One million Americans have already cast 2020 vote in ‘historic’ early voting surge

About the only time I ever became angry in class when I used to teach politics, occurred one year, an election year, when some sullen teenagers, bored and alienated, (yet studying politics by choice at university) yawned at me, drawling, in a languid tone that was also a sullen moan, something to the effect that, as that "they're all the same", why should they bother voting?

Of course, as this election should make all too abundantly - and depressingly - clear, firstly, they are most certainly not "all the same", - and, most of the time, they never were, - and secondly, the right to vote was hard fought for and hard won (especially for women, people of colour, those from social classes that were less advantaged or privileged in terms of access to privilege, power, education, life choices, economic opportunity), and that, for most of recorded history, most men and almost all women had little to no say in choosing who was to govern them and have such a say - and such control - over their lives, the direction of their lives, their life choices (if any), and, that not to avail of this opportunity to vote, not to exercise this right, is not only grossly and grotesquely irresponsible, intellectually lazy, and a complete cop-out as a citizen, but it also allows those who may seek unscrupulously to curtail your rights, limit your lives, and control your choices, all the more political room (and opportunity) in which to do so.
 
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I’ve had this app on my phone for at least a couple of years now. You have no idea how much joy it gives me to see that DAYS number drop to single digits. 🙂

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Clix Pix said:
Happy and proud here to be able to announce that this afternoon I went to the satellite early voting location (the local branch of the county public library) and cast my vote! I joined about one hundred or so of my fellow citizens in this electoral district standing in line around the exterior perimeters of the library building, and all of us were masked as well as trying to be careful to maintain appropriate social distance. The line moved along fairly smoothly and more people kept coming in at the end as those of us already there kept moving forward. It was a gorgeous afternoon, so no problem standing around for about an hour and a half outdoors! I played with my iPad for a while and from time to time gazed around at my fellow citizens as we were moving forward, from the rear of the building to in front of it at last, then let into the lobby two-by-two and in that area went through the initial careful procedures set up to both accommodate the voting requirements and the COVID-19 precautions and procedures before proceeding to the library's large meeting room where there were a few more verification steps before then being handed the actual ballot. There were both tables at which one could sit and booths at which one could stand in order to read and fill in the appropriate tabs beside each name/category with either a blue or black pen. I used my own pen rather than one of theirs. Sticking the document into the scanner was the final step and, "Congratulations! You have voted!" came up on the screen. Big smile here! :). Did my part to hammer another little nail into the "coffin" representing the end of the Orange Man's unreal, totally mind-boggling presence in the White House, hopefully putting an end to what we, the American people, have painfully endured for the past four years.

They had curbside voting available for the disabled and elderly who couldn't have stood in line, and they also had a ballot drop box available outside the library (with an attendant) for those who had filled out their absentee/early ballot at home and who had brought it to the site. Plenty of staff around to make sure all procedures were followed correctly and to answer any questions or concerns someone might have. This is a highly multicultural area so ballots were available in various languages, as needed, as were the instructions on sheets handed out ahead of time to those who wanted to review the sample ballots before going into the voting area. All seemed to be working smoothly and efficiently, which of course is extremely important.

After I voted, although when I first arrived, before getting in line I had already dropped the book I was returning into the book drop on the exterior of the building, I still just had to go in to the library proper afterwards -- the lure of a library is just irresistible to me -- and although I've still got several books at home to read, I picked out a couple more.

I miss those cool "I Voted!" stickers we used to get, so I'm happy to have the digital version on here! :)
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There was also curbside voting for disabled in Harris County, Texas (Houston).

Word has it that the GOP hates voting convenience because they think it helps their side? Besides being a disgusting notion, unpatriotic and undemocratic convenience helps their side too. I think they started with their theory that “poor people” as a rule don’t have picture ID, which pisses me the hell off. In Texas, I have a voter registration card which used to be all that was required. Then the GOP took the idea of voter suppression and ran with it, trying to expand it into area that without doubt effect their side too. The most blatantly disgusting self serving argument is Rump’s, that basically only Red states can be trusted with mail in voting. Yeah, sure, if your a cheating crook running as a Republican...

If the government had their heads on straight, there would be some form of a Federal Voter oversight sight to tie in the 50 State Vote Management (The latter handle respective States based on voter roles) and then voting would enter the modern age.

There are fears about hacking, but we trust our money to online banks, so I don’t see this as a big issue. Just use state of the art security.
 
I can’t imagine what the lines will be like on Election Day, or when the polling places will actually be able to close.

This has definitely encouraged me to go vote absentee on Monday.
 
Alli said:
I can’t imagine what the lines will be like on Election Day, or when the polling places will actually be able to close.

This has definitely encouraged me to go vote absentee on Monday.
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The rule that every election I have observed across three continents in a quarter of a century has, (including those that I have supervised - a different mandate, as you have an executive mandate as a supervisor, i.e. you run the election jointly with the local authorities of the country in question and sign off on all of the relevant paperwork) or is: Everyone who is still standing in line when the polls close, gets to cast a ballot.
 
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Scepticalscribe said:
The rule that every election I have observed across three continents in a quarter of a century has, (including those that I have supervised - a different mandate, as you have an executive mandate as a supervisor, i.e. you run the election jointly with the local authorities of the country in question and sign off on all of the relevant paperwork) or is: Everyone who is still standing in line when the polls close, gets to cast a ballot.
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Can you imagine that the polling place is supposed to close at 8 and at 7:55 there are still 300 people waiting in line outside the building?
 
Alli said:
Can you imagine that the polling place is supposed to close at 8 and at 7:55 there are still 300 people waiting in line outside the building?
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The rule that I have seen put into practice (in places such as Bosnia, and Kosovo, where large numbers were queuing and voting all day, including at closing time) was that all those in line at the time that the station closed were supposed to be allowed to vote. A member of the precinct staff was nominated (with security, if necessary) to go to the end of the line and mark that off - for nobody was allowed to join after that last person in the line at the formal closing time.

Now, while I have seen dozens and dozens of people in line at such times, I have never seen anything remotely approaching around 300; but, in those polling stations, voting would proceed until the last person in that line had cast a ballot, which meant that the station would not have actually finished accepting voters for the best part of an hour after polls were supposed to have closed.
 
Family and good friends took advantage of the 1st day of early voting here in NYS. My twin and his wife braved the lines for two hours and 44 minutes. He really should've used an absentee ballot as a cancer survivor with a compromised system, but he doesn't trust the election officials in his town/county.

One friend in the Bronx took 2-1/2 hours to vote. She said that was by far the longest time she's ever waited on line to vote.

A FB friend waited nearly three hours to vote and recorded his experience in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn. Elderly residents offered water, chairs, and snacks to those on line that wrapped around the building more than three times.

And a friend and former co-worker was up early to vote on conservative Staten Island. She said she didn't mind the 3+ hours as she's been waiting for this day since November 2016.

I can't imagine the horrors to come on November 3rd. I've only worked one election as a poll worker where we had to monitor the line after the 9 p.m. closing time. We had maybe 20/25 still on line. That was the election with a two-page ballot tear sheet during a rainy day that caused so many jams in the scanners. I heard about the extremely long lines in 2012 and how workers didn't get out till nearly midnight. I imagine that it's possible that they will leave after midnight this year. I already hated getting home after 11 p.m. four years ago. COVID-19 was the final straw for me to quit as a poll worker. That and the lack of communication from the Board of Elections about protective measures and enhanced training for us. They were practically begging me to complete my annual training by this past Monday. With my household of elderly in-laws, I'm not willing to chance it for what is essentially minimum pay at best. I did like assisting voters and making democracy works. But it's just not worth the headache and potential sickness.
 
Alli said:
I can’t imagine what the lines will be like on Election Day, or when the polling places will actually be able to close.

This has definitely encouraged me to go vote absentee on Monday.
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If I learned a lesson this year, if the time frame is 2 week early voting, wait a week and the crowds will thin down, at least that is the trend in my neighborhood.
 
The first week we had early voting here in Virginia, it was only available at our main county administration building, and the lines were very long....once the satellite locations opened up about a week or ten days later, again they were all very busy their first week, and especially the first two or three days. (I was part of that crowd on Day 2 at my local satellite polling place, with long lines, lots of people throughout the day. I was in line about an hour and half, or just under, prior to being let into the building to actually cast my ballot). The next week -- the week just past -- when I drove past the library enroute somewhere else, I glanced over and saw that while there was still a line and the parking lot was full, that there didn't seem to be as many people and the line didn't wrap around the entire building. Not sure when the final day for absentee/early voting is, but presumably some time this coming week since the week after next will be the election.
 
Voters here in NYC cast more than 93K ballots for the first day of early voting. My friend on Staten Island says that most of the people talking on line were planning to vote for Biden-Harris. And tons of younger voters. I think polls may be undercounting younger voters. Amy Siskind brought up this point last week.

Dem voters still need to send in their ballots, early vote and encourage family members and friends to vote as I still see The Mango Turd and the his minions/The GOP attempting to steal this election.
 
ronntaylor said:
Voters here in NYC cast more than 93K ballots for the first day of early voting. My friend on Staten Island says that most of the people talking on line were planning to vote for Biden-Harris. And tons of younger voters. I think polls may be undercounting younger voters. Amy Siskind brought up this point last week.

Dem voters still need to send in their ballots, early vote and encourage family members and friends to vote as I still see The Mango Turd and the his minions/The GOP attempting to steal this election.
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I have that suspicion too... If you think about it, voters ≤20y have a statistically much lower chance to make it in polling registries, so polling companies could only get away with this because they were also much less likely to vote. That said now that most college students are studying from home and aren't distracted by campus life, I suspect them to be a new significant demographic.
 
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