Flab: Weaver95: and i'm settled in at the democratic party staging area

WHO ARE YOU AND WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO WEAVER95????!?

He's come a long way in the past 4 years has our Weaver95.

Testiclaw: FTDA: I subscribe to the, "live how you want to live because it's YOUR life," point of view.

[www1.pictures.gi.zimbio.com image 594x395]

FTDA: I'm a Republican

[lakers.topbuzz.com image 418x278]

Moderate Republican. I don't tote the party line or vote a straight ticket. I am not and never will be a conservative. Their minds are closed, mine is open.

FTDA: I don't vote a straight ticket.

markfara: Gary Johnson's not going to win a single state, and those who vote for him won't be proving a point in anyone's mind but their own.

Hopefully, the grownups will make the right decision.

Derpity derp.

Barnstormer: Over the last few years I've begun to realize that what I once feared is becoming reality: I am turning into my father. He was a lifelong Republican, but a moderate who often disagreed with his party's stances, and more than once voted third-party.

I've never voted for a Republican for president, but today is an exception.

Why? Ever heard the saying "if you work in a hot dog factory you'll never eat one again?"

I work for the agency that implemented universal healthcare in MA under Romney, and although I've often said here that I support universal healthcare, I simply have too many reservations about the president's plan to fully support it.

I also do not think there is a ghost of a chance that Romney will get his wish and repeal it.

So that leaves the least undesirable option: put someone in who has solid real-world experience executing healthcare reform in a cost-effective manner. I can say authoritatively that this is in fact the case.

So, nose firmly held, I will be casting a vote tonight that will not matter one whit, since I live in the bluest of blue states, but one with which I will feel OK.

// This opinion is strictly mine and does not reflect the views of my employer, MassHealth.

Are you kidding me? Obama's plan is the plan Romney put in place in Mass. ... they're the same. Also Romney had nothing to do with administering it or implementing it. That's what the little people are for.

It's too bad those people have to wait outside in the cold to vote...

EyeballKid: I already voted. As a liberal in Kentucky, in keeping with that same love of acts of utter futility, I will later attempt to put out a house fire by pissing on it.

Obviously it's important to vote for the local issues, so everyone needs to show up anyway...

However, if you're not a big fan of the two party system, and are in a state that's being screwed over by the electoral college shenanigans - it makes sense to vote for Jill Stein, Gary Johnson, etc. If a third party can get 5% of the popular vote, they get federal matching funds next election. At least your vote for president counts towards something, instead of being converted into 0.0000000 electoral votes and discarded.

Atypical Person Reading Fark: markfara: Gary Johnson's not going to win a single state, and those who vote for him won't be proving a point in anyone's mind but their own.

Hopefully, the grownups will make the right decision.

Derpity derp.

He's got a point. If the win was decided by popular vote, he'd be derping. However the way the electoral college works effectively shuts out any 3rd party voter unless they manage to get enough votes to actually win a state. About the best Johnson could hope for would be hitting 5% and getting equal representation on all ballots for the next election and federal funding for 2016.

Since federal funding is now infinitesimally small compared to the PACs who now control the stage, it really, honestly won't matter. If Johnson had the PACs behind him, he'd be plastered on half the billboards we see already.

TheManofPA: Just voted on the way to work. As an Ohio person, I'll be glad for tomorrow

Amen. I was watching CBS Sunday Morning this week and I swear the political/non-political ad ratio was 10:1. Not to mention the radio ads, and the damn flyers in the mail. I swear I have enough flyers that I will not run out of fuel for my stove this winter.

markfara: Gary Johnson's not going to win a single state, and those who vote for him won't be proving a point in anyone's mind but their own.

Hopefully, the grownups will make the right decision.

You mean the decision where they choose the person who they think is best for the job instead of being bullied/terrorized by the dems or repubs saying "But, if you vote independent, the other guy will win!!"

Sounds like a grownup thing to me.

FTDA: Testiclaw: FTDA: I subscribe to the, "live how you want to live because it's YOUR life," point of view.

[www1.pictures.gi.zimbio.com image 594x395]

FTDA: I'm a Republican

[lakers.topbuzz.com image 418x278]

Moderate Republican. I don't tote the party line or vote a straight ticket. I am not and never will be a conservative. Their minds are closed, mine is open.

So... and I mean this sincerely... why do you identify as a republican? They are historically worse for the deficit, worse for live and let live type policies, are growing ever more conservative, and are poisoning the party from the top down, and infecting local tickets with some of the worst politicians I've seen in my life.

Just trying to weather the storm and hope they come out the other side better for their little adventure?

Or is it related to primaries or something?

Flab: canwolfshadow: Flab: Weaver95: and i'm settled in at the democratic party staging area

WHO ARE YOU AND WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO WEAVER95????!?

He's come a long way in the past 4 years has our Weaver95.

I think the Citizens United or the debt ceiling crap was the straw that broke the camel's back. He finally realised that the GOP had no interest in smaller govt, nor running the country decently.

SkullKrusher thinks he's changed his mind to impress a libbie chick.

Nah I think it's a legit framwork shift. Weav has been too anti-farkwad to be in it for the pussy.

JohnnyC: zappaisfrank: JohnnyC: With any luck... today we repeal the Emergency Manager bullshiat that Snyder did here in Michigan. Proposal 1 here in Michigan is essentially, "Do you want the Governor to keep undermining Democracy?"

I voted this morning and voted NO on all the proposals except the two collective bargaining ones.

Fark Snyder..I want him neutered so his last two years are nothing but exercises in floundering.

Why did you vote no against the Renewable energy requirement increase? I'm voting: 1:N, 2:Y, 3:Y, 4:Y, 5:N, 6:N on our proposals.

Because I don't trust the current state government to implement it properly.

Burr: markfara: Gary Johnson's not going to win a single state, and those who vote for him won't be proving a point in anyone's mind but their own.

Hopefully, the grownups will make the right decision.

You mean the decision where they choose the person who they think is best for the job instead of being bullied/terrorized by the dems or repubs saying "But, if you vote independent, the other guy will win!!"

Sounds like a grownup thing to me.

idk. I've considered 3rd party presidential votes to be the equivalent of a political temper tantrum for years now. Like it or not, Obama or Romney will be sworn in on 1/20/2013 and you dilute the power of your voice to toss it to GJ. If you believe in the policies he espouses (which is like a grab bag of "what's popular with the kids these days?"), vote for libertarians downticket.

Not trying to bully or terrorize. Just saying that you're only doing yourself a disservice in the interest of feeling morally superior to your friends, family and neighbors.

cfreak: Barnstormer: Over the last few years I've begun to realize that what I once feared is becoming reality: I am turning into my father. He was a lifelong Republican, but a moderate who often disagreed with his party's stances, and more than once voted third-party.

I've never voted for a Republican for president, but today is an exception.

Why? Ever heard the saying "if you work in a hot dog factory you'll never eat one again?"

I work for the agency that implemented universal healthcare in MA under Romney, and although I've often said here that I support universal healthcare, I simply have too many reservations about the president's plan to fully support it.

I also do not think there is a ghost of a chance that Romney will get his wish and repeal it.

So that leaves the least undesirable option: put someone in who has solid real-world experience executing healthcare reform in a cost-effective manner. I can say authoritatively that this is in fact the case.

So, nose firmly held, I will be casting a vote tonight that will not matter one whit, since I live in the bluest of blue states, but one with which I will feel OK.

// This opinion is strictly mine and does not reflect the views of my employer, MassHealth.

Are you kidding me? Obama's plan is the plan Romney put in place in Mass. ... they're the same. Also Romney had nothing to do with administering it or implementing it. That's what the little people are for.

That's absolutely not true. He streamlined the Health and Human Services agencies, eliminating redundant functions within certain agencies, appointed the policy people to negotiate with the insurance companies and the providers, developing a plan that delivered plans to consumers that balanced coverage and cost. His successor Duval Patrick continued this work admirably as well.

Not a partisan, I just see the need the need for a business perspective in this gargantuan undertaking. Yes Obamacare is virtually the same as Romneycare. Even better.

My presidential voting record:

1984: Mondale
1988: Dukakis
1992: Clinton
1996: Clinton
2000: Nader
2004: Kerry
2008: Obama
2012: ??? (still have until 8 pm to decide)

(whatever happens, I'm having my steak rare)

Tha sheep tremble an here come tha votes

Somacandra: Wyalt Derp: I've given this election a great deal of thought, and I'm afraid I simply can't vote for either candidate.

There are probably MORE than two candidates on your Presidential ballot, plus of host of other races, judicial retention or ballot questions. You did research your ballot and all the candidates before today, right ? Don't make me go Red Forman on you.

Kind of annoyed that my ballot had candidates who STILL aren't listed on my states voter information site.

/Voted for him just because he had a snowballs chance in hell
//Socialist party in Indiana?

Flab: SkullKrusher thinks he's changed his mind to impress a libbie chick.

Hey, whatever helps us crush the "Morally Superior Party of ME ME ME!" and end their reign of ridiculous theocratic oppression and catalyze a second Age of Enlightenment

I posted in other thread...

Howard Dean on MSNBC: "Voter intimidation in Pennsylvania is under way"

scubamage: Atypical Person Reading Fark: markfara: Gary Johnson's not going to win a single state, and those who vote for him won't be proving a point in anyone's mind but their own.

Hopefully, the grownups will make the right decision.

Derpity derp.

He's got a point. If the win was decided by popular vote, he'd be derping. However the way the electoral college works effectively shuts out any 3rd party voter unless they manage to get enough votes to actually win a state. About the best Johnson could hope for would be hitting 5% and getting equal representation on all ballots for the next election and federal funding for 2016.

Since federal funding is now infinitesimally small compared to the PACs who now control the stage, it really, honestly won't matter. If Johnson had the PACs behind him, he'd be plastered on half the billboards we see already.


Except it's not a pass-fail on the 5% number. What if Johnson gets 4.5%? That will give a HUGE impetus next election to put the Libertarian candidate over that 5% and will raise their support significantly. How about 4%? That'll be a huge boost too. I'm sure Johnson would take 3.5% and go home happy. So your vote in Illinois for him counts proportionately to the total number of votes cast. Your vote for Romney means nothing - all 20 electoral votes are going to Obama, period.

It's better to see this in terms of an Overton window than as possible vs impossible for this particular election. 

I'm in Missouri, so s/Johnson/Stein

Could it be that Weaver95: and I are both quantum tunneling in opposite directions?

Barnstormer: 2012: ??? (still have until 8 pm to decide)

Not Romney. Vote for Jill Stein if you can't bring yourself to vote for Obama.

scubamage: I may be calling the ACLU today.
Yesterday my fiance frantically called me explaining that I wasn't registered to vote. I told her she was nuts - I had had my address and registration verified by the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) when I moved back to the area. I logged back into their website, tried modifying my voter registration to my current address, and voila, it says I'm registered to vote at my current address. I go to the Pennsylvania voter registration site, and discover what my fiance was talking about - I am not shown as registered anywhere in the state of Pennsylvania.

So I call the county election office and spend the next 2 hours on the phone and start getting more of the story. Apparently there were "a number of issues" when they linked the PennDOT system to the election office's system. They are pretty sure that I fell through the cracks, despite doing everything I was supposed to. I have a paper trail of all of this being done.

Apparently PennDOT's system for changing registrations when you change your address of record works by first canceling all registrations (vehicle, drivers' license, and voter) and then sending out notifications of the new registration to the appropriate agencies, without confirmation checks (anyone who writes software can see the issue with this approach). Except mine didn't get sent out. I asked if I could get an approval number, or written notification attesting to this but they refused, and kept saying "we'll call you back this afternoon." I never got a call back.

So this morning I went to the last place where I had voted as stated on the PA voter website for situations like this, and again they confirmed that I am not registered to vote anywhere in the US. So they had me fill out yet another change of address form and a provisional ballot. You know, the same provisional ballots which have a 40-50% chance of being counted. Needless to say, I am pissed.

TL;DR: got screwed out of my vote by the state

Something similar just happened to my fiance yesterday. We live in MO, recently moved, she filled out a change of address form sent it in weeks ago. Yesterday she comes home from work at midnight after working a double (she's a nurse) and finds a letter saying that she doesn't exist and her registration has been suspended until she fills out and resubmits paperwork, for which the deadline was last week...

The reason? For some freaking reason they changed her name from Ashley to Askley and then decided there was no such person with that SSN despite her doing NOTHING to change her name and just filling out a simple change of address form like 3 weeks ago. Too late to get it taken care of, so she just doesn't get to vote.

Our polling place is less than a block away from our apartment. We walked up minutes before the polls opened at 7AM and there was already a line around the block.

\One of the volunteers at the polling station gave our 5 year old daughter an "I voted" sticker
\\Daughter ran out of the polling place singing, "President Baracko Bomma"

ZeroPly: EyeballKid: I already voted. As a liberal in Kentucky, in keeping with that same love of acts of utter futility, I will later attempt to put out a house fire by pissing on it.

Obviously it's important to vote for the local issues, so everyone needs to show up anyway...

However, if you're not a big fan of the two party system, and are in a state that's being screwed over by the electoral college shenanigans - it makes sense to vote for Jill Stein, Gary Johnson, etc. If a third party can get 5% of the popular vote, they get federal matching funds next election. At least your vote for president counts towards something, instead of being converted into 0.0000000 electoral votes and discarded.

Yep. It's why I'm voting for Gary Johnson. Obama's got California sewed up anyways.

Barnstormer: My presidential voting record:

1984: Mondale
1988: Dukakis
1992: Clinton
1996: Clinton
2000: Nader
2004: Kerry
2008: Obama
2012: ??? (still have until 8 pm to decide)

(whatever happens, I'm having my steak rare)

Nice job voting in Bush in 2000, greatly appreciate those 8 years of completely destroying America.

RevMercutio:
Obviously it's important to vote for the local issues, so everyone needs to show up anyway...

However, if you're not a big fan of the two party system, and are in a state that's being screwed over by the electoral college shenanigans - it makes sense to vote for Jill Stein, Gary Johnson, etc. If a third party can get 5% of the popular vote, they get federal matching funds next election. At least your vote for president counts towards something, instead of being converted into 0.0000000 electoral votes and discarded.

Yep. It's why I'm voting for Gary Johnson. Obama's got California sewed up anyways.


Honey, is that you? If so, happy anniversary! It's been seven years of bliss.

Literally took me five minutes where I live. Yay, flyover country!

Dwight_Yeast: Barnstormer: 2012: ??? (still have until 8 pm to decide)

Not Romney. Vote for Jill Stein if you can't bring yourself to vote for Obama.

A vote for anyone other than Obama is a vote for Romney, though.

Live blog info here: Link

RevMercutio: ZeroPly: EyeballKid: I already voted. As a liberal in Kentucky, in keeping with that same love of acts of utter futility, I will later attempt to put out a house fire by pissing on it.

Obviously it's important to vote for the local issues, so everyone needs to show up anyway...

However, if you're not a big fan of the two party system, and are in a state that's being screwed over by the electoral college shenanigans - it makes sense to vote for Jill Stein, Gary Johnson, etc. If a third party can get 5% of the popular vote, they get federal matching funds next election. At least your vote for president counts towards something, instead of being converted into 0.0000000 electoral votes and discarded.

Yep. It's why I'm voting for Gary Johnson. Obama's got California sewed up anyways.

I know that Gary Johnson isn't going to win this time, he may never win. But, I am voting for him anyway because I don't want to be somebody who reinforces what I feel is a broken standard. By voting for Tweedle Dee or Tweedle Dum, I feel like I am just voting "so the other guy doesn't win" instead of for "who is right for the job" Hopefully, he will get enough attention this election that by the time 2016 rolls around, he will have a larger following and make a bigger impact. Rome wasn't built in a day.

NateGrey: [www.washingtonpost.com image 228x341]

Heartbeat away from Presidency??

COME ON PEOPLE

Not a Ryan fan politically but I have to say Ryan is pretty darn strong ... looks like he is curling over 80ibs on the dumbells on one arm. I have to say I'm very impress. Not many people in this world can do that.

Mr. Carpenter: Barnstormer: My presidential voting record:

1984: Mondale
1988: Dukakis
1992: Clinton
1996: Clinton
2000: Nader
2004: Kerry
2008: Obama
2012: ??? (still have until 8 pm to decide)

(whatever happens, I'm having my steak rare)

Nice job voting in Bush in 2000, greatly appreciate those 8 years of completely destroying America.

Had I lived in Florida my vote would definitely have been different.

FinFangFark: I posted in other thread...

Howard Dean on MSNBC: "Voter intimidation in Pennsylvania is under way"

Howard Dean?

I give him credit if he's willing to mention the fraud his party is engaging in in Philly. I had assumed he was a partisan idiot...

Electoral fix, here in MO, is in, So, Johnson on top of ticket, Dems on the bottom Fark current iteration of GOP, and `half-step' libs

Voted for Johnson. Don't like McCaskill but couldn't stand the idea of filling in the bubble for Akin.

foxtail: Obama will take an early lead, until the republicans get off of work.

I thought hedge fund managers got to work whenever they wanted to.

If you are not a part of the solution then you are part of the problem.

How many of these damn threads are there?

Mr. Carpenter: scubamage: I may be calling the ACLU today.
Yesterday my fiance frantically called me explaining that I wasn't registered to vote. I told her she was nuts - I had had my address and registration verified by the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) when I moved back to the area. I logged back into their website, tried modifying my voter registration to my current address, and voila, it says I'm registered to vote at my current address. I go to the Pennsylvania voter registration site, and discover what my fiance was talking about - I am not shown as registered anywhere in the state of Pennsylvania.

So I call the county election office and spend the next 2 hours on the phone and start getting more of the story. Apparently there were "a number of issues" when they linked the PennDOT system to the election office's system. They are pretty sure that I fell through the cracks, despite doing everything I was supposed to. I have a paper trail of all of this being done.

Apparently PennDOT's system for changing registrations when you change your address of record works by first canceling all registrations (vehicle, drivers' license, and voter) and then sending out notifications of the new registration to the appropriate agencies, without confirmation checks (anyone who writes software can see the issue with this approach). Except mine didn't get sent out. I asked if I could get an approval number, or written notification attesting to this but they refused, and kept saying "we'll call you back this afternoon." I never got a call back.

So this morning I went to the last place where I had voted as stated on the PA voter website for situations like this, and again they confirmed that I am not registered to vote anywhere in the US. So they had me fill out yet another change of address form and a provisional ballot. You know, the same provisional ballots which have a 40-50% chance of being counted. Needless to say, I am pissed.

TL;DR: got screwed out of my vote b ...

Just had two other friends have similar occurrences happen. They were registered, but suddenly do not exist on the rolls. I am calling the voter protection line as we speak. This crap is getting weird.