Comments on 13045

Can we have an election day thread? Is that too NewsFilter? I can't think of what would make an appropriate link for an FPP on the blue, but here's the Tradesports lines at least. (Predictions, drinking games, oh yeah, and news/links are probably in order as well.) (And popcorn.)
posted by spiderwire to MetaFilter-related at 6:14 AM (81 comments total)

oh, we will. we will. dozens and dozens, probably.
posted by crunchland at 6:17 AM on November 7, 2006

interestingly, the betting line for the senate is down from 75 to 70 from yesterday, and the line for the house plummeted to below 20 from i think 30. (those are chances for GOP control) i don't know what that was in response to.

i'm trying to go through individual races as those markets are usually more accurate (political insiders betting) but it's taking a while. fortunately i have all day and plenty of popcorn.
posted by spiderwire at 6:25 AM on November 7, 2006

ok. as per rothenberg, the "lean dem takeover" senate seats:
rhode island (chafee): 67/35
missouri (talent): 61/36
montana (burns): 75/25
virginia (allen): 64/39

the "tossup" seat:
tennessee (frist): 12/88

the "likely dem takeover" seats:
ohio (dewine): 95/4
pennsylvania (santorum): 94/8

incidentally, lieberman is at 93/6 over lamont.
posted by spiderwire at 6:39 AM on November 7, 2006

oh, and 8/92 in arizona (kyl) and 28/74 in maryland (sarbanes) (eek)
posted by spiderwire at 6:45 AM on November 7, 2006

Spiderwire/anyone- could you give a quick explanation at what the Tradesport link means? If I hover over 'Senate GOP' odds I get 1.4, if over 'House GOP' I get 5.15 at present. Does that mean the market believes that GOP winning the house is far unlikelier than them winning the Senate? (I'm from UK and used to betting odds written as '2 to 1', these digital odds confuse me somewhat. Thanks.
posted by Gratishades at 7:01 AM on November 7, 2006

Gratis: about to go get food so not at the link, but those numbers seem comport with the odds. 5.15:1 is the same as an 80% chance of the dems taking the house, and 1:1.4 would be about 40% for the senate.

will check momentarily.
posted by spiderwire at 7:09 AM on November 7, 2006

Whether we have an election thread or not, this shouldn't be it.
posted by smackfu at 7:09 AM on November 7, 2006

someone's grumpy. today is a day for celebration, smack.
posted by spiderwire at 7:12 AM on November 7, 2006

What's weird is that per state, the betting sites all say the majority of Senate seats will go Dem (all swingers except Tennessee are over 50% for the Democrat) And yet the bets are overwhelmingly for Republicans keeping the Senate.

On a side note, I voted at 8 AM this morning in Arlington, VA, which is the blue stronghold for the state... and I had to wait for an hour behind 100 people almost all of whom were holding little blue Democratic Party voter cards.
posted by XQUZYPHYR at 7:13 AM on November 7, 2006

today is a day for celebration, smack.

No, that would be tomorrow.
posted by smackfu at 7:26 AM on November 7, 2006

sadly, you're right. i miss the halcyon days of my youth when i stayed up all night watching the florida recount battle unfold.

actually, i don't miss that at all. in fact i think i may cry now.

apropos of nothing, here's the iowa electronic markets exchange, if prediction markets are your thing.
posted by spiderwire at 7:36 AM on November 7, 2006

maybe after the polls start closing and we actually have something to talk about?
posted by pyramid termite at 7:58 AM on November 7, 2006

pyramid termite makes a good point, but i think that counterargument is that there's a whole lot of chicanery going on at the polls today, even based on what we've seen already. that might merit an ongoing discussion.

just playing devil's advocate.
posted by spiderwire at 8:07 AM on November 7, 2006

My son helped me vote today. He's three years old. Here's what I mean by helped:

Pressed the giant candy-apple green button positioned at 3-year-old eye level, after I had made only one selection. The good news is that my one selection was for Not-Santorum for US Senate.

So, yea there's some vote tampering for ya. I wonder if he's a republican operative?
posted by Mister_A at 8:12 AM on November 7, 2006 [2 favorites]

I'm hearing all kinds of horror stories about polling places here in Cleveland.
posted by sciurus at 8:20 AM on November 7, 2006

Lotsa machine failure stuff here. Funniest bit is a website set up to monitor crashing machines around the country which has itself crashed.
posted by hackly_fracture at 8:32 AM on November 7, 2006

I'm still waiting for the "Bigfoot Captured" thread. : (
posted by Smart Dalek at 8:35 AM on November 7, 2006

I'm always shocked when I read these USA voting threads. Trouble at the polls, ridiculous lines, etc. Here in Toronto, voting literally takes me about 90 seconds once I reach the poll station. I walk in (no lines), give my name, get handed a form, fill it out, watch it drop in the box, leave.

I realize there are way more people in America but I mean, really, I'm in a city of 2.5 million people--it goes without a hitch every single time. I don't understand what the problem is in America. Really, how hard can it be to do this easily?
posted by dobbs at 8:41 AM on November 7, 2006

you canucks just don't appreciate the value of a good hard day's work. stealing an election takes a lot of time and effort.
posted by spiderwire at 8:52 AM on November 7, 2006

Really, how hard can it be to do this easily?

No one posts about how they didn't have trouble.
posted by smackfu at 8:55 AM on November 7, 2006

Wow, look. You're in an election day thread right now! Amazing how that works. If you want anything more, I'd suggest (politely) setting up your own blog. If you want the community aspect, well, there's livejournal or Vox and you and all your friends can munch popcorn, bite your fingernails, and grind whatever axes to your hearts' content.
posted by Eideteker at 8:56 AM on November 7, 2006

I wish we could have just one big catchall thread--for all big events and things.

(i've stopped asking tho, after asking for a 9/11 anniv one.)
posted by amberglow at 9:05 AM on November 7, 2006

I think FARK (and god help me for suggesting they do something right) has a permanent thread#1 or something, which is basically a chat-thread. Probably that build community. I doubt it keeps chat out of the real threads, but they are less concerned with that than people here are. It might be worth trying, at least on days when people want to "talk" to others.
posted by Rumple at 9:18 AM on November 7, 2006

Wife and I went to vote as soon as the polls opened this morning. We use optically-scanned ballots. When I got to the machine to feed it my ballot, they had it half-disassembled. I cracked a lame joke about them being Diebold machines (I pronounced it "die"). The woman tinkering with the machine said "never say die". Guess you had to be there.

Also, there was a second scanner for a local referendum. The wife's ballot managed to jam it. So much for relatively low tech.
posted by SteveInMaine at 9:24 AM on November 7, 2006

Oregon's mail-in-ballot system makes so much goddam sense to me now.
posted by cortex at 9:44 AM on November 7, 2006

Prediction: very few of my votes will matter.
posted by keswick at 10:09 AM on November 7, 2006

I wrote in Suri Cruise for every position.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 10:13 AM on November 7, 2006

Freedom [YouTube].
posted by ericb at 10:15 AM on November 7, 2006

I (Democrat) have never lived in a place where my vote mattered -- Texas for 20 years (hah!), then New York City, then Boston, now Washington DC. So alas...
posted by delfuego at 10:16 AM on November 7, 2006

From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Polling machine problems were being addressed at about 25 of the city's 200 polling places, said Sue Edman, director of Milwaukee's Election Commission.

That might sound like a lot, but those are many fewer than were acting up in the September primary, she said.

"Nothing too big," said Edman when asked to characterize the problems.
posted by drezdn at 10:17 AM on November 7, 2006

dobbs: I'm always shocked when I read these USA voting threads. Trouble at the polls, ridiculous lines, etc. Here in Toronto, voting literally takes me about 90 seconds once I reach the poll station. I walk in (no lines), give my name, get handed a form, fill it out, watch it drop in the box, leave.

Elections Canada is a non-partisan agency, and they're very good. They hire and train an army of temporary workers for each election. Each party can send a small number of observers to each polling station to watch the counts; counts are posted on the Elections Canada website as they come in.

In the US, elections are conducted by each state, so there's a lot of variation from one state to the next. Many states have adopted computer-based voting systems--a big mistake, IMHO. The person in charge is the secretary of state, an elected official. (Many positions that would be filled by appointment in Canada are filled by election in the US. In theory it's more democratic; in practice it leads to more partisanship, as in Ohio in 2004, where the secretary of state was also the co-chair of Bush's re-election campaign for Ohio.)
posted by russilwvong at 10:18 AM on November 7, 2006

i'm inclined to say that if you're going to the polls only so you can be the 1 ballot that tips the 50% scale, you may be missing the point. votes don't necessarily matter -- voting does.
posted by spiderwire at 10:34 AM on November 7, 2006

Funny election story: So, I've taken the Boy to every single election since he was born. Local dog catcher, Regime Leader, whatever...I've dragged him into the polls. This year was the first time he was really old enough for us to have the discussion about what I was doing and why it was important.

So ensued a long discussion about Democracy and The Republic, and citizens and the responsibility as a member of a Republic to cast votes on people and issues that you think drive the society in the direction it should go. There was even a chart. Yes, I made a chart. Shut up.

So, we're in the polling place. Waiting in line to show my voter's registration and get my ballot. The Boy, was sounding out words written on the windows. (Voting was at an elementary school.) One of the darling, friendly, ancient people they unfreeze to work elections peered over the table at The Boy and said, "Hello young man, are you here to vote?".

To which the Boy responded; "Oh, no. My mom just needs to pick some new people to yell at on TV."
posted by dejah420 at 10:37 AM on November 7, 2006 [13 favorites]

I live in Indiana where my vote matters and I voted without any problems. Assuming the computer didn't just eat it or something. There was no paper ballot.
posted by thirteenkiller at 10:45 AM on November 7, 2006

Same here. At least I know if they switched my vote they did it after I left. So that's something, huh?
posted by bob sarabia at 10:51 AM on November 7, 2006

No problems voting in DC just now--scanned paper ballot, FWIW. This election is especially fun for me, though, because my brother is running for re-election in Charlotte, NC (for the County Soil & Water Conservation District).
posted by MrMoonPie at 10:59 AM on November 7, 2006

Rumple writes "I think FARK (and god help me for suggesting they do something right) has a permanent thread#1 or something"

Going to Fark for political stuff is like hiring Jeffrey Dahmer to cook for you because you heard he cooks unusual stuff.
posted by clevershark at 11:09 AM on November 7, 2006 [1 favorite]

russilwvong writes "Elections Canada is a non-partisan agency, and they're very good. They hire and train an army of temporary workers for each election."

I think that's the success to our elections -- not having them run by people who are also campaign chair for someone running in the same election (remember that Katherine Harris in 2000 was the state campaign co-chair for Bush -- surprise!).
posted by clevershark at 11:13 AM on November 7, 2006

No problems voting in DC just now--scanned paper ballot, FWIW. This election is especially fun for me, though, because my brother is running for re-election in Charlotte, NC (for the County Soil & Water Conservation District).

Oh yeah? What's his position on Iraq? :)
posted by hackly_fracture at 11:20 AM on November 7, 2006

For the record, some friends and I are planning on a drinking game this evening as the returns come on:

We will each have 2 beers at any given time. One will be a good beer of our choosing, and the other will be Busch. When a D. wins a contested seat, we drink from the good beer. When an R. wins one, we have to drink from the Busch.
posted by JMOZ at 11:29 AM on November 7, 2006

JMOZ writes "We will each have 2 beers at any given time. One will be a good beer of our choosing, and the other will be Busch."

Aren't there something like 600 to 650 races being decided tonight (counting governors)?
posted by clevershark at 11:36 AM on November 7, 2006

I'll miss JMOZ.
posted by Astro Zombie at 11:39 AM on November 7, 2006

drezdn : "Nothing too big," said Edman when asked to characterize the problems.

I gotta agree with the Sentinel here, when I voted in Waukesha county (about 20 miles from Milwaukee) I was in and out. Total time took about 2 minutes, from them verifying me, having two agents sign off on my ballot, marking my choices and running it through the scantron. Of the two machines, one was being worked as I walked in and was fixed before I left.

One thing I did find interesting was that it was much busier than it was during the Presidential elections. Same location, same time of day. I would guess that there were at least three times as many people there. It didn't cause any kind of hold up, but I was surprised by the turnout. I thought the mid-terms were the one that no one cared about.
posted by quin at 11:43 AM on November 7, 2006

One thing I did find interesting was that it was much busier than it was during the Presidential elections. Same location, same time of day. I would guess that there were at least three times as many people there. It didn't cause any kind of hold up, but I was surprised by the turnout. I thought the mid-terms were the one that no one cared about.

Man, is that ever depressing.
posted by spiderwire at 11:44 AM on November 7, 2006

How so? I think a big voter turnout would be a good thing?
posted by quin at 11:51 AM on November 7, 2006

clevershark, I think there is about 465 federal seats up for election, I may be off by a smal number, and 34 Governors.
posted by edgeways at 11:52 AM on November 7, 2006

there's a whole lot of chicanery going on at the polls today, even based on what we've seen already. that might merit an ongoing discussion.

I know of several good threads for ongoing discussion.
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 11:53 AM on November 7, 2006

How so? I think a big voter turnout would be a good thing?

It's depressing that more people would show up for this election than for the 2004 election. As I recall that one was pretty important.

I know of several good threads for ongoing discussion.

Yeah, but now I'm all settled in here.
posted by spiderwire at 11:57 AM on November 7, 2006

smackfu: "No one posts about how they didn't have trouble."

CNN Breaking News: Local man has no trouble voting, throws "I voted" sticker in the garbage. More details as they come in.
posted by Plutor at 12:00 PM on November 7, 2006 [1 favorite]

No problems here outside St. Louis. Hopefully you nice stem cell scientists will be able to continue your work with my minor help. And you, the guy that owns the restaurant? Well, if want to let people smoke in your place, that's your business. You just might not get mine.

The woman in front of me was still waiting to vote on a touchscreen when I stuck my ballot in the optical scanner and headed out to work. Overall, so pleasant I made a sticker.
posted by MarvinTheCat at 12:10 PM on November 7, 2006

What time do polls close on the east coast?
posted by edgeways at 12:12 PM on November 7, 2006

8:00 in DC, edgeways.
posted by MrMoonPie at 12:17 PM on November 7, 2006

I didn't get a sticker. But I did get to vote on the old ker-thunnk machine. (And of course, thanks to New York state politics, I will get to for a long time more.)
posted by dame at 12:30 PM on November 7, 2006

Different states, different times. KY and IN close at 6, although I think IN just announced extended hours to deal with machine chaos. Most close at 8, however.
posted by hackly_fracture at 12:32 PM on November 7, 2006

Oh, what the hell. I'll do it.
posted by XQUZYPHYR at 12:46 PM on November 7, 2006

People were asking legitimate questions, figured all the info should be in one place, and it was going to happen anyway. Have at thee.
posted by XQUZYPHYR at 12:47 PM on November 7, 2006

Quinn, it depresses me because of the way Waukesha leans, fortunately, I've heard lines in Milwaukee are an hour long.
posted by drezdn at 12:58 PM on November 7, 2006

I think IN just announced extended hours to deal with machine chaos.

Only in Delaware County, where polls will remain open until 8:40 p.m. In the other 91 Indiana counties, polls will still close at 6:00 p.m local time. (74 Indiana counties are on Eastern time, 18 on Central time.)
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 1:07 PM on November 7, 2006

Here in Toronto, voting literally takes me about 90 seconds once I reach the poll station. I walk in (no lines), give my name, get handed a form, fill it out, watch it drop in the box, leave.

Here in Texas, voting took me about 120 seconds. I walked in (no lines), gave them my name, they crossed my name out of the Book of Life so I couldn't vote again, and handed me a little piece of paper with a number. I took the number to one of the machines -- this was the "eslate" kind that seems to be built off of an old Tempest machine -- and selected the straight-Democrat button.

Then I scrolly-wheeled through an embarrassingly long list of offices, most of which were already filled out for me, and voted for a bunch of libertarian candidates where there weren't any Democrats running, and voted against a whole goddam bunch of ballot propositions, a few of which I even read.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 1:16 PM on November 7, 2006

Thanks, XQUZYPHYR . :)
posted by spiderwire at 1:35 PM on November 7, 2006

I thought I had made a post to the elections thread, but it appears to have been deleted. Am I going crazy or did it really happen?
posted by kfx at 2:05 PM on November 7, 2006

ROU: I voted in Texas as well today, and the ballot I had (Travis County) was probably the longest ballot ever. By the end, I counted 45 Seats and 7 Bond initiaves to vote for.
posted by jefbla at 2:11 PM on November 7, 2006

I thought I had made a post to the elections thread, but it appears to have been deleted. Am I going crazy or did it really happen?

Did the election happen? This is a good question.
posted by spiderwire at 2:24 PM on November 7, 2006

(And of course, thanks to New York state politics, I will get to for a long time more.)

Bad news, dame. Due to pressure to accommodate disabled voters, electronic machines are expected to be certified for NY state in time for the 2007 elections. There's still the chance that the old system will remain in use for one more year, but only due to delays.
posted by Smart Dalek at 3:29 PM on November 7, 2006

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!! Ker-thunk is the sound of democracy in motion. Fuck you handicapped people. Fuck you for ruining my democracy.

(Okay, so I went to vote this morning. And I've moved since the last time I voted, but only a couple blocks and I still vote in the same place. So I show up and give them my new address and they can't find me. Then I give them the old one, and they're all, "Yeah, it'll take the Board of Elections abour five years to get it right." I hope it takes them five years to replace the machines in Bushwick. Jeebus willing, incompetence will win out.)
posted by dame at 3:57 PM on November 7, 2006 [1 favorite]

Fuck you handicapped people. Fuck you for ruining my democracy.

No other words were posted that have begged for one of interrobang's caricatures.
posted by Smart Dalek at 4:16 PM on November 7, 2006

Here in Toronto, voting literally takes me about 90 seconds once I reach the poll station. I walk in (no lines), give my name, get handed a form, fill it out, watch it drop in the box, leave.

Yeah, that's my experience as well, but I voted in a municipal election in Saskatoon a couple weeks ago and I noticed that the paper ballots were gone, with Diebold machines in their place. *sigh*
posted by smorange at 4:19 PM on November 7, 2006

The results are in, and it's a bad night for the White House.

Yup, Danny Ortega is the new president of Nicaragua.
posted by genghis at 4:23 PM on November 7, 2006

At last, Britney. Our time is now.
posted by robocop is bleeding at 5:40 PM on November 7, 2006

No trouble voting here in the South Hills of Pittsburgh, although other precincts apparently had trouble getting their machines started in the morning. Short lines, and the touchscreens seemed to work.

Each machine had an observer posted next to it to walk everyone through the process, which involved a BIG RED BLINKING LIGHT marked VOTE that you had to press when you were finished. Very futuristic, but I still miss the levers.
posted by nebulawindphone at 5:57 PM on November 7, 2006

Rick Santorum defeated! Awesome.. I'm hefting a cold Miller Lite to that.
posted by rolypolyman at 7:54 PM on November 7, 2006

Democrats take the House!
posted by EarBucket at 8:19 PM on November 7, 2006

lol debold
posted by Eideteker at 9:27 PM on November 7, 2006

I voted a week ago. I <3 absentee ballots.
posted by dw at 9:39 PM on November 7, 2006

All i have to say, is that there is some fantastic, and i mean fantastic running comentary, going on in the election thread. Much more interesting than anything else i've seen.

Thanks!
posted by Freen at 10:47 PM on November 7, 2006

I just wanted to say thanks for this thread as well. I was working during the evening and following Missouri results by hitting refresh over and over again on my sidekick. Thanks!
posted by rfbjames at 11:33 PM on November 7, 2006

dw, you're supposed to have less than three absentee ballots. In fact, you're only supposed to have one...
posted by Dunwitty at 3:28 AM on November 8, 2006

HA! Out here, we use the same voting system they use for the MLB All-Star Game. I can get as many votes as I want! And I voted for Ichiro as my House rep 15 TIMES because I had 15 BALLOTS!
posted by dw at 1:28 PM on November 8, 2006

i thanked XQUZYPHYR on the thread itself, but i'll thank him again here. i wish i could take credit for calling for it, but clearly #1 has emasculated me by bringing the hammer down on my lame chatfilter threads too many times.

i'm plotting against you though, matt
posted by spiderwire at 2:36 PM on November 8, 2006

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