***Early Voting Thread*** Tell your story!

[mnhtnbb]

Early Voting started here in North Carolina today.

I am having surgery next Monday--a hip replacement--so I am not going to want to get in the car to go vote on November 6th.

All I had to do was walk 3 blocks to the Wake County Board of Elections office in downtown Raleigh from my apartment. No waiting at 11 am. My paper ballot was read as #250 when I put it in the counting machine.

It was a LONG both sides ballot. Republicans did away with one party straight ticket voting several years ago. So it took about 10 minutes to ink in the oval for each choice. And then there were several referendums (referenda for the Latin purists) dealing with Constitutional amendments on the back, along with several bond issues. The Republicans are trying to generate changes to the NC Constitution to require voter ID, put a ceiling on the state income tax, mess with the filling of judicial appointments, mess with the Bipartisan Board of Ethics and Elections Enforcement, along with several other issues.

When I left, I told a Democratic Party worker on the street corner "voted straight ticket" and she gave me a high five.

It felt good to vote in my new county. When I moved from very blue Chapel Hill in Orange County (NC) to Wake County last spring, I brought one more blue vote to Raleigh.

[Solly Mack]

1. Hope all goes well with your surgery and recovery.

Mail-in ballot here. Been done did it.

[mnhtnbb]

7. Thanks.

I am somewhat hopeful that we'll see a shift in NC. The Republicans have gerrymandered the state to the extreme and been told numerous times by the Supreme Court to fix it and they just drag their damn feet. They are such cheats and liars.

[Solly Mack]

8. Yes. I've been keeping up with the GOP BS going on there.

NC is one of the states were are looking at for a job transfer. Thought it might be fun to be closer to you and Mira.

Unfortunately, Texas (Austin) is also on the list. That's too far in the other direction.

[mnhtnbb]

16. Yes, yes!

Come here!

If you come for a look/see, let me know. Would love to get together.

[redstatebluegirl]

2. Good for you and take good care of yourself!

[bullimiami]

3. Charlotte. Walked from work over to library.

In and out.

And of course. Ds all the way down.

[trueblue2007]

4. good job and take care

[MontanaMama]

5. Filled out my ballot on Monday...

chased my spouse around with his ballot until he completed it yesterday and went to the early voting office here in town to hand deliver both ballots. I'm happy to report that the office was bustling with folks voting and the drop box where I put our ballots was chock full. Feels really good to have it done. It is on the staff meeting agenda at our business that as is tradition, employees can stay on the clock to go vote and once they've all voted, I will take them to lunch. Is that bribery?

[Arkansas Granny]

6. Early voting starts Monday in Arkansas.

[luvs2sing]

9. I voted a week ago..

On the first day for early voting here in Ohio. Our BOE has a large parking lot in front, and you have to make it from the lot to the door while being chased by volunteers from both sides. This year, the repubs were especially aggressive, but I was loaded for bear. Maybe I’m getting old and feisty, I don’t know, but I had no sooner gotten out of my car than a kid young enough to be my grandson wearing a t-shirt with a repub name on it was in front of me, pushes a sample ballot toward me and says, “May I give you one of these?”, and I kinda snapped. I replied, “No, you may not! I do not support criminals or rapists and, quite frankly, neither should you! Shame on you!” He looked down and started to walk away, and an equally young man approached me and said, “I think I can help you”, and handed me a Democratic ballot.

Once inside, it was the usual Columbus voting experience. Everyone was very pleasant, friendly, and helpful and, despite the fact that it was quite busy, I was in and out in less than fifteen minutes. It’s always a pleasure to vote here.

I hope your surgery goes well and your recovery is smooth!

[Tiggeroshii]

10. VBM in california

Voted the same day it arrived

[lamp_shade]

11. Mailed in my ballot a week ago. I just checked... it was received.

Now I can only hope that it gets counted.

[JimGinPA]

12. I Voted Yesterday

I'm an election judge so I have to either vote by mail or go to the courthouse to vote early. I went to the courthouse after lunch and there was only one person ahead of me. Not only was it quick and easy but someone had pulled out while I was looking for a parking spot and there was still time on their meter.

[mnhtnbb]

15. At the downtown Raleigh State BOE office, there was drive up voting!

Several spaces at the curb were marked off with orange cones and there was someone outside attending the spots.

Parking is always a hassle downtown. One reason I love being able to walk everywhere (I stopped at the library one block away on my way back to my apartment). And I'll like it even more after my hip gets fixed!

I used to see drive up voting at my precinct in Chapel Hill on Election Day, but I wasn't aware there was the drive up option during early voting--at least at the places where I early voted.

[JimGinPA]

17. I Moved Back To Illinois Two Years Ago

For the last 35 years I lived in PA and there was no early voting, outside of absentee ballots. Off years weren't too bad but presidential elections always meant waiting in line.

By the way, good luck with your hip. I know a few people who've had it done and it seems like after the healing process is finished they were as good as new. One guy I knew had to have his hip replaced in his 40's. I used to play tennis with the guy and I couldn't believe the way he could get around the court.

[mnhtnbb]

18. Thanks.

I had my first hip replaced 11 years ago. Knee replacement on the other leg a year ago. I kept saying, but my leg still hurts. Everyone told me, the knee is different, give it a year. At my one year visit I was still limping, still pain. Surgeon says, hmm, we'd better get a film of your hip. No wonder, that hip (same leg as knee replacement) bone on bone and in fact, bone was chipping away. No wonder the leg still hurt! That hip was fine when they diagnosed the knee, but it had deteriorated to bone on bone in a matter of 18 months.

When I had my first hip done, it totally fixed the pain problem and had no more trouble on that leg.
I am hopeful this will fix the problem.

[Hortensis]

13. Posted yesterday from polling place: Second-day early voting

in our blood red district in Georgia. The line was unbelievable for early voting. Second day, also. About half as long as the 2-hour waits reported in the city, though. I'm guessing it's about the race for governor since there's approximately zero worry in this town that a Democrat could be elected for lesser offices.

I'd suggested coming back another time, but my husband played his over-75 card to get him, and thus me with him, moved to the front. I knew he'd be out kayak fishing a busy river today but kept my mouth shut and went with the age advantage. There aren't many.

This mid-morning weekday crowd was very heavily retired ages, almost no young people, but very likely other crowds-to-be are at work. Few POC as appropriate for this district, but we do have more Hispanic residents and I wanted to see some, but didn't. Hopefully they tended to come together with family on Saturday. No Sunday voting here in Georgia, where vote suppression by various methods is obvious (only the federally mandated Saturday early voting day is listed on line, not the rest of the days).

On Monday:

Georgia So Desperate to Suppress Black Vote That They Stopped a Busload of Seniors From Voting

Black seniors in Atlanta were ordered off a bus taking them to vote this week, after a county clerk “called the senior center raising concerns,” the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported on Tuesday.

The bus trip was organized by Black Voters Matter, a nonpartisan group doing voter outreach in communities across Georgia. As you can see in this video—posted by a ThinkProgress reporter who was traveling with the group—the event in question was cool as hell and anyone who wants to stop it is a monster. Look at these ol’ sweeties dancing because they’re going to vote!

According to the Journal-Constitution, County Administrator Adam Brett said officials deemed the senior center activity “political” because the chair of the local Democratic Party helped organize the event. I’m sure a Republican would have helped organize it too, if they weren’t involved in actively preventing black Georgians from voting.

And then they really gave up the game with this statement given to the paper: “Jefferson County administration felt uncomfortable with allowing senior center patrons to leave the facility in a bus with an unknown third party,” Brett said. “No seniors at the Jefferson County senior center were denied their right to vote.”

Since when does the administration of Jefferson County get to decide whether seniors can get on a bus if they want to? (The group also had advance permission for their event, according to the paper.) Their argument appears to be that because seniors were only denied this one chance to vote, their right to vote wasn’t infringed, because they could go back of their own accord—something that seniors, more than many other groups, would struggle to do, given their lack of access to transportation, which was the point of the damn bus in the first place.

https://splinternews.com/georgia-so-desperate-to-suppress-black-vote-that-they-s-1829809847

Today:

Stacey Abrams rallies with Georgia voters forced off Black Voters Matters bus
Obstacles to voting "are only permanent if we don't fight them," the Democratic candidate for governor told ThinkProgress.

LOUISVILLE, GEORGIA — Two days after a Jefferson County official ordered a senior center to remove roughly 40 elderly African Americans on their way to vote from Black Voters Matter’s bus, Democratic candidate Stacey Abrams rallied voters in the town, encouraging them to fight voter suppression. Roughly 75 to 100 people — mostly African American — showed up at a parking lot in Louisvillle, just a few blocks from the senior center where the incident occurred Monday, to meet Abrams and cast early ballots.

Go, Stacey! Go, Georgia voters!

[ChoppinBroccoli]

14. I Voted Absentee In Ohio Last Week

Ever since 2004, if I can vote in a way that leaves a paper trail, I do it. So I try to vote absentee every time. Mailed in my ballot on Monday.

I generally vote for Democrats, but I have been known to vote for some Republicans if I know them and know that they're good (as is the case with Judges--I know pretty much all the Judges and will vote for who is best regardless of party). That shit all ended when Trump and McConnell started pulling their "if we can't win, we'll just rig the game in our favor" bullshit. It's nothing but Democrats now. I figure if you voluntarily remain in a party headed by the biggest asshole in our nation's history, you lack the judgment to hold office anyway. So F 'em.

Can't wait for Governor Cordray to clean up this dump.

[pamela]

19. Here's my story...

-Went online to get the form to request two early voting/absentee ballots. Printer was broken and we were camping in the boondocks so I had them send the forms to our mail forwarding service.

-Waited two weeks and then had mail forwarded to General Delivery at a post office near where we were camped.

-Picked up mail, filled out ballot request forms, mailed them to Texas.

-Monday: got a notice that my husband's ballot was at our mail forwarding service. He's old enough to request early voting based on his age so his ballot went right to our mail forwarding address.

-Tuesday: got the notice that my ballot was in! yay! I had to have mine shipped to a different address than my mail forwarding address because I'm not old enough for early voting based on age and my mail forwarding address is in the county where I vote and they won't mail an absentee ballot there. For 5 dollars, my (awesome) mail forwarding service provided an out of county address to use. They then picked up the ballot at the out of county address and took it to my mail forwarding address for me. That's why mine was a day later than hubbys.

-Today: Filled out mail forwarding request. Having our mail (with ballots!) sent General Delivery to a post office in a little town in New Mexico where we plan to be next week.

-Our mail should arrive in tiny town, N.M. around the same time we do. Will go to post office, pick up mail and fill out the ballots in the parking lot then go back in and mail TWO VOTES FOR BETO back to Texas.

[mnhtnbb]

20. That is dedication!

Hope you're enjoying your trip!

[pamela]

21. I was so fucking determined.

A lot of those -bullet points occurred on Kavanaugh related dates. I would have voted anyway but I felt obsessed! The hardest part was figuring out how to do all this.

[mnhtnbb]

22. I have always believed that one vote can make a difference

but I've never believed it more than this year.

I do believe we can turn the House. I think there may be some positive changes in state and local elections, too. I would be over the moon if Dems take the Senate, too.

[DAMANgoldberg]

23. Early Voting Done

@ regional library in Charlotte.

Link to tweet

[mnhtnbb]

26. Hi, neighbor!

I sure hope we throw some of these NC Repubs out!

[DAMANgoldberg]

28. that would be good...

also, Carolina Panthers start winning on the road as well. #WDE #KeepPounding

[Algernon Moncrieff]

24. Voted early today, and business was brisk at the election office.

[ecstatic]

25. I voted early yesterday... well Tuesday now

But I wanted to share that my sister registered to vote for the first time this past July and actually beat me in voting. She voted Monday. It blows my mind that she skipped the most historic elections of 2008, 2012, and 2016... but she is so disgusted by trump that she's voting for the first time ever in an off year, midterm election. I really hope that there's a lot more people like her who will help bury the rethugs this year.

#BlueTsunami

[mnhtnbb]

27. Wow! Good for your sister.

I hope, too, she's joined by more who have been non voters.