I voted in Las Vegas; the mean age of people in line had to be 24

[Awsi Dooger]

And I would comfortably bet "under" 24, if forced to wager. Young couples holding hands. Two of them with babies. Cell phone calls asking friends to meet them at popular clubs later on.

I was shocked. Normally early voting is just myself and a few 60-70ish poll workers. I intentionally chose 8:30 PM at a shopping mall on a lazy Thursday, expecting a virtual walk-up. Ha. Try again. It was like a Disney World e-ticket, at least 200 people and TWO zig-zag lines. You had to wade thru one just to move up to the closer one. The election department was even passing out free Sparkletts water to anyone in line who wanted it.

There were loud signs declaring "Absolutely No Campaigning," but I can attest to a 4-0 Kerry lead. Two 20ish girls who walked in line immediately behind me were asked by the girl handing out Sparkletts if they were voters. "Yes we are," the brunette said. "And we're not just voting, we're voting the right way." I handicapped them as intelligent and took a shot. "Does that mean this?," I asked, opening my voting booklet to the page I had circled John Kerry. "YES!!! My God, you look like a Republican!" That stung beyond description, but as a 40ish white male wearing a golf shirt I could hardly disagree.

The balding black guy in front of me was virtually the only one in line threatening my age. I snuck a peek when he opened his booklet. Yep, John Kerry.

The electronic machines are a breeze. Just one to four races per screen, large print. Easy to read and to change your vote. A full listing at the end, of everyone you picked. The paper trail is visible at left and rolls up into the machine. You don't have access to touch it, but it's easily checked it for accuracy BEFORE casting the ballot. I walked away wondering how in hell that feature is so controversial and difficult to establish elsewhere.

Wow! Just before posting this I turned to a local TV channel. "So you think early voting is slowing down? Take a look at this." They panned the camera to a local shopping mall, pure darkness but with a voting line stretching outside the front door and all the way to the valet parking area!

[JusticeForAll]

1. Congrats!

Go get your I voted icon!

[Awsi Dooger]

9. Got it!

I'm superstitious and I kind of like the old smiley Mac, but that logo looks pretty good. My "I Voted" sticker from the polling place is still on my golf shirt:)

[fujiyama]

2. Wow

What a great description. I love the part about voting the right way!

Hmmm, so what do ya think? Can Kerry pull Nevada off? That'd be quite a catch...

[Awsi Dooger]

7. The signs are more and more encouraging here

Let's put it this way: I gladly would have let the nation ride on merely the 200 people who were there tonight. I'm certain that was a Kerry crowd. Even the elderly woman who took my registration card smiled when she saw I was a D.

Of course, this is a Dem stronghold. We need huge numbers out of Clark County to hold off rural Nevada and Carson City/Reno.

Yeah, that "we're voting the right way" opener was the best thing I can ever remember while waiting to vote. It put a smile on my face the remainder of the experience. While we waded through the line, the girl who said it and I discussed many of the ballot questions.

[Maddy McCall]

3. You give me hope, AD.

We're going to win this one. I know it. :hi:

[Booster]

4. Way to go Vegas. When Kerry wins I'm coming up there and

enjoy gambling cause I'll know we're finally in good hands. I love the young people of today cause they're paying attention to what's going on and they're doing what's necessary to change it. WooHoo!

[aquart]

5. I'm setting my alarm to be first in line on November 2.

We don't have early voting here and I think the lines are going to be scary. And I have to be in Queens by the afternoon for election protection.

[The Magistrate]

6. Excellent News, Sir!

And damned well written, too!

"LET'S GO GET THOSE BUSH BASTARDS!"

[DaveSZ]

8. Young people are the backbone of Kerry's GOTV efforts

I know because I've been in the heart of the beast.

[DeepModem Mom]

10. Awesome!

[CityHall]

11. I think you mean "median," not "mean"

Just to be pedantic. Good story.

[JohnnyCougar]

13. why couldn't he have meant mean?

[JusticeForAll]

14. Mean is probably correct.

Chances are the writer probably did mean "mean" and would likely have been correct in using it.

Main Entry: arithmetic mean
Function: noun
: a value that is computed by dividing the sum of a set of terms by the number of terms


Main Entry: me·di·an
2 a : a value in an ordered set of values below and above which there is an equal number of values or which is the arithmetic mean of the two middle values if there is no one middle number

[StevenD]

12. Early Voting totals for Vegas and Reno by Party

Early voting totals reported by county registrars as of Wed.

Dem Rep Ind/3rd

Clark County (Vegas) 109,932 101,164 35,854
Washoe County (Reno) 11,014 11084 3,827
______________________________________________________
TOTALS 120,096 112,248 39,681

Statewide voters 429,748 434,239 207,114

Percentage of
voters voting early 28.1% 25.8% 19.2%
by party

We are beating the repubs at the GOTV game so far. We need to do it by a good margin to carry Nevada.