desh | VOTE!

WHERE TO VOTE: Don't know where to vote? In Philly, look here. Anywhere else, check out mypollingplace.com. And if that doesn't work for you, my offer for past election seasons stands. If you need to, please contact me and I'll find your polling place for you. Leave a comment, send an email, whatever. I'll do what I have to do. Also, if you can't vote because you need transportation, babysitting, a couple hours off of work, or any other sort of assistance, leave a comment and I'll help you get to the polls. No matter where in the country you live.

VOTING IRREGULARITIES: If you see anything wrong, call 1-866-OUR-VOTE. They've got teams of lawyers all across the country, ready to investigate suspected problems immediately. Bring that number with you to the polling place. (Thanks,

pleonastic.)

IF YOU'RE NOT PERMITTED TO VOTE: By law, every person who believes they are entitled to vote at a given location must be permitted to vote there. Late in the day, this applies to everyone who is in line to vote before the polls are scheduled to close. If the above applies to you and the election officials won't let you into the voting booth for any reason, they must let you fill out a provisional ballot, which may be counted later after it's reviewed by a judge. If you're not even permitted to fill out a provisional ballot, call 1-866-OUR-VOTE. It also can't hurt at that point to also ask the election officials how you can contact a local election court to get the situation reviewed expediently. Also, many polling places are permitted to require identification. So be prepared. (In Philadelphia, if you haven't ever voted at your polling place, or haven't in the past few years, then you have to bring photo ID; but non-photo ID showing proof of residence, such as a utility bill or your voter registration card, must be accepted by the election judge if it's all you've got.)

Also, you can't vote if you're not registered in most states. (Exceptions may include ID, ME, MN, NH, ND, and WY.) If that's why you're not voting, I'll give you a one-time-only reprieve if you register RIGHT NOW for the next election. (PDF link; you'll want to print pages 4 and 5.)

IF YOU'RE NOT PLANNING TO VOTE (and are a US citizen at least 18 years of age and you haven't already voted in this election): What are you doing today? If that doesn't inspire you to vote, I don't know what will. And if you can vote and don't, then, as is my usual policy, I won't be speaking to you on election day. You have more important things to be doing than talking to me.

WHO SHOULD YOU VOTE FOR? Well, if you know me, you probably know who I'd vote for if I were you. But honestly? It's more important to me that you vote at all. Each of you who reads this probably shares multiple demographic groups with me. The more voters there are who are like me, the more the politicians running for office will care what I think. So if you don't care enough about the issues to vote, then at least vote as a favor to me. Push the "I'm not voting for any candidate" button, if that's what you feel you need to do. But just vote. Be an American Hero. [Link is quasi-NSFW and parts of the site are two years out-of-date, but it's still fun.]

VOTE OR DIE!

Prayer For Voting, by Rabbi David Seidenberg [PDF]

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

Something in your entry is trying to put a certificate on my computer.

Also, if you're not registerred already, doing so now is useless as you need to be registerred at least 30 days before the election, no?

I meant that now is as good a day as any to register for the next election. I've edited my post to clarify. (And there are at least a few states where you actually can register on the day of the election. But in most, you can't, you're right.)

I missed the voter registration for Illinois so I can't vote this year. I was hoping to vote absentee in New York but that won't work either. So everyone needs to vote, for my sake :)

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

I've linked to this; it's wonderful.

(and proud to say I've voted in every single election - both primary and general since I've been eligable - including absentee when I was living oversees).

You're welcome!

I'm not proud to say that I didn't vote in the first election I was eligible to vote in. It was a primary in an off year, and I have no idea what offices were up for election. No excuse. I haven't missed one since.

There are actually some states (like MN where I live) where you can register on the day if you bring proof of residence to the polls.

And if you find yourself bored, here is an HBO documentary (aired Thursday) about the state of electronic voting in this country. Watch and weep. And demand from your elected officials that secure, open systems are used for voting, instead of secretive systems hacked together by clueless companies trying to make a buck - See http://www.punchscan.org/ for a recently proposed such system.

I'm a permanent absentee voter (California) so I can't even cite laziness on election day as an excuse. My vote went into the mail on Saturday.

I hope to go *something* changes tomorrow.

I bounded out of bed 45 minutes before my alarm went off like a kid on Christmas morning. Because YAY It's Election Day! :D

Vote early and vote often! Unwrap the biggest vote first and then move on to all the others!

*stare*

+1

I'd love to see compulsory voting in the US. Sure, some people might not put thought into it but at least they're having some sort of opinion.

I made sure to grab the "Here's your polling place packet with list of candidates that you're going to be selecting among" mailing and cram it in my car so I can go straight from work to vote.

I go back and forth on compulsory voting. On first consideration it seems like a good idea, but there are a lot of problems it raises.

VOTE!

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