6:39 AM
Up early, still not quite used to Standard Time. I checked my facebook page and made a few comments. Then I read comments here and made a comment to Northland10 about hymn tunes.
7:30 AM
Blogged. Bye bye, Real Clear Politics widget. The only poll that really matters is now going on across the country. Voting started about 30 minutes ago here in South Carolina. I’ll get some breakfast and walk down to see what’s happening at the polling place, and return with a report later.
The Beast Watch mysteriously skipped the 6th altogether and is now permanently stuck on the 7th. I wonder what it knows that I don’t know.
My friend Ed went out and bought a gun, saying: “Suspecting that the country as we now know it would cease to exist after Election Day, I went to Sports Academy and purchased a Ruger .380 lightweight pistol.” Now you have to understand, Ed is not a right-winger and I don’t really know how he thinks the election will go.
So everybody go vote and may the best man win.
8:30 AM
I hiked down to the voting place about half a mile away. Ms. Conspiracy is going to wait until 10:00 when she thinks the lines will be shorter (more on that later). Today is chilly, in the 40’s so far with a forecast of rain 50%. It was just grey and damp on my walk down to the school where I vote.
Clearly this is not a battleground state. This is a comprehensive sampling of the political signs in the area:
I have not seen a Romney or an Obama sign anywhere in the upstate of South Carolina, although there are a few bumper stickers.
There was a rowdy group of young thugs outside the school to intimidate voters.
Fighting my way through the partisan crowd, I got in line for my marathon voting experience. I could just see the line spilling out the door and around the school building
There were clear signs of attempts to keep the minority vote down with threats of having to show ID, even though this is not required:
The massive line was actually inside snaking around the cavernous school cafeteria.
All in all, from the time I arrived until the time I walked out the door having voted, it took 8 hours minutes, including a stop to call Ms. Conspiracy to warn her about the line.
I voted a straight Democratic ticket, meaning I voted for Barack Obama and Deb Morrow for US House. I think pretty much every other office in the state was without a Democratic candidate. So I ended up voting for more Republicans than Democrats, for lack of choice.
And then there was the exit poll. Remember the partisan thugs? As I left one said, “Did you vote.” I said yes. “Rita?” I said, “of course.”
9:43 AM
I tried to get on the SC Elections Commission web site to check something. Guess what? A database error. That site is configured in an insecure manner and the error message actually displayed the database server name and the administrator user name. No wonder SC gets hacked! The Balletopedia web site is down too.
12:47 PM
I’ve been working on the blog infrastructure and updated the Theme. You might notice a formatting change in the menus up top, and a new glyph next to the tags at the end of the articles. I also did some things to improve search engine optimization and provided XML sitemap capability again. More tweaking to come.
7:17 PM
The polls closed in South Carolina 17 minutes ago. Obama took an early lead, leading Romney 86% to 13% with 1% of the vote tallied.
10:43 PM
Watching results trickle in. Hanging out on RC radio.
11:12 PM
Reality Check Radio calls victory for Obama.
I’m going to watch the live coverage on CNN (starting around 22:00 local time) and will switch to the Internet if I get the impression it gets boring.
Will probably be fun to monitor the birther sites as results keep pouring in.
I only hope this won’t be a rehash of last time I watched US elections live (I’m not sure when, I think it was Bush/Kerry) when I stayed up until 7 in the morning, only to be told “it’s still open, no candidate has secured 270 electoral college votes yet”.
With exit polls, the news media has known in past years who won long before they announce the results. They wait until all polls close to announce. A few decades back, I got out my shortwave radio and tuned in the BBC who announced the result a couple of hours before it was on US media.
If electoral vote hinges on Ohio, we probably won’t know until November 17 when they count the provisional ballots.
I had to wait a whole 3 minutes to vote. It was tough. Okieland passed a voter ID law (grrrrrr) in 2010. My precinct had a sweet little old geriatric in bifocals straining to read drivers’ license. That was slowing things up a bit.
A brief moment of terror when I realized I hadn’t renewed my license in a looooooong time (it’s good through 2/13). If I had been barred from voting …. I might have had to mutter something. Then grudgiungly voted via affidavit.
The local news was out early, determined to find long lines. They found 1 man standing outside a polling place at 6:30am.
No exit polling here. No one cares about okieland. Judging by advertising on local affiliates, one would not have known there was a race at all, until last week when Restore Our Future superPAC (gag) started running the same ad every commercial break on the local CBS affiliate for the entire week prior to the election. Romney is polling at +20 here in the Red Dirt State. Got to make sure it doesn’t slip away, i guess.
My employer reminded all of his employees to go out and vote for Romney.
Another CEO in this industrial park was fretting that an Obam re-election would ruin his expansion plans (business is not a field for cowards or fools, sir).
Yesterday, while out to lunch, I noticed FAUX litterally broadcasting an entire Romney rally. Keepin’ it subtle. Let’s hear it for the Fairness Doctrine! Let’s hear it for keep the Commons free!
Looking forward to a long night in. I don’t like the reality of popcorn, but I relish the concept. 😉
Angel and I just came back from the polling place, literally around the corner.
To the people recording an exit poll: “I just told Mike Turzai to take his Voter ID and Cheney himself.”
See for yourself: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87NN5sdqNt8
PredictWise: 76.7% – http://www.predictwise.com/politics/2012presidentindividual
Nate Silver: 91.6% – http://fivethirtyeight.blogs.nytimes.com/
I was disappointed to find myself not in the district with the most interesting race: the scion of a local plumbing magnate vs. a “God’n’guns” democrat. The commercials were fierce: The democrat taking a shotgun to everything in sight, including water bottles, while explaining that Plumber, Jr. was plotting to sell all of Okieland’s water to Texas. Plumber, Jr. trotted out his 90-yr old WWII-vet grandfather to explain that we should vote for Plumber Jr because he’s voting for Plumber, Jr.
The Loon of the Senate, Okieland’s own, Jim Inhofe, predicts the Reds will sweep all Senate races, taking a majority with votes to spare.
Gosh, he has me sweating bullets. *cough*
Voted at about 6:45 AM, very short wait. There was some minor confusion when a few people signed in at one ward/district table and got in line to vote on a different ward/distrcit’s machine, but all averted in time. Good thing, as votes on wrong machine are thrown out. I attribute the confusion to new poll workers in our post-Sandy chaos.
Next town over is a disaster. Still no power at several polling places, machines malfunctioned in polling places w/power. No one seems to know what to do when the machine malfunctions.
One polling place in that next town over has no machines and one pencil they are passing around to complete provisional ballots.
Media matters did a report on this titled “Fox News Redefines Unbalanced By Giving Romney 366 Percent More Airtime
I saw the same thing last time.
Thanks for the tip on the quantifications, Doc. To take it farther, when FAUX (or MSNBC, or any other voice with an ‘editorial’ emphasis) follows up ‘coverage’ with partisan commentary, can it really be considered giving that subject “time”? I would argue commentary in support of or against a candidate or position should be added/subtracted accordingly.
Which would put all of the squawkboxes at a truly mathematical extreme: infinity for our guy vs. undefined for that other guy.
Here’s my favorite Okie loon, getting a pie in her face:
Anita Bryant Pie in the Face – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dS91gT3XT_A
My wife and I are gonna vote probably around lunch time.
I am confused. So after listening to the candidates, watching Faux while taking a shower, looking over the fake birth certificate, and watching all those Obama conspiracy videos being posted on the interweb-thingie, I finally decided to cast my vote for Mitt Romney. However, when I downloaded a sample ballot for my county, there was only ONE Mitt Romney listed – which one is it?
I voted early, in fact I’m PEVL here in AZ.
Even voting early I had to wait in line, but there were only about a dozen people ahead of me when I got in line.
don’t worry your little peon head, just vote Romney, and he’ll tell you later what he plans to do.
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh!!!
Here’s a way fun interactive showing the various paths to 270…
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2012/11/02/us/politics/paths-to-the-white-house.html
I saw that coverage also. But did you bother to follow what happened next? The Obama rally and the intensity of that crowd was covered, which led to a comment about the tightness of the race… but I guess you would rather do what you claim Faux News does.
I was happy to vote this morning- heavy turn out for 7:30 in the a.m.
Rupert Murdoch @rupertmurdoch tweeted:
“Thanks Bloomberg right decision.@Now Christie, while thanking O, must re- declare for Romney, or take blame for next four dire years.”
https://twitter.com/rupertmurdoch
Imagine the outrage from the far right if that had been the head of CNN or MSNBC.
Washington is a vote by mail state, so I don’t have any voting horror stories. Got the ballot in the mail two weeks ago. Filled it out. Drove it the next day to the county administration office because I don’t trust the mail for things like this. Dropped it in the slot in the registrar’s office. Got a sticker, drove to work.
Well, let’s see, I was out to lunch with my son, The coverage (relay!) started while we ordered, and was still going when we left, ~15 minutes later. That’s not highlights or reporting, that’s broadcasting a speech, functioning as a campaign’s media wing. Did they then invoice the campaign?
So, you’re telling me that FAUX followed this ‘coverage’ with neutral, ‘fair and balanced’ commentary / analysis, followed by an equal-time relay ofan Obama event, capped by an equal period of neutral, ‘fair and balanced’ commentary / analysis?
Will you next assure me that MSNBC has been fair toward Romney?
The wife and went to vote about 11:30 at the middle school a couple of miles away, wait was about 15 mins. No people with signs. (In Texas they assume that everyone is Republican and don’t pay much attention to us stray Democrats)
You have
fourfive to choose from.Obama takes Guam with 72%:
http://ketr.org/post/guam-non-binding-straw-poll-gives-obama-commanding-win
Who knew Kenyans had such pull out in the Pacific?
There was a commercial break, and then they went to the Obama rally in Ohio. The enthusiasm level was discussed. The consensus was that it is a very close race. As with other networks, it depends on the time of day as to whether there is reporting or more of an opinion show. The point you missed is that you implied there was only Romney coverage, which there was not. I am not usually home in the day. I happened to see the same event you did, except that I saw what transpired after the Romney coverage. The size of the crowd was panned, and his speech, whatever you want to call it, was shown as it was happening. The commentary I heard was just as I described: Obama supporters were very enthusiastic as well. Whoever the commentators were talked about how close the race was going to be. I didn’t follow after that. I am speaking specifically about the segment of the news that you used to seemingly represent as an example for the need of the “fairness doctrine” to be re-instituted.
doc: ” the news media ……….”
this am, i heard chuck todd say that not announcing until the polls close for that state “was the deal they made with congress”
I voted around 9:30 AM. The ID requirement was met by saying hello to the woman at the sign-in station – it’s a small town – and getting my ballot. For the first time in my memory, there actually were Democrats running for every position. Heck, even county coroner (unopposed).
Happy to report that many of the problems occurring next town over from me were resolved by noon when replacement voting machines arrived. In my town, we”ve had a few reports of being asked for photo I’D though none is required, and people not being listed in the rolls at one polling place(which was moved twice due to power outages). Some polling places ran out of provisional ballots at times because of people voting in wrong polling place (allowed in my state due to Sandy) but we’re quickly restocked.
*apologies for typos. Using my phone as is only available internet*
Email and fax voting in NJ has been extended Friday Nov 9.
Story about voting machines placing the wrong vote.
“A Pennsylvania electronic voting machine was taken out of service after being captured on video changing a vote for President Obama into one for Mitt Romney, NBC News has confirmed. ”
[skip]
“Separately, the RNC last week sent a letter (pdf) to elections officials in six other states, including Ohio, Nevada, and Colorado, raising concerns that machines had wrongly counted votes for Romney as ones for Obama, and asking them to address the problem.”
http://tv.msnbc.com/2012/11/06/machine-turns-vote-for-obama-into-one-for-romney/
Looks like Hugo Chavez voting machines are battling major Romney donors’ voting machines.
“What am I supposed to do? Call him for cheating better than me?” Doyle Lonnegan
@foreman: saw that. Add this to the ongoing voter suppression efforts in Fl and Oh, the secret software patch being applied to OH voting machines, etc. and I am glad I have no cable or internet and spend my timevolunteering at a Sandy shelter these days. Otherwise I’d be ready for a padded room. NY and NJ vote g in Sandy-affected areas is SOOOO messed up. Safe states, supposedly, and chaotic. I am so exhausted by Sandy fallout, I am kinda happy that I have no means to obsess over election returns.
This just in:
California is projected to go for Obama…..
Blue state is blue!
Unskewed polls sk(r)ewed.
Data-based analysis 50, wishful conjecture 0. Sort of like the birther court cases…
Looks like 4 more years of birthin’
Birthers on WND still in denial. Let them enjoy their last 4 hours of hope…
For some, the truth has already sunk in – those are the ones who now dream of another civil war…
Next up: Orly names all Obama voters as defendants in Third Amended Motion For Expedited Emergency Reconsideration Complaint & RICO
During the past several days, the residents of ORYR were making bold assertions of an overwhelming Romney win. Now they they are starting to whine that Romney will lose because he didn’t play the birther card.
I can’t wait! I’ve always wanted a excuse to attend an Orly hearing.
According to Huffington Post, Obama is now at 244 . . . only 26 electoral votes from 270.
MSNBC calls election for Obama. Oh, those sweet birther tears!
NBC just called Ohio. 274 now. Gains in the Senate as well.
Congratulations, Mr. President!
That popping noise is not fireworks. It’s those little birther bigots’ minds being blown.
Mazel tov!!
Obama wins; Warren wins; rape loses, 0-2…
It’s a good night.
It’s a good night for those of us in Hawaii with short form birth certificates!
I just left this at Oily’s site:
Ha, ha. Obama just won.
Eat your heart out. You are a shonde and momser.
Take your birther train, and shove it up your tuchus.
Cory Booker will be our next president.
Remember, you heard it here first.
At 11:15 EST MSNBC (and others) called it for Obama based on the Electoral College points. Not yet clear if Obama also wins the popular vote. House remains Republican, Senate remains Democrat. Some good news: Elizabeth Warren is in, Todd Akin is out. Presumably (please God) the bickering ends. The most expensive election in US history has come to a close with not a lot of change in the basics.
Any news about Oily? I can’t find anything on Google.
FAUX is furiously tapdancing, Rove is denouncing this “premature” call … yeah, what about those premature calls? He just referred to a county in Ohio as a ‘good’ Republican county. You can’t make it up. The rest of the pundits have adopted a “But… but you promised, Daddy Karl! You promised!” style of childish reproach.
I haven’t heard a peep on the Senate races out of FAUX. Now, why is that?
How do people watch this every day?
O’Reilly: “Obama wins because it’s not a traditional America anymore,” he said. “The white establishment is the minority.”
Yeah, race has nothing to do with it.
Hey everyone–remember this poll Dr. C. conducted back in 2010?
http://www.obamaconspiracy.org/2010/06/obama-re-election-poll/
Kinda fun to revisit it now and read the comments. Misha predicted that Romney would be the Republican nominee and that he would lose. Misha also predicted that Romney would leave politics and start acting in soap operas. We’ll see . . . maybe he’ll make a guest appearance on “Sister Wives”–it that’s even on anymore.
todd akin, mourdock, joe walsh OUT
Wonderful indeed.
trump’s tweets
This election is a total sham and a travesty. We are not a democracy!
He lost the popular vote by a lot and won the election. We should have a revolution in this country!
We can’t let this happen. We should march on Washington and stop this travesty. Our nation is totally divided!
Lets fight like hell and stop this great and disgusting injustice! The world is laughing at us.
more:
Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1112/83450.html#ixzz2BVkeYlRd
I hope Trump is rejected by viewers by the millions.
Also, Scott Brown. Youser!!
It runs in the family.
Yiddishe kup.
Trump is wrong again. According to latest counts, Obama beat Romney in the popular vote.
The ghost of Seamus past…
Romney’s finally making his concession speech — listening to it in the background. What I’d give to have vial of Ann Romney’s tears.
Congratulations to my friends on this blog, and to the Doc, for all of his work.
Is that what he said last time? LOL!
Does he tweet these personally, or is he dictating to a flunkie?
This sums it up in my opinion.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owzhYNcd4OM
mmmm….tears of sadness.
I really thought the Melissa Joan Hart endorsement was going to turn the whole thing around for Mitt.
Bachman on the precipice…
Dictating to the badger on his head.