Election Day Madness

Presidential Ballots OF DOOM

Tue, 04 Nov 2008 14:48:28 -0500

If you’re not registered, you can fill out a Presidential Ballot. If you fill out a presidential ballot, you can only do it in the town you reside in/live in. That means, basically, that anyone can come and vote at Vernon today (or any CT and multiple other state cities) for the president. Which makes our job a little easier since most people aren’t upset about not being registered.

But at the same time, people surprisingly want to vote for the CT referendum questions. And you can’t with that. I’ve just assuaged 3 angry voters. Basically, that means… the next one wil be rabid.

The coffee here...

Tue, 04 Nov 2008 13:51:26 -0500

…isn’t half as good as the coffee at work. I need it to survive. I “borrowed” some from another town office.

All Is Quiet on the Western Front

Tue, 04 Nov 2008 13:24:52 -0500

Its true. This is the quietest time of day. If you haven’t voted yet, go now. Like… right now. Its really quiet. I’m going to take a nap under my desk.

You think...

Tue, 04 Nov 2008 12:10:42 -0500

… Starbucks would deliver their free coffee to me? I mean, if you vote, you get a free cup. I would like my delivered. I’m falling asleep.

Chinese Food is Mocking Me...

Tue, 04 Nov 2008 11:46:01 -0500

For lunch, of all things, they got us Chinese food. It’s totally mocking me. I’m working. The high school kids are eating.

I wish I had real lunch. Whats the deal with that?

"Wait, there isn’t any coffee?"

Tue, 04 Nov 2008 10:47:08 -0500

“Wait, there isn’t any coffee?”

- Me, 10 minutes ago

Over-Vote

Tue, 04 Nov 2008 09:46:08 -0500

There are a lot of bubbles, and I know its tricky.

Please, one per column. Against popular wisdom, you can’t vote for both McCain and Obama. No, this isn’t just a Connecticut thing.

Don't Assume You're Registered

Tue, 04 Nov 2008 09:24:45 -0500

Please don’t assume you’re registered if you registered 5 years ago. You’re not. If you don’t check your status before an election or primary there is a good chance you may not be registered. The state canvasses everyone multiple times a year… you don’t return that, you don’t have a vote.

Be sure to vote.

Or go the polls unsure and suffer this: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081104/ap_on_el_pr/voting_problems

"Will there be a chair that I can sit in?"

Tue, 04 Nov 2008 09:17:16 -0500

“Will there be a chair that I can sit in?”

- Cute, Little, Old Lady

Long Morning

Tue, 04 Nov 2008 08:54:15 -0500

LOTS of voters. We’ve had over 4,000 so far and its only 9AM. Yikes… long morning. Lots of people who don’t have voter rights but want to vote.

Be responsible. Register… please.

Technology Versus The Election

Tue, 04 Nov 2008 06:14:57 -0500

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::

Tue, 04 Nov 2008 05:31:49 -0500

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?

Mon, 03 Nov 2008 20:42:38 -0500

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

Mon, 03 Nov 2008 16:56:39 -0500

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:

Know who you are voting for. Sounds simple, but not so much.
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.
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.

CNN Covers The Election

Mon, 03 Nov 2008 16:16:00 -0500

CNN Covers The Election:

We will be watching this all day since it generally has the most accurate results in the Obama and McCain races. Sorry all you other candidates.

The Beginning of the End

Mon, 03 Nov 2008 15:14:15 -0500

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.