-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
OFFICIAL ELECTION THREAD MEANS ALL ELECTION-RELATED STUFF GOES IN HERE, DUR
- Thread starter Mandark
- Start date
- Status
ErasureAcer
Banned
It'd be amazing if Hoeffel beats Specter in PA.
Maybe there is hope for Granny D yet!
Maybe there is hope for Granny D yet!
The big difference is that we can all AGREE on what the score is in a sporting event. When the scoreboard shows that the Giants are pasting the Vikings 27-0, we can celebrate together...or make fun of Vikings fans. Whatever floats your particular boat, I guess.KE04 said:
Polls, however, are contradictory, misleading, and ultimately meaningless until OFFICIAL results are in. It's like watching the end of a football game with the scoreboard -- hell, with the yard lines -- blacked out. You took a nap on the couch and missed the second and third quarters. You THINK you know how the game is going...but how close ARE you to the goal line? And even if you "score," will it matter in the grand scheme of things?
I'm infinitely more interested in hearing about election observers, voting procedure irregularities, electronic voting snafus, overall turnout, media coverage of polling places...anything BUT numbers that ultimately aren't going to mean jack.
With that being said, people are going to go back to posting numbers...good for them, hope you enjoy it, etc. I'm just counting the hours to when I can go home, turn in my late-arriving absentee ballot by hand, and get SMASHED watching CNN.
Dark Kinght Bunny
Member
live in the middle of no where and it still took me a good hour. there wasn't a huge wait only like 20 pople ahead of me. it was the damn blue hairs who didn't have a clue on what they were doing. i coulda voted for half the people out here, they didn't check for ID
Duck of Death
Member
Speaking of CNN, I just turned them on and Wolf Blitzer was just demonstrating their ABSOLUTELY RIDICULOUS monitor setup. So many screens of election. . . 
Duck of Death
Member
Point a gun at his head and scream "VOTE OR DIE. . . bitch."
Outdoor Miner
Member
Dan said:
My entire family is Republican. They are all Cuban-born, and nothing could ever get them to switch camps. It can get heated if I allow it to when discussing politics. For the most part, I just avoid them and stay quiet. My mom is the closest to being open-minded in this family, and she just decided not to vote today. It always goes back to fucking Castro.
My cousin (Cmdr Solrak on GA) just this morning was yelled at by his mom when he notified her he was going to vote for Kerry.
I voted electronically. It was my first time. I was probably annoyed for nothing b/c I was in and out in no time. Electronic machine was funny b/c it had this flashing red button you had to push to vote, and it looked like it was rigged to explode or something. :lol That was about the only thing funny about voting. The wording was unnecessarily difficult. I bet most people have no clue what half the bond offerings were for. So easy to get it wrong, and there was no "English for retards" option in the language menu. :lol Vote yes on improving everything. TAX AND SPEND!!! WOOOOOO!!! PEACE.
PEACE.I used an LieBald- er, DieBold electronic machine. Took my little card from the poll worker, stuck it in the machine and used the touchscreen to record my choices(I actually voted for the Republican candidate for Fulton Co. sheriff), and was able to review my choices before confirming my ballot.
Got my "I Voted" sticker on the way out of the old church where I cast my ballot. Didn't take nearly any time whatsoever.
Got my "I Voted" sticker on the way out of the old church where I cast my ballot. Didn't take nearly any time whatsoever.
Ignatz Mouse
Banned
One thing I hope for-- a landslide, or at least a clear margin. The last 3 presidentail elections were all close enough for people to grouse FOR AGES abotu mandate. It'd be nice to see a president who actually has one.
New (?) Slate exit numbers:
Florida
Kerry 52
Bush 48
Ohio
Kerry 52
Bush 47
Michigan
Kerry 51
Bush 48
Pennsylvania
Kerry 58
Bush 42
Iowa
Kerry 50
Bush 48
Wisconsin
Kerry 53
Bush 47
Minnesota
Kerry 57
Bush 42
New Hampshire
Kerry 58
Bush 41
Maine
Kerry 55
Bush 44
New Mexico
Kerry 49
Bush 49
Nevada
Kerry 48
Bush 49
Colorado
Kerry 49
Bush 50
Arkansas
Kerry 45
Bush 54
Nice. Very, very nice.
Florida
Kerry 52
Bush 48
Ohio
Kerry 52
Bush 47
Michigan
Kerry 51
Bush 48
Pennsylvania
Kerry 58
Bush 42
Iowa
Kerry 50
Bush 48
Wisconsin
Kerry 53
Bush 47
Minnesota
Kerry 57
Bush 42
New Hampshire
Kerry 58
Bush 41
Maine
Kerry 55
Bush 44
New Mexico
Kerry 49
Bush 49
Nevada
Kerry 48
Bush 49
Colorado
Kerry 49
Bush 50
Arkansas
Kerry 45
Bush 54
Nice. Very, very nice.
CrimsonSkies
Member
"Zogby:
Electoral Votes:
Bush
213
Kerry
311"
Well I wish Bush good luck. I hope Kerry will do a good job if this is true. I don't really have a lot of faith in him, but if he wins then I hope he surprises me.
Electoral Votes:
Bush
213
Kerry
311"
Well I wish Bush good luck. I hope Kerry will do a good job if this is true. I don't really have a lot of faith in him, but if he wins then I hope he surprises me.
ErasureAcer
Banned
I've heard all these exit polls don't take into account early voting. So therefore...presuming most early voters are Dem...the actual results could be far off. Which bodes well for the Democrats picking up seats in the Senate(they're getting their but kicked at the moment).
Alcibiades
Member
I hate to be bitter, but w/ a Kerry, I'd hope the Republicans gridlock and just prepare starting NOW for the mid-terms, they are going to be brutal...
hopefully Thune wins tonight...
hopefully Thune wins tonight...
CrimsonSkies
Member
"hopefully Thune wins tonight..."
At least there is a minor victory in republican land tonight.
At least there is a minor victory in republican land tonight
.Doc Holliday
SPOILER: Columbus finds America
that would be soooo cool if ot actually happened.
+10000000 america...if it holds that is.
+10000000 america...if it holds that is.
Ignatz Mouse
Banned
efralope said:
At least with gridlockm the deficit will go down! Then maybe we'll see some *actual* fiscal conservatism, which we could sorely use.
Outdoor Miner
Member
Anyone know when the non-cable networks are going to begin coverage? I'm hoping ABC starts it at 7pmCST.
Times To Start Checking Results
(All times are Eastern.)
6 p.m. Polls will begin closing in Indiana and Kentucky -- but both states have western portions in which the polls will be open until 7 p.m. Not much in the way of tea leaves to examine here. Indiana and Kentucky are safely in Bush's camp. One thing to watch: the Kentucky Senate race between Republican Jim Bunning and Democrat Daniel Mongiardo. If that race is too close to call, it could augur well for Democratic Senate gains.
7 p.m. Polls will close in Georgia, South Carolina, Vermont, New Hampshire, Virginia, Indiana and Kentucky. Most of Florida, outside of the Panhandle, will also close.
Now the serious business begins. The networks may be too gun-shy to call any states immediately (and have promised not to call any states where the difference between the candidates is less than 1 percent) but that doesn't mean we can't start speculating. Like Indiana and Kentucky, Georgia and South Carolina are considered safe for Bush. But if it's tight in Virginia, Bush could be in trouble. Likewise Vermont is Kerry's, and New Hampshire has been considered a Kerry pick-up (Bush won it in 2000). If Kerry trails in New Hampshire, that's bad news for the senator from Massachusetts.
7:30 p.m. Ohio, North Carolina and West Virginia.
The moment a nation of pundits has been waiting for. Exit polls already circulating the Internet show an early lead for Kerry in Ohio. If that holds up, Kerry fans will be hard put not to start popping champagne corks. No Republican has won the presidency without Ohio. Bush could lose Ohio and still win if he carries Pennsylvania, Florida and Wisconsin, but there's still no bigger early indicator of how the election will go than the Ohio totals. Meanwhile, North Carolina and West Virginia both are set to go to Bush, but if they're too close to call, again, that's good for Kerry.
8 p.m. Traditionally, 8 p.m. is the witching hour. A whopping 18 states close, or start close, and many an election has been called shortly afterwards. Included in this swath of states are many of the most crucial swing states, including Florida and Pennsylvania (and most of Michigan). If the election is going to be a landslide for either candidate, we will know it now.
8:30 p.m. Arkansas closes. Arkansas was once considered safe for Bush, but tightened near the end of the campaign. Did Big Dog Clinton's appearance in his home state make a difference? It may not be crucial to the overall outcome, but still, a tight race here is bad news for Bush.
9 p.m. 13 more states close: The ones to watch are Michigan, Minnesota, New Mexico and Wisconsin. If the race is close, this is where the heartburn really sets in. Suppose Ohio and Florida are split between Kerry and Bush? In that case, these four states could determine the winner.
10 p.m. Seven more states close. Five are Western states that belong to Bush, lock, stock and barrel. But Iowa and Nevada are spoilers in this bunch, relatively small states with only 12 electoral votes between them that could be decisive.
11 p.m. The West Coast finally arrives. Usually, the shouting is over by now, and California, Washington and Oregon contribute their electoral votes to a party that is already winding down. But Hawaii's polls also close at 11 p.m. and Hawaii is a lot closer to being a Republican pickup than its historic Democratic leanings would predict. There are scenarios in which Hawaii's four electoral votes could decide the presidency. If that's the case, it's going to be a long night for election parties across the land.
Midnight/1 a.m. Alaska closes. Alaska is Bush territory, but there's also a tightly contested Senate race that might see a rare Democratic pickup. So even if the presidential race is a done deal by the wee hours, true political junkies will have plenty of reason to watch the returns from the North.
(All times are Eastern.)
6 p.m. Polls will begin closing in Indiana and Kentucky -- but both states have western portions in which the polls will be open until 7 p.m. Not much in the way of tea leaves to examine here. Indiana and Kentucky are safely in Bush's camp. One thing to watch: the Kentucky Senate race between Republican Jim Bunning and Democrat Daniel Mongiardo. If that race is too close to call, it could augur well for Democratic Senate gains.
7 p.m. Polls will close in Georgia, South Carolina, Vermont, New Hampshire, Virginia, Indiana and Kentucky. Most of Florida, outside of the Panhandle, will also close.
Now the serious business begins. The networks may be too gun-shy to call any states immediately (and have promised not to call any states where the difference between the candidates is less than 1 percent) but that doesn't mean we can't start speculating. Like Indiana and Kentucky, Georgia and South Carolina are considered safe for Bush. But if it's tight in Virginia, Bush could be in trouble. Likewise Vermont is Kerry's, and New Hampshire has been considered a Kerry pick-up (Bush won it in 2000). If Kerry trails in New Hampshire, that's bad news for the senator from Massachusetts.
7:30 p.m. Ohio, North Carolina and West Virginia.
The moment a nation of pundits has been waiting for. Exit polls already circulating the Internet show an early lead for Kerry in Ohio. If that holds up, Kerry fans will be hard put not to start popping champagne corks. No Republican has won the presidency without Ohio. Bush could lose Ohio and still win if he carries Pennsylvania, Florida and Wisconsin, but there's still no bigger early indicator of how the election will go than the Ohio totals. Meanwhile, North Carolina and West Virginia both are set to go to Bush, but if they're too close to call, again, that's good for Kerry.
8 p.m. Traditionally, 8 p.m. is the witching hour. A whopping 18 states close, or start close, and many an election has been called shortly afterwards. Included in this swath of states are many of the most crucial swing states, including Florida and Pennsylvania (and most of Michigan). If the election is going to be a landslide for either candidate, we will know it now.
8:30 p.m. Arkansas closes. Arkansas was once considered safe for Bush, but tightened near the end of the campaign. Did Big Dog Clinton's appearance in his home state make a difference? It may not be crucial to the overall outcome, but still, a tight race here is bad news for Bush.
9 p.m. 13 more states close: The ones to watch are Michigan, Minnesota, New Mexico and Wisconsin. If the race is close, this is where the heartburn really sets in. Suppose Ohio and Florida are split between Kerry and Bush? In that case, these four states could determine the winner.
10 p.m. Seven more states close. Five are Western states that belong to Bush, lock, stock and barrel. But Iowa and Nevada are spoilers in this bunch, relatively small states with only 12 electoral votes between them that could be decisive.
11 p.m. The West Coast finally arrives. Usually, the shouting is over by now, and California, Washington and Oregon contribute their electoral votes to a party that is already winding down. But Hawaii's polls also close at 11 p.m. and Hawaii is a lot closer to being a Republican pickup than its historic Democratic leanings would predict. There are scenarios in which Hawaii's four electoral votes could decide the presidency. If that's the case, it's going to be a long night for election parties across the land.
Midnight/1 a.m. Alaska closes. Alaska is Bush territory, but there's also a tightly contested Senate race that might see a rare Democratic pickup. So even if the presidential race is a done deal by the wee hours, true political junkies will have plenty of reason to watch the returns from the North.
-jinx- said:
Some of the potential abuses of electronic voting systems are bit scary, but this, as well as an article I read in today's paper about Republicans going to voting booths (apparently targeting minority areas, according to a suit that was filed) and checking the registration/ID of those who were going to vote, prompted me to think the following:
Why wouldn't it be the best of both possible worlds if (hopefully by the next election) we got a national database of registered voters going, with computers in each booth (or perhaps just a few at each voting station) that would require you to enter your SS # or other validating ID confirming that you are a registered voter; the machine would then dispense you a single ballot, which you'd then enter the booth and cast. These ballots would, as presently, be counted by hand (they are still counted by hand, right?). The person would then have to return to the computer and re-enter their SS# to confirm that they casted a vote; the total number of votes cast could then be determined accurately-- so if the ballots counted didn't add up to that #, then we'd know that there's foul play afoot (or that the voter didn't return and re-enter their SS#; this could be avoided by having a scantron-type ballot that they fill their SS# in on, which is thn simply fed into the machine, confirming the cast vote).
This would seem to address the issue of registered voters' ballots not being accounted for, or having them be denied based on spurious charges. Because the problem (in the last election as well as now, from what I understand) isn't that the people who count the votes are somehow screwing up/cheating, right? I seem to recall that it was more an issue of "whose votes should be admitted, and how do we know that these peoples' votes are valid". I dunno, maybe I'm missing the point here. But if you use this sort of a system, you'd have a known # of registered voters who showed up to vote beforehand (you can't just count the ballots against the voter registry, since not all registered voters will show up to vote); if the number of votes actually tallied comes up short of this amount, then that would provide sufficient evidence for any legal challenges about votes not being admitted for whatever reasons, no?
In other words, if a lawyer argues that, "hey, we charge that these 3000 votes weren't admitted/counted", and then the computerized system shows that you're short 3000 votes, then it should be pretty clear-cut as to whether you should admit then, provided that you have the SS#'s of those 3000 people which can then be matched up with the database, no? I'm sure that the legal challenges mounted were much more nuanced than that, though like I said, I have absolutely no idea as to the particulars-- just recall hearing stuff about "absentee ballots" (which likely wouldn't be addressed by such a system) as well as alleged suppression of the minority vote in certain districts. So I'm not sure as to whether this would address the real issues people are having a hard time with...
Maybe all this is wrong, I dunno-- like I said, I sorta have a tenuous grasp of the particulars of the legal challenges of the vote count made by both parties, and the general voting "issues" that occurred, during the last election. So feel free to fill me in.
But as far as fully computerized voting goes, I'm a bit leery of it-- what of there was a virus? EDIT: Also keep in mind that I've never voted, so I have no idea about what sort of security or procedures they have in place when you go to vote, so maybe a lot of this (or something similar) is already in place...
Chesapeake Silt
Member
I've got to say.... MSNBC's Ice Rink of Democracy is the dumbest election night device ever.
Socreges said:Loki, thanks again for your help on that Dostoevsky/Kierkegaard comparison. Helped a lot. I handed in my paper today. Feels like an A.
No problem- you're welcome.
Btw, I'm not so sure I would have used my exact ideas if I were you-- like I said, I haven't read either of them in nearly 7 years, and that was just stuff from off the top of my head; I was just trying to give you some ideas that would get your brain cranking. Hope you get a good grade. <realizes this is an election thread>
Uh...GO CANDIDATES!
-Loki, the non-affiliated poster
Cerebral Palsy
Banned
It took me about an hour and a half. Maybe a little longer.
- Status