The percentage of eligible voters participating, even in primaries, is WAY up because they made it easy.
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I donāt live in a swing state, but I do live where there is a very important race for a House representative.
I voted today at around 2. It was busy in my 50-50 semi-rural, somewhat suburban area. Everyone seemed happy to be there, with lots of polite smiles to others as we made our way to the voting machines and in and out of the building. I put my sticker on immediately after I voted. I always feel proud knowing that Iām doing my civic duty, even if itās just a vote for the library budget.
I also found myself wondering which of all those nice people support views that I canāt reconcile. It really bothers me that I feel this way. But it was part of my experience, so Iām including it here.
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I voted by mail here in California. I can track my ballot and find out when it was received by the county clerkās office.
We used to vote in person in a neighborās garage. But the number of voting sites have been reduced a lot, which resulted in long lines at the school last election.
There is a drop box at the local playground. I could see someone dumping water or a match to destroy ballots. I would never use a drop box.
I live in a town of about 40,000 in Wisconsin - so a swing state. We debated on whether or not to vote early and decided to give it a shot today if the lines were not too long. In our town if you want to vote early in person you have to go to the village hall. There were maybe 15 - 20 people in front of us when we got there and the line was a little longer when we left. But it only took about 10 minutes to get through it. The first couple of days of voting there was a computer issue and the lines were hours long.
People were in good spirits and friendly.
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Early voted Saturday morning about 8. Walked in, voted, walked out - no waiting.
I drove by city hall earlier in the week mid-day. Lines were long. Glad I waited. Iām up early anyway, so no big deal voting early morning.
So glad to have it done.
I will not - or am not planning to do so - stay up late watching results.
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Where I live you can early vote in any of the voting places. Makes it easy.
Voted early today at the senior center down the road. Faster to vote than to park, even though there was a line, it moved very quickly.
I showed my ID, everything online here, very easy.
Iām in a nice little suburb, itās always easy to vote here.
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I live in NYC and you can only vote at your assigned polling place. It can be a bit confusing because often your assigned place for early voting is different from where youāre assigned for Election Day. I voted early and it took about 15 minutes. The NYC Board of Elections sends out a voter tag to each registered voter that has a QR code. Itās made signing in so much more efficient. I got my ballot quickly, but had to wait for a privacy booth where I bubbled in my ballot. I was happy that the poll workers reminded everyone to flip over their ballot to vote on 6 propositions (1 statewide that would protect abortion in the state constitution; the other 5 propose various changes to NYCās Charter to give the mayor more control). I had to wait in a short line to scan and submit my ballot, but all in all a positive experience.
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My D had a not so great experience at early voting today. She and her H had to leave because the line was an hour & a half and they had to get back to work. But that wasnāt the bad part. While they were waiting in line, a candidate for judge was walking up to people to talk to them about voting for him. I donāt know whether the line was long enough that he was far enough away to legally approach people, but D said that his behavior was ācreepy.ā A guy in front of her told him that he is voting for him, and D said, āHe told the guy he made the right decision and did the grossest chuckle.ā She left before he got to her ā¦ I think her H probably figured sheād tell him off, so he pulled her away! She said she would have asked him how stupid he thought people are that he thinks walking up to them while they are in line to vote is going to make them vote for him.
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They may want to check whether their state has a ātime off for votingā law and what it says. Summary at https://www.workplacefairness.org/voting-rights-time-off-work/ but check the actual state law.
We voted today early here in NJ, and it was surprisingly heavy (well, compared to prior elections). They actually have the voter rolls on computer to look up your name, lot easier than the old books where I never knew what district I was in! The machines to me were kind of rube goldberg (my sonās group has been performing a funny piece, where a section is called Goldberg variations, where as my son explains it, it is a play on words w Bachās goldberg variations but really means Goldberg, as in Rube, they should play that section when people are voting), where you vote via touch screen, it prints the ballot and it shows in the window, you verify it then the ballot is sucked into the machine. I kind of think they should have it where you select your candidates, a nut comes out, a squirrel comes out following it, it punches the ballot, they runs off with it and drops it in a hopper after being given another nut. ā¦ all in all,it was easy enough.
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Reminds me of the first time I voted in MA, early 90s. I showed up at the ancient local elementary school gym (remember that waxed floor smell?), no one else was there, and the little old lady at the table looked at my ID and said in the wickedest Boston accent, āOw, ya husband was heah about an owa ago. Take this ballot, vote fa Teddy, and then give it to Henry ovah theah to put in the drum.ā I cracked up. Iām sure she broke a whole list of rules, but I WAS there to vote for Teddy, so it was all good. 
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Voted early today in CTā¦lines were longer than I would have expected, but us was very efficient and we were in and out within about 30 minutes or so. Obviously the race for president is not in doubt in CT, but there are some important races amongst local candidates so we were happy to have made the effort todayā¦and also are happy that we have submitted our votes and will not need to go on Tuesday.
They will just go back at another time when they have planned for being gone that long. They have flexible schedules but had meetings planned. They seem to have a busier precinct than anyone else they no, so they just didnāt realize that they needed to block out more time.
I hope your D got his name, because thatās one judge candidate that she will have strong feelings about. I shake my head at a candidate for judge doing that. Eeek.
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Not cool about the guy running for judge. I remember candidates being outside the polling place years ago. Handing out flying and standing there, this guy sounded a bit aggressive.
We found that first thing in the morning worked better than lunchtime.
Iām sure your daughter and sil will find a time they can take the time to vote. Glad to see so many people doing their civic duty!
I got a call Monday from someone making sure I had a voting plan. Iām 62 years old, have lived in a swing state (different states, both were swing states). Always vote. This is the first time I remember a call. Iāve voted since Reagan/Carter.
Not politicalā¦but just a helpful comment, I hope. Most states have guidelines in terms of where discussions and candidates can be. This is usually a distance from the polling place and should be clearly marked.
If you have a question, call your registrar of voters and ask what that distance is. If the candidate is outside of the area restricted, they can continue to campaign.
If they are inside the restricted area, they are violating the election laws in your state.
Our state has a 75 foot to the polls restricted area. Candidates will definitely be right on the line.
We do keep an eye on that where we can see it from our polling places, and will intervene if necessary.
There is more information about thisā¦and if you would like my take on it, feel free to send me a message.
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Michigan has no state law about time off to vote. It has a 100 ft from the door of the polling place restriction on campaigning.
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Iāll be doing a stint as a poll monitor tomorrow - that is part of our job - reporting incidents where people violate the space designated or of the voters. We donāt Confront them but there is a system for reporting. Poll monitor is a non-partisan position.
The candidate that perturbed my D was outside and far enough away from the door that what he did was technically legal. The line was that long. The way he did it really rubbed her the wrong way, though, and she actually messaged him on Instagram to tell him how she felt about it. She said that she doubts he will care, but it made her feel better. And who knows - maybe he will think twice about his approach.
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