"Honest to goodness
The bars weren't open this morning
They must have been voting
For a new president of something"
-"The New World" by X

And so it goes.

I walked over to the polls this morning. The Trio Tavern had an "Open" sign on, but they were closed. I was out the door at 6:30 a.m. and arrived about 6:40 a.m. And the lines were already out the door. I chatted up a guy about Brady Quinn, but the line moved quickly and I was in line for a booth by 7:00 a.m.

A few thoughts. If you recall last year, I was shocked that people were sitting at tables filling out their ballots. Whatever happened to the idea of the secret ballot? They offer this to you in my precinct as a way to vote without waiting in line. I don't quite understand it. Maybe we need a bigger polling place.

This year, it was even worse, if you can believe it. We have people at tables, we have people sitting in chairs, we have people standing in line while waiting for a booth to open, all out with their pens coloring in the circles for who they voted for. It looked a lot like Thistledown. My God, are we in that much of a hurry? Besides, I don't want the guy next to me looking at who I am voting for. It's more proof that Election Day needs to be a national holiday every four years. I will sign every petition and back every initiative until this becomes a reality.

That wasn't the half of it. I actually had to talk to the Voters Rights person outside of the polling place. God bless the woman in front of me. It was pretty chaotic inside, but she was actually reading the "Ballot Privacy Folder" (which they neglected to give me, BTW) before they scanned her ballot. I guess that's supposed to keep your ballot private, after you sit out in the open and vote at a table, I add snarkily. Anyhow, the procedure was we were supposed to hand the guy by the scanner a stub from our ballot. Then we could scan. She was the first person to notice this at our precinct's scanner (we have four precincts, that means four scanners): WE HAD NO STUBS!

And she was determined to fix it. She said she had always had a stub in all her years of voting, so they could check if there were problems. I then joined with her. We checked the scanner. 26 had already voted and God knows how many others had been given ballots without stubs from our precinct's table. Let alone the other precincts. The worker claimed, "They opened the doors before we were ready." Trust me, that is not what you wanna hear on Election Day, especially in Ohio. But that's really not an excuse. Make the people wait, instead of handing them ballots they can fill out in the open. Their solution was to take a bunch of stubs and just throw them into the envelope.

I presume one of those stubs was mine. So, I guess my vote counted. My parting shot to the scanner guy was, "You're sure I didn't just vote for Canadians, but Americans, right?".

On the way out, I noticed the woman talking to the Voters Rights person, so I felt obligated to join the fray and file a report. Jeezy creezy, I understand it's hectic at the start and all, but my goodness, you'd think ripping a ballot from the tablet with the stub intact is a pretty important step in poll worker training.

Even with all of that, I walked back home and arrived here at 7:25 a.m.

So, perform your civic duty and vote today.

But before you vote:

Please Be Informed



Election Night
























4:00 p.m.: I just realized 4 years ago at this time, I was reading those dreaded exit polls. I thought John Kerry was ahead? W'happen?

4:45 p.m.: Breaking Election News: Bill Richardson shaved his beard.

6:00 p.m: I turn on MSNBC, the Place for Politics. Also decide I'm going to have leftover Chinese.

6:45 p.m: Lester Holt is manning the Senate desk. I imagine he'll get very limited air time. Ann Curry rears her ugly head, much like Putin.

7:00 p.m: First results. McCain gets Kentucky, Obama takes Vermont for an early 8-3 R lead.

7:10 p.m.: Morning Joe calls it a complete repudiation of Republicans. Gee, that's early.

7:30 p.m.: I vow by 8:00, I will start paying more attention. South Carolina goes to McCain. He's up 16-3. That sounds like a playoff game that C.C. Sabathia pitches.

7:45 p.m.: Indiana intrigues me. Still has not been called for McCain. Highly unusual for Team Donkey to be close here.

8:00 p.m.: Pennsylvania and its 21 electoral votes go to Obama. It's over, baby. (Happy Dance ensues.) Chris Matthews: "The McCain plan for victory has crashed." Obama needs only one red state at this point. Maybe Colorado at 9:00. This may be an early night.

Oklahoma and Tennessee go to McCain. Obama picks up Connecticut, Illinois, New Hampshire, Maine, Delaware, New Jersey, Massachusetts and the District. Obama zooms to a 103-34 lead. I break out the Lays Kettle Cooked Potato Chips.
































8:24 p.m.: Florida STILL cannot design a simple ballot. Or Palm Beach County residents is just plain stupid. Ann Curry and Howard Fineman have the same hair color.

8:27 p.m.: Fox Business Channel shows a graphic of Maine results: "Obama 2, McCain 1".

8:39 p.m.: Headline News crawl: Tim Robbins waited five hours to vote in Manhattan. Poll worker said his name was not on the register. He says he's voted every year there since 1992. A judge intervened.

8:45 p.m.: Alabammy and Georgia go to McCain, making it 103-58.

8:57 p.m.: Fox News seems very sad.

9:00 p.m.: More polls close. New York, Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Rhode Island to Obama. McCain takes Arkansas, Nebraska, North Dakota, Wyoming, and Kansas. Team Elephant is losing, 175-76.

9:06 p.m.: Decide to check the locals. Bad year for school levies. Most are losing. Hey, it looks like "Dennis!" wins. Yep, he's my Congressman.

9:11 p.m.: Chuck Todd says, "Not so fast, my friend!". Virginia, Ohio and Indiana are still in doubt.

9:22 p.m.: Unbelievably, Ohio goes to Obama. This state we live in, where the Mason-Dixon Line has crept up to I-80, votes a black man for President. Obama up, 195-76. Chuck Todd should have waited 15 minutes. Now, it's really over.


















9:25 p.m.: McCain takes Louisiana and picks up 6. He is still getting whomped, 195-85.

9:30 p.m.: New Mexico actually counts its votes early. 5 more to Senator Obama and he is at 200-85.

9:37 p.m.: Keith Olbermann desperately wants to say "It's over!". I said it a while ago. I think Neil Cavuto's head asploded on Fox Business.

9:42 p.m.: Fox is still hanging on for Florida. MSNBC won't call it, but it's leaning heavily toward Obama.

9:44 p.m.: Wolf Blitzer: Nice man. Wolf Blitzer: Terrible Election Night anchor. I forgot, Kentucky goes to McCain. Obama up, 200-90.































10:00 p.m.: Utah to McCain, Iowa to Obama. It's now 207-129. Fox News throws in the towel.

10:07 p.m.: James Carville on CNN says the R's are in no position to dictate to Obama how he should govern. The rational Republican next to him jokingly says, "If we only had 9 seats on the Supreme Court, we could pull this off." It was very funny.

10:12 p.m: It is now 207-135 for Obama as I miss some McCain states.

10:16 p.m.: Major difference in crowd scenes. Many thousands in an outdoor Chicago park for Obama, a few hundred in a hotel ballroom in Phoenix for McCain.

10:26 p.m.: Howard Fineman talks about a new generation. "Sea change but it's happening on a lake."

10:37 p.m.: South Dakota goes to McCain. You never hear about people in long lines waiting to vote there.

11:01 p.m.: Barack Obama is our next President. Si, se puede! God bless these United States of America!