Did you vote early?

[glossyp]

I voted yesterday and when I exited the polling area I noticed a lady I recognized. I went over to say hello and she told me she was there counting the number of people voting. She said that yesterday was the busiest thus far with nearly 400 people by 1pm. I'm curious to see how many of us have voted already.

[Linkmeister]

Re: Did you vote early?

Great minds! See my post called "early voting" submitted 2 minutes after you wrote this one!

Admin, you wanna delete mine?

Copied from my thread:

We have a lot of company coming on Saturday, so I went down to the satellite city hall at Pearlridge today and voted. It was painless; fill out a form (name, address, SocSec nbr, phones), exchange it for a ballot, then walk over to the usual booth. Finish up, go pass it through the scanner and walk away.

A couple of odd things, though: 1) I was assigned a scanner to use (there were about 8), which I don't remember from election day voting (although come to think of it, I don't think there's more than one of the scanners at my usual polling place), and 2) because my district's BOE seat isn't up for election this time (staggered terms), my ballot had the three at-large seats on it, but it also had the contest for the Windward BOE district on it. I asked why but got no good answer.

It doesn't make sense to me that I can vote for the Windward seat, since I don't live in that district.

[Pua'i Mana'o]

Re: Did you vote early?

It is a family field trip to head over to the local school cafeteria and vote on Election Day. We love it!

[glossyp]

Re: Did you vote early?

Great minds! See my post called "early voting" submitted 2 minutes after you wrote this one!

Admin, you wanna combine the two?

Great minds indeed...I think

[Leo Lakio]

Re: Did you vote early?

Yes, I have voted...in this poll.

[Adri]

Re: Did you vote early?

I like absentee voting, just to be sure I can really review the ballot and vote carefully and in comfort.

[Miulang]

Re: Did you vote early?

Yes, I have voted...in this poll.

I wish they would do away with that stupid closed primary rule. I'll be damned if I'm gonna be classified as either Republican or Democrat! I like the idea of doing away with primaries and letting the parties decide which candidates best meet the criteria of each party's platform in their state caucuses. Either that, or keep it wide open in the primaries...anybody can vote for any candidate, regardless of party affiliation.

Miulang

[Palolo Joe]

Re: Did you vote early?

I wish they would do away with that stupid closed primary rule. I'll be damned if I'm gonna be classified as either Republican or Democrat! I like the idea of doing away with primaries and letting the parties decide which candidates best meet the criteria of each party's platform in their state caucuses. Either that, or keep it wide open in the primaries...anybody can vote for any candidate, regardless of party affiliation.

And your rant has exactly what to do with voting early in the state of Hawaii?

[Miulang]

Re: Did you vote early?

And your rant has exactly what to do with voting early in the state of Hawaii?

That's what you have to do in your primary too, from what I understand.

Miulang

[Palolo Joe]

Re: Did you vote early?

That's what you have to do in your primary too, from what I understand.

Pretty weak link to justify padding your post count.

[helen]

Re: Did you vote early?

I wish they would do away with that stupid closed primary rule. I'll be damned if I'm gonna be classified as either Republican or Democrat! I like the idea of doing away with primaries and letting the parties decide which candidates best meet the criteria of each party's platform in their state caucuses. Either that, or keep it wide open in the primaries...anybody can vote for any candidate, regardless of party affiliation.

Are you talking about how the State of Washington does their primaries or how primaries are handled in the State of Hawaii?

[scrivener]

Re: Did you vote early?

I voted this afternoon, since I'll be working the polls again this Saturday.

I like the primaries the way they are -- nobody has to know which party's ballot I'm voting on, and I want the freedom, without having to pay party dues, to vote for whichever party most appeals to me in a given year.

Surprise! I voted in the Libertarian primary.

[Leo Lakio]

Re: Did you vote early?

Are you talking about how the State of Washington does their primaries or how primaries are handled in the State of Hawaii?

In Washington, the "open" primary option was tossed out by the courts not too long ago, so we are now forced to declare one party or another, in order to have our votes count in partisan races. Does Hawai`i have a similar requirement?

[Miulang]

Re: Did you vote early?

Are you talking about how the State of Washington does their primaries or how primaries are handled in the State of Hawaii?

The way primaries are handled in WA and Hawai'i is the same. You have to pick a party ballot to vote for offices that have political parties associated with them. And in both states, I think the rules should be changed because in the case of the Hawai'i Senate runoffs, you have 2 Democrats and the possibility of crossover voting from Republicans (at least the not-party line ones) skewing the true outcome. What would happen if Republicans crossed party lines, picked up a Democratic ballot and voted for the weaker of the 2 candidates, just to ensure that their Republican candidate would have a better chance in the general election?

This time around in WA, it didn't really matter because the incumbents all won handily over their opponents. I think the outcome in Democratic Senate runoffs in Hawaii this year is going to be very close, and if Case wins, what will the Hawai'i Democratic Party do with someone who doesn't agree with the Party's platform? One argument that has been posited by people opposed to primary elections in general is that the party caucuses should be the ones who should bear the expense of figuring out which candidate (if there is more than one from a party) should be supported by the party, because primaries also can cost lots of money, not just for the politicians, but also for the State in the form on holding elections (paying for poll workers, etc.). So if this was the scheme that was followed, if Akaka was the one who was endorsed by the Hawaii Democratic Party, Case would either have to run as an Independent or a write in vote.

Personally, I don't want the State or either political party to know what party I am inclined to favor, since I tend to vote my conscience and not by party line.

Miulang

P.S. I learned something about the different types of primary elections tonight in this Wiki definition: what Hawai'i and Washington now have is called an "open" primary. In a "closed" primary, only registered voters of a party can vote for candidates of that party (like what would happen in a caucus). In an "open" primary, you don't have to be a registered party member but you have to choose to vote for candidates of one party. What WA used to have was called a "blanket" or "Louisiana style" primary where you could vote for any candidate from any party, but you could only vote for one (just like in a general election).

[helen]

Re: Did you vote early?

For the primary election you are supposed to vote for just the candiates in one party and whatever non-partisan races they are (like the mayor and county council) at the time.

During the days of the keypunch ballot, you would be given ballot cards for each of the politcal parties and the non-partisan races. You pick the party you want, vote for the candiates in that party and the non-partisan races.

When you done voting you toss the unused ballots in one place and place the valid ballots in another place.

With the balloting system we have now, everything is on one sheet of paper that gets scanned in to a machine but that paper is in sections. One section is all the Democrats, another section is all the Republican, another section is Libertarian, another section is Green, another section is the independents and then of course the non-partisan races. You just vote in one section and the non-partisan races.

If one attempts to vote two or more sections, the ballot gets spoiled. I don't know if the voter will be notified when they submit their ballot to the machine or not.

Maybe a long time ago Hawaii used to ask your party afflication at the polls but for as long as I have been voting in the City&County of Honolulu (which dates back to 1984) they never asked that at the polling place.