Election Day

[Kwahati]

Well...I agree with you to some dgree, FelineFan: I would like the election results faster. At the same time, you've gotta realize that in some countries (my sister has witnessed this first-hand on behalf of the UN) they end up counting well into the night by candle-light. They hold up each ballot and say "one vote for candidate X..." but then it takes forever because the other people say "But it looks like they might have meant candidate Y! That's not a vote for X!" But eventually they get leaders with real mandates...and they're happy for it. They're happy for the opportunity to have a voice in who leads them. Today, I'm happy not only that my side happened to win (to be honest, I would be happier if we'd won by a lot more-and maybe if people stopped messing with the homosexuals, they never did anything to us!) but also because more people came out to vote than any recent election probably since Reagan (I've heard guesses as to exact numbers, but who knows which guesses are right). People are starting to care again, I think. That's important, not just because the rest of the world makes fun of us for not caring, but also because us not caring undermines our credibility (and the credibility of my close friends in uniform) as we attempt to strengthen democracy around the world. Tonight, as I go to bed (my bed-time story is currently Barack Obama's The Audacity of Hope) I am happy that winners on both sides are doing their best impressions of magnanimity and most of the defeated are showing a lot of class (I've never been a Rick Santorum fan, but he was truly a class-act in his concession speech...big props to him and his staff). I am happy that the healing will begin now. I am happy that I had the opportunity to cast a ballot and have it counted, no matter how long that takes. And, yes, I'm also happy that those ugly frickin' "vote for me" signs will come down now.

I hope that, no matter what side of the aisle any of you consider yourself to be on, you have a good night with peace in your heart. The sun will rise tomorrow and our nation will, as always, confront new challenges which will once again offer us the opportunity to prove our greatness. To paraphrase a lousy Chris Rock movie: "May God (or whatever you may or may not believe in) bless America, and every place else!" :usflag:

[leftcoaster]

I vote absentee, and you'd think those ballots would be counted first, not, apparently, last. And why does it take so long? Is it that hard to find people who know how to count without taking off their shoes and socks? :D: I mean, it's not rocket science, just go one, two, three, four, etc.. I think the best thing would be to count the votes as they come in. It would speed things up. But now I don't have to sit there watching T.V. and get my intelligence insulted by the conflicting ads, throw out a ton of campaign stuff from my mailbox (kill a tree, gain a vote?), and most of all, I don't have to answer the phone and find out it's somebody, man or machine, who tries to get me to vote. Hey, turkey-raper, I voted absentee, you can stop calling now! It's bad enough we get a boatload of misdirected calls because we just moved last week and changed our phone number. Right now I'm housesitting, and they're nice enough to let me use a computer for communication purposes.

The reason the absentee ballots are counted last is because they are usually on paper, and it takes a "committee" to count them (there is usually more than one person counting those ballots, so they are counted fairly and correctly). If the election isn't that close, they can usually can go uncounted, since the total number of absentee ballots would not change the outcome of the election.

The reason it takes so long for results is because if they kept a current count, it would be detrimental to the person "losing," because if voters heard who was leading, those that wanted to vote for the person behind might not vote because "it won't make a difference."

Also (I think) that the media was 'scolded' back in 2000 when the were quick to project certain states as being winners before the polling closed in those states, and then they had to change that state from a blue state to a red state. The former also leads to voters hearing, "my state already went (color), so why should I go vote?"

[Main Streeter]

The reason the absentee ballots are counted last is because they are usually on paper, and it takes a "committee" to count them (there is usually more than one person counting those ballots, so they are counted fairly and correctly).

A BIG Thank You leftcoaster. :) Was wondering abt this last night. U R Cool. ]

[leftcoaster]

A BIG Thank You leftcoaster. :) Was wondering abt this last night. U R Cool. ]

Thanks dear. :)

I just try and help where I can. :)

[felinefan]

What???? They don't count the absentee ones? NOT FAIR! Every vote should count; they should be going "Vote for X, vote for Y...." As we all know, nothing good comes out of voting by committee! Am I the only one left who paid enough attention in Civics class that every vote is counted, and the winner is determined by the number of votes cast? How long has this been going on? I know the old way of candidates running for office was the office should seek the man, the man shouldn't seek the office; that ended with Lincoln, because of the slavery issue. I think that instead of putting on the ballots the names of the candidates or issues, we should have numbers, and the numbers for each candidate/issue would appear only on the voter guide. When I voted at a polling place, the punchcard ballot was like that, as was the book you punched through. Absentee ballots, it's right there, the space to mark next to the candidate /issue. In other words, the pollsters should just focus on counting the ballots for Candidate X, Candidate Y, Issue 1, Issue 2, etc.. They shouldn't get involved in who/what is getting the most votes; just count them already! And don't announce the results until all votes have been counted! People today are too impatient; because I was housesitting (still am, until the 20th) when Election day came by, I was catching up on email and forums, didn't look at the news. The people I housesit for take the paper only on weekends, so it was a couple of days later I went online to find out how the election went. Frankly, I blame the media; they have to be on top of everything all the time; why don't they just focus their attention on other things, and only announce the states in the Eastern time zone results after the votes have been counted? I mean, if a machine can read a Scantron answer sheet, as long as the marks are dark and within the lines, why can't they make voting machines that act like Scantron machines, and ballots like Scantron sheets? I know they've had problems with voting machines this year, but I think that's because politicians keep trying to make the votes come out to favor them. Really, no wonder there's such low voter turnout--politicians get too wrapped up in the results that they keep sticking their fingers where they don't belong. I think instead of annoying T.V. and radio ads, they should just list the candidate, party affiliation, and list the issues and how the candidate stands on them. Then instead of wading through tons of tiny print legalese, just give the basic tenets of the issues. The voter can then read and decide for themselves, and vote accordingly. Elections should be about democracy, not mudslinging, badmouthing, and driving away voters because they're too confused by conflicting ads. It worked in this country before; I don't see why it can't work today.