Just early voted in downtown ATL. 5 minutes, no issues. Only other person there was a poll watcher. Machine seemed to work fine, but perhaps the game is that they change my vote to Kemp on the back end.

I went to the polls and voted November 19. I was surprised by the turnout for early voting in a midterm election. When I arrived Friday afternoon there was a line out the door. I was in line at 2:00; finished voting at 2:13. Not too bad, but in my past midterm voting experiences there’s been no line. I usually just walk in, cast my vote, and go. Could be I just picked a busy time, but it seems voters are taking this election seriously.

There were only four races on the ballot: Governor, US Senate, US House, and State House. Three will easily be won by the Republican candidate. The US Senate race between Phil Bredesen and Marsha Blackburn is the only close contest. I voted for Phil Bredesen. He is a good man. Blackburn is a career politician and among the strongest supporters of and has been personally endorsed by President Trump. She’s been a Representative in Washington for sixteen years. Her campaign has consisted almost entirely of sound bites, buzzwords, and outright lies.

Voted in person today. Three hour ordeal all told, line all the way out the door, looked like heavy turnout on both sides but I only spotted two MAGA hats which surprised me. Some mid-sixties black guy was in the parking lot yelling about how "socialism has never worked anywhere" and to "vote red all the way." I asked if I could have his social security check and he pretended not to hear me. Once I got inside the building some guy told me that, if you had a vote-by-mail ballot, you can just drop it off at the polling place no sweat. No one from the county office informed anyone of this. With that plus the fact that we only get 9 days of early voting, I'll be looking at other options next time our supervisor of elections runs. Anyway I got to show my kid how the process works. Next time I will show her how voting by mail works.

Voted by mail for CA from Japan. Quite easy to register online and receive a ballot by email.

I don't know much, nothing really, about voting laws, but it seems messed up to me that an American citizen can be disenfranchised just because of the state you live in. It sucks but maybe you need a lawyer to help you cut through the BS? Maybe contact the PA ACLU, or even someone like Greg Palast?

Filled out my absentee ballot
(VA doesn't do early voting)

Voted today in Maryland.

I am old so it’s 867-5309, ldo.

Woo! It's nice they let you track it. We have that in WA too.

LOL, glad you perservered.

I can't believe hunter is polling +8. what an *******.

JFC in person voting is so bad. We need to all vote by mail.

Woo! Looks like you have exactly 2 competitive districts - the 10th and the 3rd.

Thanks! Should be a sweat

Thanks! Fingers crossed for Cordray. I didn't realize Kasich was term limited and figured he was just gearing up for a 2020 primary challenge.

This can't possibly be correct. As other suggested I would recommend you reach out the the ACLU. All americans (with the exception of some felons) hav the right to vote.

Thanks! Good luck to the underdog dem.

Of course. Real estate agents have such a weird business model.

God Kemp is such a tool. Thanks for voting.

Oh man, fingers crossed for Bredsen. Thanks for voting.

JFC 3 hours. We need national vote by mail.

Woo! Thanks for voting!

Thanks! Lots of competitive races in VA

Thanks for voting! Also WTF MD has an R governor??

I was looking at this some more tonight and I found out how to apply for an absentee ballot, though it's too late for this election. But it's not clear whether or not I would be granted an absentee ballot. https://vhd.overseasvotefoundation.o...eas-can-i-vote

The eligibility requirements to be able to vote in Pennsylvania are:

• Are a U.S citizen
• Are a resident of Pennsylvania
• Are at least 18 years old by Election Day
• Live in the precinct where you vote for at least 30 days prior to the election

I don't meet those requirements. On the PA absentee ballot request form I need to explain why I want an absentee ballot: So I have to put something in here and I think they can decide whether or not they want to give me an absentee ballot based on my response.

"JFC in person voting is so bad. We need to all vote by mail."

Nah, I disagree. It should be one of the small things that we share as a society - way too much of clicking on buttons/dropping stuff in the mail. I think the actual act of casting the vote around a bunch of other people can help people in a tiny way to understand that we're all in this together.

This of course assumes that you don't have to stand in line in a downpour/baking sun/be somehow blocked from voting to do it. Which I know in some places is problematic.

MM MD

lol voting anyone with R next to their name, are u not paying attention

I agree it would be nice to walk over the community center and make it a bit of a ritual. But vote by mail >>> waiting for hours because republicans are rigging the vote again. The current system is way too exploitable by hostile actors e.g. republicans.

I am in a similar situation. I no longer qualify as a resident of any US state. (More precisely - my driver's license expired and I was unable to renew it because I was living abroad - now I have no documents that establish residency, and in any case wouldn't want to because then I'd be subject to state income tax on my income). Federal law in principle allows one to vote in presidential elections in one's state of last residence (if one has never resided in the US, then I suppose on cannot vote at all), although my memory is that the law is clearly worded with military personnel in mind, not ordinary emigrants. For several presidential elections I voted in my state of last residence, but after the Trump election, the state sent me a letter striking me from the rolls unless I could prove residence (for the Trump election they initially refused to send me a ballot, but finally did so, only it arrived too late to be cast validly - I don't remember the details - but they stank). It doesn't matter that this is all probably illegal, as there appears to be no effective recourse short of filing a lawsuit, which I have neither the interest nor the energy nor the resources to do. In my case I suspect that the county registrar (who is almost certainly anti-Trump given what county it was) is simply completely incompetent.

The summary is that if you have never lived in the US you probably have no legal right to vote.

Many people are confused by the following: in the US a citizen does not have a right to vote, nor a right to representation. Many, many US citizens are systematically disenfranchised, typical groups being residents of Washington D.C. and expatriates of all kinds (not to mention Puerto Rico). The numbers are several million people, more than reside in about half the states. But there is no consciousness of this issue at all inside the US. Among modern democracies the US is almost exceptional in not guaranteeing representation for all of its citizens.

No early voting in NY. Thanks Cuomo!

So I am subject to taxation without representation? When has that ever gone badly?

I guess I'll find out whether PA will let me vote next election and then contact ACLU if they don't. Is there anything coming up before 2020 primaries?

You and millions of US citizens. (Not to mention millions of taxpaying immigrants.)

I'm going to enjoy the vote-by-mail option while I can. I'm not 100% reassured by the on-line check to see if my ballot was counted, but it's better than nothing.

I'm not sure what the polling says, but if the R candidate for for Secretary of State gets in, he's going to do everything he can to screw voters (opposes mail-in, supports English only literature).

The props always seem confusing. I wasn't sure about the services tax proposition (126) but voted NO, reasoning that if these taxes are limited then sales tax increases are more likely, which I don't like because sales tax is so regressive.

edit: Jesus. Gaynor is the R and is probably in it for the governorship.

https://ballotpedia.org/Arizona_Secr...election,_2018

thats issue 1. or, as conservative limbaug wannabe trivosono says, Soros funded drug dealer bill.

ya it wont pass. its a good bill but oh well.

****ing NY, so liberal in so many ways, and yet there is absolutely no way to early vote whatsoever, and you can’t absentee ballot unless you have a reason.

It's polling +11! (45/34 with 20 undecided)

The undecideds may not break well (in ballot measures they bend to break like 2/3 no), but it's certainly got a shot!

Also, mapping 2/3 of the undecideds onto No and 1/3 on to Yes gives you a final result of the bill passing 52-47

I've read up on a bunch of the ballot measures this year, I think they are an under utilized liberal tactic.

As it turns out most republican ideas (tax breaks for billionaires funded by taking away healthcare from poor kids) are really unpopular. But they've had success via a combo of racism, lying, and vote suppression.

Consistently putting progressive ideas on the ballot seems like a pretty good path to change narratives and also enact those ideas.

I just looked through ballotpedia for initiatives on clear partisan issues:

- This bill - prison reform polls +11 in OH
- In Oregon there are 3 right wing bills (soda tax ban polling -6, ending sanctuary status -14, no state funds for abortion -21)
- In WA the carbon tax is polling +14 and the gun control law is +20
- AR: minimum wage increase is +30
- AZ: energy / environmental bill is -13, service tax ban is +15 (LOL Arizona)
- CO: progressive state income tax is +16
- MI: legal weed is +16, independent redistricting is +30, voting rights is +46
- MO: right to work is -9
- MT: increase tobacco tax & make medicaid expansion permanent
- OK: medical marijuana is +28 (poll is months old)
- UT: medical marijuana, avg is +41, but most recent polls are +31, +31, +5, and medicaid expansion is +29, independent redistricting is +34


Also MO has minimum wage increase, NE and ID have medicaid expansion, NV has automatic registration & an environmental bill, all with no polls that I can find.

voting on Tuesday

I'll likely be voting on election day rather than beforehand.

Does anyone have suggestions for how to read up/vote on local ballot measures? I just looked at our sample ballot for Baltimore City and there are a bunch of measures to authorize the city to borrow money to fund various things (affordable housing, public parks, public campaign financing, etc etc). They're all things that I'm in favor of providing funding to, but the city as a whole has pretty incompetent leadership and I don't know that I necessarily want THIS leadership to be the one using those borrowed funds. As I type that out, though, I realize that it makes me sound like a crusty old person. I think right now my plan is to vote yes on all of them absent some specific reason not to.

https://ballotpedia.org/Sample_Ballot_Lookup

FYI you don't actually have to enter an email address - you can leave that field blank

check votesaveamerica.com for the Democrat view