry campaign!). hopefully by the next election online voting will be utilized for wider and fairer voter participation.
    go kerry! five stars for those of you who voted!

  18. I posted this on the previous postings comments and then realised it was a bit more relevant to the current post.
    Hey Wil,
    I am from the East Coast of Australia and we just recently had our own Federal (National) Election. Unlike in the US our vote is compulsory. Mainly because our population is too small to take the chance on giving people the choice of voting.
    Reading your election posting recalled a lot of the memories of uneasiness that many of us felt during our election. In our case the majority of the country voted for and successfully re-elected John Howard. This man has been accused of a lot of things over the past 12-18 months and has had a lot of mud thrown his way. Many people the world over probably wonder why we voted him back in.
    But in all honesty the alternative of voting for Mark Latham scared a lot of us. While voting him in may not have had the same repercussions as a vote for George W. It was a vote that threatened to hurt our economy, hurt the chances of young families from ever owning their own homes, and hurt our relationship with our allies (including the US)by withdrawing our troops from Iraq.
    I may not agree with the war as it stands but I agree that we must support our allies if we expect them to come to our aid in a time of crisis.
    I am thankful that our vote ended as it did and I hope that the you can feel the same relief at the end of your election when they announce your new President as I did when they announced our new Prime Minister.
    cheers
    Lauren

  19. From “the country that Osama would have attacked if he was going to attack freedom”, I’m glad you voted, and for Kerry for that matter, at least he can form a proper sentence without the use of uhm or long blank stares.

  20. Hello wwdn readers. I hope everyone voted today, or depending what time zone you are in, you still have time to get out the vote.
    Currently the totals are
    KERRY – 77
    BUSH – 66
    5:15 pm pacific time

  22. I had a scary dream last night… Bush lost, but then announced “God told me I cannot let Kerry take the office” and he refuses to leave; Rummy orders the military to prevent the turnover, and some of them obey, fomenting civil war.
    I sure hope our long national nightmare is over!

  24. Hum…there’s where we disagree. Bush got two votes here in Kansas from me and my hubby-to-be. Kerry scares the hell out of me. We’ve never paid attention to the presidental elections and both of us were eligible for voting the last three elections, but this year, we caught a tad of one of the debates and we were sold on Bush.
    The Iraqi war. Okay, he saw an opportunity to end an on going problem and he took it. Are we really going to blame him for it? Let me put it this way: People bitch because he took us over there, but the same people would be bitching if he did nothing and Sadam (sp?) was in our hair again like he was with Daddy Bush.
    Anywho, normally I wouldn’t voice my political opinions, but I know that I’m allowed to share my opinion on this site without getting the crap beat out of me for it.
    Thanks for that.

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  26. When Dick (Cheney) met (George W) Bush, the whole world got screwed. I pray the voters won’t let this continue. Even in W’s “home” of Crawford, Texas, the newspaper endorsed John Kerry….

  27. To those who like to label George Bush an “idiot” or “stupid” I would point to the fact that he is the most educated President in history (A master’s degree) he graduated from Yale, which is a pretty good school here in America, his college IQ scores were higher than Kerry’s and he can fly a fighter jet…not an easy task no matter how you slice it.
    Ignatz

  29. “To those who like to label George Bush an “idiot” or “stupid” I would point to the fact that he is the most educated President in history (A master’s degree) he graduated from Yale, which is a pretty good school here in America, his college IQ scores were higher than Kerry’s and he can fly a fighter jet…not an easy task no matter how you slice it.
    Ignatz
    Posted by Ignatz at November 2, 2004 06:17 PM”
    I hate to break it to you, but it is reported that George W. Bush has the lowest IQ score of any U.S. President. His father got him into Yale because I believe his SAT score was about a 1210 (definitely not impressive), and his average at school was a “C”. Kerry happens to be brilliant. I don’t know where you got your information from, but it’s wrong. I’m not trying to call you out or anything…I just want to give you the facts because it’s apparent you were misinformed.

  31. As always Wil, you and I are not close in political opinions but I love your sense of humor and you tell a good story (if perhaps a little dramatic for me).
    The wife and I are 2 for W. Kerry scares me with his “I have a plan to spend a lot of money”. However, Mr. Bush needs to get rid of his opinions on gay marriage (let’s put hate in the constitution?) and I’m tired of God being his best cabinet member. This religion thing is exactly the same in my mind as the beliefs of the extremist muslims.
    As to the “massive” voter intimidation I think you might want to rely less on your “sources” and wait a bit to see what realy pans out. If we weren’t there to witness it I believe the story could grow out-of-hand very easily. EZ young man.
    Take care.

  32. Stood in line for 3 hours to vote. Good thing I had a chair and a six pack of beer (actually, it was a big coffee–But after the second hour I WISHED it were a six pack)and a good book. I did the NC Shuffle (move 3 feet, set down chair, pick up book, move 3 feet…etc etc yadda yadda yadda.
    If do have to disagree about your statement of how the world views the USA. I spent quite a bit of time in Europe over the summer, from Germany to Poland to France and to Russia and I never met a single person who said a cross word against the United States. People in Europe have the ability and common sense to separate their feelings about the politicians from the people of our fine country. While they may disagree with our politics and policies, they do not hate the USA or have harsh words to say about us. I spoke at length to a German lady (from Frankfurt)(in my lousy German, no less) who loves the US and hates the American President, but knows the difference between dumbasses in the White House and the people.
    My Two Cents (give me my change)(hops of soap box and walks away)
    Pookie

  33. Stood in line for 3 hours to vote. Good thing I had a chair and a six pack of beer (actually, it was a big coffee–But after the second hour I WISHED it were a six pack)and a good book. I did the NC Shuffle (move 3 feet, set down chair, pick up book, move 3 feet…etc etc yadda yadda yadda.
    If do have to disagree about your statement of how the world views the USA. I spent quite a bit of time in Europe over the summer, from Germany to Poland to France and to Russia and I never met a single person who said a cross word against the United States. People in Europe have the ability and common sense to separate their feelings about the politicians from the people of our fine country. While they may disagree with our politics and policies, they do not hate the USA or have harsh words to say about us. I spoke at length to a German lady (from Frankfurt)(in my lousy German, no less) who loves the US and hates the American President, but knows the difference between dumbasses in the White House and the people.
    My Two Cents (give me my change)(hops of soap box and walks away)
    Pookie

  36. Two cents from a voter in San Diego, California:
    “…meet the new boss, same as the old boss.” –The Who
    It’s all a wash in the end, whoever wins.

  37. Veronica Knight wrote:
    The Iraqi war. Okay, he saw an opportunity to end an on going problem and he took it. Are we really going to blame him for it? Let me put it this way: People bitch because he took us over there, but the same people would be bitching if he did nothing and Sadam (sp?) was in our hair again like he was with Daddy Bush.
    See. Right there is what you are sold on. Invalid information. Saddam was not in Bush Jr’s hair at all. Bin Laden was or rather: Still is. It is sad how people just don’t get the facts straight. I will bitch about it becoz he actually did nothing on the real problem which is why Bin Laden is still free to send out video tapes and actually be a real threat. And the term “I’m going to win the war on terror” is just scary and put such a false image to what he really can do. Bush lies to get his ways and I am so sad to see how many American citizens (I actually live in USA) just believes him so blindly.

  38. Uncle Chuckles
    You better believe I’m bashing someone over their beliefs.
    Because of someone’s beliefs one tower I used to have a plenty terrific view from is now a hole in the ground.
    Because of someone’s beliefs [and the fact that he has the power to move an army] we now have an illegal war which is going to last far longer than you care for.
    Beliefs and politics are a very bad mix, as people prove every day. Besides the fact that you believe in an entity for which you have not one shred of corroborating scientific evidence, you will also inflict that belief upon me whether I like it or not.
    People like you scare the willies out of people like me, sweetheart.

  39. People like me? Do you hear yourself? Do you even know me? How am I inflicting any of my beliefs on you? Do you even know what my beliefs are? I only asked you a question. I simply asked if you were bashing someone over their beliefs. Do you want to start rounding “people like me” up into camps? I would suggest you get a handle on your emotions before they turn into some horrible action.

  40. I voted this morning @ 7:30am and there was a LONG line and a wait of half an hour. I’ve been voting here for years and years and it has never been like this. The sight made me really optimistic that we were finally going to get rid of Herr Moron. It’s 10:00pm and I’m getting more depressed by the hour! I cannot believe this! If he wins, we have a lot of ill informed uneducated people in this country.
    I worry for our future! I’ll accept it when it’s “official.”

  41. I voted this morning @ 7:30am and there was a LONG line and a wait of half an hour. I’ve been voting here for years and years and it has never been like this. The sight made me really optimistic that we were finally going to get rid of Herr Moron. It’s 10:00pm and I’m getting more depressed by the hour! I cannot believe this! If he wins, we have a lot of ill informed uneducated people in this country.
    I worry for our future! I’ll accept it when it’s “official.”

  42. Weeee!!! Start crying Wil. šŸ™‚
    Jeesh, how melodramatic. Kerry, Bush. Same difference. Nothing will change either way and it looks like “the sky is falling” because Bush is darn close to pulling it all in.
    Go ahead and delete my entry now. šŸ™‚

  43. I was up to vote at 630 am. Polls opened at 7am, and i had Cella with me but she was good even though we didn’t get out til after 8am.
    I really thought I was beating the rush!
    I am super depressed and angry that Bush may very well win. Just in case he does, I have the barf bucket nearby.
    Oh and idiots in my state voted a jerk into Senate who wants to ban all gay teachers and pregnant, unwed teachers. But don’t worry! He’s gonna hire teachers that can barely speak English to teach our children!
    Swell.

  45. We heard so much about the youth vote coming out this year, but where was it? Reports are saying in some areas it was as low as 1 out of 10 young, eligible voters who showed up to the polls.
    I don’t care who you vote for (well, I do), but I do care if you vote. No vote, no complaigning. Someone came into the office today and said she didn’t vote — it didn’t matter, Cali. was a foregone conclusion. But then she forgot about all the local measures, state propositions, senators, house reps and being priviliged enough to have a voice.
    *sigh* I’m just antsy. It’s 11 p.m. and Bush is way ahead.

  46. I can’t believe that man is going to win again. I don’t know if I can live through another 4 years of his mess. It’s a sad day.

  47. I voted! WOOT! But unfortunately I had to wait about 20 minutes in line… blah. I live in a pretty small town too… I swear, everyone went to vote at exactly the same time! My sis also voted, so there’s 2 more Kerry votes from Michigan!

  48. Jennifer W.
    I believe you mis-read the 1 in 10 youth vote statistic. They said 1 in 10 of *all* voters were in the 18-24 age category….not 1 in 10 youths voted.

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