Get Out The Vote!

[tet]

... unless you're voting for McCain, that is... :evil:

it is CRUCIAL that we all do everything we can in these next couple days to make sure everyone who can vote, does!! 

over the past several days, I have been making hundreds of calls through my.barackobama.com , where they give you a script and some training videos along with endless lists of contacts in all of the battleground states.  i was very nervous when i first started but it really is extremely fun once i got into the groove of it.  it really has been amazing talking to voters across this country, hearing their stories...

while this election does appear to be headed towards an Obama victory, that will only happen if people GET OUT and VOTE!!!! 

so pick up a phone, or go door-to-door, or anything you can to make sure people VOTE!!! 

just go to my.barackobama.com  -  the sign-up is easy, the tools are even easier, and it is really the necessary final push we need to ensure a favorable outcome this Tuesday. 

BE ALL YOU CAN BE!! ®™


--Disclaimer: the views expressed by this user do not necessarily represent those of week4paug.net , its subsidiaries, or its sponsors. 

[rowjimmy]

We have sponsors?

[tet]

We have sponsors?

donors  :-D

[gah]

just how far will you go to vote?

http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?newsid=1202416

WASHINGTON: An American couple has travelled 9,300 miles from Bangalore to vote for Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama and his running mate Joe Biden in the Nov 4 election.

For nearly a month, Susan Scott-Ker and her husband had been waiting for their New York State absentee ballots to arrive in India, where she has been working since the summer, the New York Times reported.

A week ago, they realised that even if the ballots arrived before the election - a proposition that was growing more dubious by the minute - they had almost no chance of getting them back in time to be counted.

They had already called the American consulate, to no avail, and had looked into hiring a round-trip courier service. Finally Tuesday evening, she and her husband caught a flight from Bangalore to New Delhi, about 1,100 miles.

The next leg of the journey, 7,500 miles, took them to Chicago. By 5:30 Wednesday morning, they had cleared immigration and customs at O'Hare International Airport, and flew the last 700 miles to La Guardia.

Their journey of 9,300 miles had taken 22 hours. When all their expenses are counted, their trip will have cost them about $5,000, Scott-Ker told the Times.

For Scott-Ker, 45, a native of New Zealand, and her husband, who was born in Morocco, the votes they intend to cast on Tuesday in the Washington Heights section of Manhattan will be their first, ever. They became American citizens Nov 30, 2007.

"We became citizens so we could vote," Scott-Ker said. "We'd lived here 13 years on green cards, paid lots of tax money, but you have no voice within the system."

A few months after they were sworn in as citizens, Scott-Ker was transferred to Bangalore by her employer, Accenture, a management consulting, technology and outsourcing company, as its marketing director for India.

She kept her eye on the election, filing the voter registration forms in August and getting the confirmation in early October. But after doing all the necessary paper work when still no ballots came, they took the flight to New York.

She and her husband were determined to vote for Barack Obama and Joe Biden.  "Is there a test we can take beforehand?" she asked. "We don't want to squander our vote."

[Hicks]

I walked about ten blocks to drop off my ballot, which was delivered to my mailbox by the USPS.

[gah]

I walked about ten blocks to drop off my ballot, which was delivered to my mailbox by the USPS.

slacker!  :-P

ha ha, jk.

[Hicks]

I walked about ten blocks to drop off my ballot, which was delivered to my mailbox by the USPS.

slacker!  :-P

ha ha, jk.

It's unbelievable to me what some people will have to go through to vote, not the people you mentioned that's awesome, but people having to wait for hours in lines to vote is completely ridiculous and absolutely unnecessary. 

[mattstick]

As a Canadian, I've never voted on a machine, punched a chad or waited in line to vote.

I put an X in the circle next to the candidates name and I'm done.

I'm actually shocked at how embarrassing your voting process is...

[gah]

As a Canadian, I've never voted on a machine, punched a chad or waited in line to vote.

I put an X in the circle next to the candidates name and I'm done.

I'm actually shocked at how embarrassing your voting process is...

yeah, i plan on being up at 6 in the morning to go vote before going to work, cause otherwise the lines will be too long in the evening. different states have different methods of voting though, cause i've never had to punch a chad either. in virginia we have the computerized touch screen voting, but a friend of mine in north carolina had to fill in the little circles, like school testing. Maybe just a generic method used across the country that didn't change from one election to the next would make it easier to tabulate votes, and not be as confusing for older folks, or those that move to new states.

[Hicks]

As a Canadian, I've never voted on a machine, punched a chad or waited in line to vote.

I put an X in the circle next to the candidates name and I'm done.

I'm actually shocked at how embarrassing your voting process is...

We've got it figured out here in Oregon.  Everybody gets their ballots by mail and then either mails them back or drops them off.  No lines or intimidation, and you can fill out your ballots with your family and friends. 

[gah]

As a Canadian, I've never voted on a machine, punched a chad or waited in line to vote.

I put an X in the circle next to the candidates name and I'm done.

I'm actually shocked at how embarrassing your voting process is...

We've got it figured out here in Oregon.  Everybody gets their ballots by mail and then either mails them back or drops them off.  No lines or intimidation, and you can fill out your ballots with your family and friends. 

now, that's a good idea. except i guess people could mess with your ballots, but then that'd be a felony, tampering with someones mail. is there one central location the ballots are then mailed to, or does each county/city have it's own office that counts them?

[nab]

In Montana we still use paper ballots just like Matt was talking about.



I've got the day off tomorrow, so lines or not I'll be up early to vote. 


Funny thing happened to me this weekend that may or may not serve as a word of caution for you guys.  My grandfather died this last year.  We both had the same name except for our middle names which were different.  As luck would have it, we both had the same birth date also, April 2, the year being the only difference. 

I checked online to see if my registration status was current this weekend.  I should have done it earlier, but I was more or less just checking out the online verification for fun.  I didn't have any reason to believe that my registration status had changed at all since I've voted from this address for years and hadn't moved or changed my name or anything.  Guess what, I wasn't registered. 

I went down to the courthouse today to straighten everything out.  Seems that on my grandfather's death, both of us were erased from the registration list.  Luckily I was helped by the person in charge of deleting registrations, she took responsibility, and added me to the list again.  Since my name was added in by hand to the list, I need to carry an official paper with me telling the voting judges that the screw up was theirs and not mine.  I get a real ballot tomorrow, not a provisional one.

Moral of the story:

Always check no matter how safe you think your registration status is.  Probably too late for anyone to take this advice this year, but keep it in mind.

[tet]

great advice, nab.

also, for anyone who has ANY problems at the polls, you have a right to vote on a provisional ballot (that is a FEDERAL requirement) - if they refuse to give you one, ask for a supervisor!!

[ytowndan]

I tried going today, but the lines were over 2hrs!  It's gonna be nuts this time. 

I had plans today that I couldn't break, but I made sure not to plan anything tomorrow, so I'll be there regardless of the wait. 

[Hicks]

As a Canadian, I've never voted on a machine, punched a chad or waited in line to vote.

I put an X in the circle next to the candidates name and I'm done.

I'm actually shocked at how embarrassing your voting process is...

We've got it figured out here in Oregon.  Everybody gets their ballots by mail and then either mails them back or drops them off.  No lines or intimidation, and you can fill out your ballots with your family and friends. 

now, that's a good idea. except i guess people could mess with your ballots, but then that'd be a felony, tampering with someones mail. is there one central location the ballots are then mailed to, or does each county/city have it's own office that counts them?

Yeah I believe there is one central location within each county that they get mailed to, but there are tons of drop boxes throughout the city.  I suppose in a rural location you would driving pretty far so mailing them would make more sense.