I voted today!

"WilliamsSW" (williamssw)
11/01/2018 at 15:25 • Filed to: vote

Voting early is a snap here in Illinois - open fairly long hours for two weeks before the election, and the early polling place was only 10 minutes from home.

Whatever your political preferences, do your homework on the candidates and VOTE!

DISCUSSION (31)

Textured Soy Protein > WilliamsSW
11/01/2018 at 15:33

My wife was all gung ho about voting early here in MD but I wasn’t sure if it was going to a polling place or an absentee ballot. I did n’t want to fuck with absentee and have been busy with other things so I didn’t research it further. But I just did now, and there’s an actual early voting place, and today’s the last day to do it. Oh well, guess we’ll go on election day!

RPM esq. > WilliamsSW
11/01/2018 at 15:35

Since Washington went all vote-by-mail, there is essentially no excuse not to vote here . I voted on October 22nd while sitting at my dining room table with a cup of coffee, paging through the voter’s pamphlet to research the candidates and initiatives.

WilliamsSW > Textured Soy Protein
11/01/2018 at 15:35

Hey - as long as you do it, it doesn’t matter!

This was just a bit more convenient for me than next Tuesday - I’m traveling Monday, and will be pretty tired Tuesday, if I make it home at all.

WilliamsSW > RPM esq.
11/01/2018 at 15:36

It’s really nice to be able to do that - I always do my research, then write down all of my choices and take that into the voting booth. Considering how much I hate taking notes, I’d rather do it your way.

Tripper > WilliamsSW
11/01/2018 at 15:37

I thought about voting early, but w e’ve always gone as a family before I could even vote. So in the name of tradition we’ll inconveniently go to the polls on election day.

WilliamsSW > Tripper
11/01/2018 at 15:39

That’s a pretty nice tradition, though. With the kiddos I presume?

RPM esq. > WilliamsSW
11/01/2018 at 15:48

This is my kid’s first election as a voter , so I also wanted to be a good example of voting thoughtfully even though I had a pretty good idea of who I was going to vote for already .

And then, for a bunch of judicial elections where sitting judges are running unopposed, we each wrote in some lawyers we like, so now he knows how to protest vote too.

Tripper > WilliamsSW
11/01/2018 at 15:56

Yep well take the munchkin with us. She is a super chill baby, we take her everywhere except the movies, haha.

WilliamsSW > Tripper
11/01/2018 at 15:59

Nice! Enjoy it now - it’s arguably easier before they start walking. Mine is 2 now, and has a mind of his own...

Spanfeller is a twat > WilliamsSW
11/01/2018 at 16:06

I wish I could vote early or by mail. I had to line up for like an hour on a Sunday morning!

ttyymmnn > WilliamsSW
11/01/2018 at 16:08

I voted yesterday. And I voted for all the best candidates.

WilliamsSW > ttyymmnn
11/01/2018 at 16:12

Today was the first time in my life that I voted straight ticket.

ttyymmnn > WilliamsSW
11/01/2018 at 16:13

I’ve done that for years, honestly. Are you going to vote again? I thought the motto in Chicago was, “Vote early and vote often!”

ttyymmnn > WilliamsSW
11/01/2018 at 16:14

And the other motto for Illinois politics: “We don’t tolerate corrupt politicians. We demand them!”

WilliamsSW > ttyymmnn
11/01/2018 at 16:15

Yeah - we have no real preference for Democrats or Republicans in the Governor’s office- we imprison both!

WilliamsSW > ttyymmnn
11/01/2018 at 16:17

I’m enough of a centrist that I’ve always found candidates that I like (and hate) on both sides of the aisle, up until now . And in fact, I voted in the primary a few months ago - for the party that I just voted against today.

WilliamsSW > RPM esq.
11/01/2018 at 16:22

In Illinois, we get a bunch of judges on the ballot where you are only voting whether or not to retain them - by law (they’re not ‘unopposed’, per se).

Some years, there are 30 or so on the ballot (coincides with the Presidential election, I think). Today there was only 5 or so.

WilliamsSW > Spanfeller is a twat
11/01/2018 at 16:24

That stinks - my usual polling place is literally 2 doors down from home. I’m usually in and out in 20 minutes or so. In November 2016, it took a bit longer because I went during the morning rush before work, but still maybe 30 minutes tops.

On the other hand, we always vote on Tuesday - which is stupid to me. At least Sunday is a day off for most, so hopefully it leads to a better turnout.

Spanfeller is a twat > WilliamsSW
11/01/2018 at 16:34

Well... ours is at 65% of possible voters, goes down to around 48% on midterms.

Granted, our elections are federally sponsored... and we all need voter IDs. To get a voter ID you need three documents:

Birth certificate (or naturalization cert if you’re a foreign born citizen)

Valid photo ID (but I could use something like my university ID so it’s not a big requirement)

The very tough one is a proof of residency (so like a utility bill) but in order to not disenfranchise native american voters there’s a go around by using two witnesses that declare you live in the state/municipality in question.

Getting a federal voter card isn’t very hard, faking these documents is a felony, and they serve as an official ID anyway. But it doesn’t mean many people don’t remain disenfranchised. We have a long way to go.

Voting on sunday is certainly good, but I’d rather see

Tripper > WilliamsSW
11/01/2018 at 16:37

Definitely easier before they’re mobile. She’s 4 months. Most of my friends kids are between 1-5. Even the ones that are well behaved, you can’t take your eyes off them.

WilliamsSW > Tripper
11/01/2018 at 16:42

Yeah, right now, if you walk away from her for a couple of minutes, she’s going to stay right where you left her.

Mine might be in the same spot, or possibly the next county over.

WilliamsSW > Spanfeller is a twat
11/01/2018 at 16:46

We were at 55% in the last Presidential election, so you’re doing a little better than us, at least. Hopefully you don’t have 1 party actively working to minimize turnout like we do here...

Highlander-Datsuns are Forever > WilliamsSW
11/01/2018 at 16:48

I voted last week. Other than the senatorial and house race in MT our election was very boring this year. I’m getting mailers up the wazoo tho. I can’t sort through the wheat from the chafe when I get the mail.

Spanfeller is a twat > WilliamsSW
11/01/2018 at 16:48

Well.... we don’t yet, but if the airport referendum is anything to go by, we do have a party looking to undermine electoral laws.

RickSanchez:Fury Road Edition aka Junkrat > WilliamsSW
11/01/2018 at 17:04

I voted on Tuesday.

Galileo Humpkins (aka MC Clap Yo Handz) > WilliamsSW
11/01/2018 at 18:00

Good for you! We went and voted this past Saturday at the library down the street. I was surprised at the hours for early voting - Illinois really does make it easy (in most places anyway).

WilliamsSW > Highlander-Datsuns are Forever
11/01/2018 at 18:06

The mailers are all attack ads here too. I throw them all away unread.

Wuelling > WilliamsSW
11/01/2018 at 20:21

From IL as well, I’ve never felt worse about the Governor race, both guys are a joke

WilliamsSW > Wuelling
11/01/2018 at 22:30

Seriously. Billionaires don’t live in the real world, and don’t belong in government. And here we have two of them competing for Governor.

But then again, we’re used to having bad candidates for governor from both parties here.

MiniGTI - now with XJ6 > WilliamsSW
11/01/2018 at 23:00

Our place is pretty close. Hoping to go tomorrow or Saturday.

Wuelling > WilliamsSW
11/02/2018 at 18:36

So true,