This thread is intended to provide a spot for people to report on their voting experiences and discuss any aspects of voting. It is NOT to discuss candidates.
F'rinstance, I have heard from two people that the wait at the courthouse was about two hours last Friday afternoon and about 2½ hours this very morning (Monday, the 3rd).
I found two ways to report polling situations: The first is to text, the second is to call. The text number is 66937, and you have to type [#voterreport] [zip code] then type your message. Do not type the brackets; they are just there to indicate what you have to start your text with. If you choose to call instead of texting, the phone number is 567-258-8683. You can see your message at www.mozes.com/voterreport.
Full Version: Record voter turnout in 2008 General Elections
City by the Lake.org, The Voice of Michigan City, Indiana > City by the lake > City Talk > Election Headquarters
A thread about my daughters third birthday? You shouldn't have Roger 
Best wishes to her and all of you.
Have any of the Gentle Readers voted early?
Have any of the Gentle Readers voted early?
I purposefully did not vote early. In my very unique view of the world, Election Day ranks up on my favorite non-holiday holiday's list along with Opening Day in Major League Baseball. I love the experience and the atmosphere of going to vote, and I wouldn't dream of diluting it by voting early, or by mail, unless I absolutely had to do so.
I voted early, took me about an hour. I commented about it elsewhere on here. When I got there around noon, about 30 people in front of me, and about 40 people behind me when I left. Everyone seemed to be in good spirits, no real griping about waiting.
I went to attempt to vote this morning at the MC Fish and Game Club, and will have to try again later (time constraints). I arrived at 5:53, and by 6:15, would have been just checking in, but decided to try again later in the day. No problems with the machines that I noticed, just too many people waiting for me to know that I'd make it home in time for my husband to leave for work on time.
The number of folks coming out to vote is just amazing!
The number of folks coming out to vote is just amazing!
I have been listening to WIMS all morning, and it is amazing to me the turnout so early this morning. the radio even mentioned that 25% of those 2004 voters have voted early. How exciting!!!!!
Magnolia
Magnolia
Admin, can you consolidate this thread and the other one about voting?
Some national and state level results have started to roll in. The most immediate is that Mitch Daniels has already been declared the victor over Jill Long Thompson with an early 12% point lead. The Presidential race so far is virtually tied.
Some of the initial results are in from the school board races, and ALL of the incumbants look to be getting whipped early on.
Kora and Nauyokas are within 6 votes of each other with each being over 550 votes each. Carlson is in a distant thir. This is in the City seat race.
Greene is up two to one over all of his opponents in the Springfield/Michigan race.
Dulaney is leading by about 4 percentage points over Hinchman in the Coolspring area.
Kora and Nauyokas are within 6 votes of each other with each being over 550 votes each. Carlson is in a distant thir. This is in the City seat race.
Greene is up two to one over all of his opponents in the Springfield/Michigan race.
Dulaney is leading by about 4 percentage points over Hinchman in the Coolspring area.
Joe Donnelly is the projected winner for US Senate over Luke Puckett. With over 74% of the precincts reporting, he has 67% of the votes.
Frankly, I do not see how Mr. Hanke did not do better. I would be interested in his thoughts, even in a PM.
My friend and I arrived at the MCAS administration building around 3:45 and were gone by 4PM, with only 3 people in front of us. However, right when we were leaving there was a huge rush. My husband went at 10AM (before work) and had 25 people in front of him and had to wait about an hour. Guess we timed it just right! Also, this was my first time voting, ever, and it was quite surreal. It didn't really click in what my vote meant until I started watching the election results on tv. It's good to know my voice was heard. (From Joanna Dillard, member of the Michigan City Outreach team).
Well in general I am thrilled with the results.
We the people have completed a successful overhaul of the MCAS school board. To put this in perspective, in one election cycle for the full board, we have elected 6 new members out of the 7 seats. If that doesn't speak to what we think of the preformance of the former board and Michael Harding, I don't know what does.
As a county and City, we have also elected some people that I am very excited about seeing in office. Despite The tone around here, I really feel that guys like Scott Pelath and Jim Arnold don't get enough credit for the good work they do. A testament to Pelath's excellence is that the Republicans didn't even bother running someone against him. I am excited to see Craig Hinchman and Johnny Stimley take office as well. Hinchman is one of the most honest people I have ever met, and Stimley puts a ton of time into Michigan City. As I said earlier, I didn't have as much time to research all of the races, so the people's names that I am omitting, just means that I don't know enough to speak of them.
Congratulations to all who ran and especially to those who won. I look foward to our county moving forward from here.
We the people have completed a successful overhaul of the MCAS school board. To put this in perspective, in one election cycle for the full board, we have elected 6 new members out of the 7 seats. If that doesn't speak to what we think of the preformance of the former board and Michael Harding, I don't know what does.
As a county and City, we have also elected some people that I am very excited about seeing in office. Despite The tone around here, I really feel that guys like Scott Pelath and Jim Arnold don't get enough credit for the good work they do. A testament to Pelath's excellence is that the Republicans didn't even bother running someone against him. I am excited to see Craig Hinchman and Johnny Stimley take office as well. Hinchman is one of the most honest people I have ever met, and Stimley puts a ton of time into Michigan City. As I said earlier, I didn't have as much time to research all of the races, so the people's names that I am omitting, just means that I don't know enough to speak of them.
Congratulations to all who ran and especially to those who won. I look foward to our county moving forward from here.
I recently sent you a PM.
Thanks,
Eric Hanke
QUOTE(Roger Kaputnik @ Nov 4 2008, 11:59 PM) 
Frankly, I do not see how Mr. Hanke did not do better. I would be interested in his thoughts, even in a PM.
QUOTE(eric.hanke @ Nov 5 2008, 10:23 AM)
I recently sent you a PM.
Thanks,
Eric Hanke
You did an excellent job. Stick with it, and stay involved. The second time around is much easier, especially when you start with zero name recognition.
Yes, I am surprised by this result in particular.
http://thenewsdispatch.com/main.asp?Sectio...amp;TM=49448.66
QUOTE
Clerk: Late precincts, early votes caused delays
Craig Davison
For The News-Dispatch
LA PORTE - Two precincts delivering ballots late led to a delay Tuesday night of the final La Porte County election results.
Clerk of the Circuit Court Bette Conroy said precincts in Galena Township and Long Beach came in late with their ballots.
In addition, ballots from early voting could not be counted until after all the precincts were in to make sure no one voted twice.
"That's just a protection for our county," Conroy said.
She also pointed out seven machines were used for early voting instead of the four that had been used in previous elections to handle the more than 8,500 people who voted early at either the Circuit Courthouse in La Porte or the Superior Courthouse in Michigan City.
Conroy said it took time to download and count those votes. Normally, she said, there are only about 1,800 early and absentee votes.
Joseph Felker, precinct inspector in Galena Township, said high turnout and long lines led to delivering the ballots later than usual. Felker said the township had about 400 voters in the primary and 734 voters Tuesday.
"We had almost a double dose of voters," he said.
Lines were long enough at 6 p.m. that the precinct didn't close out voting until almost 7:10 p.m., Felker said. Polls in Indiana closed at 6 p.m., but people still in line when the polls close are still allowed to vote.
Because the precinct was busy all day, poll workers were unable to count the absentee votes by mail until nearly 8 p.m., he said. According to Galena Township's precinct summary report, there were 214 absentee ballots.
The final vote tally was confirmed at 11:45 p.m. Tuesday.
Craig Davison
For The News-Dispatch
LA PORTE - Two precincts delivering ballots late led to a delay Tuesday night of the final La Porte County election results.
Clerk of the Circuit Court Bette Conroy said precincts in Galena Township and Long Beach came in late with their ballots.
In addition, ballots from early voting could not be counted until after all the precincts were in to make sure no one voted twice.
"That's just a protection for our county," Conroy said.
She also pointed out seven machines were used for early voting instead of the four that had been used in previous elections to handle the more than 8,500 people who voted early at either the Circuit Courthouse in La Porte or the Superior Courthouse in Michigan City.
Conroy said it took time to download and count those votes. Normally, she said, there are only about 1,800 early and absentee votes.
Joseph Felker, precinct inspector in Galena Township, said high turnout and long lines led to delivering the ballots later than usual. Felker said the township had about 400 voters in the primary and 734 voters Tuesday.
"We had almost a double dose of voters," he said.
Lines were long enough at 6 p.m. that the precinct didn't close out voting until almost 7:10 p.m., Felker said. Polls in Indiana closed at 6 p.m., but people still in line when the polls close are still allowed to vote.
Because the precinct was busy all day, poll workers were unable to count the absentee votes by mail until nearly 8 p.m., he said. According to Galena Township's precinct summary report, there were 214 absentee ballots.
The final vote tally was confirmed at 11:45 p.m. Tuesday.
QUOTE
In addition, ballots from early voting could not be counted until after all the precincts were in to make sure no one voted twice.
Now, I have to say this was/is totally screwed up.
I was working at one of the precincts for Obama for the GOTV effort, and after the polls closed, we all (poll workers and observers such as myself) discussed this.
The list of names of people who had early voted did not arrive until after the polls closed at 6 p.m., even though the early voters had voted the previous day at the earliest. If it had been shown that Joe Blow had voted early then voted at the precinct, what would be done? There's no way to purge one voter's input from one of the voting machines at the precinct (and I approve of this, otherwise how can your or my vote be secret?), but the voting machines for the early voting at the courthouse were the exact same machines, so presumably the same situation would apply to the early votes. So, as far as we could tell, Joe Blow would get to vote twice -- then he'd get to go to jail for vote fraud.
It would be much better if that list of early voters had been at the precinct before the polls opened.
If I am wrong about this, I sure would appreciate it if someone could set me straight.
I would have thought that the names would have been known to the pollworkers so they could stop a person from voting again. In discussion about this from someone I know, this did happen in the primary voting when a certain someone from MS tried to vote twice but got reminded that that vote had already been cast.
http://thenewsdispatch.com/main.asp?Sectio...amp;TM=48387.42
QUOTE
Straight-party voting a travesty
The voting public made their choices clear. I would be remiss if I did not offer a congratulatory statement to those who were victorious, so to those who won on Nov. 4, congratulations!
A few candidates who truly did not participate in the process were also victorious, but to some they did nothing to earn that victory. I won't name those candidates here, they know who they are and I will leave it to the reader to determine who may be spoken about. Suffice it to say that two of these candidates never attended a public candidate forum, one attended only the last two forums, at least two of the three did not participate in local radio programs designed to offer an opportunity for the public to question potential officeholders, and one chose not to participate in a local cable channel interview designed to have viewers learn more about the candidates and their views.
It has become obvious that these candidates and their non-campaigns relied solely on riding the wave of "punch 10" politics into office. Straight party voting has always been an issue here in La Porte County, but to rely on it to the degree that it was by these particular candidates is nothing short of taking the voters of La Porte County for granted.
To those who view this as sour grapes from someone who is a sore loser, you couldn't be further from the truth. If I was afraid of losing a political race I would never put myself in a position that could result in that outcome.
Voters have every right in the world to know how each and every candidate stands on the issues. To ignore the voters and rely almost completely on a method of voting that is purely party-driven is a travesty to our electoral process and a total disregard for the voters that some candidates purport to represent.
Because we continue to have candidates elected by simply "riding that wave," I am now making it my personal mission to take the steps necessary to eliminate straight party voting and in turn force voters to look at the candidates running and not just the party.
Keith Harris
Michigan City
The voting public made their choices clear. I would be remiss if I did not offer a congratulatory statement to those who were victorious, so to those who won on Nov. 4, congratulations!
A few candidates who truly did not participate in the process were also victorious, but to some they did nothing to earn that victory. I won't name those candidates here, they know who they are and I will leave it to the reader to determine who may be spoken about. Suffice it to say that two of these candidates never attended a public candidate forum, one attended only the last two forums, at least two of the three did not participate in local radio programs designed to offer an opportunity for the public to question potential officeholders, and one chose not to participate in a local cable channel interview designed to have viewers learn more about the candidates and their views.
It has become obvious that these candidates and their non-campaigns relied solely on riding the wave of "punch 10" politics into office. Straight party voting has always been an issue here in La Porte County, but to rely on it to the degree that it was by these particular candidates is nothing short of taking the voters of La Porte County for granted.
To those who view this as sour grapes from someone who is a sore loser, you couldn't be further from the truth. If I was afraid of losing a political race I would never put myself in a position that could result in that outcome.
Voters have every right in the world to know how each and every candidate stands on the issues. To ignore the voters and rely almost completely on a method of voting that is purely party-driven is a travesty to our electoral process and a total disregard for the voters that some candidates purport to represent.
Because we continue to have candidates elected by simply "riding that wave," I am now making it my personal mission to take the steps necessary to eliminate straight party voting and in turn force voters to look at the candidates running and not just the party.
Keith Harris
Michigan City
QUOTE(Dave @ Nov 6 2008, 03:23 PM)
Now, I have to say this was/is totally screwed up.
I was working at one of the precincts for Obama for the GOTV effort, and after the polls closed, we all (poll workers and observers such as myself) discussed this.
The list of names of people who had early voted did not arrive until after the polls closed at 6 p.m., even though the early voters had voted the previous day at the earliest. If it had been shown that Joe Blow had voted early then voted at the precinct, what would be done? There's no way to purge one voter's input from one of the voting machines at the precinct (and I approve of this, otherwise how can your or my vote be secret?), but the voting machines for the early voting at the courthouse were the exact same machines, so presumably the same situation would apply to the early votes. So, as far as we could tell, Joe Blow would get to vote twice -- then he'd get to go to jail for vote fraud.
It would be much better if that list of early voters had been at the precinct before the polls opened.
If I am wrong about this, I sure would appreciate it if someone could set me straight.
Excellent point Dave! In early voting each voter was checked in the voter registration data base before they were allowed to vote. If someone say voted in the first week of early voting and then came back in the 4th week to vote again, the voter registration system would show that they had voted previously and would not be alloowed to vote again.
To apply this to election day, voter registration printed the voter books for election day only after all of the early voting had finished. Those that had voted early would show in the book with an ABS (absentee) next to their name. I am aware of at least one incident on election day where an individual who had voted early also went to the polls and voted again. This was most likely an error of the election clerk at that precinct for not seeing the ABS designation. But then when Joe Blow did go vote a second time ... he/she should go to jail for vote fraud. The poll worker may have made the mistake, but Joe Blow also should go to jail becuase Joe Blow know what he was doing.
As far as purging the vote from a situation such as this. If the County Election Board does find that an individual has voted twice, the purveyor of the system, Micro Vote, is instructed to make the purge. In the case I described this is what was done, and I am sure that the circumstances were turned over to the prosecutor's office ... though I wouldn't hold my breath there either. The real question should be ... if this did indeed happen once or twice, how many other times did it slip by as well.
It seems then that the early voting should be stopped, say, one week before the date of the election.
When I asked some folks I know that worked the polls, they seemed to think that the way they were checking people in was fine and no one was slipping through.
When I asked some folks I know that worked the polls, they seemed to think that the way they were checking people in was fine and no one was slipping through.
QUOTE(kharris @ Nov 12 2008, 01:27 PM)
Excellent point Dave! In early voting each voter was checked in the voter registration data base before they were allowed to vote. If someone say voted in the first week of early voting and then came back in the 4th week to vote again, the voter registration system would show that they had voted previously and would not be alloowed to vote again.
To apply this to election day, voter registration printed the voter books for election day only after all of the early voting had finished. Those that had voted early would show in the book with an ABS (absentee) next to their name. I am aware of at least one incident on election day where an individual who had voted early also went to the polls and voted again. This was most likely an error of the election clerk at that precinct for not seeing the ABS designation. But then when Joe Blow did go vote a second time ... he/she should go to jail for vote fraud. The poll worker may have made the mistake, but Joe Blow also should go to jail becuase Joe Blow know what he was doing.
As far as purging the vote from a situation such as this. If the County Election Board does find that an individual has voted twice, the purveyor of the system, Micro Vote, is instructed to make the purge. In the case I described this is what was done, and I am sure that the circumstances were turned over to the prosecutor's office ... though I wouldn't hold my breath there either. The real question should be ... if this did indeed happen once or twice, how many other times did it slip by as well.
As I recall, there was early voting up until the afternoon before the election. They printed up all those poll books for all the precincts after the early voting locations closed on Monday and got them out to the poll workers before 6 a.m. the next day? Not impossible, I suppose, but surprising to me. And if they did do that, why were those documents delivered to the polls after they closed, if the data was already in the poll books?
As for purging a voters ballot -- how is that done exactly? At the polling place where I worked, people would sign in, and then randomly select from five machines where they would vote. How would Micro Vote know which votes were cast by the alleged miscreant?
And as for the early vote, do they somehow register which electronic vote was mine at the courthouse, so they could go back and purge it later if I engaged in some shenanigans? This would worry me on two levels -- who watches the watchers, to verify they are purging what they claim (or conversely, aren't adding votes that were not there), and if they can locate my particular votes in the machine, where's the secrecy of my ballot?
As for the "Punch 10" thing in your N-D letter, I agree -- I've never liked straight ticket voting, and I've never done it. There were a couple of instances where I crossed over to vote for people not on my party's ticket, one of them being you (so much for my secret ballot, eh?
)
QUOTE(Dave @ Nov 12 2008, 04:58 PM)
As I recall, there was early voting up until the afternoon before the election. They printed up all those poll books for all the precincts after the early voting locations closed on Monday and got them out to the poll workers before 6 a.m. the next day? Not impossible, I suppose, but surprising to me. And if they did do that, why were those documents delivered to the polls after they closed, if the data was already in the poll books?
As for purging a voters ballot -- how is that done exactly? At the polling place where I worked, people would sign in, and then randomly select from five machines where they would vote. How would Micro Vote know which votes were cast by the alleged miscreant?
And as for the early vote, do they somehow register which electronic vote was mine at the courthouse, so they could go back and purge it later if I engaged in some shenanigans? This would worry me on two levels -- who watches the watchers, to verify they are purging what they claim (or conversely, aren't adding votes that were not there), and if they can locate my particular votes in the machine, where's the secrecy of my ballot?
As for the "Punch 10" thing in your N-D letter, I agree -- I've never liked straight ticket voting, and I've never done it. There were a couple of instances where I crossed over to vote for people not on my party's ticket, one of them being you (so much for my secret ballot, eh?
)It would not have been the election day ballot that was purged. It would have been the early ballot cast. During absentee/early voting each voter is assigned a numeric code which is entered into the machine before that voter votes. Reports printed each day durting absentee voting provides a name with a number. If a ballot is to be purged it is done by the number assigned to the name. THe secret ballot is still intact as no one sees how the individual voted but rather just which ballot belonged to that voter. There would be no way to purge any specific ballot on election day.
Despite the outcome ... thanks for the vote!
My question would be then why aren't local officials being held responsible for how badly things have gone in LaPorte County for the past 8 years? Punch 10 ignores the fact that Laporte/MC was in the bottom 25 of 363 metro areas in growth from 2001 to 2006. If they were really voting for change, they sure were ignoring what was happening at the local levels.
http://thenewsdispatch.com/main.asp?Sectio...amp;TM=37068.33
http://thenewsdispatch.com/main.asp?Sectio...amp;TM=37068.33
QUOTE
Punch 10 a natural reaction to 8 years of Republican rule
This is in response to Keith Harris's letter, "Straight-party voting a travesty," Tuesday. Keith and I have known each other for quite a few years and I consider him a friend. However, it does sound like sour grapes.
While local and federal government are different, you must also realize that it was the Republican Party that put itself and the country in the mess we are in. Eight years of George Bush and his party are enough. People are sick of it. Obama offered change, something your party could not convince the American people would happen if McCain were elected. They wanted the Republicans out of office. So Punch 10 was people saying enough is enough.
Anyone who watched President-elect Barack Obama's speech after he was the projected winner had to be moved by it. It's time to strip off the labels and time for us all to have hope. Barack Obama stands for that hope.
By the way, Keith, I did split my ticket.
Robert Ream
Michigan City
This is in response to Keith Harris's letter, "Straight-party voting a travesty," Tuesday. Keith and I have known each other for quite a few years and I consider him a friend. However, it does sound like sour grapes.
While local and federal government are different, you must also realize that it was the Republican Party that put itself and the country in the mess we are in. Eight years of George Bush and his party are enough. People are sick of it. Obama offered change, something your party could not convince the American people would happen if McCain were elected. They wanted the Republicans out of office. So Punch 10 was people saying enough is enough.
Anyone who watched President-elect Barack Obama's speech after he was the projected winner had to be moved by it. It's time to strip off the labels and time for us all to have hope. Barack Obama stands for that hope.
By the way, Keith, I did split my ticket.
Robert Ream
Michigan City
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