10/26/2008 03:23:08 PM EST

I Voted for Obama

posted by rbruck


I just got back from early voting.  It was eventful, but no worse that I expected.  The line was only 2 hours and 45 minutes long.  But I had to get in line at 6 AM on a Sunday morning to get in a line that short, and the polling place opened at 10.  Still, only a 6 hour and 45 minute wait to vote, which was an hour and 15 minutes faster than in 2004.

The real heroes of this Florida election are the Florida Election Attorneys (volunteers for the Obama campaign).

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About a block from the polling place there were a bunch of State Troopers stopping people who didn't notice the "no right turn on red" sign that was put up about 2 weeks ago.  I was on my electric bicycle, and this was about 5:30 am - the roads were dark.  I didn't get fooled by the no right turn on red sign, but I got pulled over anyway.  Within a minute of getting stopped, there was a Florida Election Attorney who stopped right behind the Trooper car.  The Attorney didn't say anything, but he videotaped the whole interaction.

I ended up getting a ticket for driving a motor vehicle without a tag, even though electric bicycles are considered bicycles in Florida and they don't need a tag.  There is no question I will be found not guilty, but it will be an expense to hire an attorney and I will end up having to take time off work to go to Court.  Mostly, it's just a hassle.  The attorney's video tape will be helpful.

When I pulled into the parking lot of City Hall (the polling place), about half the cars in the parking lot were Priuses.  I've never seen so many Priuses in my life.

Needless to say, the crowd was mostly, if not entirely, Democratic.  The wait in line was mostly uneventful except for some commotion when a Florida Elections Attorney tried to get the poll workers to let a very elderly woman who was on oxygen in front of the line.  The Attorney was finally able to get her into the polling place without having to wait in line.  I was only, maybe, 20-30 people from the front of the line at that point, so I was prepared to give her my place in line and go to the back of the line if they refused to let her in.

When I got into the polling place, my Republican challenger was fairly nice, except they had a mistake on my voter roll.  When I change my registration about two months ago (from Republican to Independent), somehow they changed my street name from "Way" to "St".  Once again, there was a Florida Elections Attorney there immediately to help out, who discussed the matter for about 5 minutes with the Republican challenger.  The Republican challenger made a phone call, and then agreed to print out a ballot for me.  A REAL ballot and not a provisional ballot.

After another 10 minutes waiting in line at the printer, I discovered that they accidentally printed a ballot for precinct 4140, and my precinct was 4110.  They then wanted me to go back to the end of the line (which had grown to at least 8 hours long by now) to get another ballot.  After several more minutes of help from a Florida Election Attorney they agreed to reprint my ballot.  I took my new ballot, voted, and I was done.

After leaving the polling place, I went to a nearby convenience store, strapped a couple of cases of cold bottles of water to the back of my bike, came back to the polling place and gave out the water to people standing in line.  By that time, the mid-afternoon Florida sun had become oppressive.

So, I'm done voting for another year.  All, in all, it was less of an ordeal than I had feared.  I'm back at the office now working on computer security for the election.

< McCain on Meet the Press... LOL!!! Hilarious! w/ a SHOCKER @ the end! | McCainiacs claim the "Surge" worked ... or DID it??? >

Poll

When did or will you vote?
Already sent in mail-in ballot. 7%
Already did early voting at a polling place. 21%
I will vote early at a polling place, but haven't yet. 14%
I will send in mail-in ballot by election day. 21%
I live in a place with early voting, but I will vote on election day. 7%
There is no early voting here. I will vote on election day. 14%
I'm registered to vote in the US, but I'm not this time. 7%
I'm not registered to vote in the US. 7%

Votes: 14
Results | Other Polls
 Display:
I Voted for Obama | 8 comments (8 topical, 0 hidden)
"Less of an Ordeal Than I Had Feared"? (none / 0)

Sounds like quite an ordeal to me.

That state trooper story is astounding. I wonder how they are feeling about being pawns in this game? This story ought to make national headlines.

by Verified1 on 10/26/2008 04:02:30 PM EST

State Troopers (none / 0)

are involved in every election in Florida.

In 2000, it was much worse.  They actually setup road blocks at all roads leading to some polling places. And that was before the Patriot Act.

Not that they won't try that again this year.  Thanks to the Patriot Act they can pretty much ID anyone they want to.  It didn't seem they were doing that here - it looked to me they were careful to have probable cause before stopping people.  More importantly, Florida Election Attorneys are documenting everything.

by rbruck on 10/26/2008 04:24:08 PM EST

[ Parent ]
wait (none / 0)
so are the Troopers there to ticket people so it will mess with their chances of being able to vote? Or deter them?

That's nice that they put that new "no turn on red" sign up right before the elections. Nice.

"car or no car, we're gonna ticket this guy on the bike"

y

by chrisandyasemin on 10/26/2008 04:20:41 PM EST

Interesting. (none / 0)
I was wondering the same thing Chris.  If the State Troopers are there deterring people from voting through ticket intimidation then this story should absolutely be big news.  We need cam corders and audio recordings from start to finish by some people in FL.  Get your video cam and get out there people!

I think it's sad and pathetic that your right to vote was challenged by a republican ellection official.   I can already see this election being stolen. 

We cannot let it happen.  WE CANNOT!
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by redwingsm on 10/26/2008 07:08:53 PM EST

[ Parent ]
I'm so happy that I live in CA. (none / 0)

None of this bullsh*t would ever stand in California. We have mail in ballots and everything.

If Obama wins I hope he pushes for voter reform so it doesn't take 3 hours and an Attorney to vote.

by evaangellus on 10/26/2008 07:52:32 PM EST

There is Nothing the Federal Government Can Do (none / 0)

Short of a Constitutional Amendment.

The Constitution gives the states the right to conduct national elections.

In 2000, Jesse Jackson tried to bring lawsuits against the State of Florida because he claimed that the State Trooper roadblocks were infringing on the ability for minorities to vote.  He lost the lawsuit because it was shown that the roadblocks were only infringing on the ability for Democrats to vote, and there is no special protection under the law for Democrats.

At this point, filing these kinds of lawsuits in Federal Courts in the swing states is all but futile.  The Federal Courts have been filled with Trinity and Liberty Law School judges, and the Attorneys General are Republican partisans.

AFAIK, in 2004 there were no roadblocks, only speedtraps and other impediments.  This year it seems to be similar.  There is plenty of video evidence, but maybe nothing illegal going on.

There are less than 300 early voting places in all of Florida, and the hours are limited.  By law, there are only 2 ballot printers per voting place (the State owns more than 12,000 of these printers).  There was a state law voted on this year in the Florida Legislature that would have expanded early voting to more than 6,000 locations.  This law failed to pass by a pure party-line vote, with all Democrats voting in favor of the law and all Republicans opposing the law.

The problem with mail-in ballots is that you will never know if your vote is ever counted.  In my case, for example, there was a typo in my address on the voter rolls.  Had I voted by mail, my ballot almost certainly would not have been counted.

by rbruck on 10/26/2008 09:19:09 PM EST

[ Parent ]
You Have My Admiration (none / 0)
...for not moving as far away from FL as you can. North Carolinians often bemoan the seemingly never-ending migration of Floridians to our state, yet I can certainly understand why one would want to leave such a corrupt state. Like the CA blogger, NC, even with its strong Republican presence, would never tolerate such blatant voter obstruction. We should all be grateful that there are hard-cores like you, rbruck, who are sticking it out and fighting the good fight.

by Verified1 on 10/27/2008 02:06:31 PM EST

[ Parent ]
I also early voted (none / 0)
In Travis County, TX.  We got things right when it came to early voting...  we went with the "retail model."  You put early voting in your usual places (neighborhood schools, post offices, etc), but you also put a few in stores or shopping centers where people WANT to be...  you cut down on too much traffic to one spot and you get more people voting since they are already in the store or in the mall.  The first time I early voted in 2000, I did so in the dairy section of the local grocery chain.  I was there buying milk, saw the table, and said, might as well get it out of the way.  This time around, the elections officials got smart and added two voting "super centers with something like 50 booths apiece.  When I early voted this year, it took me 3 minutes to check in, 2 minutes to wait in line, and about 5 minutes to vote.  10 minutes total, and I was already somewhere I needed to be anyway, so I didn't go out of my way.

People who make early voting harder, rather than easier, should be hung up by their scrotums.

by Kang the Conqueror on 10/27/2008 03:12:11 PM EST

I Voted for Obama | 8 comments (8 topical, 0 hidden)
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