Month: November 2008

A reader writes:

I voted in Fairfax, VA. This was my first time and I’m still shaking. Starbuck’s offer of free coffee may be well-intentioned but I’d do better if the ABC stores were handing out shots of bourbon. I got in line at 12:30.  There were only a couple dozen people ahead of me but it seemed to be a steady stream.  I was surprised at the number of young people like me.  My generation with IPods in ears under our hoodies playing games on our cells phones while we waited. 

I expected to be out-numbered by the elderly and soccer moms but it was the opposite.

I was offered a choice between paper or touch-screen.  I chose paper.  I wasn’t alone.  The four machines were empty while the tables to fill out paper ballots were all taken.  I didn’t see anyone use a machine while I was there.  It only took maybe 30 minutes from the time I parked.  The exit had a small huddle of college kids offering terrorist fist-bumps and a thanks to everyone as they left. I’d held the door for an older woman to leave in front of me.  Glad I did as I got to watch her reaction to the excitement.  She couldn’t stop giggling at them as she mastered the bump. 

Nate Silver recommends ignoring exit polls. As does Mark Blumenthal. I’ll keep an eye out for them regardless. The first ones are due in about an hour. Their main value is historical. By the way: look out for Ambers on CBS tonight. It’s a TV debut of sorts.

The secret to his endurance:

When asked how he was planning to get through the marathon seven-state day, Salter quipped: "Crystal meth. Me, personally, that’s how I’m going to do it."

I wonder if it induces hallucinations of crosses in the dirt.

A second report exonerates Palin, while the first one found her guilty of abuse of power.

For the record:

Jim Pinkerton can’t quite endorse McCain, can he?

Not a swing town, in an electoral sense, anyway. But, in many ways, an old-fashioned one. The voting booth:

A reader writes:

My wife, two kids (5 and 1) and I showed up at our polling place, a local church at about 8am this morning. No line, no drama. No history-laden conversation with our African American neighbors we ran into on the way out. Instead we joked about how today was trash day and that our boys (hers, 13 and mine, 5) had been enlisted to do the chore for us. That was it. Just two neighbors talking about life.

A reader writes:

At 3 p.m. on Election Day, the Foundry Methodist Church voting station in Dupont Circle was doing light but brisk business. As I signed my name to receive my ballot, one of the poll workers loudly asked another to ring the small bell on their table. "Everyone please listen up for a moment," he boomed while holding on to an old black woman standing perhaps 5’2" with a huge grin. "This is our special voter of the day. She’s 95 years old and this is her first time voting."

As everyone in the room took her in and the thundering applause echoed through the old church basement, her glinting eyes quickly teared up and she somehow managed an even bigger smile.

Tyler Cowen shares his views on voting.