How Was You’re Voting Experience?

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How Was You’re Voting Experience?

Posted on 04. Nov, 2008 by loswhit in Culture

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I waited 3 1/2 hours on Friday to vote.

Heather waited 15 minutes today.

I got my foot adjusted by a podiatrist while I waited. That’s how long I waited. Long enough for a man to convince me he was a podiatrist and convince me to take off my boots so he could touch my feet.

Luckily he did a good job adjusting the bones in my foot and they feel WAY better after. I just hope he did not enjoy it as much as I did.

How was your voting experience?

Los

6078CommentsHow+Was+You%27re+Voting+Experience%3F2008-11-05+05%3A37%3A41loswhit to “How Was You’re Voting Experience?”

loswhit

04. Nov, 2008

test
Z

04. Nov, 2008

Sweetheart… I'm trying my best to be nice. …. but, if the church were doing it's job then the government wouldn't be burdeoned by these things…
Conner

04. Nov, 2008

It was awful. There were only 6 people in front of me and it took nearly a half hour! I suppose the old people there facilitating weren't in a rush since they were going to be there all day.
All in all, I'm so glad I engaged completely in this year's election with an educating vote that was my own!
tonysteward

04. Nov, 2008

Seesmic video reply from Disqus.
Jan Owen

04. Nov, 2008

In the last presidential election I waited almost three hours. The people around me started talking politics and I wondered if they would get into a fight. Then it rained. We were standing outside.

THIS year I was in and out in less than 10 minutes. No line. They had more polling places which I was so thankful for. Everyone was much happier and more cordial. Everyone was excited to vote.

One thing that was interesting: We sat around tables all together and voted. I have never done that. But it was faster so all is well.
johnincolorado

04. Nov, 2008

perfect. i filled in a mail-in ballot last night with my voter guides and laptop nearby. dropped off the ballot this morning a few blocks from my house.

no better way IMHO.
Molly

04. Nov, 2008

My experience was rather emotional. I was taken by the number of people out in the middle of the day exercising their rights.

It only took me 20 minutes, but it was a VERY powerful 20 minutes.
sm.r

04. Nov, 2008

I waited an hour. And met my neighbors. And saw old friends.

It was pretty cool.

Now. If we can just keep caring.

And come together.
Lisa @ put-it-on-the-list

04. Nov, 2008

We waited about an hour on Friday, but the line was H.U.G.E. The folks manning the place were doing a super job moving people through.
Emily Matt

04. Nov, 2008

I LOVED LOVED LOVED voting today! I met tons of new neighbors… a few older cute ladies that want some art lessons! I kinda want to have voting once a week, just to visit with all of those peeps again. I could really care less about the politics end of it… I know that is bad, but the commercials desensitize me…
Nic

04. Nov, 2008

I must say, my voting experience was not nearly as exciting as yours. I was thrilled to see an African American family there with their children (as well as Caucasian families). I was so happy to see families/ethnicities that so often get a bad rap looking so good. It was a mother and father and two children. I was inspired to make voting a family experience later in life. MUCH later.

In other news, I was disappointed with my voting experience. The place didn't even have any “I voted” stickers. And…where was Ron Paul? That's all I have to say, for now.
ryan Fitzgerald

04. Nov, 2008

took me 5min to vote.

thank you to the thousands of cobb county residents who waited hours during early voting so i could vote quickly today.
tonysteward

04. Nov, 2008

Sorry, but I am tired of people saying the church isn't doing its job as if there is a disconnection that doesn't include you.

The most talented, passionate and dedicated people I've ever met are being, leading and investing as the church - and they are doing INCREDIBLE a their calling.

Jesus is the head of his church, he left it to us, so if you really have a problem then the buck stops at the top. Sorry for the passionate response but most people make a comment like that with a ting of hopelessness, cynicism and despair - and all that does is nothing, zip, zero in being a part of the solution.
Andrea

04. Nov, 2008

just about 10 minutes. 3rd time voting for a President…first time in Kentucky!
Chris Stout

04. Nov, 2008

Easy. Voted via absentee ballot since I'm in the US Navy and stationed outside my state of residence.
Rachel Taylor

04. Nov, 2008

I just walked right up - no line at all!
Kari Byrd

04. Nov, 2008

I live near Chinatown in New York so I was in line with a lot of really old Chinese people who were most likely born in China. I kept thinking how special it was that they came here to live in a Democracy and they get to cast their vote for President. I was just so proud to be an American today.
Rob

04. Nov, 2008

9 minutes from the time I walked out of my car to the time I walked back in…BOOYAH!
Z

04. Nov, 2008

The church is not a republic… where only a few are doing all the work.. it involves everyone.
Lita aka Grandma

04. Nov, 2008

Walked in with one person ahead of me. I was disapointed, I was prepared for the masses.
mrsDeb

04. Nov, 2008

Powerful! My husband and I walked, instead of driving. Along the way we discussed all the emotions we were feeling and all the hopes we had.

Our area has a lot of absentee ballot voters so we didn't wait in line.

I must say that the expressions we received (hopeful/dismayed) seems to be based on what others assumed about our votes, given our skin color. I've never received this much attention when walking into a polling station.
PastorT

04. Nov, 2008

Voting absentee truly took the emotion out of it for me. We voted a month ago and can't help feeling our vote didn't have the impact that it would if we were standing in a booth in Indiana. Sounds silly, but upon talking to people over here, that's the general feeling. This is also the reason, I believe, I only know a hand full of people who voted.
All I know is I will never forget November 5, 2008. I sit here, looking at an electoral map, in tears, children in arms, proud to be an American! May God LEAD us all!
Texas in Africa

04. Nov, 2008

I'm really sorry for this, but I'm a political science professor:

you're = you are
your = belonging to you

Forgive my OCD. My voting was okay, just some incredible incompetence from one of the clerks which resulted in a 25 minute wait. Should've been about 10 minutes with only 20 people ahead of me in line.
Chris Meirose

04. Nov, 2008

Went fine. We registered on site (Minnesota - you can do that!) since we recently moved. All told it took 30 minutes to register to vote and to vote. There were maybe 10 people who went through and voted while we were there, but that was the last 30 minutes the polls were open here.
Dlake

04. Nov, 2008

8 seconds … no joke. I filled out my mail-in, walked into my polling place (no line), dropped my ballot in the boxed, got my sticker, and drove to Starbucks to get free coffee. I stood in line for 10 minutes there!
Hazel

04. Nov, 2008

The whole process took about 40 minutes! I was sooo surprised since I was prepared to wait much longer. So, I would say it was a lovely experience!
Kool Aid

05. Nov, 2008

Mine was great - about 20 minutes waiting on Thursday for early voting then all day yesterday in the mountains - no politics or election stuff in sight. It was fabulous!
Robin

05. Nov, 2008

Don't hate me. I walked right in and voted. It's a small town.
Isaac

05. Nov, 2008

It took us about 15-20 minutes on election day.

The hard part was the fallout afterward - I've had everything from my faith questioned to whatever else you can imagine. No so fun.

I think it was especially frustrating after the Praying Backwards event on here the other night. It's hard to see so much unity and love and then be hit with such anger and bitterness - by your own family.
Amy

05. Nov, 2008

http://portraitsofmyself.blogspot.com/2008/11/i...

i blogged my voting experience yesterday
Ethan

05. Nov, 2008

I was kicking myself for not voting early until I go there and found only one person in line I was there maybe 3 minutes. It was very cool
Rita

05. Nov, 2008

A 12-year old girl was in line with her mom right in front of me. She was reading Harry Potter and I LOVE Harry Potter, so I struck up a conversation. We figured out that our birthdays are both next week and planned a joint, Harry Potter birthday party.

About 30 minutes into our 2 hour wait, she closed the book and didn't reopen it. So I spent the next 1.5 hours thinking, “Is it weird if I ask to hold that?” I never did.

And I did a little happy jig at the end of my wait, cast my vote, grabbed my sticker, and went to work.
Patrick John

05. Nov, 2008

Got to my voting site 10 min before it opened. Took about 30 min total. Very few people were talking, I'm guessing the quietness was due to being up before 7:00.
Overall,, good experience!
Deneen

05. Nov, 2008

For me, voting is a social experience. The same ladies have been working the polls for over 20 years…they watched me grow up going to the polls with my parents, and now they see me at least twice a year as I vote.

I guess that is one of the benefits of living in a small town
Brandi

05. Nov, 2008

Easy as…well, something that's super easy.

I was in and out in less than ten.
nicole

05. Nov, 2008

got back in my car 5 minutes after i got out…..
Tyson

05. Nov, 2008

I walked up to the lady, handed her my I.D.,signed my Herbie Hancock, and voted. The whole process took a 10 minutes. Maybe.
Melinka

05. Nov, 2008

Well… it took going to three different precincts to discover that I had “vanished ” off the voting records. So I ended up voting provisionally. On the plus side, there weren't any lines at any of the three precincts (is that really a plus…?). And, of course, I enjoyed my free Starbucks and star-shaped Krispy Kreme donut.
Shelley

05. Nov, 2008

Walked right in, with my 10 yo son, took him into the booth with me, “we” voted, put our ballot in the machine, got our stickers and walked right out. I asked an older lady to take our picture by the “vote here” sign (she stood way back so we were really tiny but oh well). It was really neat to see all the people and everyone was friendly and cordial.
haemin

05. Nov, 2008

No line! I think I just happened to get there at a good time. Plus, I'm in a small town in the 'burbs of central NJ. My friend in Brooklyn waited 2.5 hrs But both of us were happy to perform this important civic duty!
haemin

05. Nov, 2008

Oh, but I wish I'd gotten a sticker!

And… it should be “How was YOUR voting experience?” no apostrophe or letter E. (Sorry… my brother calls me the “grammar gestapo.”)
pinkhairedgirl

05. Nov, 2008

easy. i voted via the mail.
Akash

05. Nov, 2008

(your, not you're)

Waited in line an hour and fifteen minutes yesterday. Took 2 minutes to vote.
Andrew

05. Nov, 2008

smooth. i waited 20 minutes. the Obama fan didn't get into it with the McCain guy in front of her. i wanted to see them fight it out
Andrew

05. Nov, 2008

also it wasn't a bad first time
Ben (of BenandJacq)

05. Nov, 2008

Call me an English Nazi, but I was so distracted by the grammatical error in the title, I had trouble paying attention to the rest of the post. You got the question right in the end of the post.

Oh, and I early voted in about 5 minutes (counting the five minutes it took me to bubble in all the bubbles.) Good times.
Brad Ruggles

05. Nov, 2008

lol, that comic is exactly how I feel every time I vote. I'm always worried that I pressed the wrong button or something that would invalidate it.

We voted early up in Fort Wayne since we were still registered up there. 2 hour wait. It was a killer.

By the way, I voted for the other guy but I was so happy to watch history made last night. I wrote my thoughts about it in my post this morning. It was an amazing evening. I don't think I've ever felt that way about an election before, especially after I voted for the guy who lost.

Now comes the time where we lay aside our differences and political views and pray like crazy for our president elect, his cabinet and our nation.
Linny Best

05. Nov, 2008

Dale and I voted on Saturday at the Election Board…our wait was a little over an hour…Caedmon slept through the whole thing and even got his own “I Voted!”sticker… http://daleandlinny.blogspot.com/2008/11/our-vo...

We planted on the couch to watch the historic happenings yesterday… http://daleandlinny.blogspot.com/2008/11/witnes...
Doug

05. Nov, 2008

The voting experience…great. The outcome…not so great.
josiahpotter

05. Nov, 2008

check out yesterday's post…it was amazing. i now understand why florida is the swing state.
johnincolorado

05. Nov, 2008

half an hour? and you're complaining? i think you must be joking. that's it, you are joking. fooled me. sorry
Dustin Petersen

05. Nov, 2008

This was the first time I had voted and it was a very powerful experience for me. And it only took 10 minutes for me to get in and out.
Jackie @ Family Daze

05. Nov, 2008

No joke — I thought about what you might be doing in line, Carlos, and wishing I'd at least brought my camera to post some pictures on my blog. Then I got to thinking that maybe cameras aren't allowed. Privacy and all that.

Reported wait times at our polling place: 7:00 am (2 1/2 hours) 10:00 (1 hour) 1:00 pm and following (no waiting at all!)
George R. Eddy

05. Nov, 2008

I was working as the roster judge at a double precinct in northern Columbus, OH. There were some tense and unhappy moments when the touch-screen ballot machines showed the wrong ballots for the precinct. We had a roomful of mildly perturbed people and no choice but to vote them by paper ballot. But this quickly passed as the visiting techs fixed the ballot machines, and everything was smooth and uneventful since then.

And in the wee hours of the afternoon, when everything was dead, there was plenty of time to play chess.
Elizabeth

05. Nov, 2008

We waited in the rain while feeding my toddler Frosted Mini-Wheats. It was a pleasant experience, although I do wonder why most of my neighbor's last names start with P-Z.
Sarah at themommylogues

05. Nov, 2008

Oh my goodness. That's hilarious. I actually laughed out loud about the podiatrist.

I live in a small town. I waited 3 minutes to vote. One of the women couldn't believe that my 3 yr old is 3 already. She thought I had my older daughter with me. Coolest part? Our little county turned out to vote at 90% of eligible voters. How awesome is that?
Aaron

05. Nov, 2008

37min on Thursday afternoon
Led

05. Nov, 2008

I did early voting by mail. I waited in line for hours for the primary back in January. I promised myself I would never do that again.

BTW, your foot story made me and my co-worker laugh out loud. It also makes me want a foot massage.
Summer Kelly

05. Nov, 2008

ROFL… foot adjustment, huh? That's cool.
I just have one question… did he adjust anyone else's feet? hee hee…

We only stood in line about 15 minutes yesterday; very pleasantly surprised.
5stringer

05. Nov, 2008

Was faster than going thru the drive-thru - 5 minutes tops.
Katie (Perfectly Cloudy)

05. Nov, 2008

3 HOURS! Read a good Ted Dekker book while waiting…
stephen

05. Nov, 2008

took a little over an hour and a half early AM, so that I could then come home during the day for my wife to go vote. Putting my son to bed for his nap was quicker. But overall, good experience…met some buds at Starbucks before voting, paid for coffee, then stood in line together and got to catch up…then voted…then went and got free coffee.
Annie

05. Nov, 2008

Walked right in, got my ballot & voted. Very low tech - with a black pen, connect two sides of an arrow together. In and out in under 10 minutes.
Joni Ruhs

05. Nov, 2008

I towed my 2 youngest(5 & 4) along and we only had to wait about 20 mins? The kids were so excited when it was my turn. “JD, mom's voting! come on!” said my 4 yr old girl.

And Los, I can't believe you fell for the “Podiatrist in the Voting Line” trick!
rebecca

05. Nov, 2008

Voted absentee ballot last week. I like to be able to check the internet for any last questions.

Georgia allows absentee ballot for any reason. Not sure about the other states.
Tyler

05. Nov, 2008

I didn't get a “I voted” sticker
JRocka

05. Nov, 2008

mine was good. Burg and I waited about 30 minutes at 7am. There were a lot of McCain voters there cause there was a lot of talk about the Kirk Cameron movie FIREPROOF and how good it was. That is why I voted Obama.
Lea

05. Nov, 2008

hey, i found out about your blog when i was looking through asian adoptions.
but anyways my voting experience was beautiful. this is my first ever experience too since i'm 18. i expected to have to wait a long line since the news been talking about having to wait Forever. but i just entered the building, signed my name, placed my vote - not votes because i only pressed the obama/biden button since i thought thats all we had to do lol. and left. that took under maybe a minute or 2.
Rachel

05. Nov, 2008

15 minutes, in and out. I felt a bit like the lady in the comic.
Charlotte

06. Nov, 2008

in and out in about 35 minutes. Husband walked in voted waled out!! OUr friends waited 5Hours last week.
LiegeDavis

06. Nov, 2008

Got my absentee ballot a week ago. Made my choices and filled in the bubbles. Put it in the mailbox. Done!
portorikan

06. Nov, 2008

I went in a bit early cause I wasn't sure how busy it would be and I was at another precinct than the one I had voted at previously.

It was pretty quick, about 20 or 30 minutes and I got there a few minutes before the polls opened, but when I got done, there was no lines, no waiting outside. I should have taken my time and gone when I normally do.
SNOB

07. Nov, 2008

Can't believe you fell for that guy's trick….he was in Gwinnett county a few weeks ago at the mall trying the same thing on people in the mall. Security had to kick him out….Hope you liked it…..sucker…..
SNOB

08. Nov, 2008

Can't believe you fell for that guy's trick….he was in Gwinnett county a few weeks ago at the mall trying the same thing on people in the mall. Security had to kick him out….Hope you liked it…..sucker…..

The Deets

:: This whole Ragamuffin thing is simple. I'm just a screwed up man, in need of adoption, trying to be real. I was poured into, mentored, taught, and sometimes beat into authenticity by my family at Sandals Church. They created this beautiful mess of me and I'm forever grateful.
:: Now in the ATL with my hot wife and kids, I get to create relevant & engaging worship experiences every week. I am being shaped by Jeff Henderson and Andy Stanley at Buckhead Church. From creative sermon planning, to off the hook music experiences. This place is stretching me to my limits and I love it.
:: My life goal is to inspire a movement of authenticity among all generations of Christians that morphs the face of the evangelical church into a place of being real with yourself, others, and God.