Election Day Madness

Technology Versus The Election

Its hillarious.  Connecticut is using a new optical scan voter system.  People are very confused already.

It doesn’t get much better than this.

::Yawn::

It is way too early to be awake right now.  I’ve been watching the news for the past hour or so and I can’t wait till this election is over.  The campaign ads, especially the nastier ones that recently showed up, are too much to watch for me.

I also find it funny how the local news are REACHING for something to talk about today:  will today’s cloudy weather effect turnout?  Will the MUGGY 65 degree weather keep people indoors?

No.

It won’t.

Saturday Night Live Monday?

In preparation for the big day tomorrow, several friends and I are relaxing before the madness.  Nothing better than a good Saturday Night Live on… well, Monday.  McCain, Palin, Obama, and Biden.  I secretly hope Ralph Nader will come simply because of the hillarity.  NBC has had horribly one-sided coverage of the entire race, in my opinion, but hopefully I can get a few chuckles out tonight.

Be sure to tune in tonight if you can:  9 PM EST to catch a bunch of celebrity guests.  No reason not to laugh tomorrow before a very long day.  A very… very long day.  I plan on bringing a “Box O’ Joe” from Dunkin Donuts in tomorrow.

For myself, that is.

Good Morning America

Starting tomorrow at about 5:15am EST, I’ll be working at election headquarters on 1990 computers and an ISDN modem.  Well, thats not entirely true.  In order to actually live blog, I’ll be using my laptop.  Otherwise, I’m stuck with thousands of voter registration cards and tons of people who haven’t registered to vote yet.

Thats right:  since Connecticut doesn’t have same day voter registration, we offer “Presidential Ballots”.  Meaning, you can go to your town hall where you live, give them your voter information, and fill out a ballot for the federal election.  Those poor high school kids who signed up for that job.

Last presidential election, the town I work in had about 70% voter turnout.  Given the long, long, long string of debates, commentary, hillarity that has ensued over the many previous months, we expect a higher turnout than that.  Our poor little schools weren’t meant to handle that many people.

So for you voters out there, which is hopefully all of you, here are my tips to get you through the lines faster:

1. Know who you are voting for.  Sounds simple, but not so much.
2. The lines are kind of the same as traffic on the highways:  morning and afternoon.  If you can, vote between 2 and 5 PM which is when the least number of people vote.
3. If you know you aren’t registered, save everyone time and don’t go to the polling place and fight to vote.  They won’t let you.  I’m the one on the other end helping the registrars to tell you that you cannot.  Feel free to come to your Town Hall and fill out a presidential ballot.

And, as everyone has been stressing, you won’t be turned away.  In Connecticut, be in line by 8PM EST and you’ll get your vote.  And, you better vote.

The Beginning of the End

I’ll be live blogging during the day tomorrow as we deal with all the voters coming in to vote for this record turn out.  I’m working at Election Headquarters in my medium sized town, answering voter questions, looking up voter information, and dealing with the melee of the general public.

I may not survive.

Read this throughout the day.  I’ll likely keep the updated as best I can, hopefully with several dozen postings of quotes, interactions, video logs, and photos.

It’s going to be a wild ride 2 years in the making.