Election Anecdotes (with Updates)
[Guest post by DRJ]
Here are some election anecdotes to start off this Election Day 2008:
Anecdote #1:
Yesterday there was craziness in California when a masked 28-year-old anti-war veteran waving an American flag and a handgun forced a traffic shutdown on HWY 101 in Santa Barbara for over 3 hours, backing traffic up 3 miles. “He gave up after he was allowed to attach a Barack Obama campaign sign and the flag to the overpass railing, said police Sgt. Jim Pfleging.”
Anecdote #2:
Today’s Houston Chronicle recounts an early voting story from October in which a Harris County poll worker refused to let a woman in an Alaska souvenir T-Shirt vote, apparently claiming the voter was electioneering for Palin. The poll worker gave her the option to cover up or change her shirt, options the voter refused because she felt no one would object to a Delaware T-Shirt. The voter initially left without voting but campaign volunteers in the parking lot referred the voter to a polling judge who overruled the poll worker’s decision.
However, the following week, the voter noted there was a sign posted at the polling place that banned clothing that named any of the candidates’ home states: Illinois, Arizona, Delaware or Alaska.
Anecdote #3:
On a lighter note, the same Houston Chronicle article recounts this memorable early voting story:
“During early voting, the clerk’s office got a report of a woman who showed up to a polling place in west Harris County wearing an Obama T-shirt. She was told she could cover the shirt up, turn it inside out, or not wear it. She chose not to wear it, and voted in her bra.
[Harris County Clerk spokesman Hector] De Leon could not say whether the polling places had a “no shirt, no shoes, no service” policy.”
Feel free to add links to more election anecdotes in the comments if you come across them. Meanwhile, if you haven’t already, Go Vote.
UPDATE 1: A compilation of early morning anecdotes from Jim Geraghty.
UPDATE 2 from Jake Tapper at ABC News:
“Among the other voters who have shown up to vote at Shoesmith Elementary School this morning, where Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., will vote: Louis Farrakhan and William Ayers.
Seriously.
Welcome to the South Side of Chicago.”
— DRJ
Fox News has a report of two Black Panthers, one brandishing a night stick, intimidating voters in Philly! Brownshirts anyone??? McCain-Palin in a freakin landslide!! Yeah, drink the cool-aid. American voters aren’t as stupid as the Dems and the MSM think they are. Common sense will win out.
J. Raymond Wright (d83ab3) — 11/4/2008 @ 10:29 amShe chose not to wear it, and voted in her bra.
De Leon could not say whether the polling places had a “no shirt, no shoes, no service” policy.”
hahahaha
if she were in NYS she could have chosen to vote topless if she wanted since they have a legal-topless ruling courtesy of some liberal judge. Oh what a statement that would be. Or something.
“Vote Obama and lose your shirt”
no one you know (1f5ddb) — 11/4/2008 @ 10:30 amnoyk – Unfortunately, those that are willing to take advantage of such rulings are the ones that you would least like to see do so.
JD (5b4781) — 11/4/2008 @ 10:33 amElection anecdote – The Team Baracky lawyer at my precinct was an asshat.
JD (5b4781) — 11/4/2008 @ 10:34 amComment by JD — 11/4/2008 @ 10:34 am
Dog bites Man!
Another Drew (184a22) — 11/4/2008 @ 10:38 amNothing to see here, move along now.
Here’s my Voting Odyssey from SouthEastern Virginia –
http://silentrunning.tv/?p=3321
Registration SNAFU, meeting the incumbent Congresswoman, driving 25 miles to the precinct I was eligible to vote in, schooling an MSM reporter on how to conduct online credit card campaign finance fraud on a massive scale. . .
It was a fun morning!
Wind Rider (22ee44) — 11/4/2008 @ 10:52 amNudists in Florida Fight to Vote Naked
ML (14488c) — 11/4/2008 @ 10:57 amWhether they support McCain or Obama, a nudist colony in Florida wants to cast their ballot — clothing optional.
http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/11/01/nudists-fight-vote-naked/
Why is it that the nudists are never the ones you would want to see sans clothing?
JD (5b4781) — 11/4/2008 @ 10:59 amThis may freak you out
Joe (dcebbd) — 11/4/2008 @ 11:02 amI noticed three women voting in my precinct wearing gear that said PUMA. I didn’t ask if they were Hillary voters voting for McCain, but I kinda hope that they were.
Joel Rosenberg (5ec843) — 11/4/2008 @ 11:15 amWind Rider,
You did an awesome job today addressing the important issues. Thank you for being a good citizen.
DRJ (cb68f2) — 11/4/2008 @ 11:21 amJoel,
Minnesota, right? I hope so, too.
DRJ (cb68f2) — 11/4/2008 @ 11:22 amJD – Remember timmah is a “credentialed” poll watcher today, which he made a big deal about but basically means he had to get his presence approved by a party and the county. He watches but doesn’t interfere. No training required. You can look it up on the Secretary of State’s website. Just timmah being an asshat again.
daleyrocks (47d048) — 11/4/2008 @ 11:23 amSo the city of Chicago is already freaking out over the ginormous rally this evening downtown, to be attended by the adoring throngs. It’s an incredibly hot ticket – for cultists.
Dmac (e30284) — 11/4/2008 @ 11:28 amJoel – I had on my Puma shoes, but am not a PUMA voter.
Dmac – I predict riots and burning cars in Chicago, no matter who wins. Kind of like how some cities riot after winning a World Series.
JD (5b4781) — 11/4/2008 @ 11:34 amDMAC – I would certainly stay away from the downtown area. Methinks it will be worse than Bluesfest or a Bulls title, whichever way it turns out.
daleyrocks (47d048) — 11/4/2008 @ 11:34 amI recommend snuffles attend the rally, however. The need sacrificial honkies.
daleyrocks (47d048) — 11/4/2008 @ 11:36 amMinnesota. I’m not expecting that McCain will win the state, but I do hope so. That said, I don’t expect many McCain votes in my precinct — I live in the part of Minneapolis where the second party isn’t the Republicans; it’s the Greens.
Joel Rosenberg (5ec843) — 11/4/2008 @ 11:37 amI’ve updated the post with a report on Obama’s polling site from Jake Tapper.
DRJ (cb68f2) — 11/4/2008 @ 11:39 amJoel,
I’ve spent a couple of months at the Mayo Clinic in Southern Minnesota and a little time in Minneapolis. I loved the people, especially the accents. Minneapolis-St. Paul even reminded me a little of Houston but that might be because I saw the Marathon refinery.
DRJ (cb68f2) — 11/4/2008 @ 11:44 amDRJ – Where is Jimmy Hoffa voting?
Obama has promised to remove supervision from those crooked Chicago Teamsters. There hasn’t been much press about that in the past ten months.
daleyrocks (47d048) — 11/4/2008 @ 11:46 amI think he’s voting in Ohio, daleyrocks.
DRJ (cb68f2) — 11/4/2008 @ 11:47 amSacrifices, Daley?
I thought we were just supposed to go shopping.
snuffles (677ec2) — 11/4/2008 @ 12:47 pmHere in Central Florida, I got to my poll about 40 minutes before it opened, was #10 in line. By the time it opened, there were around 50 people in line total. This was exactly like every previous Election Day as far as I could tell.
Of course, what happened after I left and went to work? Don’t know.
I work.
Pious Agnostic (291f9a) — 11/4/2008 @ 12:52 pmsnuffles – shopping was Bush. We have to keep reminding you he’s not running, but Obama’s all about putting money in the hands of the middle class so they can go shopping, so it’s kind of similar if you believe him. The middle class doesn’t create jobs though.
The sacrifices are the beginning of reparations snuffles. Obama is all about reparations. He’s talked about it many times. You probably weren’t listening and the MSM likes to downplay it.
daleyrocks (47d048) — 11/4/2008 @ 1:04 pmGuess I’ll just sit here and wait for my gummint check to arrive then, daley.
snuffles (677ec2) — 11/4/2008 @ 1:09 pmsniffles – There is no reparations program for mendoucheous twatwaffles, though given a chance, I am sure the Dems could make them a protected class too.
JD (5b4781) — 11/4/2008 @ 1:23 pmMy polling location has three voting precincts located within it. We had a mad rush of 75-100 people at 7pm, and have had a steady trickle of 10-20 people per hour (among the three) since then.
It should pick up round dinner time.
aphrael (3e063c) — 11/4/2008 @ 1:46 pmI wore my McCain/Palin 2008 lipstick kiss button into the polling place and voted with it on no problems, no one asked me to take it off.
Out in the parking lot, a guy gave me a card with a list of local democrats running this election. He saw my button and said I could just throw the card away…
kimsch (2ce939) — 11/4/2008 @ 2:39 pmThat knucklehead here in Santa Barbara completely screwed up my day.
I thought they should have bean bagged him in the nuts and then tased him while I was stuck in taffic all morning… but inside I really feel bad for the guy.
Obviously more than a little off his game.
I guess his dad died earlier this year (he’s junior) and evidently the neighbors think he was a bit different than the other kids even before he joined the military and went off to Iraq.
Who sees a gorgous sunrise here in SB and decides “hey, I’ll get my gun, and chain myself to the overpass; shutting down the only route between the mountains and the sea because the world needs to see my Obama poster”?
Alrighty then.
I hope the guy gets the help he needs
SteveG (71dc6f) — 11/4/2008 @ 6:45 pmtraffic… not “taffic”
SteveG (71dc6f) — 11/4/2008 @ 6:47 pm“Taffic” made me think of Andrew Sullivan… and I am not happy about it…