Early voting is great! There is no waiting line. The place is open

[Cal33]

from 10 A.M. to 8 P.M., and there are six days to choose from. I
arrived at 10:45 A.M., and there was one other voter besides me.
The other people present were all staff -- all very pleasanat.
I'll be an early voter from now on.

[BlueDemKev]

1. Yep. Early voting is the best!

[elocs]

2. I voted early before, but not anymore. I found I missed the experience of voting on GE day.

I go early so I don't have to wait long, but even when I have waited it was a special experience being there to cast my vote with all the others. I did not get any great satisfaction from voting early, other than having done it.

[Cal33]

10. Yes, it's a nice feeling once you're inside the room. But waiting

in line for an hour is not exactly my cup of tea.
A couple of times it was drizzling! All of us got
into the building, of course. :o)

[Saturday]

3. I voted early too. Very easy to do. nt

[Obamanaut]

4. Went last week. You are right. Only one other voter was in the office. nt

[damntexdem]

5. And in Texas, I can vote a straight Dem ticket by filling in one box.

And I did.

[Retrograde]

11. A straight ticket - how quaint!

California doesn't have straight tickets on the ballot. It doesn't believe in alphabetical order for candidates, either (there's actually a reason for this: studies claim the first person listed gets a higher number of made-up-mind-at-last-minute votes so the Sec. of State's office draws a random letter to list first, then each district permutes the order so no two districts end up with all the candidates listed in the same order. It sometimes makes finding the person you want to vote for a challenge if you didn't study your sample ballot first). Throw in the non-partisan offices and all the city/county/state propositions and it makes for a long time at the voting booth.

I voted at home last week, and the county registrar's office shows that my ballot's been counted. It's all over but the nail biting.

[Cal33]

12. Can you imagine the Neocons being as fair and impartial as the Dems. are?

[Codeine]

6. I keep considering early voting,

but I have to admit I enjoy the feeling of gathering together with everyone at the polling place on Election Day. It feels like the best, most noble tradition we have.

[frazzled]

7. Not for me

I can walk a few blocks to my regular voting place, and I've never encountered a line there. To vote early, I either have to go to the Board of Elections (a long walk or short train ride away, but in a complex huge building) or to a site to which I have to drive (no parking there) or take a bus. I'll be voting nearby, as usual, on election day.

[rocktivity]

8. Voted by mail for the first time since college last week.

Much to my relief, the ballot arrived within three days.

:headbang:
rocktivity

[slackmaster]

9. And you know your vote will be counted...

...or do you?

[Winterblues]

13. The same way you know yours will be counted ....properly.

You trust the machines, you and Bush*. Bush* ran on the slogan "I trust the people" but when the Florida debacle happened he came out and said "I trust the machines"...When you vote by mail there is a paper ballot that can be recounted if necessary. Not so with touch screen voting..

[slackmaster]

15. I don't know where you got the idea that I "trust the machines", but you are badly mistaken

I trust machines to do exactly what they are designed to do, if and only if they are in good working condition and operating in the environment they were designed for.

That doesn't mean any more than exactly what it says.

When you vote by mail there is a paper ballot that can be recounted if necessary.

Assuming that your ballot ever gets to where it's supposed to go, and that it's kept under proper custody after that.

Your mail-in ballot could be "lost in the mail", and you'd never know it.

BTW, I have NEVER said that any type of paperless voting system was acceptable.

[fizzgig]

14. we went last week and i was pleased to see how many people were there

granted, we went during the noon hour, but we saw at least a dozen other people voting, including a young woman voting for the first time :)

i really enjoy voting on election day and it's not that big a hassle in my town, but i just really wanted to vote.

[Cal33]

16. I guess there would be more people voting during noon-time and evenings.

This will relieve some pressure on November 2nd.