Vote, ya bastaads

[featherynscale]

As I'm sure you know if you've been out to vote this morning, the lines at the polls were pretty damned amazing. And if you're on the Blue side of the house, that's got to be good. They say Democrats benefit from high voter turnout, but Republicans don't. So I figure the best way to make everybody happy is for the Dems to go to the polls, and the GOP crowd to stay home :-P

Anyhow, if you haven't dragged it out to the voting booth yet, you ought to. It's going to be a *zoo* tonight. And I know that I don't have to tell anyone how important this election is.

Extra special fun, in Missouri there are actually Libertarian and Constitution party candidates for most of the contested races. That's exciting. I'm all for the development of third parties into viable political entities. The Libertarians, particularly, since I think that they could answer the needs of fiscal conservatives who aren't entranced with the GOP's unholy alliance with the Christian right. I don't mind the Libs - I skew way left on social issues, but hold pretty center in the economic dimension.

In other news, triadruid brought home his Condorcet voting experiment data today, so we get to play with that tonight, while we're drinking heavily waiting for the returns. Whee!

Comments

[chainwoman.livejournal.com]

Ya know, my location had almost nobody in there. Nothing like what I was seeing on tv. So, I must wonder, if perhaps you're right. Since I'm in the state of Kansas, majority Republicans, perhaps the democrats will unite and take down GW. (I can only hope) *fingers crossed, vote cast*

[sirvinegar.livejournal.com]

We showed up at our polling place fifteen minutes after they opened and they already had a sizable line going. It didn't help that the library of the school we voted in was incredibly cramped and none of the workers there didn't take charge and direct people to where they needed to go. Good experience, though.

And since we vote in Kansas, there was that sinking feeling that our vote doesn't really count, but you gotta do what you can regardless of the probable outcome.

[featherynscale.livejournal.com]

This is why swing states rule. You get to retain the impression that you're doing something relevant, *and* there's the possibility that one political party or another will provide you with a golden opportunity to be belligerent in a public place by bothering you on the way into the polls. That rules.

[chainwoman.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I used to feel that way until I realized half my friends in Kansas that are democrats don't vote. So, now my pull is if we all stopped thinking that way it would be equally republican and democrat. However, nobody seems to believe me... :-|

Condorcet

[rfunk.livejournal.com]

It could be dangerous playing with Condorcet while drinking heavily. From what I've seen it's hard enough to follow sober. (Or maybe it's another Johnny Fever skill...)

I'm hoping for record voting for the Libertarians and Constitutionals this year, since they're the obvious place to go for disgruntled Republicans who can't bring themselves to vote for a Democrat. But we'll never get truly viable third parties in this country without serious reform of our voting system. (e.g. Condorcet.)

I just voted in my Ohio suburb (surrounded by Bushies). The Republican challenger was there with his Bush-Cheney hat and list of people. But I'm not sure if the list was people he wanted to challenge or people he wouldn't challenge. He didn't challenge me (probably a good thing, since my driver's license still says I live 140 miles away), but I sure wanted to challenge him.

Drunken Statistical Analysis and Observations on Political Process

[featherynscale.livejournal.com]

I don't know. I don't think we've ever done statistics while drunk. I think that was the state in which we wrote the church budget, which is close, but not quite the same thing.

(Just kidding about the church budget. Probably.)

Also, you kids in Ohio are having all the fun this year. Florida is the early leader in voting irregularity complaints, but most of them seem to be about long lines, which I hardly feel counts. It's all you guys now.