Comments on: Thoughts on Election Day

By: A Reader from K.C.

A Reader from K.C. — Wed, 07 Nov 2012 00:43:51 +0000

I voted at about 7:30 this morning. Polling place was at least 10 times busier than I’ve ever seen it. Had to wait in line for over a half hour, when usually there’s maybe two people in line ahead of me. Llary mentioned the mood at his polling place was “palpably upbeat.” Felt the same way at mine….well, I admit to contributing to it somewhat, greeting people I knew and getting people to smile.

Also saw a couple of wheelchairs and walkers; broken glassers for sure.

By: davisbr

davisbr — Wed, 07 Nov 2012 00:10:23 +0000

Crap: here instead. ...the toenails were definitely worried by that.

By: davisbr

davisbr — Wed, 07 Nov 2012 00:08:59 +0000

Google has a kind of cool election map here btw.

It auto-updates every 2 seconds.

…my finger nails are already gone, so I’m eyeing my toenails.

They’re only slightly worried though.

I think because they’re pretty sure at my age the intervening parts aren’t flexible enough to put them in much danger.

I might surprise them though.

By: Curtis

Curtis — Wed, 07 Nov 2012 00:00:00 +0000

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubRiLqAbLk4&feature=related

Pregnant paws

By: southpaw

southpaw — Tue, 06 Nov 2012 23:45:51 +0000

“I find Election Day to be very solemn. Standing in that booth feels portentous, although this time my one little vote seemed so tiny. I waited in the booth–for what, I don’t really know–for quite a few moments before I could tear myself away”
Neo- youve stumbled on the ultimate legal suppress-the-vote tool..
Occupy The Booth 2012. Organized in shifts, republicans feigning ballot befuddlement in hopelessly democratic areas could tie up the dem booths all day.

By: Sam L.

Sam L. — Tue, 06 Nov 2012 23:42:41 +0000

My dad was born in rural Texas 100 years ago. He told me he could remember the first Republican he ever saw. (Somebody pointed him out.)

By: rickl

rickl — Tue, 06 Nov 2012 23:42:12 +0000

carl in atlanta Says:
November 6th, 2012 at 2:23 pm

I’m very nervous as well, particularly because my lefty former (retired) partner has been sending me taunts via email and tel calls for the past two weeks and generally showing a lot of preemptive triumphalism. Not to mention that he got me to bet with him on the outcome. The last email from him – yesterday – was to remind me that we are to meet for lunch on Wed. at the “usual place” (a Tex-Mex) in order to settle up.

He’s been been calling me today to further goad, gloat, strut, preen and taunt me (he knows how much this election means to me), but I haven’t been taking his calls and will not even consider listening to his vm messages.

This is why I want nothing to do with these people.

By: rickl

rickl — Tue, 06 Nov 2012 23:31:31 +0000

I find Election Day to be very solemn. Standing in that booth feels portentous, although this time my one little vote seemed so tiny. I waited in the booth–for what, I don’t really know–for quite a few moments before I could tear myself away.

Me too. That's a big reason why I don't like early voting, voting by mail, or absentee voting. Election Day was traditionally a day when Americans from all walks of life came together to do their civic duty. It was something that tied us together as a society. Anything that encourages people to vote at different times contributes to the atomization of society.

By: parker

parker — Tue, 06 Nov 2012 23:03:43 +0000

The elementary school where I mentor is a polling place. Throughout the day the numbers were obviously greater than 2008 and the voters tended to be older as opposed to a younger set 4 years ago. In the precinct where I vote the lines were much longer than 2008 and 2010. I also noticed that the poll workers were scrutinizing voters more closely than I can remember in all my years of voting. What does this mean in my area? I don’t know. But, I am not nervous, instead I am optimistic.

I agree that this is a watershed election. I will lose a great deal of confidence in my fellow Americans if Obama wins by more than 0.1%. My confidence will grow if Romney wins by 5%.

By: Curtis

Curtis — Tue, 06 Nov 2012 22:59:12 +0000

Ace has two good posts, one on exit polls (worthless) and the other on the real proportion of Republican voters. Did you know that Rasmussen and Gallop found R+1 and R+6 using huge samples? These stats are holding up in early voting reports. Anecdotal evidence exceeds the stats, which is usually the case, still, AtlasShrugs has a great blog on Mitts rally in Pennsylvania last night.

http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/atlas_shrugs/2012/11/romney-rally-in-pennslyvania-enormous-monumental-gigantic-massive.html

I read a good rebuttal of the Nate Silvers 538 model the other day. Basically, Silver’s model (which has influenced the Intrade and other “market” predictions) relies on the state polls, which polls all project higher Obama turnout than is warranted. And this should be no secret, this disconnect between who is expected to vote and the ration used in the polls.