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  • Precinct experiences

    Let's have a thread that's got no politics at all, just your description of the act of exercising your choices, and let's make it Hawai'i voters only. All you mainlanders, please observe with interest, but let's keep this one for just the physical experience of voting in Hawai'i this time around, okay?

    Who's voted early? Any sense of the who and why of your fellow line-standers? Was it just to avoid lines (smell the irony) on Tuesday? Young, old, in-between?

    I'll be heading for my usual polling place in Pearlridge tomorrow. My Mom voted absentee. How about you?
    Last edited by Linkmeister; November 1, 2004, 01:38 PM. Reason: Clarity, bruddah!
    http://www.linkmeister.com/wordpress/

  • #2
    Re: Precinct experiences

    While I miss the voting booth, the last few elections I've voted absentee. At first it was usually due to neccessity - I was out of the country on Election Day (and watching the 2000 election from Asia was pretty surreal). Now I do it for convenience... and for the tangible product (a marked paper ballot). It just feels better.

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    • #3
      Re: Precinct experiences

      I've always voted in person. I like the feeling of physically showing up and casting my ballot. (No touchscreens for me, give me a paper ballot and a pencil.) I also like that when you go to your polling place, you get to meet all your neighbors, and you can look over the lists of registered voters posted on the wall. It gives me a sense of connectedness with my local community.

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      • #4
        Re: Precinct experiences

        I will try to get up early on Tuesday to go to vote, I hope the line there will flow fast.

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        • #5
          Re: Precinct experiences

          Got up around 6:00 am this morning, which is early by my standards, got to the polling place around 6:45 am or so. I thought the polls opened at 6am, found out it's at 7am and there is around 25 people before me. Smaller lines to pick up the ballot, lines to mark your ballot and lines to cast your ballot to the machine.

          Small wait times, I was out of there by 7:30 or so.

          There was only one machine that took electronic voting, otherwise the default method of voting was marking the paper.

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          • #6
            Re: Precinct experiences

            Originally posted by helen
            I thought the polls opened at 6am, found out it's at 7am and there is around 25 people before me.
            That's good to hear. NPR had a potpourri of observations from polling places across the country, and I was heartened to hear that, by noon, many had seen turnout that exceeded the total turnout seen in the primary. I think nationwide estimates of 130 million voters (versus 105 million last time) are incredibly optimistic, but you never know.

            I might not agree with the outcome of the election, but I'll feel better about any election with decent turnout. As the New York Times smirkingly noted in its coverage of the Cheney visit, Hawaii ranks at the bottom nationally for voter turnout - less than 44 percent. I hope we beat that mark by a wide margin today.

            So far, no "breaking news" updates from either daily newspaper on the scene at local polling places today. KHON was on the scene in Manoa, at least...

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            • #7
              Re: Precinct experiences

              I voted on Saturday at City Hall. The line was quite long at 2:40 in the afternoon. Of course this was like 90 minutes before the polls closed for good for walk-in absentee balloting.

              Most polling places are at schools or other social centers. One of the comments I got about the city hall voting place is that the building is beautiful, which I will agree.

              I later read in the paper that the absentee voting line was quite long all day on Saturday.

              It would seem that there will be more people voting in the General this month vs. the poorly attended primary election in September.

              BTW, I used the paper ballot for both elections. I ain't trusting my vote to Microsoft.
              Last edited by mel; November 2, 2004, 08:09 AM. Reason: added
              I'm still here. Are you?

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              • #8
                Re: Precinct experiences

                Went to my polling place already. There wasn't a line when I went in, although by the time I was finished, half a dozen people were waiting. It was the usual early morning voting crowd, mostly old folks. Where's the youth vote everyone was talking about, anyway?

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                • #9
                  Re: Precinct experiences

                  Youth vote? They probably went to the beach. It's a day off you know.
                  I'm still here. Are you?

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                  • #10
                    Re: Precinct experiences

                    I originally set my alarm to wake me at 7:44 am this morning but after only 5 hours of sleep I got up early than expected and I figured I should vote first and then worry about doing the National Novel Writing Month for the rest of the day.

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                    • #11
                      Re: Precinct experiences

                      I was so damned nervous I woke up at 6:15 a.m. and couldn't go back to sleep.

                      I got down to my polling place at 10:45 a.m. I had the 517th ballot to go through the scanner; no way of knowing how many people had used the touch-screen machine. There was no one using it while I was there.

                      Poll workers said it had been busy this morning during the rush hour, but it had slowed down ("nice break," one said) since then. I have no way of knowing, but judging from the computer printouts posted on the walls outside, I'd guess there are about 2,500 voters in the precinct, so I was in the first 20% on site. There are also those who voted early/absentee, of course.
                      http://www.linkmeister.com/wordpress/

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                      • #12
                        Re: Precinct experiences

                        Even though I voted absentee, my mom didn't, so I joined her after work to see democracy in action at the Mililani High School cafeteria.



                        Traffic from town was bad, so we didn't roll up until 5:30 - only half an hour to spare, and my mom left downtown at 4 p.m.! Lots of other people were just starting to arrive as well, but for us at least there were no lines. I do wonder if the island's far-from-town polling places stayed open a little late, though. Otherwise, I think a lot of working people unexpectedly missed their chance!

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                        • #13
                          Re: Precinct experiences

                          One thing for sure about the general election, more of the electorate came out and voted. According to the 4:54 AM printout today for the entire state, the following stats are listed:

                          647,238 registered voters

                          431,638 came out to vote or 66.7% statewide

                          of which:


                          133,782 or 20.7% were absentee

                          and

                          297,856 or 46.0% actually came out to a precinct polling place to vote.

                          459 ballots came in from overseas.


                          Conclusion: While absentee and early balloting seem to be popular, most people still opt to vote at their traditional places on the traditional election day.

                          I trust that everyone here (espcially all those who participate in the political topics) cast their vote.
                          Last edited by mel; November 3, 2004, 05:57 AM. Reason: added URL link
                          I'm still here. Are you?

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                          • #14
                            Re: Precinct experiences

                            Originally posted by pzarquon
                            I do wonder if the island's far-from-town polling places stayed open a little late, though. Otherwise, I think a lot of working people unexpectedly missed their chance!
                            Those people who are in line at the 6 o clock poll closing time are by law eligible to vote in that election despite the poll place closing at that time. Also working people have the right to take 2 hours off from work in order to facilitate their voting right.
                            I'm still here. Are you?

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                            • #15
                              Re: Precinct experiences

                              There are a couple of nice first-person election day posts over at Metroblogging Hawaii. Mitchell (our scrivener) wrote up his experiences working the polls at Sunset Beach Elementary School:
                              When the power went out at 1:30, turning out the overheard lights and ceiling fans, everyone in the precinct whispered, "Conspiracy! Sabotage!" I was more concerned about whether the electronic voting machine and electric ballot-counter would function. It turns out they have auxiliary power and could have run eleven hours with no AC, or so they claim. We were only in the dark for a couple of hours, but it was a long, hot couple of hours.

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