#1
Baghdad, Iraq
I'm embedded with the military in Saddam's Presidential Palace and sent in my absentee ballot - for Obama - weeks ago. One of my colleagues [contractor, retired military] strongly supports McCain-Palin, believes Obama is a Muslim, etc. He told me he wasn't going to send in the Federal Write-In Absentee Ballot because someone told him it wouldn't be counted unless the election was close. Well, that's not true. They do, eventually, count all the valid ballots for the official totals, issued several weeks later.
I showed him how to print one out [from fvap.gov] and encouraged him to participate, no matter what. Even though we disagree on the candidates, he really appreciated my taking the time to ensure that he sent in his vote. Even if, in the end, his state does not count his ballot [maybe he should have requested an absentee ballot in advance, and maybe he didn't; I don't know], it's important to me that everyone have a voice in this election.
#2
Scotland
Thought I'd send along my voting experience as an American living abroad, since reading yesterday's late post about the experience in Ohio.
My idea was simple; my mom would field my absentee ballot and post it out to me in Scotland. I would fill it in, and send it back. Easy. But one does not plan for the vagaries of international post at such a heightened sense of mental urgency. So when California mailed out the absentee ballots on 6 October, I was on it. Called my mom: is it there? No. October 7: Is it there? No. October 8: Is it there? Mom: 'How about I call you when it's here?' Mental images of all the most horrible, egregious methods of voter suppression flashed at me. Had I broken some rule of absentee voting? Did they know I was abroad and not in Cali? Was I….purged?
No – I got the happy call, finally, beginning my daily vigil at the mail slot, waiting… hoping… whispering to myself, Yes We Can. Okay, not really, but after 4 years of living abroad, witnessing firsthand America's waning international clout, I am ready for change. I don't consider myself overtly patriotic, but there's only so much casual animosity one can take about the state of one's country. The Bush Administration is, to put it very politely, not well-received abroad.
My absentee ballot took over two weeks to get here. My poor mother received increasingly desperate calls about the state of the envelope and the number of stamps she put on it – even double-checking the address that she'd sent it to. All fine, but she clearly thinks I'm nuts. So, when it finally arrived, I was beyond thrilled. I opened it with some ceremony, showing it to my Scottish colleagues, who are all very interested in the voting process Stateside. There was general merriment – they all knew my postal woes. With a flourish, I bubbled in my vote for President. My friend Claire, smiling, said in her lilting Ayrshire accent, 'Aye, and that's for all of us.' So, this one's from me, and several Scottish postgraduates in Glasgow.
#3
a little late - from last night's south philly biden rally:
At Biden rally, Obama's Democratic Party comes into view
PHILADELPHIA -- Joe Biden’s rally in South Philadelphia Monday night served as an example, writ small, of just how far the Democrats have come. Sensing imminent success, the early-2008 party torn apart by Bitter-gate and “hard-working, white Americans” seems to have been seamlessly knit back together.
The Biden rally was in a park in Philly’s deep south, a row-house neighborhood, the kind of place that gave birth to the post-civil rights ethnic white resentment that wrecked the New Deal coalition. It's where Rocky comes from, and the infamous Mayor Frank Rizzo, the local version of Richard Nixon.
It was, in other words, the kind of crowd Barack Obama might have struggled with back in May, full of white folks with blue collars. These are the voters Scranton-born Irish-Catholic Joe Biden was supposed to help win over. At least a quarter of the crowd seemed to be there with the local for the teamsters, the electricians, the painters, or the firefighters.
A series of local pols warmed up the crowd, starting with Bob Brady, a hulking sausage of a Congressman. The former carpenter kicked off the rally with a series of union-guy shout-outs: “Jimmy! Harry! Guy! Johnny Doc! Manny! Ronny! Tony!” before, with a joke about hiding his knuckles, he handed the podium off to a nun and walked backstage to smoke a cigarette with a nearby cop. A series of local luminaries followed, including Mayor Michael Nutter, Gov. Ed Rendell and Maryland's governor, Martin O'Malley.
Every speaker made sure to emphasize how important it was that voters stay in line Tuesday, no matter how long the wait might get. Rendell in particular captured the spirit of the night.
"I don’t care if you’re in line for two and a half hours. Don’t bitch about it," the governor said. "Do you remember when South Africa got the vote for the first time? People stood out in the heat for five and a half hours to vote for Nelson Mandela. Why? Because their country’s future was on the line... Make a party out of it. Sing songs. ‘Kumbaya.’ You name it. ‘Philadelphia Freedom.’ Whatever. Have fun.”
To hear a crowd of South Philly carpenters and electricians cheering wildly for Nelson Mandela and “Kumbaya” seems as good a measure as any of the kind of Democratic Party that looks poised to win the White House today. When Biden himself came on, two hours late, he played the role cast for him, talking up the World Series winning Phillies and joking about his own locally appropriate ethnic background: “I tell you what, we got two Irish guys here, O’Malley and Biden. And I tell you what, I may be Irish, but I’m not stupid. I married Dominic Giacoppa’s granddaughter.”
The group was cold and tired by then, but Biden kept it short and sweet. The crowd of 2500 disappeared almost immediately after he finished, but everyone had the same thing to say. Local Paul Gambone “came for the excitement.” “Biden was electrifying,” said Chris, a South Philly 20-year old. Jabbing this reporter in the chest, firefighter Joe Love said, “He tells it from the heart.” Nearly everybody who spoke to Salon used some variation of the word “exciting” or “energizing.”
In South Philly, at least, Obama and Biden seem to have put to rest some of the demons from earlier this year, and from earlier in the city’s history. http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2008/11/04/biden_south_philly/index.html
#4
Over 1,000 Students Lined Up To Vote At Penn State (VIDEO)
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/11/04/over-1000-students-lined_n_140859.html
#5
Louisiana
When the polls opened...there were 200 people waiting. Some in heels. Some in ties. Some in pajamas. Lots of hair pulled back in ponytails. Lots of baseball caps. Dodgers. Red Sox. Indians.
The line stretched from the church to the Burger King around the corner. Kinda fitting. That's America. Faith and french fries. I watched people walk out with their "I voted" stickers. You could see the smiles...and a few tears. An older woman got her ballot and told the poll worker..."I've voted my entire life, but this is what I have been waiting for."
#6
philly burbs
I was busy preparing my five year-old son for school when my wife called to inform me about the voting situation. After hanging up, I asked my son if he wanted to go with me to vote (he has been obsessed with Barack Obama for about two months much to the consternation of both sets of his very Republican grandparents).
It was one of those incredible moments as a parent that I hope to never forget---walking to the polls with my son in his red and blue voting hat that he made at school yesterday with his incessant questioning about Obama and McCain, his awe at the voting booth and seeing the large list of candidates for political office, and trying to contain the volume of this excited five year old as I agreed to let him help me push the button confirming my vote.
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