4th & Dragon : Dungeons and Dragons...and stuff

This isn’t a thread about the candidates. They’ve had countless months and even years to build their case.

This isn’t a thread about the parties. They’ve been around for over a hundred years and have been building their platforms for decades.

This isn’t a thread about our positions or policies or hopes for Election Day in the US, save one:

I voted. Have you?

That’s the essence of America. We get a say. Mine came last week during pseudo-early voting. New Jersey has a no-excuses absentee ballot, and this year, the county I’m currently living in has been trying to get out the vote. So last week, I took a ride over to the Voorhees Town Center (a recently-renamed shopping mall) to the Camden County Store. I got there right as the mall opened at 10:00, and was already in the back of a line of at least 30 people wanting to vote early. It was a two-step process: we had to fill out an absentee-ballot application, then wait for the clerks to call out our names and process our applications before we could fill out (and mail) our absentee ballots (Camden County was even good enough to pick up postage).

While I was waiting in line, I sat next to an older gentleman named Joseph. Joseph was in his seventies and was grinning ear-to-ear. He leaned over and asked me if I could make sure to keep an ear out for when they called his name, because he couldn’t hear so well over the growing-crowd. Indeed, by the time we had each finished our applications, there were over 60 people in and out front of the Camden County Store in line to vote. I told him I’d do just that, and we got to talking. Joseph lives a little less than a mile from where I go to school, and he was glad that “kids are voting”. I asked him what he thought of the early voting (even New Jersey’s somewhat round-about method), and his reply was unequivocal. “This is the greatest idea they’ve ever had.” He wants 100% voter turnout every year, and any steps we can take towards that, well, that’s what Joseph wants. Joseph never misses an election. He said he doesn’t want people in Washington and Trenton to forget who they work for.

By the time that Joseph and I were called in to get our absentee ballots to vote, there were probably almost 100 who had either voted or were in line to vote at the Camden County Store. Lots of elderly, plenty of guys in their full Phils regalia (this was Monday, before they’d clinched the World Series). We shook hands after we’d finished and put out ballots in the mailbox in the store, then went our separate ways. I had to cut through Macy’s to get back to my car, then get back to school for my next class.

I’m not going to hold a mini-rally here and tell you how to vote or why I voted the way I did. I have my reasons, and you have yours. DA’s a non-political site, so those sorts of posts don’t belong here.

Consider this just a reminder to get out there and vote. The lines are probably going to be long, almost without precedent. But it’s worth it.

Take it from Joseph: “Everyone should vote.”

I have. How about you?

To quote a sign on a hotel near the UMaine campus:

Bad politicians are sent to Washington by good people who don’t vote.

I don’t care who you vote for, or even if you cast a blank ballot (though a proper write-in would be better), just get out and vote.

I’ve voted, have you?

No I have not. No I won’t be.

My wife and friend are voting for the first time this year.

edit: Cam’s experience is one of a few reasons why I don’t vote.

I almost posted something just like this earlier today.  I voted at 7:30 am, about a half hour after polls opened here.  I started a post and then lost it, so I decided to just leave it as I was sure someone else would do so.

I’m not a fan of absentee ballots.  I know for a fact my last two (2000 and 2004) were both thrown in the trash due to party shenanigans seeking to invalidate military absentees. There was a number to call to ask about ballot status after the initial report came out suggesting that thousands of ballots had literally been tossed in the trash - so I know 100% positive that my votes didn’t count.  As such, I refuse to do early or absentee ballots anymore.

No lines (yet) where I live.

No, I’m 17. I instead volunteered for my candidate and donated funds.

I’ll be voting later today, I didn’t have time before school as my home state has the highest voter turn out in the country. The line was out the door before the poles even opened.
We had 79% turn out of eligible voters in the 2004 election.

I will be participating in the illusion of Democracy later today.  Get out and vote or start an insurrection or something.

We had 79% turn out of eligible voters in the 2004 election.

Maine had 75% that year (IIRC) and is expecting upwards of 80% and maybe as high as 90% this year.  For the first time ever, the state printed and shipped ballots as if they were going to get 100% turnout in order to try and avoid ballot shortages (there were a few in 2004).

Here’s hoping for good turnout everywhere this year.

Yean in Minnesota and Maine we really know how to roll out the vote.
It be interesting to compare the states with the highest voter turn outs and which
parties they tend to vote for.

My wife voted (absentee in Wyoming), I’d like to but Im not even sure if Im still registered…

I’m not voting… wait, I’m not even American Sure, we actually had an election here not long ago. I didn’t vote either, though (I was travelling, and we sorta don’t have absentee ballots here).

Voted this year, and have every election since I became eligible (not telling how many that is).

For me, it’s not about whether or not my one vote will put anyone over the top.  Nor is it about some mythical “right to complain” that voting is supposed to gain you.

Voting is a civic duty.  It is a responsibility of all citizens to get informed and then to cast your vote.  I fear that there are far too many Americans today who are caught up in what their RIGHTS are, but forget about their RESPONSIBILITIES.  When I hear about low voter turnout, it just plain depresses me.

Got in line at 530am this morning.  By the time the doors opened, the line was three blocks long.  Been voting there for 10 years and I’ve never seen the line go to the end of the block let alone three. 

to quote Craig Ferguson (late night tv host) who became a U.S. Citizen recently. 

“Listen… I’m an American, this country is at war right now. Americans in foreign lands wearing the uniform representing this country are losing their lives.  Americans here in this country are losing their homes.  We have 2 patriotic candidates they both love this country.  They each have their own ideas about what to do with it. Learn about them, read about them, question them, listen to them.  Then on election day excerise your sacred right as an American… And listen to yourself.”

And that’s why I vote.

I am a Canadian, and we had our federal election on October 14 last month.
I did vote.
Unfortunately, 40.1% of my country did not.
This election had the lowest voter turnout (by % of registered voters) in the history of the country at 59.1%.

Same here i am canadian and i had to vote in october and if i am lucky again in december since our prime misnister is talking about going on election just before xmas,is that just great?! Not really… hehe

But yeah go vote!

Andorax, I completely agree with you.  There are responsibilities as an American.  To vote?  Not too sure on that one, as I have not yet voted in my adult life.  I was planning on it this year, but I found out that apparently you have to re-register.  I initially registered in 2000.  Guess Im a bit out of tolerance.

I think that I fulfill many responsibilities and obligations that as Americans we should fulfill, otherwise.

But I’ll finish it up…

My Wife voted… have you?