Vote. Vote. Vote. Vote.

November 6, 2018 4:49 AM

Today is Election Day in the United States for the 2018 mid-terms. Thought it'd be nice to have a place to check-in and let us know you voted. Vote. It's important. Go vote. Vote. VOTE.
posted by Fizz to MetaFilter-Related at 4:49 AM (264 comments total)

If you're in Chat and the "don't have rights to room Election" comes up, either hit escape or find a hidden X on the right side about half way down.

I voted.
posted by deezil at 4:54 AM on November 6, 2018 [2 favorites]

checked to make sure my absentee ballot from Wisconsin got counted & it did; this year it was just two big bubbles, one with "SCOTT WALKER" and another one with "LITERALLY ANYBODY BUT THAT, PLEASE, I WOULD PREFER A SALTINE CRACKER AND IT DOESN'T EVEN HAVE TO HAVE SALT ON IT."

so hopefully *that's* sorted

(God I'm terrified)
posted by taquito sunrise at 5:04 AM on November 6, 2018 [16 favorites]

I'm not voting until later with my wife when she gets off work, but my sister just texted me from KY-6 and said there's a line out the door at her suburban polling place. She walked right in and out at the same time in 2016.
posted by T.D. Strange at 5:04 AM on November 6, 2018 [7 favorites]

I voted weeks ago by mail. I filled out my ballot over the course of 3 days, intermittently looking up different candidates. It was boring. That's how it ought to be.
posted by cichlid ceilidh at 5:05 AM on November 6, 2018 [12 favorites]

Waiting for my wife to come down so we can walk over to the senior tower to vote. Getting my voice ready to yell my name at the sweet but somewhat hard-of-hearing lady that has the little voting cards. I've heard that they finally have stickers this year so I'm excited.
posted by octothorpe at 5:09 AM on November 6, 2018 [5 favorites]

I was not as moved as on the morning 2 years ago, but I did get to mark my ballot for Tracy Mitrano and a few other women this morning! It feels good.

Thank you to Chrysostam and contributors to the long threads, and to all who volunteered in so many ways this season!
posted by jaruwaan at 5:12 AM on November 6, 2018 [4 favorites]

I voted and am going to sleep because I work tonight. My local candidate has an amazing GOTV team so I'm putting my sticker on the door with a note that says "Please don't knock, I promise I voted." It was rainy and cold but there was still a line around the building. However, I live in a pretty red district so who knows.
posted by MaritaCov at 5:12 AM on November 6, 2018 [6 favorites]

My partner and I got up and voted bright and early, so he can get on his way to the rest of his day driving around the county taking voters without transport to the polls. No lines at 7:30. No real drama except for our state House rep, where supporters of the incumbent who lost in the primary to a DSA-backed female candidate are staging a write in campaign heavily based on fear mongering VOTE AGAINST SOCIALISM messaging. I will be EXTREMELY annoyed if they’re successful as I do not want that dude back, but contented myself with pettily refusing to take that flyer while cheerfully accepting the other flyers on offer.

Gotta find my small joys where I can.
posted by Stacey at 5:13 AM on November 6, 2018 [10 favorites]

(God I'm terrified)

Since yesterday I've been feeling like I'm about to puke and cry nonstop. It's only 8am fuck me.

Yesterday I showed a coworker the snl video and she was laughing until all of the sudden she started crying her heart out.
posted by Tarumba at 5:14 AM on November 6, 2018 [13 favorites]

Woke up to a morning text from my mom who lives in a mostly working-class racially diverse neighborhood here in Cincinnati that when she arrived at her polling place there were 25 people in line before it opened. I think she said she usually walks right in, so I'm taking this as a good sign.
posted by mostly vowels at 5:19 AM on November 6, 2018 [8 favorites]

We woke up early this morning to vote, on our wedding anniversary (this also happened in 2012). The polling place wasn't busy yet, but the whole operation was sort of a cluster. No stickers, unfortunately. We got some in 2016, but never before or since.

We have a competitive House race in my district for the first time in at least 25-30 years. It will still go R by at least 5 points, but that would still be a 20-point swing from 2016.
posted by uncleozzy at 5:22 AM on November 6, 2018 [7 favorites]

My polling place this morning (suburban Ohio) was about as busy as I've seen it during recent presidential election years. Normally very short or no line in midterm years, but today I spent about 30-40 minutes waiting in line/voting. This is (I think) also the second year that they've used electronic voting rolls, which means they can process the line much faster. The downside is that the actual voting booth is the bottleneck (there were probably 18-24), so once you get through the first line to check in, you now wait in another line for one of the voting booths to open up.
posted by noneuclidean at 5:35 AM on November 6, 2018 [3 favorites]

I voted on the second day of early voting last month and it went smoothly despite a steady stream of voters. And it’s not like that shithead Brian Kemp was remotely likely to do anything in the last couple of weeks to make me change my mind and vote for him in the most important race on the ballot. I’m still pretty pessimistic that he will win anyway, what with successful voter suppression efforts in Georgia and questionable voting machines throughout the state. I did get a little hopeful earlier today when I commented that I am looking forward to no more campaign ads, especially for Kemp. Although we don’t generally talk a lot of politics at work one of the nurses responded that for the first time in her life she’s going to vote straight Democratic. She lives across the river in South Carolina, so that won’t help Stacey Abrams, but it does tell me that Trump and his followers have alienated a lot of people who have voted Republican in the past.
posted by TedW at 5:40 AM on November 6, 2018 [6 favorites]

I voted. Now I am sitting in the rain handing out sample ballots. Wouldn't have it any other way.
posted by nightrecordings at 5:44 AM on November 6, 2018 [13 favorites]

My husband and I voted early on Saturday because I knew I wouldn't have time today. I got an extra sticker to wear today, though.

Things have been shit in my life for the last little while and I'm so, so, so worked up about this election. There's a watch party at one of my favorite bars tonight, hosted by some dear friends, but I just don't know if I have the spoons to go to it. I honestly don't know if I have the fortitude to track the results in real time again.

My 18 year old daughter is working at a polling place in Chicago today and I couldn't be more proud of her.
posted by cooker girl at 5:46 AM on November 6, 2018 [11 favorites]

I voted in Philadelphia this morning, wearing my Nasty Woman t-shirt. There were 4 people handing out sample ballots outside, 2 Democrat and 2 Republican. The Democrats said, "Would you like a Democrat sample ballot?" and I said, "Yes please." One of the Republicans said, "Democrat? Democrat?" and tried to hand me the Republican sample ballot, so that was fun.

There wasn't much of a line but I was already Voter No. 67 at my poll worker's table, and the polls had only been open for 10-15 minutes.
posted by coppermoss at 5:46 AM on November 6, 2018 [6 favorites]

I waited in line! I voted! I got a sticker! I hugged my friend who is running for office! I got back into Boston! Now I'm going to throw some money to Pizza to the Polls, and try my best to get some work done today!
posted by ChuraChura at 5:48 AM on November 6, 2018 [8 favorites]

I have voted. Unfortunately, I have yet to acquire an Official Monster Raving Loony Party rosette, so I could not wear that into the polling place.

Short line, but it was quite early. I figured it would be clogged with people voting before work, as I was.

The scantron reader machine was down, which the election official assured me was not a big deal; he tore off the end of it, handed it to me, watched me place my ballot into the machine, and dipped the tip of my genitals in purple indelible ink, as is the way of my people. A normal electoral process.
posted by delfin at 5:49 AM on November 6, 2018 [10 favorites]

I voted early on Friday, October 26, at 7:30 pm. It was raining heavily. The polling place was full even on the second day of early voting, at the start of a weekend, and at such a late hour (the polls closed at 8:00 pm), which I took to be an encouraging sign.

I live in Maryland. Whenever I wonder how Larry Hogan is poised to earn another term as governor in our ostensibly blue state, it's important to remind myself that one should never doubt the propensity of self-absorbed and cruel suburban and rural white voters to vote for candidates who promote highway projects at the expense of public transit, treat Baltimore and other urban communities as scary cesspools rather than the socially, racially, and economically vibrant places they are, oppose sensible and humane police reform, fail to act in concert with neighboring states to protect the environment, and support developers and large corporations at the expense of ordinary citizens. I was proud to cast my ballot for Ben Jealous and for Democrats up and down the ballot. I only wish I could have voted against Andy Harris for the House, but in this ridiculously gerrymandered state, I'm sure he'll cruise to reelection. Alas. No matter what happens today, the fight continues tomorrow.

Thanks to Abigail Spanberger, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Stacey Abrams, and every other progressive woman who is a candidate for higher office. Thanks to the media who report on politics, at ever-increasing risk to themselves. Thanks to everyone who fights voter suppression and gets people to the polls. Thank you, fizz, and MetaFilter, for giving me a place to voice my fears and hopes. Thank you for voting.
posted by cheapskatebay at 5:50 AM on November 6, 2018 [8 favorites]

My polling place (the local high school) was surprisingly busy at 7:30 this morning. Unfortunately that meant that things moved very very slowly, and people were getting crabby. I wish the voting experience could be a little more, I don't know, festive. Music playing, maybe some snacks on offer. Instead I'm standing there in a gym having high school flashbacks and listening to people complain.
posted by JanetLand at 5:51 AM on November 6, 2018 [5 favorites]

I voted weeks ago in Vermont. It's not actually that urgent here because our people mostly don't suck, though I was very happy to get to cast a ballot for a transgender woman (the Democratic candidate) for Governor. She is a longshot, but I hope she makes the current gov sweat.

I'm heading to work the polls in a few hours. My sister is working the polls in her MA town all day today. I've been even more involved this time around than times previous (I am the treasurer for someone running for a state position, I am running for re-election as a Justice of the Peace, I am counting votes tonight. Best wishes to people in contentious areas. Happy anniversary uncleozzy
posted by jessamyn (retired) at 5:59 AM on November 6, 2018 [25 favorites]

Voted early, spending today trying not to curl into a fetal position and hide in a closet. 2016 fucked me up.
posted by emjaybee at 6:04 AM on November 6, 2018 [16 favorites]

My husband and I voted in South Philly today and there was already a line when we got there 5 minutes before the polls opened. It was my first time voting in Philadelphia and the old machines with just a red light indicating your choices was a little off putting. I was also disappointed that there were no women on my ballot.
posted by source.decay at 6:05 AM on November 6, 2018 [3 favorites]

I live in a vote-by-mail state, so this weekend I sat down with my ballot and some coffee and began leisurely filling in the ovals. Unfortunately, when I flipped it over to do the other side, I found that the Sharpee I'd used had bled right through the paper, potentially spoiling my ballot.

However! On going to the county auditor website to try to find out how much of a problem this would be and how to get a replacement ballot, I discovered that my county now allows you to open an on-line ballot in PDF, and then either print it OR fill it out on-line. For a moment I was "WaitWHAT, we're voting online now?!?!" but no, thankfully you still need to print it out once completed and sign it manually and mail it/put it in a dropbox.

I filled it out on line, because hey, if I'm not going to be going down to the local polling place to stand in line and chat with my neighbors and get a sticker, all of which I nostalgically miss, then I want to feel like I'm totally living in the future.

Now off for a day of huge anxiety and wibbling about when I should start peeking through my fingers at the news.
posted by Kat Allison at 6:08 AM on November 6, 2018 [4 favorites]

Voted this morning in South St Louis!
posted by fluttering hellfire at 6:09 AM on November 6, 2018 [4 favorites]

Would it be crazy to put one of those little thin banners on the front page reminding USians to vote?

Also, if you vote and you are on social media, please post on social media that you voted. This actually matters. There are for reals causal, not just correlational, effects between seeing posts that your friends voted and voting yourself. You can affect voter turnout not just by voting and encouraging others to vote, but also by POSTING that you voted.

Citation: Article describing randomized controlled trial showing effects of seeing social media posts affects voting (paywalled), lay reader version.
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 6:10 AM on November 6, 2018 [5 favorites]

Going soon. I’m still waiting for a call, hoping that they’ll need me for poll duty. I *really* don’t want to sit around all day waiting for election results. And honestly, that election worker training class is god-awful and if I went to it for nothing....
posted by greermahoney at 6:11 AM on November 6, 2018 [2 favorites]

Just voted in my rural Illinois county that usually votes Democrat but went 60% for Trump in 2016. No line, which is normal. The only time there has ever been a line was in the 2016 election. I hope this means that the Trump voters who came out of the woodwork in 2016 are staying home today.
posted by Blue Genie at 6:14 AM on November 6, 2018 [5 favorites]

Voted this morning, passed three polling places in northern VA on my way to work. All of them had several dozen people lined up.
posted by zombieflanders at 6:14 AM on November 6, 2018 [2 favorites]

I have never seen a polling place in Tucson as busy as the one I went to today--which still isn't terribly busy, but at least I wasn't the only one there. Part of this is probably due to timing, since I usually go a bit later in the morning, but I hope I can still take this as a good sign.
posted by egregious theorem at 6:17 AM on November 6, 2018 [1 favorite]

Voted blue (+1 by my spouse) at 7am in VA-10 in Winchester VA (light blue city surrounded by blood red rural county). This was my second time voting in my new hometown. First time there was one other car in the lot. Today the lot was full. No lines, but a healthy crowd well organized by poll workers and moving briskly.

Btw, on Friday I was in VA-10 in western Henrico County--a mostly white and wealthy area. I saw Spanberger yard signs outnumbering Brat signs by about 3-1. Unusual in that area, where I grew up in the 70s/80s surrounded by racists.
posted by ImproviseOrDie at 6:18 AM on November 6, 2018 [4 favorites]

I'm embarrassed to admit this, but I'm pretty sure these are the first midterm elections I've ever voted in, despite having been able to vote for over 10 years; I came out for the same reason as everyone else, the horror of 2016, the urgency, etc. (I've always voted in presidential elections.)

The only mitigating factor is that I've basically always lived in solid blue districts -- my current and the last couple of districts I've lived in have all been among the top 10 most Democratic districts in the entire country -- but I still feel sheepish about not having turned out before.

But better late than never, right?
posted by andrewesque at 6:19 AM on November 6, 2018 [27 favorites]

Right.
posted by jessamyn (retired) at 6:20 AM on November 6, 2018 [13 favorites]

Oh, and a low-level shout-out to my gas company for fucking up my billing in a way that led to them sending me a paper bill last month, because the poll workers actually wanted an additional address document besides my voter registration card this time (my DL still has a several-moves-ago address on it, something that I will definitely correct before the next election).
posted by egregious theorem at 6:21 AM on November 6, 2018 [5 favorites]

My wife and I voted this morning. Now to find a place to keep tabs on the results while I'm at work.
posted by Roger Pittman at 6:25 AM on November 6, 2018 [1 favorite]

I got to vote for myself the other day (I voted early). A lot more thrilling/moving than I thought it would be. Wish me luck!
posted by saladin at 6:27 AM on November 6, 2018 [33 favorites]

But wish Gillum and Nelson and company a lot more luck.
posted by saladin at 6:27 AM on November 6, 2018 [5 favorites]

I usually vote in the evening; my options are to either get up early and go before work, or detour to my polling place on my way home after work, and getting up early just ain't gonna happen.

My Bestie in Eastern CT texted me earlier that she had a 15-minute wait in line at her polling place. At 6 a.m. She said that the only other time she had to wait in line was in 2008, and it was only a 5-minute wait then.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 6:31 AM on November 6, 2018 [3 favorites]

I voted 3 weeks ago because I'm working the polls today. 130 people so far (90 min in). Huge rush at start and now calming down. Weather is crappy (rain/sleet mix, 38 degrees). I hope people dont stay in.
posted by Elly Vortex at 6:31 AM on November 6, 2018 [7 favorites]

I swear if my family does not vote yes on 3 (Massachusetts - protecting trans individuals) I will smush them like bugs.
posted by wellred at 6:32 AM on November 6, 2018 [9 favorites]

I'm in a Portland, Maine, adjacent city and my polling place was busier than I've ever seen it for a midterm election, and on par at least with 2016. This is in addition to/in spite of our early voting numbers being up. Similar stories from people at work from various other towns in the area. In Portland itself, I'm hearing there were already lines over an hour long at one location.

I'm an elected official for my city (school board, not up this year) so I'm obliged to hang out with the other local Dems as we tally results as they come in. We're defending two school board seats this year and have the chance to pickup the city council seat for my ward. There is no polling at this level, so you're always going in a bit blind (although the city leans Dem overall). Normally a fun group to hang out with, but I'm having some background-level anxiety about it due to vivid memories of 2016. At least we are not going back to the same bar.

Statewide, all eyes on the Governor's race which I'm not entirely confident about and the possibility of flipping the second congressional district!
posted by mikepop at 6:38 AM on November 6, 2018 [2 favorites]

I early voted in Indianapolis the Friday before last, in a small event organized by my awesome Democratic volunteer coordinator, Rebecca. The next day I joined an early voting event for trans people organized by Planned Parenthood and the ACLU, though I didn't vote, of course.

From seeing turnout in Indianapolis and judging from the enthusiasm of some of the voters I've spoken to while canvassing, I'm optimistic about turnout here in the city. I hope it'll be enough to balance that from the rest of the state, but I figure Trump wouldn't have been holding a rally in Fort Wayne last night if the Republicans were confident in victory.

I'll be watching the returns at the official Democratic Party gathering tonight -- another in a series of firsts since 2016. But it won't be the last time.
posted by Gelatin at 6:42 AM on November 6, 2018 [2 favorites]

In “problems only I have” news I was going to go vote and then turn off the TV, unplug the router and just ...sit in the bath all day? Bake a cake? But then a Scottish outlet asked me if I wanted to provide a Leftist American POV post midterms which means I now have to pay attention to the whole thing.
posted by The Whelk at 6:44 AM on November 6, 2018 [24 favorites]

Out the door to vote this morning like ....
posted by octobersurprise at 6:46 AM on November 6, 2018 [5 favorites]

I voted a week ago - waited in line for early voting for an hour and a half. There were a lot of cars outside the elementary school where voting is held, but this is our first year living here, so I am not sure what it normally looks like. fingers crossed that the rainy Atlanta morning doesn't keep people home.
I was so pleased with my boss, who made it quite clear to all of us that if we had not already voted, he wanted us to take time off today in order to do so. I have worked so many places where not only would they not mention it, they would have begrudged the time.
posted by needlegrrl at 6:48 AM on November 6, 2018 [1 favorite]

We voted in Maryland this morning. The kraken helped me by sitting on my lap and demanding hugs while I filled out my ballot and fortunately they gave her her own sticker because I was not planning to share mine. What I SHOULD do now, and will try to do, is kind of ignore results and stuff for the rest of the day because I'll just make myself crazy and there won't be any meaningful information for hours and hours and, even if there were, there's very little I could do about it. What I WILL do is refresh Twitter frantically all day and have the same pointless, fretful conversations with co-workers over and over again. At least tonight my husband is making tacos.
posted by Mrs. Pterodactyl at 6:48 AM on November 6, 2018 [5 favorites]

My mom was #892 at 7:30 this morning at our polling place in NH-1! My dad and I waited about 10 minutes at 6:00, she said she didn't have a line.
posted by ChuraChura at 6:49 AM on November 6, 2018 [2 favorites]

I voted early and didn't get a sticker :(
posted by Lutoslawski at 6:50 AM on November 6, 2018 [1 favorite]

I’m in Mexico. My two best friends have lived in the US (Boston and Sacramento) close to 8 years due to work. Within the last two months they both got their citizenship and are voting this election. It’s bittersweet for me because I miss them but I’m proud of them.
posted by CrazyLemonade at 6:53 AM on November 6, 2018 [8 favorites]

I voted early by mail, and I had my celebratory democracy tacos the day that I checked the recorder's website to confirm my ballot/signature was verified.
posted by mixedmetaphors at 6:53 AM on November 6, 2018 [1 favorite]

Oh, WOW, my Brooklyn polling place was PACKED. Tons of energy from the poll workers and more politeness between voters than I’ve ever seen in ten years of living here. Turnout easily surpasses 2016.

On my way out, someone on line gently tugged my shoulder and said, “Excuse me, miss, can I ask a question: does this vote today mean we can vote out Trump?” I was like, “No, my friend, here is what we can vote for, let me tell you!” And I explained everything on the ballot and what it means locally. And he was very sad because he JUST read about Russia and 1) he wants Trump to go to jail, and 2) he doesn’t trust a man who’s never had a drink. And then I explained to him all about how our House and Senate work and what this could do to check the administration and he was really psyched again and we fist-bumped.

Democracy 2018!!!!
posted by Yoko Ono's Advice Column at 6:53 AM on November 6, 2018 [45 favorites]

I voted - #9 in my precinct, but that's because I showed up a few minutes before 7am and had memorized my ballot the night before, so I was going a lot faster than everyone else. There was still a line, and when I got my ballot, all of the tables and voting booths were filled! That didn't even happen in 2016.

I've got a work happy hour to go to with some white guys from rural-ish Wisconsin this afternoon, and I'm really not looking forward to it. As the youngest person, a woman, and on the lower tier, I really don't want to talk about politics with them. After that, go home, get some food, and not check the news until tomorrow morning.
posted by dinty_moore at 6:53 AM on November 6, 2018 [3 favorites]

Our polling location was pretty quiet this morning - it must be one of the smaller wards in town, it generally never gets very busy. However, I biked past several other voting sites on the way to work and they all had lines out the door.
posted by backseatpilot at 6:55 AM on November 6, 2018 [1 favorite]

I just posted this link on my Facebook feed to encourage voters.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 6:58 AM on November 6, 2018 [3 favorites]

I voted early and didn't get a sticker :(
posted by Lutoslawski

No “I Voted” Stickers at Your Polling Station? We’ve got you covered. - By Lisa Larson-Walker and Forrest Wickman, Slate
posted by ZeusHumms at 6:59 AM on November 6, 2018 [5 favorites]

Also this was my partner's voting experience this morning, in rural Trump country Ohio. She lives in Ohio but has an IA license.

Poll worker: "We need to see an ID."
Her: presents Iowa license
Poll worker: "This means nothing to us."
Her: presents letter from tax board with Ohio address
Poll worker: reluctantly pulls out large binder with lists of approved official identification documents, finds tax board letter is approved. "Well well, I guess you came prepared."
Her: "Yes I did."
posted by Lutoslawski at 7:00 AM on November 6, 2018 [53 favorites]

About #125 in my ward in my small town - elections person said they'd had 100 by 8 am (1 hour in).

Wolf
& Casey
& Lamb
& Knoll
posted by Chrysostom at 7:02 AM on November 6, 2018 [4 favorites]

Here voting is done by mail, so I voted a couple of weeks ago. I really like having mail-in voting, because it's easy to sit at my computer and take the time to figure out all the weird down-ballot measures, judges, and so on that don't get the attention of the national races.

It was also nice to log in to the election site a few days later and see the confirmation that my ballot was received and counted.
posted by Dip Flash at 7:07 AM on November 6, 2018 [3 favorites]

One of the few things I regret about living overseas is that I always have to vote absentee, and I miss the whole polling place experience. My ballot's been sitting in a warehouse somewhere for the last few weeks just waiting to be counted.

I still got a sticker, though--it came with the ballot.
posted by Mr. Bad Example at 7:09 AM on November 6, 2018 [5 favorites]

the polls were crowded (yay!) and it was hard to find a spot in a big parking lot. but the lines were short thanks to lots of volunteers and lots of voting booths (yay!)

went grocery shopping after, maybe around 9 am or so, and saw LOTS of "I voted" stickers. Maybe 1/3 of people had them?

Ask me if most of them were women. Yes, yes they were.

I feel good. But ask me if I stocked up on booze while I was at the grocery store. Yes, yes I did.
posted by robotdevil at 7:14 AM on November 6, 2018 [6 favorites]

Someone upthread mentioned that their boss let them know it was ok to take time to vote and I realized, hey wait a minute: I'M a boss! I have 12 reports! (Just got promoted a year ago, I forget that I am now The Man). So I sent out an email letting my folks know it was a-ok to take extra time at lunch or leave early if they needed it to go vote.

That felt pretty good.

Of course, I worry that some will vote R, but it's a younger, more female group, so I'm thinking they lean D.
posted by emjaybee at 7:15 AM on November 6, 2018 [41 favorites]

Same here-- the school where I vote in Williamsburg has a line out the door. It's the first time I've ever seen the pollworkers outnumbered. They're offering people the option to vote in line instead of in the booth so they can get in the scanner line sooner.

NYC has really nice stickers, they're not those generic flag stickers. But the Alaska ones are even prettier!
posted by blnkfrnk at 7:17 AM on November 6, 2018 [3 favorites]

Only number #69 and only two people in line in front of me in my precinct in Pittsburgh's Northside but I can't remember how that compares to previous years.

Co-worker in the suburbs said that he waited 90 minutes, not sure if that's a good sign or not.
posted by octothorpe at 7:20 AM on November 6, 2018 [2 favorites]

oh also very important, if you take a selfie with your I Voted sticker and it mirror-images you (so like Snapchat does) "voted" looks like "beto(V)"
posted by robotdevil at 7:22 AM on November 6, 2018 [9 favorites]

oh sorry one more also very important thing, if you're a WTFJHT subscriber you can send proof that you voted to get free stickers (see yesterdays newsletter)
posted by robotdevil at 7:25 AM on November 6, 2018 [4 favorites]

I voted on the first day of early voting and took a caravan of younger colleagues who probably would have voted—but fuck it, I wanted to make sure.

I’m traveling today so I’m wearing my ‘I am a voter‘ shirt (thank you, Tracey Ellis Ross!) to encourage and remind others. I can’t bear to join any of the watch parties or any discussions. Checking Nate Silver’s predictions nearly made me cry. It hurts so much today, so I’m doing what I can.
posted by librarylis at 7:27 AM on November 6, 2018 [3 favorites]

My office, for all of its quirks, offers up to an hour of paid leave for the purpose of voting in primary and general elections. I voted early, so I could drag the beau along with me. Early voting was surprisingly busy for arriving 10 minutes before the end of the day. There were waits of 30 minutes or more in some of the more suburban early voting locations, though!

I live in a tiny blue speck surrounded by a lot of red, that was mostly spared by Hurricane Michael, thankfully. Lots of us are thrilled about voting for Gillum, because he's our mayor! Also because the other candidate is a racist blowhard. I have high hopes for us (we're quite predictable, but I'm worried about the creationist that's on the ballot for the school board race...), but the rest of the state continues to make me nervous.

That said, if you're in Florida, I know there's an overload of proposed constitutional amendments this year. 12, and it's a lot. But for the love of everything, vote YES ON AMENDMENT 4. Florida is one of four states that doesn't automatically restore voting rights, and it's reckless and backwards and racist as hell. We shouldn't have to vote to restore others' rights, but it's here and just do it, okay?
posted by PearlRose at 7:27 AM on November 6, 2018 [12 favorites]

We voted early last weekend, glad we got it done. I gave a friend a hard time for taking the easy way out on not voting. He said he's never voted in his life because he is convinced the system is rigged and the people have no voice and it's all run by a few men in a dark place.

We're still friends for now, but I did slap him around a little.
posted by yoga at 7:28 AM on November 6, 2018 [3 favorites]

CO has mail-in ballots and this year that actually gave me a lot of anxiety because a) there are a lot of important local issues going on as well and somehow I lost sight of that and b) I'm so notorious for making paperwork mistakes and have paperwork go wrong even when I do everything right that I won't feel ok about voting until I see it's received and verified. I haven't felt this much stress about filling in ovals "perfectly" since I took the SATs.

Also thought the nausea and anxiety I felt in 2016 was the worst I could ever feel on an election day. Oh geez was I wrong. 2016 ended in one of the worst hangovers I've ever had. So though I did a lot of GOTV and volunteering with a few orgs and there's a few watch parties and people it'd be nice to be around it could be a recipe for stress-drinking. So I planned ahead. I worked my ass off this last week in order to take today off, will stress-bake most of the day (fortunate to work for myself) and then hand out baked goods, go on a realllllllly long run and do a lot of pacing, and tonight I am NOT watching election returns for the first time ever because all I will be doing is hitting REFRESH and agonizing which is not healthy, so a few of us are going up in the mountains (no phone reception!) and having a star party.

But Denver did send out I VOTED stickers this year with the ballots and that's wonderful!
posted by barchan at 7:31 AM on November 6, 2018 [4 favorites]

I live at a polling place, and the traffic snarl this morning of voters trying to get into the parking lot and finished voters and residents trying to exit the lot was epic. I've never seen that, even in presidential years. I'm very excited to vote after work.
posted by gladly at 7:32 AM on November 6, 2018 [2 favorites]

"Well well, I guess you came prepared."

Just...who ARE these people?

The poll workers in the very blue places I’ve always lived have always been super fucking stoked that people are voting! The mood is always like...celebratory. Thinking about what kind of person you have to be to volunteer as a poll worker because you want to make it harder for people to vote is just chilling.

Man, she deserved a sticker and a high five, and good for her for being prepared.
posted by schadenfrau at 7:34 AM on November 6, 2018 [30 favorites]

I early voted last week. Three generations voted together! My kiddo voted for the first time! TEXAS DEMOCRATS!!!
posted by shmurley at 7:35 AM on November 6, 2018 [21 favorites]

This is a couple of days late but I wanted to share this text message from my father who lives in Texas, which has given me a spark of hope every time I read it over the last few days:

From a political yard sign: things I like more than Ted Cruz ... 1. Mosquitoes 2. Beans in my chili 3. Turkey bacon.

I did early voting. The library at [X] and [Y] had lines from the front out to the street. Looking at the people in line and of course stereotyping them based on color and appearance it seemed possible that Beto could win. A young Asian woman on one side of me and two scarf wearing middle easterners on the other as well as many black and brown people, far out numbering the number of white people and even many of those were young and possibly progressive looking. (I of course was the exception to anybody stereotyping based on looks LOL)

He's a big old white guy but he's for Beto too. GO TEXAS DEMS!
posted by alleycat01 at 7:37 AM on November 6, 2018 [18 favorites]

I was #102 at my polling place at 9:55 -- not too bad for my precinct, which is full of students and always has the lowest turnout. They had the good stickers for 100 years of women's suffrage in NY.
posted by zeptoweasel at 7:38 AM on November 6, 2018 [4 favorites]

I have voted! It’s actually weird for me because we get ballots in the mail and I fill them out right away and mail them out of panic that I will forget and not get it done in time. So all the political mailers after that are totally wasted. But the voting is complete! Also I got my husband the anarchist to vote, though he did write in FW Gritty on at least one line. Still, my house was a straight line of “definitely not the Trumpists (like Susan Hutchinson)” at least
posted by corb at 7:39 AM on November 6, 2018 [4 favorites]

2016 broke any romantic notions I had about elections representing the will of the people, so I didn't really feel enthusiastic voting for two white guys this morning, albeit ones with D's next to their names. Maybe one of these decades I'll get to vote for a woman to represent me in the House and Senate, but I don't think we'll see another woman nominee for President in my lifetime, given how fucking sexist this country is. Going to turn my phone off at 7 PM and go to bed early.
posted by longdaysjourney at 7:46 AM on November 6, 2018 [6 favorites]

I'm wearing my MeFi's own Nasty Woman t-shirt (by TangoCharlie) to vote today!
posted by slipthought at 7:46 AM on November 6, 2018 [2 favorites]

We voted last Monday, because our early voting location is actually closer to our place than our actual polling location.

Since we both found watching the returns two years ago kinda traumatic, we're taking ourselves out for a nice dinner this evening. Self-care is a thing.
posted by Making You Bored For Science at 7:55 AM on November 6, 2018 [2 favorites]

I'm in CA-48th and went to my polling place to drop off my mail-in right when it opened. I was concerned there was going to be a long line already, but there were only four or five people. I hope that doesn't signal anything for turnout and just means people have either voted early or will go after work.
posted by FJT at 7:56 AM on November 6, 2018 [1 favorite]

That, and I'm not drinking an absinthe at midnight to blunt the pain regardless of the outcome. The hangover was atrocious.
posted by Making You Bored For Science at 7:58 AM on November 6, 2018 [3 favorites]

I voted by mail a couple weeks ago--most friends of mine voted early or by mail in order to do day-of volunteering or election judging. Normally I would volunteer with 866-Our-Vote, too. But this year, I was too spent. I managed a volunteer shift with the Chicago Votes pre-trial detainee voting project. And some other stuff. I feel conflicted. Election Protection is not only important, but it's also an exciting volunteer day. But this is me, putting on my own oxygen mask first.

My office building is a polling place. There's been a small line since I got here at 8:00am, but not a long one. There is usually no line at all.
posted by crush at 8:01 AM on November 6, 2018 [2 favorites]

I'm taking a computer science class, and I've gotten to know a guy in my class who seems kind of like an archetypal Republican voter. White guy in his late 30s, not (yet) a college graduate, married with kids, works for a defense contractor and lives in a blue-collar city near my college town. So we're talking, and he's like "I'm going to vote after class, and I'm not going to vote straight-ticket Democrat, because I've heard all these stories about machines flipping people's votes. I'm going to go through and check off each Democrat individually." Yay! I feel like a good judge of character for thinking he seemed like a good guy.
posted by ArbitraryAndCapricious at 8:03 AM on November 6, 2018 [14 favorites]

We voted. At 7:40 AM, we were #163 and #164 at our precinct. I don't know how to contain my stress over NY23, which I know is such a long shot, but still...

Also, go Beto. And I'm rooting for Stacey Abrams and Gillum. Those two are important.
posted by RedOrGreen at 8:03 AM on November 6, 2018 [4 favorites]

Yesterday I dropped off my mail-in ballot at the nearest drop off location. California includes an "I voted" sticker in the permanent absentee pack, which is nice.
Thank to the League of Pissed Off Voters up in SF for the voter guide and the local DSA chapter down in LA for the info on all the judges. I'm a high information voter in general (city council is my jam!), but figuring out two dozen judges required a shortcut.
I want Prop 10 to pass in California so badly.
posted by spamandkimchi at 8:09 AM on November 6, 2018 [6 favorites]

Just walked over with my boyfriend to our polling place in San Francisco and dropped off our absentee ballots. After this election, may the only complaint about millennials be that they sign up to vote by mail and then hang on to their ballots until Election Day anyway just to get a sticker for the 'gram. #yolo #oldmillennialjokes There was a line, which I have only seen in the 2016 general, and I think this one was longer. Voting in San Francisco can have a strange lack of urgency when you look at what's going on nationally, but we did have not one but two Metafilter FPPs about local San Francisco ballot issues (Yes on C, school board race) so I gotta represent!

I have a capacity for optimism that borders on ridiculous and I feel good about today.
posted by sunset in snow country at 8:10 AM on November 6, 2018 [5 favorites]

Voted! It's rainy but healthy turnout.
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 8:14 AM on November 6, 2018 [1 favorite]

Oregon being Oregon we voted a week or two ago by mail, which is pretty nice for removing one little element of paranoid stress dreams etc. from this whole process. I made a little bit of motivational signage during Inktober.
posted by cortex (staff) at 8:16 AM on November 6, 2018 [5 favorites]

Voted wearing my traditional Election Day T-shirt—“If You Don’t Vote You Can’t Complain”.

I’ll also take this chance to share my very favorite voting story—from 2008:

I got to my polling place at about 6:30 am and the line was already out the door. As the line moved inside and was snaking back and forth, the gentleman directly behind me started talking with an African American woman several places in front of us--it was obvious that they were acquaintances. After some conversation about the weather, etc the gentleman said something like "Wow, you must have really gotten up early to be so far ahead of me in line!" The woman gave the most wonderful smile and quietly said "Well, it's a historic day."
It's the only time that I've ever wept while waiting to vote. I'm tearing up now remembering the quiet, dignified joy that I saw on that woman's face and heard in her voice. I'll never forget her or that moment in time.
posted by bookmammal at 8:17 AM on November 6, 2018 [13 favorites]

I early voted Thursday and updated my wallet.
posted by obfuscation at 8:23 AM on November 6, 2018 [3 favorites]

I got to the polling place early and got into a short line where everybody was very friendly and chatty. My wife and kids (10,13,15) were with me and we all went in together. The election judges were super nice and let us show the kids how voting works - they even got candy and "I Voted" stickers! On the way out there was a line of people happily waiting in the building and out into the cold rain. It was a great scene.

This was so much nicer than the last election when I lived in one of the most red parts of the Twin Cities and the polling place was a mess of loud jerks and 'election watchdogs' who were sure they found fraud at every turn. What a difference moving 10 miles makes!
posted by Clinging to the Wreckage at 8:23 AM on November 6, 2018 [2 favorites]

I did early voting and there was a good turnout. Of course, Asheville is a blue city surrounded by redness. And the red legislature has been doing nasty gerrymandering all over, including splitting Asheville into two districts. Anyhow, there's no straight-ticket option but nearly everybody (except judges) are denominated so voting Dem is easy. Then I volunteered as a Poll Rover which meant driving all over half the county to polling places, taking supplies of printed materials and water and snacks to the Poll Greeters. One reason I prefer early voting is that my regular polling place is in a damned (heh) church, while the early vote places are in libraries, and I'd rather all voting happen in a non-religious place. Also, during early voting, anybody can vote in any polling place -- why can't that happen on Election Day? Why do we have to go to a specific place? If they can handle it in early voting, they could handle it on the actual Election Day, dammit. Am giving serious thought to going to a watch party or two: one is hosted by the Dem Party, and the other's in a bar with swing dancing. Hmmmm.
posted by MovableBookLady at 8:29 AM on November 6, 2018 [6 favorites]

So my college bff is a transwoman living in SB IN and I thoroughly reamed her two years ago for not voting in 2016. Guess that worked because I got a text she voted this morning for Donnelly.
posted by fluttering hellfire at 8:35 AM on November 6, 2018 [5 favorites]

Of course, I worry that some will vote R, but it's a younger, more female group, so I'm thinking they lean D.

You're a hero for encouraging people to vote, and you're a straight-up superhero for having a principled position that you worry about costing you.

Principles like "actually [caring] for these Earth people" or "no guns, no killing" might cost the superhero a skirmish... but at the end of the day they always end up winning.

There's enough voter suppression going on out there. Great job working against it :)
posted by Nonsteroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drug at 8:36 AM on November 6, 2018 [4 favorites]

Polls opened at 8am in my town (one of the bigger cities in NH-1). Got there around 8:15, and the line was about what it was in 2016--out the door. Got through in about half an hour, by which time the line had shrunk to be inside the building. Saw some people registering.

The library was also there encouraging people to get library cards (if you have what you need to vote, you have what you need to get a library card!). The library book sale is also wrapping up; apparently, you can go and show your sticker to take a bag of books for free, so I might just do that after work.

I still continuously mourn no longer getting a really nice "I OHIO Voting!" sticker. The ones around here are um, a little graphically disappointing.
posted by damayanti at 8:37 AM on November 6, 2018 [5 favorites]

I voted by mail in Oregon a couple weeks ago. My big professional exam was on Halloween, so I was finally free to go knock some doors this past weekend. I collected two ballots! One was from a guy on crutches who couldn't really leave the house, didn't have a plan for dropping off his ballot, and didn't know much about this year's ballot measures; in my head I'm counting that as a vote that otherwise wouldn't have been gotten. In my favorite canvassing conversation of the weekend, he asked me if the (white male) Dem state house candidate was a square as he looked -- answer: yes, but he's solidly progressive and much better than the square white male Republican candidate.
posted by bassooner at 8:39 AM on November 6, 2018 [2 favorites]

Did early a few weeks ago.

Remember to check your selections before submission.
posted by GenderNullPointerException at 8:43 AM on November 6, 2018 [1 favorite]

Voted and promptly lost my sticker. I am ridiculously upset about that.

Hoping we vote in Maryland's first black governor!
posted by J. Tiberius at 8:43 AM on November 6, 2018 [3 favorites]

Done. Got there at 10:30. People voting, but no real lines - no surprise, it's a suburban church in the mid-morning.

No hassles, got asked for ID, asked them if I really had to, they said no, then I gave them the ID and did my thing.
posted by disclaimer at 8:45 AM on November 6, 2018 [1 favorite]

There was no line at my polling place and an over-abundance of staff. Guess I won’t be getting called to work the polls. :-(
posted by greermahoney at 8:45 AM on November 6, 2018 [1 favorite]

A lot of the people I'm Facebook connected to have been reporting lengthy lines at their polling stations.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 8:54 AM on November 6, 2018 [4 favorites]

voted last week, took less than 3min, been wearing my sticker on my bag strap. mandatory ID laws suck, voting dem in a deep red state sucks, voting on local stuff continues to be great.
posted by I'm Not Even Supposed To Be Here Today! at 8:54 AM on November 6, 2018 [3 favorites]

Operation Annoy my sister in Henrico County VA until she votes in this midterm was a SUCCESS. She sent me a photo of her standing only a few feet away from Abigail Spanberger at the polling station! I have now commenced Operation Annoy my sister for various other non-electoral reasons.
posted by Justinian at 8:57 AM on November 6, 2018 [24 favorites]

I voted this morning in South Florida - no lines at the polling place. I'm playing music with friends tonight so won't be looking at any returns. I've got high hopes for Gillum for governor, but a very bad feeling that Rick Scott will win the senate race.
posted by Daily Alice at 8:57 AM on November 6, 2018

Early voted in Atlanta last week, where the wait in fulton county was around an hour, in the rain. Took a friend to vote right after in Dekalb county, where the place was packed. Went with @pourtant this morning to vote where the line was also an hour, in the rain.

Go Stacey!
posted by softlord at 8:58 AM on November 6, 2018 [3 favorites]

Posted most of this in two comments in the other thread but: I got to my polling place at 6:20. This is when I normally go and usually I'm like the second or third person to come in but today there were ten people already in line in front of me, and the poll workers said there had been people lined up when they opened at six. Facebook posts have been reporting long lines and long waits (an hour or more some places) throughout town, continuing even after you'd expect the morning rush to be done. People are saying they've not seen anything like it since 2008, but I wonder how much of it is that no one was prepared for much of a turnout for a midterm.

I've been stress-eating leftover Halloween candy all morning while I try to work and I regret not just taking the day off. At lunch now but I hardly need it after all those damn Tootsie Rolls.
posted by dilettante at 8:59 AM on November 6, 2018 [2 favorites]

Not a voter because 🇨🇦 but helped ms scruss (who is a citizen) drive around a bit of Oswego county NY canvassing door to door. Democrats Abroad set us up with a place that needed help.

→  Unfortunately, I have yet to acquire an Official Monster Raving Loony Party rosette …

I'd count that as a bullet dodged. They got kinda racist when I last remembered them in the early 2000s.
posted by scruss at 9:02 AM on November 6, 2018 [3 favorites]

An hour after the polls opened we were voters 178 and 179. There was a short line, and a longer one when we were done. Plenty of staff. We went to our local for breakfast and are going back tonight in the attempt to distract ourselves from watching the returns.

The gent likes to play 1940s jazz and swing when he gets ready in the mornings. The very first song I heard today was Blue Moon. I'm trying not to be superstitious, but may the good people of this nation collectively drop trou and flash a gigantic blue moon at the fascists today. From sea to shining sea.
posted by Orange Dinosaur Slide at 9:07 AM on November 6, 2018 [6 favorites]

I would have been voter #81 at my suburban Rhode Island poling place around 8:00-ish but the damn scanning machine was finicky ("It rejects like every tenth or fifteenth one," they said) so I had to fill out a new ballot. Lots of jovial chatter among people in the short line and the volunteers, and a generous roll of self-serve stickers.

The clerk watching the machine took my ballot and tried feeding it in three or four different ways, and then read through it carefully looking for errant marks that might have confused the machine. Then he showed it to the precinct judge and then to the two ladies at the check-in table, so in the end literally every volunteer there except one -- who I think was in the bathroom -- got to examine my ballot. *eyeroll* Whatever. I just kept asking for a new one, and when I filled it out it worked the first time.
posted by wenestvedt at 9:08 AM on November 6, 2018 [2 favorites]

Also, at the staff meeting at 10:00AM, I encouraged my guys to go vote!
posted by wenestvedt at 9:09 AM on November 6, 2018 [5 favorites]

Voted early in Ohio, because our polling place burned over the summer, and I didn't want to deal with figuring out a new polling place. Waited on Saturday for 45 minutes, and we all clapped every 5 or so minutes when a first-time voter voted! I left feeling hopeful.

Last night I used Outvote to remind Democrats I know in swing districts to vote; most of them hadn't yet, which was interesting to me (I've gotten very used to early voting!)
posted by chesty_a_arthur at 9:17 AM on November 6, 2018 [3 favorites]

Yeah, manager-type folks: getting explicit permission from mine to come in late or leave early in order to vote gave me critical breathing room to actually talk to my kids about the election, bring them with me to vote, and do this all at the eminently reasonable hour of 7:45am. It was a pleasant experience for all three of us and educational for the kids.
posted by telepanda at 9:18 AM on November 6, 2018 [14 favorites]

Just got out of a group meeting at work where my manager said "Please go vote. I will always give you time off to vote without questions." She's pretty great all the time, and I work for the government where voting is encouraged already, but it was really nice to hear in the meeting this morning.
posted by Clinging to the Wreckage at 9:21 AM on November 6, 2018 [9 favorites]

Oh! Not to suggest that voter turnout is low here in Arkansas - early voting has already surpassed all the voting for last midterms in early voting -1 day in some counties. I'll be surprised if the state's total is lower than 2014.


also: The poll workers in the very blue places I’ve always lived have always been super fucking stoked that people are voting! The mood is always like...celebratory.

FWIW, I am in a blue dot on a sea of red, but our poll workers are always amazing and nice, helpful but not too helpful, they make sure people who come in together don't vote next to each other, they seem to understand that anxiety makes me say my address wrong EVERY TIME, they have canned - but nice - jokes.
posted by I'm Not Even Supposed To Be Here Today! at 9:27 AM on November 6, 2018 [2 favorites]

I voted on Saturday, at the local library, after we checked out another 17 books (we just [re]discovered the library with our 2 young boys, and they are still in the "CHECK OUT ALL THE BOOKS!" phase of going to the library :) ).
posted by filthy light thief at 9:27 AM on November 6, 2018 [6 favorites]

I'm wearing my MeFi's own Nasty Woman t-shirt (by TangoCharlie) to vote today!

The one with the shark? I wore that shirt on election day 2016 and I've never been able to bring myself to wear it again. I thought about it for today, but just looking at it gives me bad vibes by association. Hopefully today will bring me closer to being able to see it in my t-shirt drawer without flinching a little bit.
posted by showbiz_liz at 9:28 AM on November 6, 2018 [9 favorites]

So many people voting - and in a mid-term! It warms my heart. These 'in-between' elections can have a much bigger impact on your day-to-day life than just voting in the presidential election. Remember that "politics" is people working out what the best solutions to our issues/problems are. So when you eschew "politics" you abdicate all that responsibility!
Off my soapbox. Voted weeks ago, as soon as we got our ballots. I do love that mail-in voting means that we can vote with all our research close at hand, and by voting early, eliminate the flyers and robo-calls. I didn't get a single flyer this year!
Also, if you do have absentee voting where you live, and you are waiting until today - please take to a ballot drop-box, your vote will get counted today, not in three days when the mail finally gets there.
posted by dbmcd at 9:28 AM on November 6, 2018 [1 favorite]

Dropped my wife and my ballots off after work yesterday. I’m in a blue district in the suburbs of Portland, so not that much important on it except state only stuff. I hope things go well. Thank you all.
posted by Caduceus at 9:31 AM on November 6, 2018

The one with the shark? I wore that shirt on election day 2016 and I've never been able to bring myself to wear it again.

Same, showbiz_liz. Sad and same.

But I am a fundamentally a foolish creature and hope still surges up within me, against the odds. So here's hoping today's results will get us one step closer to being able to get those shirts back into rotation. (It is an AMAZING illustration!)
posted by alleycat01 at 9:32 AM on November 6, 2018 [4 favorites]

Little Purr decided to stay in their bed all night(!) and we had to wake them up to go to the polls early. Any grumpiness was avoided by snuggling under blankets in the stroller, apple cake for breakfast and a "future voter" sticker.

No lines, but we had to wait for an open booth, and lots of people were streaming in and out at 7 am. Our county has reported 40% voting turnout by noon, but I don't know if that includes absentee votes, which also broke midterm records.

Last Thursday I was coming home from work and musing on election evening plans. In 2016 we had local friends come over, and got takeout tacos and drank margaritas. But coming home I had such a visceral reaction to any frivolity on election night (a la the slate article posted in the main politics thread: These people are still scarred from election night 2016—and they’re not taking any chances.) that I called up Big Purr, and we got tacos from our local place that night, as I was craving them but NOT ON ELECTION DAY. I think we're going to lay low through at least our local results.

Over the weekend I texted my folks and brother, who live in a state with an important Gov election and a chance to flip a congressional district, and they all assured me that they had voted early as absentee. Fingers crossed for good results!
posted by Hermeowne Grangepurr at 9:35 AM on November 6, 2018 [4 favorites]

I have that shark image on my amplifier and every time I see it, I feel ready to make a big noise. Proud to be a nasty woman, now and forever, never shutting up, never backing down. Thank you again to TangoCharlie for making it.
posted by agregoli at 9:37 AM on November 6, 2018 [2 favorites]

Dropped my wife and my ballots off after work yesterday

I hope you picked her back up!
Buh-dum-bum
posted by greermahoney at 9:37 AM on November 6, 2018 [4 favorites]

I wore that shirt on election day 2016 and I've never been able to bring myself to wear it again. I thought about it for today, but just looking at it gives me bad vibes by association.

Ha. I do that, too. U2's "Beautiful Day" still makes me sad and I sure as hell can't listen to "Fight Song."
posted by octobersurprise at 9:38 AM on November 6, 2018 [3 favorites]

We voted about 45 minutes after the polls open and we were 64 and 65. I had printed out all of the non-partisan races and was going to research each one but I did not have time for all of them. I did vote for the two competitive state judicial positions, mayor, sheriff and the city sales tax question. I refused to vote for any of my at-large city council candidates because every one of them griped about property taxes being too high but did not say what they will cut to lower them.
posted by soelo at 9:42 AM on November 6, 2018 [1 favorite]

We went to early voting yesterday. It was pretty crowded, and I think it took about an hour altogether. It was the day before the election, but still, a crowded early voting location in a midterm year.

The guy behind us in line was worried because he had a different form to fill out than we did. It's because he was registering to vote for the first time. "Don't worry!" we said, "they'll let you vote!" And I know they did, because we ended up getting our ballots at the same window.

One more voter in Alameda County, CA isn't going to tip things blue (I think this area is about as blue as it gets), but we had a lot of important state and local things on the ballot yesterday, and for that alone I'm glad that guy showed up.
posted by shapes that haunt the dusk at 9:44 AM on November 6, 2018 [2 favorites]

Voted twice. I screwed up the first ballot and had to get a replacement.
posted by Obscure Reference at 9:46 AM on November 6, 2018 [3 favorites]

> Voted twice. I screwed up the first ballot and had to get a replacement.

Early and often, that's what they say.
posted by RedOrGreen at 9:48 AM on November 6, 2018 [7 favorites]

Democracy tacos! Great idea! I'll make democracy tacos for my family tonight.
posted by Gelatin at 9:48 AM on November 6, 2018 [2 favorites]

"Voting in 2016 vs. Voting in 2018" (SLmeme)
posted by CheesesOfBrazil at 10:00 AM on November 6, 2018 [4 favorites]

I'm embarrassed to admit this, but I'm pretty sure these are the first midterm elections I've ever voted in, despite having been able to vote for over 10 years; I came out for the same reason as everyone else, the horror of 2016, the urgency, etc. (I've always voted in presidential elections.)

• My brother, who will turn 55 next spring, registered to vote for the first time in his life this year, in Texas, just so he can vote for Beto. It was slightly disappointing because he did it before I could ask him to -- I'd hoped I could convince him to register and cast his vote for Beto for me, from afar. Guess I'll just have to be content with it being his vote and not mine.
• Speaking of 'wasted' votes, I got to the poll at 8:00 and checked the box that didn't have Dianne Feinstein's name next to it, and it felt real good.
• Tonight I'm going to pick up a pizza and a bottle of wine from Costco on the way home, then relive 2016.
• I've already told my boss I'm going to be in late tomorrow.

posted by mudpuppie at 10:00 AM on November 6, 2018 [2 favorites]

I voted in Washington by mail. I wish I could be sure it would be counted before the results are in, but I'm not sure how that would work.
posted by Alensin at 10:01 AM on November 6, 2018 [2 favorites]

East Texan here. I voted early. Fingers crossed on a Beto O'Rourke win tonight!
posted by Annabelle74 at 10:02 AM on November 6, 2018 [3 favorites]

Voted around 7:45 this morning in south philly. Not too busy at my polling place but that’s pretty typical and the usual poll workers were there and are pretty efficient.

There was no one outside trying to shove a sample ballot into my hand this time, which was a first and quite nice!
posted by lazaruslong at 10:02 AM on November 6, 2018 [2 favorites]

I've already told my boss I'm going to be in late tomorrow.

Guess who has to wake up 2+ hours earlier than normal tomorrow to staff a huge conference at work? THIS GUY. Urgh.
posted by showbiz_liz at 10:03 AM on November 6, 2018 [2 favorites]

Voted and walked my ballot to the closest library to save a stamp. I really wish all states had a voters’ pamplet and vote by mail. But I do miss getting a “I voted” sticker.
posted by ugf at 10:04 AM on November 6, 2018 [3 favorites]

But I do miss getting a “I voted” sticker.

They should come with the mail-in ballot! What an outrage!
posted by showbiz_liz at 10:05 AM on November 6, 2018 [4 favorites]

I early voted last week. I took my 77 year old dad with me (it's kind of a tradition that we vote together) - there was a two hour wait but I asked the poll workers if my dad could cut because he is on oxygen and there was no way standing there would be good for him. I was going to let him take the car home, wait in line myself and walk home. Poll workers insisted I cut, too. So my wait time ended up being about three minutes. (The walk home would have been no big deal...maybe 1700 steps? The church where I voted is on a couple of my walking routes.)

If you see someone in line who needs it please advocate for them. Most poll workers are helpful when asked.
posted by fluffy battle kitten at 10:05 AM on November 6, 2018 [6 favorites]

Voted in St. Paul late this morning wearing the shirt I now bring out for all elections and federal holidays. It's red, white, and blue, but mostly black. #2016ptsd

Besides the high-profile candidates, I got to reelect Judge Awesome! (OK, it's spelled Awsumb, but how else would you pronounce that?) Also a lot of female judges, well over half that side of the ballot. Good job, Ramsey County.
posted by Flannery Culp at 10:06 AM on November 6, 2018 [3 favorites]

I had a democracy tostada for lunch, does that count?

It was delicious.
posted by Grither at 10:08 AM on November 6, 2018 [2 favorites]

Voted in Park Slope, Brooklyn! There were no lines, perhaps because I timed it to arrive just before lunch time. After that, I went and celebrated democracy with a big bowl of bibimbap.
posted by moonmilk at 10:09 AM on November 6, 2018 [3 favorites]

Voted at 7:15am here in South St. Louis. No real wait, but I did have to create a spot at a table to fill out my ballot, so busier than normal. #126 scanned in! Was glad to see there was no confusion over photo ID/no photo ID (a recent law was rejected). Fingers crossed for Claire!
posted by MundaneNoodle at 10:10 AM on November 6, 2018 [2 favorites]

My democracy taco place closed 2 weeks ago and it’s hard not to take that as a bad sign, tbh.
posted by greermahoney at 10:10 AM on November 6, 2018 [2 favorites]

I voted absentee a couple of weeks ago. Waiting with baited breath.

inside joke from old Compuserve flight sim forum
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 10:11 AM on November 6, 2018 [2 favorites]

Checked today to make sure my mail in ballot was counted and all is good. I ordered a new puzzle that comes today so I’m hoping that will distract me. Whiskey is happening too. I’m sooooo anxious.
posted by Bacon Bit at 10:13 AM on November 6, 2018 [2 favorites]

We're at 43% turnout four hours into the day. 9 hours left, so clearly that means we will have 139.75% turnout by the end of the night.
posted by Elly Vortex at 10:16 AM on November 6, 2018 [15 favorites]

I've been asking all my students today if they've voted yet and if they know where their polling place is. So far, everyone has either voted or plans to vote and knows where to go. Thinking turnout among young people is going to be high.
posted by ArbitraryAndCapricious at 10:18 AM on November 6, 2018 [11 favorites]

Voted early here in Medford, but I've got The Song stuck in my head today, and ISTG that thing actually calms me down a bit every time we have to do this.
posted by nebulawindphone at 10:26 AM on November 6, 2018 [2 favorites]

My kids, too--last week one of my students was complaining that he wanted better ballot measures on his Denton County ballot, I've seen multiple students reading Beto pieces or watching videos in class (it's genetics lab and it was the slowest lab of the semester; I wasn't mad), and over the past two weeks I've seen bright little "I VOTED" stickers on half my students. The only ones who hadn't voted were mostly just figuring out when to set a few hours aside to go to the library and get it done.
posted by sciatrix at 10:26 AM on November 6, 2018 [7 favorites]

Just a small personal vent, the "I Voted" stickers kinda offend me, that anyone would imagine that I did not vote just rankles somehow.

(totally on board if it encourages anyone that has been "civics challenged" but just, you know...)

(I did miss a local town election a few years ago, really poor notification, but felt bad)
posted by sammyo at 10:30 AM on November 6, 2018 [2 favorites]

I voted absentee and was just able to confirm on my state's Registrar of Voters website that my ballot was received yesterday. Yay!!
posted by KleenexMakesaVeryGoodHat at 10:38 AM on November 6, 2018 [2 favorites]

I so enjoy filling out my ballot with tea and toast and the gigantic voting book on a weekend morning. And getting the emails from my county at several points, telling me they've sent my ballot, received it, and accepted it.
posted by janell at 10:42 AM on November 6, 2018 [2 favorites]

Just had another canvasser for McGrath come by to make sure I'd voted (one checked in on Saturday, too). I have never had canvassing like this in this district, the Democratic Party usually doesn't seem to bother much.
posted by dilettante at 10:56 AM on November 6, 2018 [2 favorites]

Voted in person, and visited with my neighbors. Expecting landslides in the state elections for the junior (independent senator) of Vermont, and the Democratic member of congress. Hoping for good result from John O'Brien in my local state rep contest.
posted by terrapin at 10:58 AM on November 6, 2018 [2 favorites]

IM GOING TO VOTE NOW WEARING MY METAFILTER SHIRT
posted by Justinian at 10:58 AM on November 6, 2018 [16 favorites]

A friend of mine had emergency brain surgery last year, and this year she knocked on literally thousands of doors for Dems in central Indiana. So dragging myself out to vote with a kid and a stress headache seemed like the very least I could do. We saw a mom taking a photo of her kiddo in a stroller after voting—“Smile! Say yay for democracy!” My kid and I promptly slapped our stickers on and went out to lunch. Hope we’ll still be smiling later.
posted by percolatrix at 11:05 AM on November 6, 2018 [5 favorites]

Voted last week.
This is the first time in recent memory that I am really excited about an election. I was a little excited in 2016, but this year I worked on several campaigns, texting, canvassing, post cards, and performing at benefits. Even though I put in a tiny fraction of the work compared to the folks I saw all around me, I am so much more invested in candidates across the country. It feels like the difference between watching a horse race on TV and being at the track and putting down a large bet.
Cmon... baby needs a new pair of shoes.
posted by MtDewd at 11:08 AM on November 6, 2018 [2 favorites]

The one with the shark? I wore that shirt on election day 2016 and I've never been able to bring myself to wear it again.

I have a Vagenda of Manocide shirt that's met the same fate. Can't bear to wear it, can't bear to give it away. (I wanted the shark shirt too but I decided I didn't have room in my wardrobe for both.)
posted by Metroid Baby at 11:13 AM on November 6, 2018 [3 favorites]

Voted last week via permanent absentee ballot. My parents and I just went all blue to whatever degree possible. It's been great to see how many people are sporting stickers today in my neighborhood. People are taking this seriously.
posted by Hermione Granger at 11:13 AM on November 6, 2018 [2 favorites]

Speaking of mandatory ID laws, Indiana has one of the first and one of the worst, but the Democratic canvassing I've been doing has information on the handouts we leave listing the acceptable forms of ID. The Democrats are making a concerted push to educate the public. Obviously it doesn't help someone who doesn't have one, but hopefully no one I talked to will show up without the ID they need to vote.
posted by Gelatin at 11:14 AM on November 6, 2018 [3 favorites]

IT IS DONE.

Yeah, that's how long it took me to leave my place, go to the polling station, vote, and return. I love me some Los Angeles.
posted by Justinian at 11:15 AM on November 6, 2018 [12 favorites]

Deposited our mail in ballots in the drop box yesterday morning.
posted by Gorgik at 11:20 AM on November 6, 2018 [2 favorites]

They're talking about how lines are long in NYC because some of the voting machines are wee delicate little flowers who are getting all flustered becuase the ballots are slightly damp.

Don't care, I'mma go to my polling place after work and wait in line for as long as it takes because DAMMIT.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 11:26 AM on November 6, 2018 [5 favorites]

Update. So I bore witness to two things at the polls today that made me cry tears of joy.

As I noted upthread I am volunteering as a poll observer and handing out sample Democratic ballots at a couple polling locations in VA (specifically the red/purple country that exists betwixt DC and Richmond). Same polling locations that I volunteered at last year during the Virginia gubernatorial race (see last year's comment about that madness here).

This happened at the polling location that I had described as being deep red and thick with hardline Trump/NRA supporters. A lot of old white people.

#1: An African American woman and her son were leaving the poll and came over to me, asking for a sample ballot. They had missed me on the way in because there was such a heavy rain downpour I was kind of invisible under my tent. I thanked them for voting and the woman said, "This is my son, he just turned 18, and it's his first time voting. He's excited and just wants a copy of the sample ballot to have as a keepsake." I really couldn't contain my joy. He was smiling so much and so was his mom and so was I.

#2: An older man parked his car, got out with his cane, and walked over. I asked if he wanted a Democratic sample ballot. He said yes and took one. The GOP poll observers standing to my right asked if he would also like a GOP sample ballot. He said, "No, thanks, I've already done all my research on the candidates." Heh. Then he turned back to me and said, "I'm 71 years old. This is the first time in my life that I have ever voted. I've never wanted to vote until this election. That's how important this is to me."

First time 18 year old voter.
First time 71 year old voter.

Those two interactions made my day.
No matter what happens today, I'm going to hold on to those moments.

Just to temporarily not feel cynical, and to believe in our future.
posted by nightrecordings at 11:27 AM on November 6, 2018 [82 favorites]

nightrecordings, thank you for sharing those stories!! I loved them!
posted by greermahoney at 11:30 AM on November 6, 2018 [3 favorites]

i feel like maybe there should be a metafilter t-shirt exchange for all t-shirts that we own and wore on election day 2016 but can't bear to wear again because they hold bad individual memories for us. let's give them new lives with other members of the resistance.
posted by Yoko Ono's Advice Column at 11:30 AM on November 6, 2018 [8 favorites]

Just voted! I was weirdly nervous about it this time though most of my ballot was relatively inconsequential (but term limits for NYC community boards, y'all). No line but I have never seen the voting booths so full.
posted by ferret branca at 11:32 AM on November 6, 2018 [2 favorites]

I voted today and left my lights on. Several people offered to help, and somebody had a truck with a good battery, and we got it started. Nobody cared how I voted. And if 1 of those folks was a supporter of President Pants-On-Fire, which is likely in my town, they showed me they're a good person.

Also, I want to favorite every I Voted comment, but am packing for a trip and am late because turnout was great, lines, and getting the truck started.
posted by theora55 at 11:42 AM on November 6, 2018 [5 favorites]

It should be note that, given it took me literally 17 minutes from posting on Metafilter to go vote, return, and post again on Metafilter that making voting easy is not some sort of puzzle. If they want you to be able to vote easily you'll be able to vote easily.

The obvious corollary is that if it's tough for you to vote or takes a long time that's because the people in charge of the voting want it to be that way.
posted by Justinian at 11:42 AM on November 6, 2018 [18 favorites]

I just sent one of my team at work out to vote. She said she meant to, and I said "go ahead and go now, take all the time you need."

I encouraged everyone in our daily scrum yesterday, too.
posted by Gelatin at 11:49 AM on November 6, 2018 [9 favorites]

I voted here in Michigan around 7:30. It took about 40 minutes from start to finish, and the line was still long by the time I was done!

I did encounter some messed up behavior by a volunteer. Because our polling place has two precincts, he was in charge of directing us to the appropriate line as we came in. But as he was doing so he was confiscating some (but not all!) of the pamphlets some of us had taken outside. He told some people it was considered electioneering to have the pamphlets out in line, so he confiscated them. But other people, he just told to put them in their pocket and that was okay. It also turned out he was directing people to the wrong precinct line (mine) which happened to be quite long.

After I was done voting I was finally able flag someone down and tell them about what happened. They were super concerned and brought me to the guy in charge. Turns out someone else had already made a complaint, they had already received a call about him from the city (presumably from another complaint), and they also were watching him direct people in line. They took it really seriously. On my way out, I told the people handing out pamphlets to tell everyone to keep it in their pocket just in case the guy went off-script again.

This is part of why I want early and absentee voting so badly- it'll take at least some of the human error (or malignancy) out of the equation.
posted by Mouse Army at 11:57 AM on November 6, 2018 [6 favorites]

ugh. since it's too late for postcards i decided to do texting and it's pretty demoralizing, though i suppose at this point everyone i'm texting is probably really sick of it. still i don't think i'm cut out for it. next election, postcards up until election day and then i'll volunteer as a poll worker.
posted by robotdevil at 11:58 AM on November 6, 2018 [2 favorites]

I voted weeks ago! Colorado lets you mail in your ballot or drop it off early. Every state should do this! Skip the crowds at the polling place, sit in front of your computer and do some research on the latest crop of wacky props and constitutional amendments.

Also, here is the best voting in 2016 vs. voting in 2018 meme, don't @ me.
posted by zeusianfog at 12:01 PM on November 6, 2018 [2 favorites]

I voted early last week (tbh 50% so I could get one of the cool stickers only available to Alaskan early voters, 50% because trying to get in after work is inconvenient) and didn't wait at all. My husband waited about 20 minutes to early vote on Friday. Alaska's governor's race is within the margin of error by some polls, as is our lone seat in the House, so it looks like my blue votes mayyyybe might matter? I checked in on all the sensible left-leaning teachers in my hallway this morning and they all voted already or had plans to tonight.

I am trying not to hope too much, but one Extremely Mormon relative took me aside after Sunday dinner (where we discussed politics we could all agree on or have fun arguing about, and avoided races we knew we couldn't handle talking about, go family, we have gotten better at this) and said "I don't really like Begich [the Dem. candidate for governor] but I'm voting for him even though that would disappoint Spouse. I just don't think I can vote for a Republican right now, maybe not ever again." The stories of disgusted suburban white women are true in at least this one instance, and that made me happy. I know she's voting today.
posted by charmedimsure at 12:03 PM on November 6, 2018 [8 favorites]

About to drop off my ballot. I am ashamed to say that MetaFilter reminded me that the deadline was today because for some confusing reason I thought it was the 7th, and I didn't want to miss the mail so I liked and bussed all the way into town to drop it off in person.
posted by loquacious at 12:10 PM on November 6, 2018 [20 favorites]

Good work, loquacious! You did it!!
posted by wenestvedt at 12:19 PM on November 6, 2018 [4 favorites]

Sent some money to Pizza to the Polls from across the pond. Good luck, folks. Many of us are cheering you on over here.
posted by Morfil Ffyrnig at 12:20 PM on November 6, 2018 [7 favorites]

Don't be ashamed! You made it happen (and what are communities for, eh?).
posted by alleycat01 at 12:20 PM on November 6, 2018 [3 favorites]

I voted and got my sticker but it had fallen off by the time I got to work. I mentioned it to a co-worker and she kindly gave me her sticker! (this is my small reminder that there is still good in the world, in case tonight's results are not good)
posted by tangosnail at 12:22 PM on November 6, 2018 [2 favorites]

This morning I showed up at my polling place just after 7am, when the polls opened. All of the doors except one (marked staff only) to my polling place were locked. Once I got inside, I was told that the voting machines weren't running because the election judge hadn't showed up and they had no emergency ballots on site. I was so angry. I called the state voter hotline (as did other folks in line) and there were multiple voter advocacy folks who came in. About two hours later emergency paper ballots were dropped off and another hour later police officers brought the last of the voting machine equipment. I was able to stay and vote, but I am worried that folks left without voting. No idea how this polling location normally is as it's my first time voting at this location.
posted by lucy.jakobs at 12:26 PM on November 6, 2018 [8 favorites]

> This morning I showed up at my polling place just after 7am, when the polls opened.

Which state is this? What area?
posted by RedOrGreen at 12:29 PM on November 6, 2018 [2 favorites]

In PA!
posted by lucy.jakobs at 12:37 PM on November 6, 2018 [1 favorite]

Yup, the judge was "unfit to serve" and got sent home, assuming this is the one. Hurrah, Allegheny County.
posted by Stacey at 12:40 PM on November 6, 2018 [3 favorites]

Hah, nope. Apparently Allegheny County is having all sorts of issues this morning.
posted by lucy.jakobs at 12:43 PM on November 6, 2018 [2 favorites]

Voted by mail earlier in CA, and was pleased to see constant election reminders in our office chat last week. Lots of people excited to vote out Steve Knight (R) and get Katie Hill (D) representing us instead. A lot more signs for her this morning on the drive to work, too! One of our coworkers brought in Election Donuts, a bunch of people shared pictures of their stickers, and lots of link sharing to election resources for any straggler voters.

This feels good!
posted by erratic meatsack at 12:47 PM on November 6, 2018 [3 favorites]

Two hours to get emergency ballots in is insane. But also everything else about it is insane. You have *one day* you need to get right. How is no one there the day before to make sure everything is ready to go?
posted by kingjoeshmoe at 12:49 PM on November 6, 2018 [5 favorites]

Only realized today that I have been knitting an actual blue wave for the last few weeks. Here's hoping it I can wear it in celebration.
posted by little cow make small moo at 12:51 PM on November 6, 2018 [7 favorites]

I just want to tell you all good luck. We're all counting on you.
posted by Freelance Demiurge at 12:52 PM on November 6, 2018 [4 favorites]

Voted! Yay!

took my nephew with me, it was his first time voting. My niece also voted for the first time, I'm soooo proud of them!
Had planned to vote early, but have been feeling terrible.
posted by annsunny at 12:53 PM on November 6, 2018 [2 favorites]

little cow make small moo, your username is deeeelightful -- but your linked image requires Ravelry login to see. :7(
posted by wenestvedt at 12:54 PM on November 6, 2018 [3 favorites]

Aw dang I wasn't sure if ravelry was still only visible to members or whatever! Perhaps I will have to break my months-long twitter break to share my blue wave scarf!
posted by little cow make small moo at 12:56 PM on November 6, 2018 [4 favorites]

voted last friday and am NERVOUS AS HECK about watching results tonight and trying to hold on to the exact perfect amount of hope so i'll be able to cope tomorrow if it goes badly :/
posted by augustimagination at 12:58 PM on November 6, 2018 [3 favorites]

Trying again: knitting a blue wave!
posted by little cow make small moo at 12:59 PM on November 6, 2018 [21 favorites]

I voted the Thursday before Halloween. That day set a local record for early voting.
posted by bryon at 1:00 PM on November 6, 2018 [3 favorites]

SF voter here; I was done voting (in person) ten minutes after I left my apartment. I walked and I didn't even have to cross a street. I'm sometimes amazed at how quick it can be, and thankful to live somewhere like this.

I also donated to a voting transportation fund because it's a big country, and most of it isn't like this.
posted by mountmccabe at 1:00 PM on November 6, 2018 [4 favorites]

I voted absentee because I was supposed to be out of town today. Last night I checked the status of my ballot and the search came up empty and I completely panicked. I mean, I have been a broken record to anyone who will listen about voting, I sent thousands of texts making sure people voted, I happily responded to all the texts sent to me that I had already voted and now to be faced with the fact that there was no record of my ballot was devastating. But I contacted the NYC board of elections and they were super helpful and they found my ballot and now I am so relieved!

My husband just came back from voting in Brooklyn and there were about 20 people in line ahead of him, he said there has never ever been a line before.
posted by doublenelson at 1:11 PM on November 6, 2018 [4 favorites]

Took my 76 year-old mama to vote. She's having a rough time, mentally and emotionally, and she was sad that she forgot to pick up her "I voted" sticker. I had anticipated this, and pulled her one out of my pocket like a patriotic magic trick.

Then, she signed a medical marijuana petition headed out the parking lot, and as we pulled away, she screamed "BOO TRUMP!" out of her window. Can't take her anywhere : D
Voting blue in Mississippi is sort of disheartening, but it was fun today.
posted by thebrokedown at 1:16 PM on November 6, 2018 [22 favorites]

Just confirmed online that my absentee ballot was received. Minnesota for the competence win with smooth online process to request ballot and processing. Boo on the weird level of security to drop off the ballot at the US Consulate making it way longer than it should be.
posted by jadepearl at 1:17 PM on November 6, 2018 [2 favorites]

I voted by mail in NJ and reading all of your confirmation stories, now I'm wondering if there's any way to confirm that my ballot was received and counted? I couldn't find any info on the NJ websites (but I am also doing a million things and may not be searching effectively) so if anybody knows offhand, I'd love if you shared your knowledge!
posted by alleycat01 at 1:21 PM on November 6, 2018 [2 favorites]

I WAS SHORTCHANGED! I was first to cast a ballot at my voting place and I did not get a "I voted" sticker. I stood in line outside and everything. I was first!!!!!!

Much sad
posted by mightshould at 1:21 PM on November 6, 2018 [3 favorites]

My voting location, an elementary school, is only a block away. When I got there at 1:30, it was pretty busy, and there were more people waiting to vote for other districts than for my district, so I was finished in about 5 minutes. The lady who took back my folder gave me three stickers! I have a nice little collection from past elections on the bulletin board above my desk now.

I voted for the Working Families contender where possible, because I want there to be more funding for 3rd parties. In my district, WF candidates overlapped with Democrats. There were a lot more people at my polling place than is usual even for Presidential elections—and younger, too!—which was nice to see. It's usually very old people, and middle-aged me, but today I saw a lot more people my age and younger.
posted by droplet at 1:24 PM on November 6, 2018 [2 favorites]

I’m in Parkland, Florida, and I beto V! Yes, I voted for restoration of voting rights because WTH FLORIDA!?!

No idea yet how this year’s tragedy here will influence the Broward vote. Except I do believe we’ll have a robust turnout of young voters. My polling place was our library. No line, but the poll worker who greeted me laughed and said I had great timing, that they’d had quite a line earlier (I was there just after 8 a.m.)

I’m really proud of my away-at-college son. In 2016, he was shuttling carless friends and acquaintance to the polls. This year, he had planned to vote early, but he was injured in a car accident and couldn’t. Today he caught a ride, held off on the pain meds and muscle relaxants, and hobbled in to cast his ballot. And I’m blown away by how many of my friends have overcome greater hurdles to vote in this election.

Lots of mail-in ballots, including the young man who gave me a blue wave signal in the Starbucks line, and the immigrant-now-citizen I chatted with this a.m. (also blue wave), and friends who wanted a paper trail.

Thanks everyone who put energy into this election, and to all our international friends who’ve been so supportive. Regardless of outcome, it matters that you were here.
posted by Nancy_LockIsLit_Palmer at 1:27 PM on November 6, 2018 [6 favorites]

✅ I democracied myself! /Ralph
posted by Barack Spinoza at 1:35 PM on November 6, 2018 [8 favorites]

Voted last Friday with my partner, it was our second time early voting in Knox County and had some ugh memories of 2016 when we walked into the county services building. It was such a moment of hope, we had our then-11 month old with us and I thought happily of telling her about her first election being the one where we elected a woman. Tonight I will be in pottery class and avoid the news thereafter. Tomorrow is soon enough to catch up.

On the weekend, I did notice some flyers at the coffeeshop (our only one) that seemed designed to intimidate college kids out of voting here. The gist was how it's ILLEGAL to vote in TWO PLACES - saying that if you register to vote here you might still be registered somewhere else - and that is a problem because being registered is the same as casting a ballot I guess??

There's a real town and gown split here, it's very rural and it seems like there is some resentment about the college kids skewing election results so that they are not really representative. As if somehow to be here as a student means you're not really here. And in theory I can see that - it's not like most of the Kenyon kids stick around, true. But you vote where you live, it's absolutely your right as far as I am concerned.

Anyway the flyers had all been taken down when I looked today.
posted by Lawn Beaver at 1:42 PM on November 6, 2018 [3 favorites]

Midtown Kansas City, Missouri around 8:30 a.m. --- There were about 20 people in line outside the building when I got there, plus what turned out to be maybe 80 more inside? It took about 40 minutes to make it to the check-in desk, which didn't really seem that bad considering the length of the ballot and the number of people waiting. My husband and I voted absentee in 2016, so I don't know what that election was like, but this was certainly at least 5x more voters waiting than I've ever seen personally at that location. When I left around 9:30, the line was slightly shorter but still out the door.

The coordinators at McCaskill's campaign office told us during our canvassing pep talk on Saturday morning that we needed 80% turnout in KC to even have a shot. That seems like... a lot... but also like more of a possibility than it did before this morning. My husband and I knocked somewhere around 300 doors and encountered basically no one who wasn't planning to vote (and a fair few people who were tired of being texted/called/canvassed), so at least if she loses I don't think it will have been caused by a lack of information/communication.

Thanks to everyone who contributed their canvassing, postcarding, and other volunteer stories here over the past months/years. I don't think I would have gotten involved this year to the degree that I did without all of you sharing your encouragement and detailed personal experiences.
posted by slenderloris at 1:46 PM on November 6, 2018 [6 favorites]

I voted absentee. In person, because I don't trust the post office all that much. I asked about the vote tracking, and got invited to watch them count votes. Which was nice, but apparently means being sequestered for the whole day. 13 hours, which is about 12 hours longer than my ability to sit still and watch anything.
posted by still_wears_a_hat at 1:58 PM on November 6, 2018 [1 favorite]

My brother's Crohn's is flaring up right now (I asked him how he was feeling today and he said, quote, "it feels like my insides are on fire," and this from someone who is very prone to downplaying how much he hurts), and it was pouring rain, and we live in Rhode Island which is already as solidly blue as anywhere, so I would've totally understood if he didn't want to go vote. But he wanted to go vote anyways, so I took him and fortunately the lines were short at 2:30 in the afternoon (the pouring rain helped I'm sure) and we both voted. So I sure don't want to hear any shitty excuses from the rest of you.
posted by mstokes650 at 2:04 PM on November 6, 2018 [8 favorites]

On absentee voting and stickers (Twitter)

Chrissy Teigen to Kamala Harris: I didn't get a sticker
Random Twitter user: Mine came with a sticker
Chrissy Teigen: @JohnLegend did you throw away my fucking sticker
John Legend: Yes I did
Kamala Harris: ::GIF of Chrissy Teigen making a face::
(Followed by a comment I agree with wholeheartedly: Strong GIF game from our next POTUS)

Chrissy Teigen is delightful. I didn't know anything about her really until Twitter alerted me to the fact that she's been making fun of Jacob Wohl and holy shit it's hilarious.
posted by robotdevil at 2:06 PM on November 6, 2018 [12 favorites]

I didn't want to miss the mail so I liked and bussed all the way into town

Hiked, not liked. Stupid autocorrect. I corrected that twice!

Ballot dropped. The cute little registrar's office in the courthouse was buzzing with folks. It was also quite busy on the last day to register last week and they had all hands on deck borrowing people from the Passport and other documents desks. I needed to pick up a new printed mail in ballot because I just moved and didn't have time to update it.

I also have obtained a pocketful of "I Voted!" stickers for folks since we don't get them with our mail in ballots by default.
posted by loquacious at 2:10 PM on November 6, 2018 [3 favorites]

Voted by mail in Oregon as several upthread have mentioned. Praying that Big Cheeto and all his henchpersons/supporters/think-alikers are going DOWN! No "I voted" stickers for us, sadly.
posted by Lynsey at 2:28 PM on November 6, 2018 [1 favorite]

Voted early on Friday, with my nearly-5-year-old voting buddy who has gone to polls with me every election since he was born. It was busy but not much of a wait - my county had a good site listing the waiting times at all the early voting locations so I specifically picked an empty one to avoid long-line meltdowns. We both got stickers!

Kiddo just came into my office and curled up in my lap for "snuggles," his head tucked under my chin, his lanky kid-sized legs dangling over the arm of the chair. It hurts, but I do it anyway, because how can you not? That's also kinda how I feel about voting for my preferred candidates in this very red state, but I would be thrilled to be proven wrong tonight.
posted by Ann Telope at 2:29 PM on November 6, 2018 [4 favorites]

I voted last week (no-excuse early voting, multiple locations including my workplace!) and even then, 9:30 AM on a random Tuesday on a university campus where 99% of the students were probably still asleep, it was busy.

I'm really worried, though, that this blue wave isn't going to happen. (That is, I'm worried that the counts will be tampered with by Rasputin Jr over in Russia.) Trying to have some faith in the electoral process, but I'm so badly burned after 2016.
posted by basalganglia at 2:38 PM on November 6, 2018 [4 favorites]

I voted last Thursday. Because I'm out of gas and don't trust my mail carrier I walked the 10 mile round trip to the county courthouse. My feet hated it, my dog loved it and I was happy to make the trip. It's still depressing how many unopposed (prefers republican) candidates were on the ballot.
posted by Tenuki at 2:39 PM on November 6, 2018 [5 favorites]

Also, a couple of weeks ago I was driving through super rural Trumpland and passed an enormous billboard that said "WAKE UP, [county]! TRUMP/PENCE WILL BRING US JOBS! VOTE REPUBLICAN ON NOV 8!" -- clearly updating the sign has been no one's job for the last couple years, but hey if some confused interstate-loving Republican shows up to vote two days from now, that's on them.
posted by basalganglia at 2:45 PM on November 6, 2018 [6 favorites]

I voted this morning. Going home soon to a well-stocked liquor cabinet and two loving cats that I'm relying on to see me through the long, awful hours of tallying and cheerful-analysis-in-the-face-of-uncertainty on the news.
posted by Lycaon_pictus at 2:46 PM on November 6, 2018 [3 favorites]

So my workplace has a number of politically connected people, and from time to time, during election year, people will "host" an candidate for office in one of the conference rooms, or walk them around the office to meet folks and solicit donations. It's usually super-bland and super-boring and exactly the kinda candidates you expect.

But this year, one of the least respected people in the entire place, a dude who is widely looked upon with contempt even by very nice people for his loudness/misogyny/crassness/inarticulacy -- he walked around his friend who was running to be a US Rep, an actual fucking Congressman, and like, being walked around by this dude was strike one. Strike two was that the little bio on the e-mail conspicuously failed to mention what party he was from, but used a lot of blue. And like, it took all of two seconds to Google up that he was a Republican, visiting a workplace that is heavily, heavily, heavily liberal, so the omission was unlikely to be unintentional.

Strike three was that when somebody who is currently a reservist asked the candidate what he thought about ending the war in Afghanistan.

And the candidate responded, I SHIT YOU NOT, "Where?"

And on further questioning, it became clear that he had not misheard. In fact, he was unaware that US still had troops in Afghanistan.

Apparently, he was a bit of a sacrificial lamb in a heavily D district, but Christ, I hope this fucker loses and loses hard today.
posted by joyceanmachine at 3:06 PM on November 6, 2018 [16 favorites]

Voted. NY-17. Voted for the unopposed top 10 wealthiest member of Congress. I did not even realize she was running again. Since all the House of Representatives are up for re-election, I should have figured. So happy to not be bombarded with advertisements. The other races, I just voted for the best candidate regardless of party affiliation. Too much us against them. We need to find common ground.
posted by AugustWest at 3:07 PM on November 6, 2018 [2 favorites]

Utah-4th: This is the first year I've voted here and my first midterms. Same for my husband. I'm disabled so I adore the vote-by-mail here. I sent my ballot in a couple weeks ago and my husband went and registered same-day and voted early when it started a couple weeks ago. I just checked and my vote has been counted. Fingers crossed for a flip in the house and for the passing of Prop 2 (medical cannabis) and the Medicaid expansion!
posted by Crystalinne at 3:18 PM on November 6, 2018 [6 favorites]

Finally voted after the wife got off work, took about 15mins in VA-8. We have nothing competitive, but there was a steady stream of people hopefully all running up the margin for Kaine.
posted by T.D. Strange at 3:38 PM on November 6, 2018 [4 favorites]

I know everybody I voted for today is a bit of a stretch, and some of them are huge long shots, but I voted. I'm so saddened by how many races I had to leave blank because there was no challenger to the Republican, though I understand why. But I voted, and then I bought chicken fingers, and now I am going to write and watch movies all evening.
posted by Sequence at 3:52 PM on November 6, 2018 [1 favorite]

I'm not thrilled with the apparent turnout at my polling place - there was no line when I went in this morning (I was 16th), and I passed by again on my way home at 5:30, at which point it still looked empty. It's the polling place for our college campus and immediately adjacent neighborhoods, so I can only hope that means a lot of people went in mid-day.

Thank heavens my office window doesn't face that building, or I would have just poll-watched out the window all day.
posted by pemberkins at 4:02 PM on November 6, 2018 [2 favorites]

I voted on Saturday. I volunteered to drive people to the polls. I drove two elderly women to go vote. I feel like I got to vote three times.
posted by cjorgensen at 4:05 PM on November 6, 2018 [6 favorites]

I was voter 233 around 3:30 in the afternoon here in West Philly. Don’t have a great sense of how that compares to 2015, but seems like decent turnout. I was in and out the door in 2 seconds, and there was a slow but steady flow of people coming in behind me.

After the vote I took a walk up to a coffee shop, where I met an acquaintance and her adorable baby who I hadn’t seen in ages. Then around the corner, where I was second in line for a guy handing out free barbecue chicken sandwiches in the park to anyone with a voting sticker. Then to a tattoo place, where a friend had tipped me off that they were offering discounts for anyone with proof of voting. After months of agonizing about placement for these words, today seemed like an appropriate day. (Words are from a song in the shape note tradition.)

There is a lot that is shit in my life right now, but I hope I at least helped to keep Tom Wolf in office a little longer, and now I have a permanent reminder on me to speak up when it matters.
posted by ActionPopulated at 4:07 PM on November 6, 2018 [5 favorites]

greetings from CA

there's a county office here where people can drop off vote-by-mail ballots. usually it is pretty quiet, even on election days, and if you do see anyone there, they are almost always olds

in 10+ years I have never seen it this busy, there's a line snaking outside the building, it's almost all young or youngish people, and there's not even anything interesting to vote on here. all the statewide elections are not competitive and there aren't any exciting local elections or ballot propositions or anything

so that's a neat thing
posted by prize bull octorok at 4:10 PM on November 6, 2018 [8 favorites]

Well my internet broke so I guess I’m not going to read metafilter or watch the needle. I’m going to drink mimosas and watch movies that make me happy until I pass out. Thanks to sixswitch I know just the one.

Happy Election Day everyone and thanks to Metafilter for being the thing that simultaneously stokes and reassures all my deepest anxieties. Take care of yourselves and see you on the other side.
posted by robotdevil at 4:41 PM on November 6, 2018 [3 favorites]

Just got back from voting in my small Iowa town, population ~1500. The line was short but all the booths were full. My wife and I were #514 and #515.
posted by ArgentCorvid at 4:51 PM on November 6, 2018 [3 favorites]

Done, and baseless gut-clenching fear of bureaucracy / ProcessesThatEveryoneButMeAlreadyKnows dispersed.

Our polling station is a community center type place in a former church. Rather than the basement as before, this year they had it in the (ex-)sanctuary, which hosts a huge art installation paying tribute to community members lost to gun violence. That's... a sobering headspace to get into. Which was appreciated, don't get me wrong.

They had stickers. For once.
posted by cage and aquarium at 4:58 PM on November 6, 2018 [2 favorites]

Florida lifelong registered Republican, (curse you closed primaries) voting in person because dammit I'm just a sucker for the ceremonial aspect. Voted straight blue, not for the first time. If Rick Skeletor Scott gets his filthy claws into the Senate, I might need a sponsor in Canada, no matter how much I hate the cold...
posted by Redhush at 5:03 PM on November 6, 2018 [5 favorites]

Northern Brooklyn. Usually I just walk right into the school that is my polling place, walk right into the gym, find my district, sign my name, get my ballot, mark it, head for the scantron and walk out; no line, at most maybe five people at any stage.

Tonight, however - the line was about thirty deep just to get into the BUILDING when I showed up. But moving fast. When I got inside, I saw we weren't heading into the gym yet - in an effort to keep the queue out of the rain, the poll workers had sent the line snaking from the door through the cafeteria, into the auditorium, down one aisle, along the front of the stage, up the other aisle, back through the cafeteria, and then into the gym. All told i was in line for about an hour.

The school set up its usual bake sale in the cafeteria, and also had a used book sale; each respective sale table was set up alongside each leg of the line. One of the people manning the bake sale table had brought his daughter with him, and she was very enthusiastically hawking the cookies and brownies and pound cake slices and all that they had - at one point she even went into the auditorium and worked her way down the line of people standing in the room at that moment, offering to hold anyone's place in line if they wanted to buy a cupcake or something.

As the line snaked past the books for sale, I glanced at the tables curiously - then saw something I wanted to get and immediately snatched it up. I kept it with me until I'd voted, then went back to the bake sale table to pay for it. Another woman with a hijab took my money, asking me curiously what i"d bought. I showed her - a memoir by a pair of British journalists who'd come to the USA in 2008 to cover that presidential race. "I'm buying it as an omen," I told her.

She cracked up, then made some sort of good-luck-drawing or prayer gesture, kissing her fingers and pointing up. "At 1 a.m.," she crowed, "we will rejoice!"
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 5:06 PM on November 6, 2018 [8 favorites]

They changed my polling place in California, which was a bit unsettling, but my name was still on the rolls. Not much of a line this morning. It kind of sucks that voting here means so much less. All Democratic pretty much. I'm pleasantly surprised by Rho Khanna so far, though I wonder how authentic his political positions really are.
posted by Golden Eternity at 5:10 PM on November 6, 2018 [1 favorite]

Oh Geez. I see the results are suddenly shifting pro-GOP. Not the same nightmare all over again.
posted by Golden Eternity at 5:12 PM on November 6, 2018 [1 favorite]

Drinking rum n cokes and following the news via Metafilter.
posted by emjaybee at 5:16 PM on November 6, 2018 [2 favorites]

I am thinking about voting a lot today (...obviously) and I would kind of like a shirt that says:

I Support a Diversity of Tactics
(Including Voting)

and maybe another one that says:

Voting is
Harm Reduction

I guess both of these would have been more useful, like, a week ago (and maybe they both already exist), but they reflect what I'm feeling right now. Voting is important, but it's just one aspect of how we build the society we want to see, and no matter what happens with the election it's our responsibility to make sure we are working to support marginalized people, but also it IS important and I am glad people are taking it so seriously. I really hope that when the results are all in the country has become less fascist rather than more fascist, and I know that elections affect a lot of people in a lot of ways, and I am extremely extremely grateful to all the people voting and those encouraging and helping others to vote, so thank you to everyone who is engaging in, or helping others engage in, this important tactic.
posted by Mrs. Pterodactyl at 5:20 PM on November 6, 2018 [4 favorites]

Oh Geez. I see the results are suddenly shifting pro-GOP.

Nate Silver himself said not to trust that - his computers suddenly shifted more pro-GOP in a couple races than they should have and he's not sure why, so he's done some de-bugging.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 5:31 PM on November 6, 2018 [2 favorites]

I’m Canadian so unfortunately can’t vote. But I do want to thank all of you who have voted! It’s frustrating to only be able to sit on the sidelines .. we are very much affected by the result.
posted by nelvana at 5:37 PM on November 6, 2018 [1 favorite]

I’m Canadian so unfortunately can’t vote. But I do want to thank all of you who have voted! It’s frustrating to only be able to sit on the sidelines .. we are very much affected by the result.

Every US person thinks the same thing when they look at the results from a different state from where they live in.
posted by Quonab at 5:51 PM on November 6, 2018 [6 favorites]

Looking at returns in my district. Will we be having a separate screaming post later for those of us who need one?
posted by dilettante at 5:53 PM on November 6, 2018 [2 favorites]

Voted in NJ and, in an unplanned move, signed up for more info on becoming a poll worker.
posted by rachaelfaith at 6:01 PM on November 6, 2018 [2 favorites]

Will we be having a separate screaming post later for those of us who need one?

I think there’s still a fucking fuck post active.
posted by greermahoney at 6:13 PM on November 6, 2018 [1 favorite]

Voted here (SF, CA). I was working from home today so I went in the middle of the day and there was no line, but the poll workers said it was a temporary lull. Crossing my fingers.
posted by en forme de poire at 6:17 PM on November 6, 2018 [1 favorite]

I’m Canadian so unfortunately can’t vote. But I do want to thank all of you who have voted! It’s frustrating to only be able to sit on the sidelines .. we are very much affected by the result.

Every US person thinks the same thing when they look at the results from a different state from where they live in.

It is possible to help with other places - I’ve canvassed and phonebanked in neighboring battleground states/districts when my state was a sure liberal win.
posted by Salvor Hardin at 6:21 PM on November 6, 2018 [2 favorites]

Oh, and I voted.
posted by Salvor Hardin at 6:22 PM on November 6, 2018 [1 favorite]

Downstate IL, which has much more in common with IN than with Chicago, i.e., solidly and proudly Trump country. Living here, I can imagine what it must have been like to be anti-Hitler/Nazi in ~1930 Germany, watching powerlessly as your country descends into madness.

My family - all Democrats, thank god, think I take this all too seriously. I don't understand why they aren't also alarmed at the state of the country. Christ Almighty, Trump's approval rating is 40+%! How can than possibly be true?

On the plus side, the incumbent Republican governor is likely to lose to the Democratic challenger and a couple of "red" suburban house districts might flip.
posted by she's not there at 6:22 PM on November 6, 2018 [7 favorites]

I voted on Friday, and it was marvelously easy. In my neighboring state of Missouri, Republican legislators have rejected early voting repeatedly.
posted by vegartanipla at 7:18 PM on November 6, 2018 [3 favorites]

Voted by mail a few weeks ago. It was uper easy and convenient, I can see why the Republicans oppose voting by mail. Today there was a fire inside the sorting facility at the San Francisco dump, with huge clouds of smoke - it seemed like a bad omen, the Great Election Day Garbage Fire of 2018. Fingers crossed.
posted by Quietgal at 7:24 PM on November 6, 2018 [3 favorites]

Dropped my ballot off here in Oregon on Sunday - it still feels weird to me to vote without lines and election machines and stickers, but it's nice to have a few days to bask in the warmth of having cast my ballot before the fuckery of the results ruin the glow. At least I'm kind of assuming that's what's going to happen - I've been trying to stay away from results discussions so far tonight so I can take care of the mountain of work I'm dealing with. Sure would be nice to be pleasantly surprised.
posted by DingoMutt at 7:26 PM on November 6, 2018 [1 favorite]

I voted by mail last week, and today I took the day off and picked up a friend and her dog, and we took the 2 pups out to the hills. So we did a hilly 5-mile hike in the sun, and then went for beers at a beer-garden in Oakland. A nice day.

I wish some of the news was better, but it's good enough for now.

So I'm watching Queer Eye and checking the results.
posted by suelac at 8:25 PM on November 6, 2018 [2 favorites]

REPRESENTATIVE ABIGAIL SPANBERGER, D-VA.
posted by 4ster at 8:37 PM on November 6, 2018 [9 favorites]

Props to the mods for keeping the election thread on the blue from SELF IMMOLATION for that 15 minute period where the 538 needle tried to murder us all. I thought I was gonna die, people. It was bad.
posted by Justinian at 9:17 PM on November 6, 2018 [8 favorites]

HELLO I AM CRAMMING COOKIES AND HOT COCOA IN MY FACE is it safe to come out?

I actually kind of forgot to spike my hot cocoa. I intended to and then I made a fire and got distracted in the election thread and now here I am without any hot cocoa, and if I have another one right now I'm going to turn into an oompa loompa.
posted by loquacious at 9:26 PM on November 6, 2018

I HAVE OFFICIALLY EATEN TOO MANY COOKIES HELP UGH
posted by loquacious at 9:43 PM on November 6, 2018 [2 favorites]

Did vote. Did not read back scroll.
posted by limeonaire at 9:44 PM on November 6, 2018 [2 favorites]

OK, I read the back scroll while listening to rap in Spanish. You all are delightful.
posted by limeonaire at 10:06 PM on November 6, 2018 [2 favorites]

Happy to see so many fellow people from San Francisco. I got a mail in ballot, sat down with my sample ballot, the league of pissed off voters guide, and the league of women's voters guide and my partner and we went through stuff. We both dropped off our ballots, my polling place is across the street from me, city hall is on her way to work, nice and easy. Poll workers were friendly.

My friend reported that her voting place (also in the city) was someone's garage, which I think is kinda cute.
posted by gryftir at 3:19 AM on November 7, 2018 [3 favorites]

greermahoney: I think there’s still a fucking fuck post active.

This is such a 2018 thing. Alas.
posted by wenestvedt at 6:19 AM on November 7, 2018 [1 favorite]

I was a first-time poll worker yesterday, and am still unpacking what I noted. My area is Republican, based on registration statistics, and deeply Fox News red/Infowars-friendly, judging from what I see locals displaying, wearing, and discussing; it's church-oriented, pro-military, team-joining. The election judge at my polling station is of the military, but I have to say this: when problems cropped up, his focused expression was one of "There's been a fuck-up, and we're going to get this fixed" without any inquiry at all about affiliation. The older ladies running the registered voter books? Divided along political lines, but they are good friends who take big trips together every year. The MAGA gear was limited, and only a few 20-something men wore it (though older men had their tribal markings--sports team sweatshirts, military affiliation ball caps, and lots of camo coats). Lots more people made polite small talk than commented about the election itself, with frequent questions about how turnout was doing, and it was like old home week with people running into each other and asking after families, health, doings. Only one incident of rudeness, balanced by the young woman who said "I will cry if I can't vote today!" It was the strangest combination of small town civic-mindedness and a pervasive, silent FEAR OF THE DEMOCRATS. I kept having a chilling sense of asymmetry: like I will make sure you can vote, but you think I am the enemy because I am a Democrat, and I'd do well to remember that. My civic involvement will not exempt me from inflamed tribal hatreds. So it heartened me to see neighbors who wanted things done by the book (when I draw the paper with the black spot, at least it will go as per the rules, she muttered darkly). I have to believe that enough people still feel that voting matters, and that participating matters, and that maybe the civic foundations will hold like a coffer dam in a powerful river. So even after you stop refreshing the political megathreads, please, I ask you, please stay involved in the day-to-day life and politics of your city or town. Be a citizen for the boring stuff too. Thanks.
posted by MonkeyToes at 8:10 AM on November 7, 2018 [15 favorites]

> even after you stop refreshing the political megathreads ...

Say what now?
sob

Seriously, thank you for your work at the polls. Every bit helps.
posted by RedOrGreen at 8:31 AM on November 7, 2018 [1 favorite]

We voted. We did all we possibly could. We knew it was a long shot, and yet we still held out hope for Beto to surprise the world.

I am glad for so many other states who moved their mountains, but I am heartbroken for Texas.
posted by blurker at 8:42 AM on November 7, 2018 [2 favorites]

Beto probably helped a number of other folks over the line, and he offered a template for future Democrats to use.

Think of him as John the Baptist, rather than Jesus.
posted by Chrysostom at 11:06 AM on November 7, 2018 [12 favorites]

Vote. Vote. Vote. Vote.

I had the unusual experience last night of doing just that. I voted at least 150 times, an hour after the polls had closed. The two constants in town yesterday were the rain and the non-stop procession of voters streaming into the town building. The lines for people waiting to put their filled-out ballots in the machines kept getting so long that there was little room inside the voting area for the next voters, at which point the town clerk would tell people who didn’t want to, or couldn’t, wait around to just drop their ballots into a large wooden box – still around from the old days before machines – that’s stenciled on the side “Official Ballot Box Property of State of Maine.”)

After the polls closed, the clump of ballots from that box still had to be fed through the voting machines, so they would count in the final totals. I took a turn while across the room, people worked on the many other things that have to be officially tabulated, signed, sealed, and delivered before we can call it a night – which takes another four hours or so. (For the first time, I also got to take the voting booths apart and pack them away.) A little before midnight, the town clerk told me to go out to the street and bring in the big metal sign that said “VOTE HERE,” and our election officially was over.

The final totals for Bar Harbor: 2,970 votes cast in a pool of 4,564 people registered, or a 65% turnout.
posted by LeLiLo at 12:15 PM on November 7, 2018 [7 favorites]

Think of him as John the Baptist, rather than Jesus.

Just ask him to avoid Salome, if possible. He may yet serve the country well.
posted by halfbuckaroo at 12:21 PM on November 7, 2018 [1 favorite]

@IndivisibleTeam: #TrumpIsNotAboveTheLaw. Trump has crossed a red line - and we’re mobilizing. In January, our newly elected MoCs should launch investigations & hearings on day one. And tomorrow at 5 PM (local time), we march in the streets. Find an event near you
posted by Golden Eternity at 3:51 PM on November 7, 2018 [2 favorites]

We voted a week early, because my husband was off work due to changing jobs, so we wouldn't have been able to get to the polls on election day. We usually have done so, due to his work schedule, he had one weekday off, so we'd go down to the town office and vote. There's no one there, just a couple of ladies, and we get a paper ballet, go into an unused room with desks, fill out our ballets, then seal the envelopes. It's very quiet.

I didn't think too much about it, even when I saw that Janet Mills had won as Governor, until I saw videos of people hugging her in restaurants. I'm like, that's cool.

Then I realized that not only was Paul LePage gone, we have someone who is going to bring the Medicaid expansion here. And it's a woman. And it's the first time a woman has been elected governor to the state of Maine. And she's from Farmington, and she's really experienced (which is why I voted for her, among other reasons), and this is happening. We've got a Democratic female governor now. Wow.

I guess I've felt so beaten down these last 2 years that it didn't really hit me until today, and then it made me tear up all of a sudden. We won.
posted by Marie Mon Dieu at 4:26 PM on November 7, 2018 [16 favorites]

@NateSilver538: Overall, though, we've gone from what looked like what looked like about D +33 House and R +3-4 Senate late Tuesday night to what now could wind up more like D +36-40 House and R +1-2 Senate. Probably enough to merit a reassessment.

I think the number of R seats lost in the Senate is actually really important for Dem chances of winning it back in 2020 when many more R seats are up for re-election.
posted by Golden Eternity at 2:29 PM on November 9, 2018 [3 favorites]

The final totals for Bar Harbor... a 65% turnout.

That seemed pretty good, especially for a midterm election, until this week's paper came out and I learned that it was the lowest percentage around here. The average for the whole area was 68%; in Southwest Harbor, across the island, the turnout was 80%.
posted by LeLiLo at 5:27 PM on November 11, 2018 [1 favorite]

Though I was resigned to my overseas ballot arriving after the November 9th deadline, if at all, checking the status out of habit today I was surprised to see that it will be counted, despite the page reporting that it was received on the 10th.
posted by Strutter Cane - United Planets Stilt Patrol at 1:32 AM on November 12, 2018 [1 favorite]