Post your voting experience here!

[shawn703]

I voted at Westridge Elementary, a polling place for the Coles District of the Westridge Precinct in Prince William County. It's a heavily Republican area, so outside the polling location I asked for a Repug sample ballot just to be sure they wouldn't mark my ballot to be lost :). Anyway, there were about seven or so touchscreen voting machines. There were no lines, which I am not sure if it's because of low voter turnout here or because we have seven machines at my location. What was it like for everyone else?

[SCRUBDASHRUB]

1. Voted at Thompson Middle School in Richmond.

Apparently, Richmond scheduled a teacher-parent workday today--of all days-- and parking was a major pain in the ass. Makes me wonder if the GOP is trying to suppress voter turnout. Some schmuck, who had a Brad Marrs sticker on his lapel (the Republican running against Kathy Waddell) asked if I had trouble parking, or where I parked (can't recall). He acted liked he worked at the school or something. Smelled fishy.

Had no trouble voting, though (touch-screen). Thanked the volunteers for their work, but mentioned I want a paper trail for the next election cycle (not their problem, I know, but the one guy I talked to acted like he was w/ me on that).

[shawn703]

2. Teacher workday here too

They're holding conferences today, but I went early enough where parking wasn't a problem yet.

[Tracyjo]

3. we had three machines

Same as the Presidential election. No waiting. I was number 94 at about 9:30. I rolled in there with my headlights on, American flags that I had gotten from the auto parts store sticking out my back windows and blowing in the wind, DU, Kerry/Edwards and Tim Kaine bumper stickers plastered all over my back bumper. The guys at the republican table were laughing AT me and not WITH me, but I stopped to talk to the Dems. They said the turnout looked like "about average" so far, whatever that means. It was a kick. I love voting. Think they'd let me go again? I had no problem with the touch screen. I even tried to screw with it, but it still did everything I told it to do. I still have no idea if my vote was actually counted. The machine said it was. I got a sticker. :7


Tonight's gonna be FUN!!:party: :toast:

[soothsayer]

4. Voted at McKinnely elementary in Arl. No lines at 10-ish. I was

about the 700th voter of the day (assuming there's an equal split between the a-k and l-z crowd).

5 electronic voting machines. We're mostly dems in this county.

[renegade000]

5. mckinnely is new right?

i went to jamestown...for elementary school that is.
i voted absentee at least a month ago, haha

[soothsayer]

10. I went to Madison elementary! now some kind of community ctr

Betcha' I'm an older resident than you...!

[renegade000]

21. haha probably

just a freshmen in college now ;-)

my precinct is madison

[soothsayer]

23. then I'm positively ANCIENT, lol!

[nerddem]

20. 700?

pretty nice for 10:00. the biggest mistake people are making in analyzing turnout is comparing it to last year. a better comparison is 2001 and 2003, in that order. i know for franconia, we did pretty well as far as dems go

[markbark]

28. My Alma Mater!

I was a denizen of McKinley from 1969-1975!
I now vote @ Graham Road Elementary in Falls Church. I'd LOVE to be able to afford buying in the ol' neighbourhood, but it's simply not in the cards

--MAB

[VaYallaDawg]

6. Voted in Henrico at 7:40 am.

Jewish Community Center (totally Repub. area) - I'll be watching the precinct returns in the paper tomorrow, they better show at least two votes for Kaine at that location, because they both came from my house. We were #118 and 119, and there was a little bit of a line starting to form (I think that was due to the dingbat who was so slow in finding people's names in the registration book).

[Virginian]

30. Give the dingbat a break.

Sign up to work the polls and help the process move along a little faster next time. Consider it your civic duty.
The dingbat had to be there at 5:00 am. The dingbat had to stay there until all the votes had been counted tonight. The dingbat was not even allowed to go out for breakfast, lunch or dinner. It was a long day for the dingbat. You should thank her for working, because someone has to. It wasn't for the pay, that's for sure. The dingbat probably had to burn a vacation day at her regular job so someone would be there for you to vote. Show a little respect.

[carolinayellowdog]

7. My new neighborhood has more Kaine than Kilgore signs...

not surprisingly since Danville went for Kerry over Bush, 50-49. Because I moved in October, I had to vote in my old precinct in a much redder area. It was extremely slow at lunch time; no one was in line when I arrived or when I left.

Kaine's last TV ad was very effective, I thought. Let's hope swing voters agree.

[underpants]

8. #145 at 7:30 heavy Blue area of Henrico

Touch screen. No papertrail.

[vademocrat]

9. #322 at 9:30 in red area of henrico county...

[eek MD]

11. 2pm...

I voted just after 2pm at Pine Spring Elementary in Falls Church. No line at all for letters a-k..woohoo. Didn't have any problems with the touch screen. The dem legal team had a table set up outside to pass out flyers, and i didn't see any repub people set up.

[thecrow]

12. I voted in Woodbridge VA... northern VA

ALL votes are now cast on computers.
I asked what brand they were and was told "Sequoia"
After getting instructions, I picked my governor choice... KAINE
and was taken to another screen that said I didn't vote for anybody!
Then I pointed to "back" and this time I was able to vote for all my candidates.

Now, WHY did it take me to that "you did not vote" screen first, I wonder.
Was it disabling my votes?
Was it counting the "no votes" screen or the one I went back to ?

I think I voted... I hope my candidates got my votes.
No paper trail.... Just used a card to get the machine voting.

It was very weird.
Also, my son was not listed on the voter roles.
They moved him to another county. I asked why?
And was told "maybe he paid a water bill or something in that county"
Shouldn't he still be registered to vote here if he did not change his registration?

[0007]

25. Absolutely! n/t

[specimenfred1984]

13. Mt. View Elementary School, Pr. William County

11:30. They ONLY had electronic voting.

As my wife was walking out she told a poll worker "I hope my vote is counted".

We, of course, voted D across the board. I would have NEVER chosen an electronic machine if I had a choice.

[Butterflies]

14. Voted at 1:30pm in Roanoke Co.

There wasn't any wait at all - I was kind of glad though because my area leans Repub.

There were many more Kilgore signs out front and the only people waiting outside with "voter guides" were repubs in their red white and blue outfits. I had thought there were enough volunteers for the Kaine campaign, but I guess not. I wish I had taken off from work to help.

I'm hopeful . . . .

[11 Bravo]

15. # 134 in Vienna, VA (Fairfax County) at 8:15

The poll workers told me that turnout was light. Since we are a relatively blue enclave, that didn't please me. However, when I went by the polling place on the way home, the parking lot was jammed.

[rogue emissary]

16. Earlier in Dale City

I voted in Neabsco Elementary and it was pretty creepy using those Sequoia machines. There was only a line of about ten people because they had to manually set the activation cards for the machines. I didn't have any problems, but I wasn't happy to see them having problems with the activation cards.

My precinct went for Kerry in 04, but there wasn't more than 20 people that had voted before me. So it was disappointing that there weren't more people there. I hope there's a strong turn out after people come home from work.

[Tiggeroshii]

17. Nobody there.

I cast my vote down the street from my suburban house in the good part of a conservative city in california. There was pretty much nobody there except poll workers. No lines, anyways. I felt compelled to ask if setting up the machines was easy and the kid working at the polls said,"real easy,"and the old lady next to him added "There were people already waiting to vote." The votes apparently print out now in case of a recount in my precinct. I saw my vote on a receipt and things went pretty quickly -besides the fact that the book with my name in it was with some other worker who was figuring something ou(i'm guessing) with another voter. They had me in it though, and I signed it. It went pretty well and I feel more secure with these machines that have the verifiable paper receipts printed out than i do with the ones in 04.

[lynne]

18. I'm up Rt. 234 from you, at Bennett Elem. -

- I walked in and had no wait. I was there about 9:30 AM. We also had about 6 or so touchscreens.

I don't think it's a real low turnout as I didn't have to wait there for the last election, either. I always try to go around 9:30 - 10:30 as it seems the slowest then.

[Meldread]

19. Just got back from voting.

I voted Democrat straight down the line, save for Delegate in which there was only a Republican running. (In that one I did a write in.)

It was the first time I've ever used a computerized voting machine, and it was much better than the dinosaur we were using before that looked like it was made back in the 50's or 60's.

Anyway, there was paper coming out the back it looked kinda like the receipt ticket you get when you go shopping and a lady standing behind it. Is that normal, and if so what is its purpose?

EDIT: I forgot to mention I counted the signs outside the building. There was one extra Kaine sign over Kilgore. I was shocked because normally Republican signs FAR out number Democrat signs.

[nerddem]

22. as far as fairfax's machines go

don't be too freaked out. when they are closed they print out a record on a ticker tape roll that gets put in a sealed envelope and sent to richmond

[rqstnnlitnmnt]

24. jack jouett middle school, charlottesville/albemarle

right after work @ 4:15ish, couple of creepy late teenage kilgore volunteers, and the wife of the county supervisor extending her hand with a "hello please vote for my husband..." felt really bombarded (offered three sample ballots and the hand of aforementioned lady)

the name on my voter card is wrong, but i got in with my name address and driver's license (the lady even read her name and followed with her finger, but pronounced it like i said). got a generic card with lots of info on it (didn't bother to read it) and a number was Xd in a large book another woman had. told to go to any booth, gave the card to the attendant and went inside. i had never voted on these type of machines before: large touchpad with cells for five questions. press down the button next to the name, a green light arrow points to the name you chose, at the bottom is a keypad for write-in's, CAST button on the bottom right. I didn't catch the company, but definitely didn't see Diebold

hope turnout picks up!

[puckish]

26. Voted this morning pretty much as soon as I rolled out of bed

London Towne Elementary in Centreville. Easily got a parking space, even though it's a teacher workday and there were teacher conferences scheduled for the day. Caputo workers had the table just in front of the doors of the school, but they kept to themselves, and there was no one else out there. (Well, there were two people whom I presume were Republicans milling around about thirty feet from the door, but they were far away from anyone even coming close to the school doors.)

Went inside and right to a voting machine. The lady verifying my address said that there had been a steady stream of voters, but I gathered that it was more of a trickle than a stream, alas.

I took my seven- and six-year-olds with me, and let them press the "buttons" on the touch screens while I explained what office we were voting for, who we were voting for, and why. We voted Kaine, Deeds, and... um, someone else who I didn't know was running. (Edited: Byrne. All we got was Michael Golden/Kilgore/Craddock ads around here, nothing about lieutenant guvnor.) We voted Democrat down the line, except for one candidate for a House seat or similar where there was no Dem running (we wrote in my husband's name just to take away that one vote). Also voted yes on a school bond.

We live just out of that fucker Chris Craddock's district - I'd have loved to have voted against him, but he wasn't on my ballot.

It was much less exciting than last November's election; I was pregnant then, due within two days, experiencing labor pains. My son and I got escorted to the front of the line to cast our vote for Kerry. And there was a very long line then, I'm happy to say (I believe Fairfax County came in blue overall). There was a sense last fall that we were doing something really important, and that other people were there doing important things, too. The waiting in line (in labor) held such a promise of excitement and wonder to come, whereas today was more low-key and with much less excitement and to-do. But no less important than last fall's election!

Go Tim Kaine!

[bikebloke]

27. Arlington after work

In front of the pollng place, the fire station, a couple of neocons kept frantically trying to give away repubalqaedan ballots. No takers, while I was coming and going. And no wait at all, though folk were constantly coming and going.

Still had an uneasy feeling about he maachines. Sure it said I voted who I voted for. But you have to wonder what will happen on the way to the tabulators.

[tonekat]

29. Woodburn Elementary School, Fairfax County

Poll workers said there was a steady stream all day. No waiting at around 6pm. No one outside with sample ballots, probaly were there in the morning. There was a person to explain the touch screens. Machines worked fine, seemed as though I had to touch the "next" button twice though. Glad to see my vote for Kaine was counted!

[Virginian]

31. Worked in my new precinct in Fairfax.

It went 50/50 in the presidential last year. Went overwhelmingly for Kaine today. The turnout was A LOT heavier than the Warner election in 2001.
Voters were waiting from at least 5:45 for us to open at 6:00. After the initial surge quieted down, we had a constant stream of voters. Sometimes we would get backed up and some voters may have had to wait as long as five or ten minutes for one of our 6 machines. We didn't have any slack time. Usually the early afternoon gets real slow and the workers can go two or more at a time to the break area of the room to eat their lunches. Today, they were taking 5 or 10 minute food breaks one at a time, because everyone was needed.
The electoral board had predicted we would have a light turnout. I wouldn't call this anything resembling light. We even ran out of "I voted" stickers around 4:30 or 5:00.
I think Kilgore struck a nerve, he insulted the intellignece of these voters with his negative ads. They were out to make sure he didn't have four years to further insult them.

A funny thing -- One mother told her children to sit so that they couldn't see how she was voting because it is supposed to be a secret vote. That was unusual because most parents who bring their kids, want them to adopt the same political philosophies, some even let their kids push the buttons for them as they explain why they are choosing that candidate.

I had one Indian gentleman who had machine problems because he couldn't understand my instructions on how to operate the machine. It would have been nice if he had brought his own interpreter with him. Not too many of us speak Hindi.

I will tell you more tomorrow -- it has been a very, very, long day.

[kaygore]

32. I voted by absentee ballot

so there would be some paper trail.

In a heavily republican district in Virginia Beach where a friend worked the polls, only about 600 of the 1400 registered voters came out to vote.

I think that a lot were turned off by Kilgore's mud slinging and down-right lies.