VOTE TOMORROW!!!!! (An Adventure at the FL Polls)

[IBroke]

doesn't matter who you vote for, just VOTE. it's our right and so many fought for the freedom to make our votes heard.


now, i what to "share" my voting experience in florida, as this was so surrealistic, it could only happen in the movies .


in florida you just have to provide a photo id, of course that includes a 5 point drivers license. i had to wait in line approx. 1/2 hour when i finally got to where i had show my id. the people in front of me just flashed their licenses and happily proceeded to the polls. however, not so simple for me. i showed my drivers license and then was asked to produce my voter registration card. (which is NOT required). the poll worker told me if i didn't have it, i couldn't vote!!!!!!!!!!!! lucky for me i had it and it took all my strength to not challenge her publicly. this was late on friday.

as i know this is not true, and being concerned how many she did this too, i contacted the board of elections and told them what happened. the supervisor of elections got on the phone and said how sorry she was and in 40 years there has been no problems. i said i can appreciate that, however, you have one now. how will things like this effect the election in florida?????

That doesn't surprise me at all - after all, it's Florida. My mother and I voted weeks ago by mail because I knew the ballot would be long and I knew that there are some people in charge of this State who DON'T want everybody to vote. So it was "vote by mail" because I'm not going to play any games when it comes to my right to vote.

BTW, can somebody explain to me why the Governor of Florida opposes early voting? I mean, other reasons than party interests?

[IBroke]

really, you understood all those new proposed amendments??

I didn't. Fortunately, I was able to google a website that explained that stuff in plain English. Without that, filling out that ballot would have been virtually impossible. Don't know if it was this site - but something similar:

http://www.cfnews13.com/content/news...explained.html

[IBroke]

I heard from a few people they just vote No, rather then read them. They should have separate elections for those items. My step daughter tried to vote in Brandon, around the block lines. so she gave up.

It's very simple. The longer the ballot, the longer the lines, the more people turn away from polling. Combine that with the reduction in time for early voting, you have less people out there casting their vote.

[tobee43]

That doesn't surprise me at all - after all, it's Florida. My mother and I voted weeks ago by mail because I knew the ballot would be long and I knew that there are some people in charge of this State who DON'T want everybody to vote. So it was "vote by mail" because I'm not going to play any games when it comes to my right to vote.

BTW, can somebody explain to me why the Governor of Florida opposes early voting? I mean, other reasons than party interests?

easy answer to that one...by cutting the church days (sunday early voting days) it leaves out hundreds of minority and poor voters...those that depend on the church for a ride to the polls for years, now they can't vote. also remember it was Republican legislators that did this and the governor is a tea party member so, it's really simple.

i can't believe i moved here...seriously, i'm so appalled.

i went door to door on friday, i have never done that. i had to take down my sign when we went to NC last week in fear of what would happen for having the sign out. ( i didn't want to do that and it was a BIG fight in this house as i do not like to hide what i believe, but my spouse was worried about the house), i drove to the grocery store and was asked if i was the ONLY one voting for that person and i couldn't believe i was stopped 4 times before i hit the door of store with why and what the heck???

the law suits have already begun and the way they handle things here it's no surprise.

the longest ballot in states history.....this is so incredible.

[TheBajan]

Does anyone here remember when voting was a simple process that was actually encouraged by our local, state, and national government? I don't think it's an accident that over the past couple of decades voting has become more and more difficult with more and more technical reasons to "throw out" or disallow citizens votes.

It may be a hassall, but get out and vote. Regardless of who you vote for, it's a right that has been hard won by the blood of our fathers and our children. Don't let it disappear through apathy!

Cheers!

The Bajan

[tobee43]

i think that's the point here. VOTE!

in this house we vote what we believe in and not party. voting is a right and one we should never take for granted.

[stray]

Oh Tobee...you're making me so nervous! I lived in Florida for 2 pres elections. I voted in Palm Beach County on the famous butterfly ballot / hanging chads. I was so pleased with myself for making it down there and getting through the line. I took my time and voted carefully. Then when I saw on the news about the butterfly ballot, I thought, oh no, I don't know who I voted for! That same year I witnessed the road blocks in a certain part of town. I wouldn't have believed any of it if I didn't see it myself. I am carefully voting at home today and dropping off my ballot. Oh, and I only had to show ID, never a voter card in Fla.

[df04527]

I believe you only need to show your voter ID card on super Tuesday to vote, but before that a picture ID works. Wierd if you ask me. I am skeptical about absentee or mail in voting. I think there is a greater chance they won't get counted and a whole tray of them will be found later down the road. That happened here one year...ugh

[kawh]

I see I'm not the only one a little paranoid about mailing in an absentee ballot. I want to vote in person and see my ballot feed into the machine, personally.

The voter ID rules should be posted in huge print, in more than one place, and especially right next to the voter ID checking person. Unbelievable. And to think, Florida votes may again decide a presidential election.
Not being as restrained as OP, I know I would have said something, even in my lil nicey nice, ingratiating way, like, "Oh, my goodness, and (insert prominent senator's name here) told me I needed only a drivers license to vote."

[tobee43]

I believe you only need to show your voter ID card on super Tuesday to vote, but before that a picture ID works. Wierd if you ask me. I am skeptical about absentee or mail in voting. I think there is a greater chance they won't get counted and a whole tray of them will be found later down the road. That happened here one year...ugh

well, i did verify with the supervisor of elections that it is not ever needed to show your voter ID registration IF you have your photo ID???? plus i looked up the law.

i agree, i'm really skeptical about the mail ins....my brother voted by mail because he works for the government and is in South Korea. i hope they count his vote...unless he didn't vote for whom i voted for LOL!!!!!

[LadyInTheRed]

I've considered registering as a permanent vote-by-mail voter. But, I like the ritual of walking to the polls and votiing among neighbors.

[tobee43]

Oh Tobee...you're making me so nervous! I lived in Florida for 2 pres elections. I voted in Palm Beach County on the famous butterfly ballot / hanging chads. I was so pleased with myself for making it down there and getting through the line. I took my time and voted carefully. Then when I saw on the news about the butterfly ballot, I thought, oh no, I don't know who I voted for! That same year I witnessed the road blocks in a certain part of town. I wouldn't have believed any of it if I didn't see it myself. I am carefully voting at home today and dropping off my ballot. Oh, and I only had to show ID, never a voter card in Fla.

exactly...

but now you're in oregon so tomorrow night you'll all be celebrating by smoking some pot!! LOL!!!!!!

[AngelinaCat]

We voted early--last Thursday--and didn't have a problem. We are in North Florida; the problems seem to occur more often, the further south one gets. We did try to vote early on the first day of early voting, but the long lines made us wait. Thursday was much simpler, with only a one or two person wait. We showed our DLs and signed in on one of the electronic tablets. You were asked to read and verify that the information that the machine spit out was accurate and that was it. There were about 12-15 voting stations set up, with several desks and chairs for those who could not stand. We had studied the amendments ahead of time, and were fairly comfortable in voting one way or the other on them.

In trying to study up on those, I recall one local talk show host that originates out of Ocala, put it this way: "To me, all those amendments mean that the people in the State Legislature are NOT doing their jobs, by passing the buck to the constituents..." I tend to agree.

[tobee43]

I've considered registering as a permanent vote-by-mail voter. But, I like the ritual of walking to the polls and votiing among neighbors.

i do too, i think it's good and actually important to get the "feel" of actually voting.

how's the ballot looking in calif Lady??? any crazy stuff on it...like i know three states are attempting to legalize marijuana...then we got the same sex marriage issues in a few states...and in ours in the right to abortion and reversing obamacare amongst anything interesting going on there?

[AngelinaCat]

i do too, i think it's good and actually important to get the "feel" of actually voting.

I didn't want to vote early--'Hub did. I enjoy going to the polling place and watching which of my neighbors are going in or coming out. Also, a couple of my neighbors are poll workers.