I’m heading out to the polls. If you’ve voted today, please give us the dirt. Does it seem packed to you? See any monkey business outside the voting booth? What were you hearing as you waited on line?
Election links (updated throughout the day):
Andrew Sullivan — Hillary is no feminist.
The Bergen Record supports Obama.
BitchPhD is still undecided.
Drezner voted for McCain.
Megan endorses Obama and Romney. And if you don’t care about politics, she said go have a beer. I want a beer, too.
Kevin Drum is voting for Obama.
Two funny videoes via dooce: weiner dogs and Jesus and the book editor.
Apt. 11d 
Just voted for Hillary. I like her, but I also voted for every woman who’s been told she’s too strident, too strong, too ambitious. This was my first time in California, where there were no lines, the people were friendly and I used a paper ballot. Like the SATs, but a marker instead of a #2 pencil. Seemed very relaxed compared to the chaotic scene in Washington Heights, where I used to live. They say it could be tomorrow before all the CA votes are counted.
LikeLike
those good old voting booths in PS187
LikeLike
The Holy Rood Church near the bus terminal.
LikeLike
I’ll be voting for Hillary later (I can barely get to my morning classes on time, much less vote first). My husband voted for Obama, I think. He said this morning that he was more torn than he appeared to be (he’s anti-Hillary), but he was also going to the polls with our daughter, who loves Obama. 🙂
My students this morning were predicting that Obama would win big today.
LikeLike
Church basement on the north side in Chicago. It was very quiet, no line like there usually is. The precinct captain said lots of people used the new early voting option this year.
LikeLike
I don’t get to vote today 😦 (Well, I guess i could fill out my absentee ballot for a primary that doesn’t count). But, I will be going to the caucuses next week, for the first time, and for Obama.
LikeLike
I voted for Obama, there was a short line of maybe 4 people. And then I sent a complaint letter to the Board of Elections. Here is an abbreviated & anonymous version: After signing my name but before entering the booth, I explained to an elderly woman with short hair that I had never voted in CURRENT STATE before and would like to ask about the ballot and machine. I also asked her about the delegates – do I need to select each of them or do I just select the candidate. First, she couldn’t hear me and I explained again. Then she replied “you are not eligible” I asked again because it seemed that she didn’t understand my question given her answer. This time she said – “well there are only 2 people left and you just pick one” Then I went into the booth and tried to pull the curtains closed which didn’t work. She came over and showed me the red lever to close the curtains. While I was inside placing my vote, she told the people waiting in line “she (referring to me) has never voted before” I could only assume that I push the red lever back into its original location to register my vote as she did not explain that to me. In sum, my complaints are 1) she did not answer my questions about the delegates 2) she did not tell me how to work the machine even though I asked and informed her that I had not voted here before 3) she gave me incorrect information about the possible choices for a vote. I could have voted for a candidate who dropped out (perhaps not a wise move, but certainly within my rights) 4) she told other people in line that I had not voted which is not only a violation of my privacy but an incorrect statement. I am OVER 30 years old and have voted every year since I turned 18 and in the states of STATE1, STATE2 and STATE3. I just moved to CURRENT STATE this year and have never voted in this state. The reason that I asked questions about the ballot and machine is because I have voted in enough different places to know that the procedure varies dramatically from state to state and if you are not well informed there is a very high chance that your vote will not be counted correctly.
Hope my vote counted. No wonder young people don’t vote – who wants to be belittled in public by an old person who is clearly more interested in reading her novel than helping me exercise democracy.
LikeLike
I voted Obama. And there seems to be an Obama surge of sorts in my small and politically insignificant town in a marginal and overlooked county of a solidly liberal state. But, hey, I’m glad to be part of a good surge, however small….When the dust clears I’m betting it will be Obama 55% to Hilary 40% (there will be some wacky write-ins) in Williamstown, MA.
LikeLike
Oops. I was wrong. My husband held his nose and voted for Clinton this morning because he feels we should vote on policy, not personality, and though he *likes* Obama better, he understands that Clinton’s healthcare plan is better.
I thought he and I were going to vote differently for the first time in our 16 year long marriage. (Hey, the family that votes against Jesse Helms together, stays together.)
LikeLike
If I can make it home in time, I’ll vote for McCain. I have plenty of problems with him, but I cannot imagine pulling the lever for someone who has run the most reputation-destroying campaign of my lifetime (so far).
LikeLike
I voted for Obama (although it was absentee, a week ago, but for a primary that was held today). At the end of the day, I just like him better. Which does not mean that I won’t vote for Hillary if she is the nominee, just that I’d rather vote my personal preference once in a presidential election.
LikeLike
There was about a 45 minute traffic jam as the caucus opened. Some chaos inside. In our precinct I got the last ballot available (at 7:15) when there was still voting until 8:00. They tore up little sheets of paper. We stayed through the discussion.
Clinton 29, Obama 59.
LikeLike
The Massachusetts results are in, and Clinton won here. The Globe has a map of the voting by county, and my county went 2 to 1 for Clinton. I told a colleague today I was voting for Clinton, and she thanked me profusely. She’s actually a RI resident and won’t vote till next month.
LikeLike
Clinton just got NJ. Looks like she’s doing well tonight.
LikeLike
Huckabee!!??
LikeLike
I just went to a Dem caucus with over 8000 people. Obama won 85%, Clinton didn’t even get 15% of the vote in our county.
We waited in the frigid cold for over an hour to get in. There were people behind us who got to vote, but didn’t get to come in to the caucus because it would break fire code.
It was fabulous!
And kids, Idaho is a red state.
LikeLike
No one who really lit my fire is up for my vote tonight, but in the spirit of old-school republicanism, I go for new blood, and Obama. Also, the caucus system sucks.
LikeLike
Lisa, we were just talking about Idaho. Why so much support for Obama out there?
RAF, I’ve never really thought too much about the caucus process until this election. Major suckage.
LikeLike
Laura, first, he came here. We don’t even get campaign commercials, let alone candidates. Everyone always writes us off as always going whoever the R nominee is, so they don’t pay attention to us.
Ada County (Boise) is pretty heavily Democrat, and we all turned out to hear him speak. So I think it fired everyone up to head to a caucus when they don’t normally.
I honestly think the whole change, youth, likability is playing big. We saw tons, I means tons of kids. We were within walking distance of the university. I think it’s been a long time since anyone had any hope or any one they felt good about.
Also, this is the only time in this election my vote will likely count. The general election all Idaho’s delegates will go to the R. I think a lot of people felt the same way. We may not get to vote for the Democrat, but at least we can help pick them.
As happy as I am, though, I wonder if Obama should have been in California rather than Idaho last Saturday.
LikeLike
The first time I voted on the new touch screen machines, I hit the wrong button and started the oral ballot for the blind. I didn’t have headphones, so I didn’t know what I had done. I thought the machine was crap. But fortunately I was very polite because, unlike Apparently’s case, this was my bad. And, the poll worker didn’t give me any grief beyond a brief dirty look.
LikeLike
Apparently, I’m really disgusted by your voting experience. I’m glad you made a formal complaint.
LikeLike
Yay, Internet voting for overseas Americans! It looks like all the global votes are still being counted, and I’m not exactly sure how they translate into the 20-odd delegates for Democrats Abroad, but I’m glad that our votes matter. I also like the primary better than the multi-stage caucus business we had in 2004. Yay reform!
LikeLike
This just in: Williamstown came through (even if Massachusetts did not): Obama 1,229 to Clinton 782. The Globe’s numbers say the percentages were 60% to 38% for Obama. Feel the surge, baby….Now if only the Boston political machine would get in line with the progressive end of the state!
LikeLike
One of Digby’s commenters made a really interesting point that speaks to some of my concerns about Obama. Obama is winning in red states and among moderate-to-red voters. He also has a huge appeal to the progressives. If you will forgive the unfortunate metaphor, he cannot serve both these masters, can he? If Republicans love him, should progressives really be supporting him? What is going on here?
I’m looking for the substance of the bipartisan ideology, not simply saying that we’re going to appeal to both. Maybe I’m missing it. I want to know specifically *how* Obama is appealing to both me and my Ohio conservalibertarian friend. What *policy* satisfies us both? Or is he simply going to do progressive things and not make conservatives feel bad about it?
Or maybe the problem is that I don’t trust these moderate/red voters to stay on Obama’s side once the right-wing noise machine starts up.
LikeLike
Wendy,
I doubt many Republicans love Obama in any sense except compared to Clinton. For myself, reluctance to see “Bush, Clinton, Bush, Clinton” would be enough to push me to vote for Obama if I hadn’t already completely stopped voting for Democrats anyway.
LikeLike
For myself, reluctance to see “Bush, Clinton, Bush, Clinton”
You couldn’t have thought about that back in 2000? I’m just saying…. 😉
LikeLike
In 2000, I wasn’t yet solidly Republican (though I was registered as one). I told people I was for Gore, but I couldn’t bring myself to vote for him, so I didn’t vote.
LikeLike
GWB made a very plausible case that he was “a uniter, not a divider” early on, and we know how well that went. I think Obama’s apparent ability to cross political lines won’t survive any longer than GWB’s did. Incidentally, friendly as I am to the idea of videotaping police interrogations, I don’t think that is a political accomplishment that should earn anybody the presidency. A governorship, maybe.
LikeLike
Another parallel between Obama and Bush is that Republicans were extremely fed up after 8 years of the Clintons, much as Democrats feel today about Bush. Bush promised (much like Obama today) to “change the tone.” It would be supremely ironic if Democrats were to follow the same process that led to the Bush presidency.
Bobby Jindal 2012!
LikeLike
Close to 75 percent of the country is now against Bush. That’s gotta count as united, not divided.
Incidentally, my stepmom worked for Jindal back when he was fresh from McKinsey, and the Republican powers that be made him a department head in a previous cabinet. She said he was good at press releases and a disaster at everything else. Maybe he’s learned a bit in the meantime; maybe he’ll continue to be a mouthpiece for monied interests.
LikeLike
Being governor of Louisiana should provide plenty of leadership opportunities, as well as a track record for evaluating Jindal. It’s interesting that Republicans seem largely immune to fresh new faces (GWB being an exception). According to Republican tradition, the oldest guy in the room gets the nomination. (I’m kidding, but how else does one explain the Bob Dole?)
LikeLike