Personal reporting on the Presidential election

Discussions of and about the historic 2008 U.S. Presidential Election
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Inanna
Meetu's little sister
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Joined: Sat Jan 07, 2006 5:03 pm

Post by Inanna »

Nov 4th Images from Hoboken. Lot of Obama badges, and canvassers....



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Starbucks gives free coffee to Voters

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'You just said "your getting shorter": you've obviously been drinking too much ent-draught and not enough Prim's.' - Jude
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Lalaith
Lali Beag Bídeach
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Joined: Fri Dec 16, 2005 5:42 pm
Location: Rivendell

Post by Lalaith »

I don't think Freddy (my dh) would mind me posting this. (He posted it on b77.)
I spent the day on a protection detail for Joe Biden. I had the pleasure of standing outside from 10:30 until 4:30 and watched people walk in and make sure they did not go between the building where they were going to park the vehicles that carried Biden.

I had to shake my head as I heard some of the most incredibly stupid comments I've heard in my life. The best part was to see a group of high school students out there supporting McCain in a sea of Democrats. They were not afraid to state their feelings it was pretty neat to see them excited about what was going on.

The sad part was the adults who got into the kids faces and tried to argue with them. Usually the adults were standing in the road so it was easy to move them along. The kids were very respectful to me and my partner and made sure they followed the rules they were given. The only obscenities were from "adults" that decided to drop the f-bomb at the kids.

I was hunting on Monday so I missed the rally where McCain came and spoke at the same arena. Doesn't matter since I wasn't inside to listen to Biden or the other Democrats that were speaking and it was an absolutely beautiful fall day at about 67F.

freddy

I asked him about the camera thing. He says that they can't really make you stop taking pictures. He said they can tell you to do so; for that matter, they could tell you to "stand on your head and say 'yabba-dabba-do,'" but you don't really have to in an case like this. Of course, that's without being there and knowing everything that was going on. (He's also mostly asleep. I am pestering him while he's snoozing on the couch. :D)

Lali
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axordil
Pleasantly Twisted
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Joined: Tue Apr 18, 2006 7:35 pm
Location: Black Creek Bottoms
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Post by axordil »

GOTV all day for Obama. Finished my second shift, and came back to a house I had ticked as special needs: the lady there wanted to vote, and indeed lived adjacent to the polling place (an LDS church), but was an invalid (albeit with a really cool wheelchair). In Missouri they support something called "curbside" voting for the disabled, where the election workers will bring out the signup book and a paper ballot, to be filled out in a vehicle.

The woman indicated they had done something like that for her in the past, but the election officials were evidently new to the polling station, so I had to kind of fill in some gaps. I carried her ID and registration card over to the polls to show where she lived--across the fence from the church's parking lot--and then a judge and an observer followed me out to the property line. I then opened the back door of the house so she could be seen signing the things that needed signing, and be passed the ballot. Luckily her son was nearby, since it made us all more comfortable for him to help her fill out the ballot (in view of the judge and observer) than me!

Whole process took maybe an hour. Since my second shift was long, I knew I wasn't going to be able to do a third shift (they were pounding pavement already), and I figured--the woman wants to vote, and by God, I'm going to do whatever it takes for her to cast that vote.

As it turned out, I got some instant karma. When I finally turned in the canvassing paperwork, I ran over to my own polling place to vote--and the two hour plus lines of the morning my wife described were gone. I walked in, voted, and walked out. :D
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