In terms of excitement I'd equate my feelings towards election day with a watered down version of Christmas morning excitement. Election Day by far isn't my favorite special day, that's the Thanksgiving, ID4, Christmas trifecta, but in terms of morning excitement, I love Election Day. This year might be a little different since I have class at 8am that morning, so I might not be able to wait (though there is rarely a big line at 7am), but I hope I can vote early.
I recognize the covenience of voting early either in person or by mail (and I like the idea), but for me personality there's just a mental component to voting on Election Day, showing up early, being involved in the physical act of voting on the day everyone else is doing it. It sounds dorky, but what do you expect from a history major?
Posts: 21898 | Registered: Nov 2004
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I'm abnormal. I hate Halloween. It's my least favorite holiday. I despise pretty much every aspect of the day and always request a shift at work for that night so I won't have to be home to pass out candy, and so I can build up good will at work for other holidays I want off since everyone else wants Halloween off.
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Well there's a history behind it. I used to like it when I was younger, but from the ages of like 6 to 13 I was sick every single Halloween and couldn't go out, so by the time I was a teenager I just hated the day in general. Plus my brother would always steal all my candy. The bright side is that to this day I rarely eat candy, so I guess it has certain health benefits.
It's always about childhood trauma isn't it? But yeah, since that happened it slowly grew into a general dislike of most things associated with the day like candy, dressing up in costumes, etc.
Posts: 21898 | Registered: Nov 2004
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quote:I'm abnormal. I hate Halloween. It's my least favorite holiday. I despise pretty much every aspect of the day and always request a shift at work for that night so I won't have to be home to pass out candy, and so I can build up good will at work for other holidays I want off since everyone else wants Halloween off.
I don't hate it, but I don't like it. When I was little, my brother used to make little games for the dark, and we'd just do pumpkins. The plastic gaudiness, griminess of the holiday just turns me off. I'm glad I'm working on Halloween.
Posts: 8473 | Registered: Apr 2003
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I was an early election day voter. This year, though, I am afraid I'll be hit by a bus or something. I don't want to take any chances (even though my vote is pretty irrelevant). Also, I may want to volunteer that day.
Posts: 11187 | Registered: Sep 2005
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quote:Originally posted by Teshi: The plastic gaudiness, griminess of the holiday just turns me off.
The plastic gaudiness of just about every holiday here in the US turns me off. Halloween, though, I love. My family always made our own costumes when I was a kid, and honestly I think that I enjoyed the process of deciding what to be and of making it as much as (or more than) I did any other aspect of the holiday. Along with that, I enjoyed wearing my costume out and getting compliments on it from all of our neighbors. I know now, of course, that I could have worn a burlap sack and a fifty cent plastic skull mask and gotten the same compliments, but back then I took what the adults I was trick-or-treating said at face value.
I would wear my costumes, or parts of my costumes, throughout the year when I was playing superhero, or dragon, or Greek myth, or whathaveyou.
Posts: 16059 | Registered: Aug 2000
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quote:Originally posted by kmbboots: I was an early election day voter. This year, though, I am afraid I'll be hit by a bus or something. I don't want to take any chances (even though my vote is pretty irrelevant). Also, I may want to volunteer that day.
I'm going to be voting on election day itself. I'm also definitely going to be voting before heading to work; I'm expecting pretty long lines at the polls this year, and I'm hoping that the early morning line will be shorter than the just-after-work line.
Posts: 16059 | Registered: Aug 2000
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quote:Originally posted by kmbboots: I was an early election day voter. This year, though, I am afraid I'll be hit by a bus or something. I don't want to take any chances (even though my vote is pretty irrelevant). Also, I may want to volunteer that day.
I'm going to be voting on election day itself. I'm also definitely going to be voting before heading to work; I'm expecting pretty long lines at the polls this year, and I'm hoping that the early morning line will be shorter than the just-after-work line.
When I voted in the primaries I did it right before work, and there was absolutely no line at all. Hope it works out just as well in two weeks.
Posts: 3852 | Registered: Feb 2002
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There is a lot of hype about ACORN and voter fraud. It is blown way out of proportion and may be used as a tactic to delegitimize the election.
Yes. ACORN's methods are sloppy. They hire low income people to register people. This is good because it puts a little cash into the hands of the unemployed. Some of these people cheat ACORN by filling out registration forms with fake names and addresses. ACORN and other voter registration groups are required by law to turn in all the forms. Most of the fake forms have been brought to the attention of officials by ACORN.
The important thing to understand is that fake registrations do not equal fake votes. We could have zillions of fake registrations and they would not make any difference to the outcome of the election not only because they are weeded out before county officials send out voting cards but, more importantly, because imaginary people cannot show up to cast a vote.
quote: The Justice Department devoted unprecedented resources to ferreting out fraud over five years and appears to have found not a single prosecutable case across the country. Of the many experts consulted, the only dissenter from that position was a representative of the now-evaporated American Center for Voting Rights.
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Absentee Voting is fun. I sent mine in the day of the third presidential debate, then laid back with a beer and watched the debate without a care in the world.
Posts: 1711 | Registered: Jun 2004
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I already voted. Put the ballot in the mail yesterday.
I love Halloween, but I understand childhood traumas ruining holidays. Don't even talk to me about that awful day in mid-February where people put up decorations of ripped out hearts. Not that I have issues. Posts: 2392 | Registered: Sep 2005
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quote:The plastic gaudiness of just about every holiday here in the US turns me off. Halloween, though, I love. My family always made our own costumes when I was a kid, and honestly I think that I enjoyed the process of deciding what to be and of making it as much as (or more than) I did any other aspect of the holiday.
You do seem to have a lot of fun with the costumes.
I loved it when I was little, and I love fall here in Canada, but it's just another excuse to drink or party loudly (in costume, like it makes some difference) for my age group, two things I never really got into. I don't like the wild undercurrent of the day for the same reasons I don't like April Fool's Day. The plastic thing is just ugly. Real pumpkins set the scene much better than fake ones.
Posts: 8473 | Registered: Apr 2003
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I voted! Thank the lord for absentee voting. The one thing that I think they overlooked in their envelope to me was the "I voted!" sticker that I love. I miss that sticker. It always made my day when I voted. Well, that and the whole exercising my civic duty thing.
Posts: 1789 | Registered: Jul 2003
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quote:Originally posted by Lyrhawn: I'm abnormal. I hate Halloween. It's my least favorite holiday. I despise pretty much every aspect of the day and always request a shift at work for that night so I won't have to be home to pass out candy, and so I can build up good will at work for other holidays I want off since everyone else wants Halloween off.
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I had to run past the post office and the library this afternoon. So, I stopped in at the court house and voted. There was no line, the Clerk called me by name, found my regestration in about 15 seconds, I signed, got my card, voted, AND got my "I voted today sticker" in less than 5 minutes.
Posts: 1167 | Registered: Oct 2005
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quote:Originally posted by Teshi:You do seem to have a lot of fun with the costumes.
Yeah, it's fun making 'em, and then wearing what you've made. Honestly, the only way I'd actively enjoy a Renn. fest, anymore, would be if I were to have dressed in costume for it.
quote:but it's just another excuse to drink or party loudly (in costume, like it makes some difference) for my age group, two things I never really got into.
::nods:: That I can relate to; I've never really been a fan of drinking heavily or partying either.
Posts: 16059 | Registered: Aug 2000
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Hey, did you guys know if you go in to a Ben and Jerry's Scoop Shop on election day and show them your sticker, or your ballot stub, or just tell them you voted, you'll get a free scoop of ice cream? Might be fun for those of you who live closer to a SS than I do. Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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quote:Originally posted by Lyrhawn: It's always about childhood trauma isn't it? But yeah, since that happened it slowly grew into a general dislike of most things associated with the day like candy, dressing up in costumes, etc.
My family doesn't understand why I get agitated and angry so easily on Christmas, or why I despise the idea of the holiday. The trouble is simply that I remember it always as a day on which I felt obligated to be "cheery" and to see the positive side of things, and a day on which my older sister never, ever missed an opportunity to torment me in some way or another. I think she did it out of boredom- and now I hate Christmas.
Posts: 9912 | Registered: Nov 2005
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No, actually, I quite like one of the candidates we have this time. I think I'd like to keep him, thank you very much Posts: 3295 | Registered: Jun 2004
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I voted yesterday! I actually got two votes, because I forced my younger brother to register, drug him to the polls and told him who to vote for. Now Texas is totally gonna go Dem! ... Posts: 2596 | Registered: Jan 2006
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I didn't do early voting, I was an absentee voter. I actually voted against the measure that would permit early voting for Maryland. I moved to Utah recently, but we still own a house in Maryland and I didn't change my Driver's license yet because we're at a temporary address. I'm not even sure I would have had the necessary documentation to register in Utah, now that I think about it. Getting the kids into school was a close shave.
Also, I don't care much for halloween either, Lyrhawn. But I don't know what ID4 is. I'll look it up. I don't really like Christmas either, mostly because my son and my nephew died in December. But I love Thanksgiving. It's my second favorite after Easter, and followed closely by the 4th of July. Even when I was in college I kind of hated Christmas, though I think I mostly did it to appear edgy.
Hmmm. Google says ID4 refers to the Will Smith movie. That was also my first association, but I didn't think that would be it. So please elaborate.
Posts: 11017 | Registered: Apr 2003
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quote:Hmmm. Google says ID4 refers to the Will Smith movie. That was also my first association, but I didn't think that would be it. So please elaborate.
Precisely
It's Independence Day. I use ID4 as shorthand for the Fourth.
Posts: 21898 | Registered: Nov 2004
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I did absentee voting. It made my day. This is the first election I can actually vote in. I can't wait to see how everything turns out in November.
Posts: 58 | Registered: Sep 2006
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My absentee ballot finally came! I'll mail it tomorrow and hopes it gets home before election day. I know it gets counted either way, but I like the idea of it being there before everything is decided.
Posts: 2149 | Registered: Aug 2000
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quote:Originally posted by Miro: I know it gets counted either way, but I like the idea of it being there before everything is decided.
I don't know if it's this way in every state, or even if it's still this way in Arizona, but when I got my absentee ballot for Arizona for the last presidential election, it stated that absentee ballots were only counted if the spread between the candidates was less than the number of absentee ballots. I guess it makes sense in terms of best using limited manpower, but it kind of annoyed me that my vote wasn't going to be actually counted, most likely. So this time, I'm voting in person, on election day.
quote:Originally posted by theCrowsWife: I guess it makes sense in terms of best using limited manpower, but it kind of annoyed me that my vote wasn't going to be actually counted, most likely. So this time, I'm voting in person, on election day.
--Mel
Sadly, this practice doesn't actually make your vote count any more.
Posts: 3950 | Registered: Mar 2006
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I mailed my ballot today and even got a tracking number, so I'll know when it arrives.
As far as I know, DC counts all ballots postmarked by election day and received within ten days of election day. Of course, the outcome is almost always decided by then, so people don't really pay attention.
I know that whether or not my ballot is counted will not change the outcome of any of the elections. I also know that I am one of many whose ballots do determine the outcomes of the elections. I accept my miniscule part in the process and take pride in it.
Posts: 2149 | Registered: Aug 2000
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quote:Originally posted by Miro: I know that whether or not my ballot is counted will not change the outcome of any of the elections. I also know that I am one of many whose ballots do determine the outcomes of the elections.
These two statements are contradictory. If your ballot does not change the outcome of the election if it is not counted, then it has no part in determining the outcome of the election.
Posts: 3950 | Registered: Mar 2006
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MC: then, in any election where the result is not affected by the change of one vote, no one's vote has any part in determining the outcome of the election. Yet, somehow people are elected .
Not everything that doesn't matter on the margin doesn't matter.
Posts: 15770 | Registered: Dec 2001
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You are right on the first part - no single person's vote has any part in determining the outcome of the election. Wink all you want, but your vote is still meaningless.
Not only is one person's vote meaningless, but the votes of every single person in some states are meaningless. It's contrary to how we would like to think voting works, but the harsh reality is that we have essentially no say in what happens by voting.
Religion might be the opiate of the masses, but voting is the placebo of the masses.
Posts: 3950 | Registered: Mar 2006
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