Archive for November, 2008

The time for elocution is over and we are down to the brass tacks. Election day is upon us and everyone should be heading off to the polls. Our family went to Slater Marietta Elementary, our local polling location, and let our voices be heard by casting our ballots for president, local officials, 3 constitutional amendments and senate. Bob Inglis ran unopposed for congress. I have heard of long lines and long waits but we didn’t see either of them. The line was a little longer than usual but we have seen it longer at later hours in the past. It was my daughters first time to vote and she was excited. Plus it made her feel grown up for the first time she said. She has been 18 for less than a month and is still in school. It doesn’t seem so long ago that she was my little princess toddling around. I talked to my niece and she had about the same time in line waiting as us, forty five minutes give or take. She has moved out of our district and now votes at the police station in Travelers Rest.
I also talked to one of the poll workers and she told me they had a very long line waiting on them to open up the doors at 7 am this morning. I didn’t think to count the voting machines but apparently they had enough as we moved right along. We use touch screen machines and I am no fan of those as I am sure you know. Plus they had portable machines to carry curbside to anyone who was not able to come in and vote. I don’t know how the long the lines will be when workers get off work and come vote in the afternoon. It can get long then in a normal election, and this one may be a record setter for turnout, but everyone who is in line at 7 pm will get to vote they say. Well I have done all I can do voting my conscious. I hope all of you get out and do the same.

Tomorrow is the election finally. I will let you know how it goes at the polling place for us. We will be going as a family tomorrow with our eighteen year old daughter who will be voting for the first time. The only one missing is our son who will be voting in New Jersey. I urge you one and all to get out and vote. This election is too important not to.
I found this video and I thought I would share it with you. Enjoy.

See more Ron Howard videos at Funny or Die

We are in the home stretch of the election. This is the last weekend before Tuesday when the polls open up for everybody across our great nation. Early voting is going on even today as many places have extended hours and even days for those wishing to vote early. Turnout is tremendous with millions having already voted. No matter who you are in favor of getting the presidential office it is great that so many are out and voting. I subscribe to the feelings that if you do not vote you forfeit any right to complain what any of them do once they get into office. Not only for the office of president but all your elected officials. I am not one of the early voters as it is miles away to the election commission?where they are voting early and it is a mere hop and skip to my polling place. I do not know about your situation where you vote but here in South Carolina you can not wear any pins or shirts proclaiming who you intend to vote for. There is a law that prohibits campaigning withing 200 feet of a polling location and anything with the candidates on it slogan or whatever is considered campaigning. They won’t make you leave but they will insist that you cover up or remove any thing considered campaigning. As many of you already know I am no fan of Bush and am counting the days until he is gone. Right now it is 79 days and counting until he is out of the White House. Anyhow after much thought I have finally made my mind up for sure and I will go with Obama and vote straight Democratic ticket. This is something I have never done before. I always picked and chose each candidate on their merits. Lindsey Graham is up for reelection to and I may change my mind about the straight ticket yet. Oh well I said I was 100% mind made up but perhaps I am a little shy of 100%.

What I had intended to write about was the fact that after these elections the States of Virginia and Maryland are going to scrap touch screen voting machines in favor of old school paper ballots. I will?write more on that issue in the future as I strongly feel that there must be accountability in vote counting. The battle for the hearts and minds of voters on whether electronic systems are good or bad has been lost. The academics and computer scientists who said they were unreliable?have won that battle. At least in those two states. Now for the rest of them.