What was your voting experience? (Huntsville, Decatur: colleges, live, garden)

[flstatenolefan]

I voted at Monrovia Church of Christ and waited 1 1/2 hours in line, starting at 10:00 a.m. I thought that would be a slow time...guess not...LOL. The line kept moving, though, so it wasn't horrible. I do wish they had the A/C turned down lower inside with so many people milling about in the building, though.

[deesonic]

Wife and I waited in line about 1 1/2 hours at Ridgecrest Elementary today. We got there just before 7am. No major issues except for the fact that there was confusion over the lines. Lines were divided between A-L and M-Z and there were only signs posted near the doors to explain that. But the lines went all the way across the parking lot so many people got in the wrong lines and didn't figure it out until they were close enough to see the small signs. I think they could have used better signage and more polling staff and more booths. But otherwise, not a bad experience. I wonder how it's going to look closer to 7pm.

[zenjenn]

I'd be interested in how much time a person spent researching their decision on who/what to vote for/against in addition to how much time they spent in line.

I spent 3-4 hours last night going over the sample ballot and looking up newspaper articles, endorsements, and the candidate own web sites for local and state candidates. I didn't get to them all (or didn't determine enough to make a choice), but I go to more than half that I made a call on. On amendments I only voted on 1 and 3, which are the only amendments that remotely affect anything near where I live. I had read articles here and there over the past few months, but only last night did I sit down and put it together and clarify for myself who was running for what job and what qualifications they had.

I spent somewhere around 30-45 minutes in line (Big Cove Methodist Church).

Still a lot of my decisions were based on opinions or initial impressions, but I feel it was enough to justify putting in my vote for the candidates I felt would serve the positions best, at least to counter most people, if they vote at all, are probably voting based on party line, commercials, and/or campaign signage.

At the end of the day I voted for 6 republicans and 4 democrats - the rest I didn't even gather what I'd consider my minimal qualification to vote.

If we voted for everything EXCEPT President, the system would work a lot better. I have voted in several elections since moving to Alabama and this is the first one that I ever had more than 3 people in front of me in line. The local candidates who run on non-presidential ballots probably get a more educated turnout than those that do.

[33458]

Chapman at 5-5:30 was smooth and quick...really, must have been dinner time for everyone else. No waiting, one person in front of me.

[Huntsville_secede]

Obama is the next president, Yes We Can!

[zenjenn]

I didn't vote for him, but I sincerely pray for him to have strength, wisdom, and much success leading our country in a positive direction.

[Historic Bessemer]

I got called a White Devil , ****** and a redneck because I would not roll my window down and accept an obama flyer as I pulled into the polling place! As I drove out I got yelled at again............so I called the police!

The crowd of about 20 obama supporters were told to leave and as I left I think one lady got arrested !

[Keeper]

Well, since Arab is such a small town, I walked right in and had to wait maybe 5 minutes to get a ballot. I then had to go to another room to vote for alcohol sales in Arab. There was no wait, which worried me a bit because last time it was defeated by 18 votes. However, it passed by 334 votes, so now maybe we can get an Applebees or Outback in here.

[harry chickpea]

The advantage of living in the country - no lines, no waiting. Listened to a discussion of feed prices, said hey to a couple of neighbors, was amused by the "sample" on the privacy sleeve that had a ticket of U.S. Grant and General Lee. Like that would fly. LOL!

After all the Ron Paul hoopla, was surprised last night to find that only about 100 voted for Barr.

With the way the electoral college works, I've determined that the best course of action in a state that is solidly red or blue is to vote for a third party. An individual vote doesn't count towards any major party candidate winning or losing, but if enough people draw outside the lines, the issues presented by those candidates will be taken more seriously next time around, and the career politicians will feel a little less secure.

A curious effect of voting for me, even though I didn't vote for O, was that this morning I felt as though a big burden had been lifted. I had not consciously realized just how depressing having W, Cheney, and the gang of incompetents had been getting. I think either candidate could have been elected and I would feel the same way. It was obvious to me that McC was not part of the inner circle of neo-cons.

One other effect of this election is that a LOT of the people running negative ads got pummeled and trounced. Good riddance to bad garbage. As my mother would say - "Let that be a lesson to you." Has the U.S. grown out of bad manners? Not quite yet, but frankly a LOT of the vitriol that was around during the last two Presidential elections has been marginalized to a few die-hard screamers ranting at each other.

Historic Bessemer, good for you calling the cops. Interfering with a polling place is one of the more serious offenses in any country with a representational government.

[Huntsville_secede]

Originally Posted by Historic Bessemer

I got called a White Devil , ****** and a redneck because I would not roll my window down and accept an obama flyer as I pulled into the polling place! As I drove out I got yelled at again............so I called the police!

The crowd of about 20 obama supporters were told to leave and as I left I think one lady got arrested !

That's unfortunate those voters were ignorant but there are tons of incidents in Alabama that have occured also friends tell me they have had experiences where angry whites going up to them after the eleciton and yelling stuff like "hope you're happy where is your Barack is my homeboy shirt" and "f your black president" and all kinds of other crazy things. There just are a lot of ignorant people out there period.