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SFist Votes
Hey, look! The SF "I voted/Ya Vote/Wo Yi To Piao" stickers are on the front page of cnn.com! So are you proudly sporting a red sticker? How was your voting experience this beautiful primary Super Duper Wowie Zowie Tuesday? Any good stories to pass along?
Here's some of ours, over here at SFist HQ! And hey, if you don't know where you vote, check here. Polls are open until 8 p.m.
Here's SFist Leanne -- she's voting after work today!
My experience should be interesting -- I stupidly ripped up my absentee ballot, since I hadn't declared myself a Dem and learned that I have to go to my precinct anyway... I hope they don't give me a hard time for not handing it over...
Hey Leanne -- we just looked this up for ya. You can either say you made a mistake on the ballot, bring the two ripped up pieces to your polling place, and vote on a regular ballot, or you can say you lost your ballot and vote on a provisional ballot.
And while we have you here, Decline To Staters, don't forget that you have to specifically request a Democratic ballot if you want to vote for Barack or Hillary (or Mike Gravel or John Edwards). There are some sporadic reports that Decline To Staters are having some trouble getting Democratic ballots, but you do have the right to vote in the Democratic election, so stand firm if someone says you can't do it, ask to see a supervisor, or call your local Dept. of Elections. (SF's is 554-4375.)
We love people's voting stories! More after the jump, and tell yours in the comments if you're so inclined!
After the jump: SFist Dan's idyllic trek to his voting booth, a question raised about suffragette martyrs, and SFist Deborah's name change issues!
Here's SFist Deborah's harrowing name-change story in the wilds of Sunnyside:
I gave the volunteer my last name - spelled it out and everything. I told him my first name was Deborah and he said, "Yes. Here you are. Sign here please." He was pointing to my husband's name (who is not named Deborah). My name was nowhere to be found on the page. Although I had updated my surname a few weeks ago, the change was not yet reflected in the book. So, I just signed under my maiden name, after another volunteer gave the previous volunteer another job to do. I really can't complain though, since there was no line and someone was gracious enough to volunteer his/her garage.
Our tale isn't so exciting, alas -- we showed up at the voting booth this morning at around 8:15 a.m., whipped through the shortest ballot ever in recent memory, and were the 30th person to vote in the precinct.
We do have a more exciting tale of a friend of ours, though, who ran into someone voting at 7 a.m., who said she was voting for Hillary Clinton because "women died to get the vote." Is that true? We looked online and the only woman we found described as a suffragette martyr was Emily Davison, a woman in England who repeatedly attempted to commit suicide on behalf of the women's voting movement. Are we missing any American suffragists who were killed in the cause? Let us know -- now we're curious.
And finally, SFist Dan's paean to the franchise, on a beautiful San Francisco February.
I went running this morning out to Golden Gate Park and up through the Presidio, passing six polling places on my seven-mile trek. All of them had people voting, but there were no lines (it was about 9:30). When I had come home and showered, I went to my polling place. Things there were quiet, except for the really short guy (five feet, maybe) who had a boom box on a little cart and was dancing to a reggae song while kibbitzing with a few friends. His cart was full of incense; perhaps he was going to sell it on the street. My voting room was empty; I filled out my ballot in a minute or two, got my "I Voted" sticker, and headed out into this absolutely beautiful day.
America's a great country and we live in its greatest city!!! GET OUT THERE AND VOTE, EVERYONE!!!