Wednesday, October 17, 2012

We voted today

...by which I mean, by the time you are reading this, if you read it on the same day I finally got around to posting it, yesterday. Is that clear?

The U.S. presidential election will be held on Tuesday, November 6th. Many states, however -- but certainly not all of them -- have instituted an “early voting” process. In Georgia it seems to be limited to the more populous counties.

Cherokee County’s early voting began on Monday. Our county has 44 precincts. From October 15th through October 26th -- except Saturdays or Sundays -- early voting is permitted at one location only, the County Board of Elections building in the town of Canton, which is the county seat. Beginning on Saturday, October 27th, and then again from Monday, October 27th, through Friday, November 2nd, four of the county libraries will be added as advance voting locations. Any registered voter who lives in Cherokee County can go to any one of the five locations to vote early. On election day itself (Tuesday, November 6th), when all 44 precincts will be staffed, voters must vote in the precinct in which they reside.

Monday night’s news was filled with shots of long lines waiting to vote early in various counties around metro Atlanta. And although more than 1,100 people voted on Monday in Cherokee County, we encountered no lines and no wait whatsoever when we showed up at the Board of Elections building Tuesday afternoon around 4:00 p.m.

We waltzed in and we waltzed out.

The whole thing, from start to finish, took less than ten minutes.

So there won’t be any standing in long lines on election day for me. Nosirree. Nosirree, Bob.

For me, there will be a lot of sitting at a table inside the precinct and helping people who have been standing in the long lines.

6 comments:

  1. That the thing about democracy. You know that voting is an important thing to to do so you put your cross on the paper, pop it in the ballot box and off you go. No fanfare of trumpets or cheering crowds. It's all rather anticlimactic.

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  2. Shooting Parrots, how quaint! Putting your cross on the paper! Popping it in the ballot box! We have neither. We have electronic voting machines accessed by programmable cards containing a hologram that brings the ballot up on touch screens.

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  3. How bizarre! In Britain you get to vote on one day and one day alone unless of course you require a postal vote. I trust that President Obama was able to count on your cross as he totally whupped Romney in the New York TV debate and is a much better fellow all round.

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  4. Good for you, RWP. I applaud those stalwart souls who sit long hours at voting precincts, checking names from the (seemingly) interminable lists provided by the county clerk, or whomever provides such information in your area. I, too, will vote "early" at our City Hall, which is much closer to my home than my newly assigned precinct which requires that I drive over three miles out into the country to cast my vote. Can we say "gerrymander?" I have appealed, to no avail. Bah, humbug.

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  5. Yorkshire Pudding, I try to be specifically thankful for one new thing each day, and today I am thankful that although you seem to be a fine fellow, you do not cast your vote in America.

    Pat, an Arkansas Stamper, good to see your comment! Georgia no longer uses those interminable lists and thick binders of yesteryear. We have access via laptop computers to a statewide data base of registered voters, by county and precinct. It simplifies things greatly and speeds things along.

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