Open Thread
Election Day is tomorrow and young voters are poised to make history. We've been sharing stories from the Rock the Vote Road Trip; we've seen crowds of voters marching to the polls in Cleveland and the Beastie Boys lead get out the vote rallies in Richmond.
Now it's your turn. We want to hear from you.
Have you voted early? Are you voting tomorrow? What issue do you care about most? What kind of conversation will you strike up with other voters in line?
Share your stories (and photos and YouTube clips) by posting a comment here.
And remember, go out and vote tomorrow!
Now it's your turn. We want to hear from you.
Have you voted early? Are you voting tomorrow? What issue do you care about most? What kind of conversation will you strike up with other voters in line?
Share your stories (and photos and YouTube clips) by posting a comment here.
And remember, go out and vote tomorrow!
Labels: election day, road trip
posted by Julia at 10:02 AM
9 Comments:
I'm sad. I sent in my registration for voting over two months ago. I even sent mine at the same time my aunt did. She voted this past Friday, and when I showed up to vote on Saturday morning after waiting a couple hours like everyone else, I was turned away because my application got approved on Oct 8th(two days after the cutoff date).
I am sharing the following as my own personal “Public Service Announcement.” This is not “sour grapes” from the loss in the September primary election, but rather a true and real concern that the ideal of DEMOCRACY is upheld in practice. The only way to accomplish this is to shed light on the “irregularities” in our current electoral system. If we take personal responsibility for our democratic system, irrespective of party affiliation, then the ideal of democracy has the chance of truly becoming a reality.
On September 2nd in Arizona’s congressional district one, during the primary election, the following concerns were reported directly to me from many individual voters and on-site poll workers. All of the incidents reported below came to my attention unsolicited:
(1) Several reports from a Navajo voting advocate/activist reported that she and several of her relatives went to their chapter house/polling site to vote. When they arrived, they discovered that although all of them had been life-long registered Democrats, their party affiliation had been changed, without their knowledge or consent, and they were consequently precluded from voting in the Democratic primary.
(2) A super-voter on the Navajo Nation reported that the polling marshal at her chapter house gave her a ballot that had no congressional candidates listed. When she questioned this, she was informed that they were only voting for county candidates in her precinct. This voter stayed at the chapter house for nearly two hours to see if the ballots would change – as she had gone specifically to vote in the congressional primary. In this time the ballots only had county candidates listed. This chapter house later reported fairly large numbers for the congressional primary.
(3) In the southern area of congressional district one, at an Apache Nation polling site, one of our polling workers was harassed by the local authorities because she challenged the polling marshal’s actions when they strongly encouraged the voters to vote for a particular candidate.
(4) Our poll workers at three Navajo chapter houses were very active and got all family members involved in working all day long at these sites. The majority of these family members were conservative elders – as is the make-up of the communities from which they belong. The sentiment of most, if not all, of those who cast their ballots was that they would “never vote for a woman.” (I make no judgment or take any stance on the political correctness of these sentiments…I am only reporting.) Each of these chapter houses had large tallies for the female candidates on the ballot.
Subsequent to September 2nd , through September 15 when Jan Brewer officially signed off on the ballots, we had a team of campaign volunteers observing both the individual reporting from the varied precincts as well as the Secretary of State web site. This team was stumped by inexplicable discrepancies in the reporting. Particularly curious was:
(a) All updates in vote totals on the Secretary of State web site, over the period from Sept. 2-15, kept fairly stagnate
percentage totals for all candidates, although the individual vote tallies continued to rise in number.
(b) Only 4 of the 8 counties in congressional district one actually showed precinct results (Apache, Coconino, Navajo, & Pinal).
(c) All but the Pinal County precinct results were removed from the respective County Recorder web
sites within a few days of Sept. 2nd, although the Secretary of State web site indicated increase in vote tallies for all 8 counties.
(d) Yavapai and Greenlee alleged that their ballot numbers were too low for hand count, yet Yavapai had the greatest number of total votes throughout the district.
I am not asserting any conspiracy or intentional mismanagement by either the Secretary of State office or the individual precincts. I do not even know how to begin to offer an explanation of any sort for the above “quirky” reporting. After 22 months traveling from all ends of our incredible congressional district, I fully appreciate and value those people who invest so much of their own resources (time, energy, and passion) into the ideal of democracy. On the contrary, this “PSA” is written in great part for their honor. The above reports and observations underscore that democracy is still a work-in-progress, and a fragile one at that. It takes all of us. Each and every one of us to ensure that this ideal of democratic rule is given sustainable life.
VOTE this coming Tuesday. VOTE and WATCH. Keep vigilant. Because once we become complacent and shirk our personal responsibility of voters the ideal of democracy stays just that.
Tamera Shanker
Flagstaff,Arizona
The following is neither sponsored, endorsed, or for that matter pre-viewed by any individual candidate – past or present. All opinions and reports expressed herein are solely those of the writer.
JUST VOTE!!! Be Counted (on)
Have You Voted Yet? If so, Great! If not...............
Think about this:
1)As Americans YOU have the Right to Vote!
2)Votes are like pennies, 1 penny is of no value to us, But if you add millions of pennies – that's a lot of money (VOTES)
3)Actually I'm not asking you who to vote for, but if everyone votes according to their beliefs, values, instincts, issues, etc..... You will be part of something BIG & historic , a where were you kinda event, not only because of race or gender but technology, (reaching masses) you get coverages, cell phones (I get texted information and reminders) the internet (big) you could research and get informed, you could relate not only to the campaigns but even with the media, unreal, blogging gets you so involved. Why do you think Obama's campaign is effective? The world today is different, things happen and you could be part of something big! Don't knock it - relate........
4)Ask yourself some questions:
A- Who are you? Do you make $250,000+
B- Are you one of the 40% that doesn't pay taxes?
C- What are your needs?
Jobs (minimum wage)
Education (can't afford) Health (how much insurance can $5000 buy) Age (social security/401k)
Labor rights (unions) privatization benefits who?
Abortion (I'm against it but do you want to be regulated) there are other means of prevention and awareness along with substance abuse.....
Firearms (do you hunt? Have you lost a loved one due to no regulation of?)
Gay rights (as Americans we all have rights)
D- Government programs assistance- education, employment, housing, health, etc....
E- War/Military- everyone is proud of our soldiers no matter what!just don't misuse them, build them up and by God take care of them when they get back from war and their families too!
5) Trust – Faith – Confidence – how do you measure?
Race – Gender – Religion - ?should matter? Page 1
Obama shouldn't be knocked for the ability to use todays technology for building a campaign and not only raising money but raising people too!
Talk about opportunities, challenges, reaction, method, open-mindness, in calm collective confidence manners, thats leadership!
Example- McCain keeps schillingly (eerie) insisting about town talks, well obviously to Obama its not something he believes is productive for his game. (campaign to win, its what its about, right?)
Life is about weighing and measuring and perogative to change game play as need be to have a positive outcome, right?
He doesn't have to campaign like McCain! Even if he said in the beginning his campaign finance would be one way and changed his mind when he saw the hunger for active participation from his fellow Americans that believed in him.
McCain wants to de-regulate government when it comes to money his and the top 5% (moneymakers) and on the other hand he wants to regulate Obama, abortion, guns, taxes anything and everything that benefits him/they/them!
When it comes to taxes, if you could step out of your shoes for a moment.
I just heard on the news – class warfare......
Rich = $250,000+ (5%)
Middle = _ _ _ _ _ (55%)
Poverty = don't pay taxes (40%)
Where are you?
Why do taxes exist in the first place?
(Romans 13:1-7)
(U.S. Constitution 16th amendment )
Now I shouldn't have to say more about taxes if you could relate with which class you are in and the needs of our country (all the people of the USA)
Obama didn't choose his name his mother did. And he is multiracial half white, that exist all over the US (my grandchildren, half hispanic, quarter white, quarter Thai, other half black/white) and are very loved, these days this generation doesn't know the racial difference they are learnded from us, I get in trouble with my children every time I ask race when in conversation cause I like to picture the individual, and they say what does that matter......
His story is one that as mothers can relate with, raising our children we encourage and motivate from early on (this day and age especially, crucial to outcome) that they can be anything they want to be, an astronaut, a baseball player, the president even, He (and Hilary) living proof!
True Americans (sounds better than real/fake) We are all proud to be Americans unless someone denounces it, it shouldn't be questioned.
We've come along way and have a long way to go, sometimes things must crumble to be built back up, the oldest generation alive today can relate with much more passion (theirs were rights) than mine(was pink telephone, black/white tv and microwaves) and our children well most of them can't imagine life without cell phones, internet and such, so they are the generation that needs to be built up with a passion of ambitious direction and a potential to be anything they want, the need for knowledge, awareness, and means, it does take growing up (and it shouldn't) to realize the importance of reading, writing, math, science, music and many talents that are not used cause of so little encouraging and motivation from parents to teachers. If our children are raised by the generation that takes for granted such things as community service and an automatice sense of being part of something, no wonder many our lost to society, We need to raise Americans (not that they are not) but we've taken this and many other things for granted, our rights, opportunities, it amazes me to see world news and other countries know about our elections and candidates. On that note our children are the way to encourage change and bring that patriotic sense of being that America that many from other countries can barely imagine or dream being part of!
McCain is starting to run Rev Wright commercials I thought he said he wasn't going to do that. McCain is a liar And I don't believe nothing he says. I voted for Obama a week ago and I'm glad I did.
I voted on Thursday. I went to the public library and it looked pretty crowded. It took me a while to find a parking spot, so I thought that it was going to take all day. Got into the voting room and stood in line to check in & it only took a couple of minutes for them to check me in & print my ballot. Everything ran smooth & quickly. Glad I took the time out of my day to do something constructive.
Gregg F
Jacksonville FL
Gregg, I'm glad your voting experience went smoothly. Akimika, you should call 1-866-OURVOTE to talk to lawyers who can help you sort out your registration.
Also, no matter what, you can go to the polls tomorrow and cast a provisional ballot.
Don't be discouraged. You have the right to vote!
I have had great success in registering 3000 new voters, and all are voting Republican! You are so right, getting out there among the young people has been a great experience, and I will continue to do so each year, and continue to help this country get back to its roots!
• Barack Obama talks about finally keeping promises and change, change, change. The only change we've seen from Obama is the change in his policies, stances, and promises during the course of this campaign. His record makes positive change hard to believe. He constantly votes along his party lines (94% of the time). That kind of partisanship isn’t what America needs, or wants. He is by any measure, the most liberal senator in Washington. Furthermore, like Sen. McCain has previously stated, Barack Obama simply does not understand. He doesn’t seem to understand that in order for govt. to work, it has to work together, and with a man who works for their party in the white house, that simply won't happen. He doesn’t seem to understand that bipartisan effort is essential in the progress of change. He talks about it, but of course he doesn’t practice it. Senator McCain does know what it takes to get government to work. That is why we need the maverick in office. We need a man who doesn’t work for his party, but for the American people. We need a record of change, not empty rhetoric about change. I’ll take experience over eloquence any day.
• As a young member of a minority, I am proud to say I support John McCain and Sarah Palin. I haven’t yet resigned myself to “jump on the bandwagon”like many of the people my age have. I support this ticket and I respect any other young adult who does. The media has painted a very nice picture of Barack Obama. What the media emphasizes is his “different kind of politics,” but I haven’t seen anything new. Sadly, most of the media has become more and more blatantly biased and even more sadly, this is the media that influences my generation. It’s a shame that being a republican or republican supporter is taboo. It defeats everything our founding fathers believed in. It defeats everything our brave men and women in Iraq (no matter what your stance on the war is) and every veteran, including Sen. McCain, have fought for. What I ask every American to do, especially young Americans, is look at the records and the policies. Barack Obama has turned this race into just another popularity contest, and we cannot allow style to defeat substance. John McCain and Sarah Palin will uphold the policies and values America needs in these tough times.
• Barack obama wants the American people to believe he is the man best equipped to solve this economic crisis. His campaign seems to be proud of outspending Sen. McCain's. They seem to be proud of outspending Sen.McCain 2 to 1, 3 to 1, even 8 to 1. They seem to be proud of spending millions of dollars on scripted, misleading 30 minute TV spots. This from the man who claims to know what the country needs to turn the economy around. This from the man who claims he represents new politics. While Sen. McCain has pioneered campaign fundraising reform, Barack Obama has redefined wasteful campaign spending. America can’t trust its economy, or the next four years, to a man who thinks it wise to spend millions of dollars on 30 minutes of TV time. Millions of dollars that were made available to him because he went back on his word to take public financing, because he realized private financing would allow him more money for more mudslinging. He hasn't been elected and he's already breaking promises. There's nothing new about that. Yet another example of his empty words is the fact that it seems every week, the income on which his economic plan is based, dwindles. If he can't get his own plan straight, there is no chance he'll straighten out the economy. Ronald Reagan put into action the economic plan that gave the U.S. its longest period of peacetime economic growth, and Sen. Obama's plan is the total antithesis of that plan. Conversely, Obama is taking the Herbert Hoover plan by increasing taxes and spending. In a recession, raising taxes and increasing spending is about the stupidest thing you could do, as is eliminating large companies' tax cuts. Large corporations aren't going to take the tax increase, they will pass on the cost to the consumer and lay people off. Thus increasing inflation and unemployment. This, along with increased spending, in times like this, will, by definition, take us into an even deeper recession. As I predicted, it took a lot of eloquent speaking and misleading mudslinging to fill 30 minutes, because his experience, qualifications, and policies just weren't going to do it.
• Yet another telling aspect of his candidacy is his group of supporters. Joe Biden, now his running mate, made it clear he didn’t think Barack Obama was ready to be Commander In Chief, with good reason. Hillary Clinton said the same thing. How are we to now believe that just months after adamantly believing him excessively inexperienced, they now think he is ready? Fact is, he isn’t ready and we can’t take the chance he’ll pick it up once in office. And it’s not about invalidating Sen. Obama's years in the senate. I have nothing but respect for his years of public service, but the fact of the matter is he just doesn’t have enough of them to claim he has the experience needed to be President of the United States of America. Of course, they’re going to counter this by saying the republicans who ran against Sen. McCain in the primaries, but now endorse him aren’t any different, but they are. None of them ever doubted he had the experience or the readiness to be president. That’s the fundamental difference.
• Last, but not least, is his clearly absent sense of good judgement as well as his lack of honesty. If all you watch or listen to is CBS, NBC, ABC, CNN, MSNBC, or NPR, you probably haven't even heard any of this. The few unbiased, ethical media outlets that remain have reported countless radical, irresponsible, and dangerous associations that tie Barack Obama to people and organizations like domestic terrorist Bill Ayers, convicted slum lord Tony Rezko, ACORN(an organization that has admitted to fraudulently making up thousands of names to fill out voter registration forms), Anti-American "reverend" Jeremiah Wright (Obama's longtime mentor and father figure), and the Chicago New Party (an affiliate of Chicago's Democratic Socialists of America), and those are just the ones I can remember at the moment. He has lied about the extent of all these associations and tried to distance himself from all these people/groups since it is now inconvenient to his presidential campaign. So come to think of it, not only is he dishonest and misleading, but he is also disloyal. It is unbelieveable to me how Obama has gotten this far without the American people and the liberal media questioning all this.
• I ENCOURAGE ALL OF YOU TO INFORM YOURSELVES ABOUT THE CANDIDATES, THE POLICIES, AND THE RECORDS BEFORE MAKING YOUR DECISION. DON'T BUY THE OBAMA HYPE.
Polling at my location took about 1.5 hours and there were no problems. The line was out the door and around the corner. Here are some pictures -> http://www.russellheimlich.com/blog/election-day-2008/
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