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It's Part Two of the California Primary, where the state in its struggles to be "relevant" in the presidential primary by moving its election date up to the first possible date that you could set without having to go through a horrible shouting Rules and Bylaws Committee meeting on CSPAN (i.e., Super Tuesday), ended up artificially depressing turnout on the rest of our state primaries and, ironically, would have done better on the presidential primary relevancy question if we'd waited until today to pick between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton anyways! California is the best state in the union (by which we mean the most unable to plan ahead in any meaningful kind of way).
Sounds like we're all burned out on elections -- turnout's pretty low, and we, for one, didn't even bother doing our usual half-ass guide to the propositions for our faithful readers and figured we'd just wing it in the ballot box. Whose bright idea was it to move the primary again?
We're not getting too many "I voted" stories either -- but if you have one, post it the comments! For what it's worth, when we voted this morning, we were only the 9th person to vote in our precinct by 8:30 a.m. They must have anticipated low turnout too because we got moved from the big conference room where we usually vote to a tiny classroom instead. We saw no one canvassing by the BART, and no one besides us wearing an "I Voted" sticker either on the train or in our office. This is not a good sign for turnout (and thus explains the question mark at the end of this post's title.)
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Even if you don't vote on any other ballot measures, please go vote NO on 98. and yes on 99 (which will repeal 98 even if they both pass).
Voting is the duty and obligation of every citizen, no matter when they have an election. I don't want to hear any whining about how this election was "boring" and that's why the stupe didn't bother to hit the polls. That's not the point. Democracy is not here to entertain you. Whoever didn't bother to vote needs to be rounded up.
P.S. Tracy Flick is my role model and ideal womyn. She's a go getter, that one.
I voted-I was the only one there and the poll volunteers reminded me not to forget my jacket. very, very interesting.
I walked in to polling place ... agonizing ... (agonizing, I say) over Leno v. Migden.
Just couldn't throw the old gal under the bus. Nope. Nuh-uh. (But all that money! And the crazy driving! Hem! Haw!)
Lo & behold, I was spared the choice. I moved into a new apartment this month. Turns out it falls barely in Senate district 8, Leland Yee's hood. Crisis averted.
Here's Mel's Slate - a progressive-liberalish handy voting guide for those of you for rent control, etc, but with not enough time/energy to do the research...
A-Yes
B-Yes
C-No
D-Yes
E-Yes
F-Yes
G-No
98-No
99 - Yes
No on C, G, and 99
For an interesting article on F and G, see this http://www.sfbg.com/blogs/politics/2008/06/what_the_prop_fprop_g_battle_i.html
Like I always say: if you don't vote, at least try to overthrow the government.
Thanks, lemlemish. It would have been nice to have that before I voted. Although her post on F&G pretty much swayed me.
If you live in Duboce Triangle the polling place is now above the emergency room at the hospital. There are no signs on the street indicating a polling place.
(The polling place has changed twice in the last 2 years.)
Of course I voted ... always do .... about 3-4 weeks ago via mail.
I'll be voting when I get home tonight. If you are in Pacifica, please vote yes on N and O (yeah, yeah, very funny guys...)
generati: Not necessarily; I vote in the projects across from Duboce Park Cafe.
I let my boyfriend fill out my ballot.
I'm voting tonight - I was going to request a Dem. ballot for the whole Leno vs. Midgen thing (leaned towards Leno), but in looking at the book last night I realized that I'm not in that district, and since everyone else is running unopposed, I figure I'll get the regular NP ballot for once.
I voted against the whatever it was. There were still plenty of donuts at 9 AM.
I just dropped off my absentee ballot at a local polling place before work. I do it this way only because I get one of those nifty "I Voted" stickers... they don't send them to you when you send in your ballot. Nor do they give send you a donut or a smile.
Wait.... we're allowed to have some of those donuts?!?!
Voted after work and had to wait a bit as all six booths were filled...which is somewhat encouraging.
Last election, number 19 as of 3pm.
Today, same time, #115.
Hmmm....something seems to have inspired the Outer Parkside voters.
i was the 10th person at the columbarium today at 8:15.
the prop 98 bastards are counting on low turn out for this election. they hope the right wing zealots will make a showing for the dull elections.
dana king just told me (via tv) that prop 98 is losing. the toal votes don't even add up to two million so far!
~~~gogo
Please vote, but only if you're going to vote identically to me. If not, please do not vote. Voting is the duty of people who want to get their way. I vote in every single possible election (and would gladly vote in many, many more) because even though I recognize the futility of it, it's the best chance I'm likely to get anytime soon.
Incidentally I think the whole primary concept really needs to be overhauled. At least, at the national level. Every state should hold their primaries on exactly the same day. This gives each state equal importance (ignoring, of course, the differing number of delegates) and will slightly help prevent the media from immediately ignoring everyone who they don't judge to be a front-runner and influencing the election. There's absolutely no justifiable reason not to do it that way.
Of course, I also support the complete abolition of all political parties (it prevents things from being a two-way decision and prevents voters from being quite so lazy as to vote along party lines as well as a host of other things) so primaries would be largely irrelevant, but still. This is very easily fixable.
Wait... there are donuts?!? I've never seen any donuts! Of course, my local polling place is in someone's garage over in the ass crack of the southeast, but still... other people are getting donuts?
It almost sickens me to see the results on G/F that are coming back. I was frankly expecting G to fail, but that it won that heavily just shakes my faith in humanity even more than it already was. I guess people won't be happy until every neighborhood in the city is gentrified to hell and those of us who can't afford million-plus condos are forced out.
I voted in San Francisco once and some shallow retard with a good stylist got elected because there was no one else to vote for. That was Willie Brown.
Then Gavin "Getty" Newsom was anointed and I gave up completely on San Francisco politics.
Eventually, and if you're here long enough, they are going to ram it down your throat anyway. BFD.
my local polling place is in someone's garage
This strikes me as really bizarre and possibly very problematic and is something I've seen only here
My polling place is in someone's garage as well.
the garage thing weirded me out a tiny bit also, it seems very un-governmental or something. where i grew up it was always at a school or other official type of building.
but the fact that it's less than a block from my house makes voting very easy so it has that going for it... they didn't have any donuts though. i was #17 at around 9:30am and it seemed pretty much deserted..
>> Wait... there are donuts?!? I've never seen any donuts!
See what happens when you turn out for what is expected to be a low-turnout election? Miracles occur!
Actually I didn't ask for one. Technically, I'm not sure it's legal to hand out donuts to voters at a polling place. It's a slippery slope, first you give them donuts, next thing you know they want to be vice-president.