Does anyone know.....

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akita
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Does anyone know.....

Post by akita » 10-20-2004 02:39 AM

Does anyone know why they're voting early in Florida? Is it just a practice run or for real?:confused:

Joolz
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Post by Joolz » 10-20-2004 03:51 AM

They're voting early in several states, and yes, it's for real--NOT a practice or anything. I think it MAY be a practice in a sense, especially when there is computerized voting, to try to work some bugs out before November 2nd, but I really dunno what the official reason is. Maybe someone else knows?
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Post by Cherry Kelly » 10-20-2004 11:05 AM

Its not JUST in FL -- TN, AZ and others are also voting early.

Several reasons are possible....
New machines - debugging ...

in FL - hurricanes! A lot of the voters are no longer residing in their original districts - have quite literally been displaced - even temporarily.

To put an end to media projections...
put an end to the so called disenfranchised

DUNNO??

Personally I like the idea of having people vote over several days time period. Consider the unusual work hours people have - the travel time to and from work and the poll hours. Voting areas become very crowded and to ensure that ALL voters get a chance to vote - we should have voting set up to be more than just ONE day.

Oregon votes by mail. Absentee ballots take more than ONE day -- so why not have polls open for -- say even one week... two weeks is a bit too long (far as I'm concerned) but I could easily see having a full week to vote.

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Post by akita » 10-20-2004 01:00 PM

Guess I thought there was an official day for everybody, but maybe that's just tradition. Can certainly understand exceptions being made for Fla. due to all the upheaval from the storms, but don't know how voting earlier would help unless the polls are open for an extended period of time (from now 'til Nov.) ? I think-normally-an extra 10 days or so are allowed for absentee ballots to be received.
"have polls open for -- say even one week... "
That certainly seems reasonable.
In WA. there seems to be a push for mail-in voting, they're closing lots of polling places, at least here in eastern WA, forcing either mail-in or greater travel distances & congestion at the polls.
Really liked Geo.'s guest last nite, Bev Harris(http://www.blackboxvoting.org/ ).

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Post by Conspiracy Theorist » 10-21-2004 09:21 AM

Thought I'd posted a response in this thread yesterday, but I must have forgotten to hit the "submit" button.

Early voting is off to a pretty good start here. Monday was bad, with people waiting 4 hours in line, but now it seems to be going smoothly. The wait has been reduced to about 30 minutes. When I lived in Reno, early voting was used, but only on weekends. What they're doing in Florida is really wonderful, and I think will greatly increase voter turn-out. You can vote any time from 8:30AM to 5PM for almost two weeks. No excuse for anyone not to vote!

This makes November 2 the deadline for voting, and not the one day everyone has to vote or miss voting.

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Post by Joolz » 10-21-2004 10:30 PM

Conspiracy Theorist wrote: Thought I'd posted a response in this thread yesterday, but I must have forgotten to hit the "submit" button.

Early voting is off to a pretty good start here. Monday was bad, with people waiting 4 hours in line, but now it seems to be going smoothly. The wait has been reduced to about 30 minutes. When I lived in Reno, early voting was used, but only on weekends. What they're doing in Florida is really wonderful, and I think will greatly increase voter turn-out. You can vote any time from 8:30AM to 5PM for almost two weeks. No excuse for anyone not to vote!

This makes November 2 the deadline for voting, and not the one day everyone has to vote or miss voting.

That's great, CT! I think we should all start voting this way in every state. It sounds SO much better this way. Plenty of time for busy people to be able to exercise their right to vote. And plenty of time to discover problems in the system and get them worked out, too.
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Post by Iris » 10-22-2004 05:59 AM

In Washington, if you want an absentee ballot mailed to you, all you have to do is request it. Ours were sent out on October 14th. The polls themselves are only open for the one day. This works out fine for everyone.

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Post by Cherry Kelly » 10-23-2004 10:50 AM

You can get absentee ballots in all states (I think).

The problem I foresee is that we will once again have more votes cast than people eligible to vote.

In MO - just this past week, three people were arrested for casting ballots in MO and KS in the 2002 elections. There are several pending arrests between MO and IL - same thing - voting in two states. AND its not isolated. According to a news story (no URL was on talk radio) NY and FL are working on finding out how many of the doubly registered voters between their two states - voted twice.

Voting once is a right all legal citizens (legal and of legal age) have the right to do - just meet each state requirement for registration.

- - - -
NOW here's a kicker. As stated on news hour - lawsuits are pending already regarding this years election. Lawsuits because of
different ballots, different registrations, etc.
.....

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Post by Conspiracy Theorist » 10-24-2004 05:44 PM

Just wanted to say I did vote early Thursday. The line moved fast, and I like the touch-screen method. The problem I forsee is that since there is no printed receipt, and since there is the possibility of results being changed, many will suspect manipulation. There will be no way to ever prove or disprove any allegations of wrongdoing.

Having said all that, I tend to believe it will be honest. But, how do I prove it?

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