DCPolitics

The Obligatory Election Day Turnout Post

IT’S YOUR ELECTION … TELL US ABOUT IT Our founding editor Will Folks – a.k.a. Sic Willie – got up bright and early this morning and took his two eldest children with him to Melrose Park in downtown Columbia, S.C. (a.k.a. the polling location for his precinct). After waiting in…

IT’S YOUR ELECTION … TELL US ABOUT IT

Our founding editor Will Folks – a.k.a. Sic Willie – got up bright and early this morning and took his two eldest children with him to Melrose Park in downtown Columbia, S.C. (a.k.a. the polling location for his precinct).

After waiting in line for about forty minutes, Sic was the 110th person at his precinct to step up to the electronic voting machine and cast his ballot.

His selections?

*Former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson for president

*”Donald Duck” (over U.S. Rep. Joe Wilson) for South Carolina’s second congressional district

*Kirkman Finlay for the S.C. House of Representatives

*”Yes” on a constitutional amendment  that would require governors and lieutenant governors to run on the same ticket

*”No” on a local sales tax hike

The rest of Sic’s ballot was left blank … a sad commentary on the diminished choices we have as voters here in the Palmetto State.

After abysmal turnout during the 2012 primary elections this summer, voter participation is soaring this go-round.  According to the S.C. Election Commission (SCEC) more than 375,000 South Carolinians submitted absentee ballots this year – a new record.

“Republican” presidential nominee Mitt Romney is expected to cruise to victory in South Carolina – where turnout is projected to exceed the 1.9 million mark from four years ago, when U.S. Sen. John McCain scored a 54 to 45 percent win over Barack Obama.

Where did you vote?  What was the turnout like?  Who was on your ballot?

Post your experiences/ choices in our comments section below …

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39 comments

Bob November 6, 2012 at 9:30 am

Meadowfield in Richland had heavy turnout this morning, however the wait will be long as the precinct has over 1700 voters registered there and as of 9:00 AM they only have 1 functioning voting machine.

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Petey November 6, 2012 at 9:38 am

So in other words, you wasted your Presidential vote. I don’t quite understand the reasoning for voting for someone who has 100% chance of not winning the election.

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Smirks November 6, 2012 at 10:01 am

Attitudes like that are what will guarantee America stays a two-party country.

Why does it matter, anyways? Romney’s going to win SC no matter who Willie votes for.

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Jan November 6, 2012 at 10:06 am

So you are saying you only vote for someone if you think they can win. So I guess you would have been a Tory if you were around during the Revolution.

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Colin November 6, 2012 at 9:43 am

Because Petey it really doesn’t matter who you choose in the presidential election if you are not in a swing state. You may as well vote for whomever you like. Mitt Romney is kind of revolting to those that think there should be limits on government

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hmmm November 6, 2012 at 9:51 am

One should always vote his/her conscience whether they have a chance of winning or not. Perhaps if everyone did the same, we could turn presidential elections back into events where we can elect great leaders instead of bought-and-paid-for cronies who spend billions of dollars making you think we are limited to two awful choices.

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Smirks November 6, 2012 at 9:58 am

Yup, and that should include voting for third parties, or simply abstaining on voting for a particular office if it calls for it.

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Ol'Rufus November 6, 2012 at 1:50 pm

I think we need a couple of other options at the poll:

Definitely need a “none of the above” choice – If “none” won, seat would stay empty until someone with firing synapses ran for the seat.

“Oh Hell NO!” choice – for stupid public questions and candidates (like the penny tax). This would prohibit the question from being asked again for at least 20 years or the candiddate from ever running again.

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@BozMartin November 6, 2012 at 2:39 pm

YUP!

Getting ready to head out and vote for Johnson.

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Smirks November 6, 2012 at 9:56 am

I can’t believe you voted for Donald Duck. That guy’s a loose cannon. Goofy is by far a better choice.

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MountainPenelope November 6, 2012 at 11:14 am

His vote for Donald further proves his disdain for women. Daisy Duck was a much better choice.

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not fair November 6, 2012 at 9:58 am

I’d like to know who decides how many polling places are in a county/city and how many machines they get. Because it takes a ridiculously long time to vote in Lexington, especially when some of the machines aren’t working. As much growth as Lexington has had in the last 15 years, you’d think they’d add some machines or open some new polling locations.

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Astonished November 6, 2012 at 10:32 am

Well you folks in Lexington County should convert some of those poker machines to voting machines. You guys could whiz right through!!!!

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Brian November 6, 2012 at 10:34 am

State law is 1 machine per 250 registered voters. Of course some of them almost always break down..

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Smirks November 6, 2012 at 10:36 am

@ Astonished, that’s a great idea. Voting for some of these politicians is akin to gambling anyways, as the house always wins.

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not fair November 6, 2012 at 10:51 am

Excellent suggestion, Astonished!

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Destiny Now November 7, 2012 at 12:55 am

It certainly seems to have been a very screwy day in many parts of the state/midlands with the number of machines being less than needed, plus record turnout in some areas.

“not fair,” it is my understanding that the individual county election commissions decide on the allocation of voting machines to the individual voting places.

Read my experience further down the page. We are in a ward that usually has 5 or 6 machines for presidential elections to serve “about 1250” registered voters. We heard that the day began with one machine.

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PalmettoCPA November 6, 2012 at 10:01 am

After arriving at 6:30 AM to “beat the rush” at Oak Pointe Elementary, I finally cast my ballot at 9:30 AM. Only 4 of the voting machines were operational.

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? November 6, 2012 at 10:03 am

Congrats on the Donald Duck vote, you managed to find an ethical & principled candidate.

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little rocky from arkansas November 6, 2012 at 10:30 am

Write in: Elmer Fudd – President

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Smirks November 6, 2012 at 10:36 am

At least we know he’s pro-gun rights!

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little rocky from arkansas November 6, 2012 at 10:40 am

Elmer loves his shotgun!

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little rocky from arkansas November 6, 2012 at 10:59 am

Just in – from a parody about keeping harmony in the household:

“I voted RED and she voted BLUE –

We went to bed and screwed until two”

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Crooner November 6, 2012 at 11:13 am

I refuse to vote yes on ANY of the constitutional amendments. If our state constitution is so screwed up that we need to vote to amend it every two years it’s past time to scrap it and start over. And this year was a lean year with only one amendment (the Glenn McConnell amendment) on the ballot.

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MountainPenelope November 6, 2012 at 11:17 am

I am not in favor of meddling with the state Constitution.

This was truly one of the silliest referendum queries I’ve seen in my 40+ years of voting.

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law anyone November 6, 2012 at 11:38 am

Arrived at Trenholm Park at 6:30. Was 53rd voter at 9:15. Ridiculous.

Only one functioning machine and didn’t start actually voting until 7:45. Saw a lot of voters leave in disgust.

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Ragnar November 6, 2012 at 12:46 pm

A.C. Moore Elementary. Took about 1:15. Only 3 machines this time, but not too bad.

Gary Johnson
Yes on single ticket for Gov. and Lt. Gov.
No on Transportation, Innovista, and whatever else they want penny.

That’s all folks.

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Frank Pytel November 6, 2012 at 12:54 pm

This just in. At 12:45 pm EST all major networks, except CBS projected Oshitforbrains with 400 electoral votes and declared Odumbass President of these United States. CBS announced at 12:47 pm EST that they projected this at 11:45 am.

Have a great day you fucking libtar shits. The commies are coming home. Remember. I’ve been saying for the last 6 months you better start buying stocks in pitchfork mfg.

Have a Great Day!! :)

Frank Pytel

Reply

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Joe November 6, 2012 at 1:16 pm

Frank If you are going to copy and paste at least do it right. There is no need to include the word “reply” in your copy selection. Dumb ass. It is a great day to be an American regardless of who wins.

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MountainPenelope November 6, 2012 at 1:39 pm

Thank you Joe.

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Frank Pytel November 6, 2012 at 2:05 pm

Get a fucking life.

Have A Great Day.

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jimbolitos November 6, 2012 at 1:03 pm

Arrived at Sandy Run School at 6:45, smoked a joint in the car and listened to some Ozzy Osbourne. Lost track of time until someone knocked on my car window. A buddy hopped in the car, we burnt a short one, he poured some brown liquid into my coffee mug and we listened to The River by the Boss.

Decided that we were hungry so we went to St Mathews for a Hardees biscuit. He bitched about his old lady some, we ate, then headed back up to Sandy Run to get my buddies car. After trying to remember why his car was at that country ass elementary school, we gave up and went our separate ways.

It occurred to me. The women making those biscuits look just like the cafeteria ladies from elementary school. Huge titties.

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Joe November 6, 2012 at 1:36 pm

Must have been some good weed there Jim. Those big titties women would give me nightmares when I was in school.
Voted with daughter (her 1st time) at Springdale Elementary. It took us a little over an hour. Four ladies checking credentials. Six voting booths and two assistants. Whole process went pretty smooth. When we got in line some lady was requesting people to vote for Shealy. I paced off the distance. She wasn’t even 50′ away from the door. Signs all over the place noted that campaigners must be at least 200′ from polling place. Lady didn’t get my vote. Jake may be a crook or not, but he doesn’t like Nikki and for that reason he got my vote.

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Phen November 6, 2012 at 2:41 pm

So if there is supposed to be 1 machine per 250 voters, and the State newspaper is reporting an average of three minutes per voter, then even if there was a perfect distribution of voters throughout the day, it would take 12.5 hours to get through all of the voters in a 12-hour voting day (assuming 100% turnout).

That doesn’t sound like enough reserve to me. It took me one hour and 47 minutes to vote today (not that I was counting).

In a very geeky moment, I calculated the estimated loss in productivity to workers missing work to vote assuming a 1:45 wait time. It’s about $35 million today (using Bureau of Labor Standards employment and wage data and assuming a turnout of 50% of all workers). Perhaps we could just buy some more voting machines…

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? November 6, 2012 at 3:20 pm

This is one of the most productive days I had in a while. No lines @ the bank, no traffic on my way into work, and lunch was in/out @ a normally busy restaurant in record time, very few salesmen stopping in.

Sheesh, I’m pretty productive during the day normally but today is AWESOME. I wish every day was election day.

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Staffer November 6, 2012 at 3:00 pm

Sic, why vote yes to the constitutional amendment? Doesn’t that just give more power to the ever-powerful Senate that you abhor? It gives the Senate the power to fill vacancies in the Lt. Gov’s office as well. Doesn’t that have a McConnell stink to it?

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Judy Chop November 6, 2012 at 8:08 pm

Voted in precinct #25 at Kilbourne Park Church. Was there at 07:15am and it took over 2 1/2 hours to cast my vote. PATHETIC! Only two machines for one of the historically largest turn out percentages precinct in Richland County.

Maybe I would have voted for the .01 cent tax increase if it would have gone to buy new voting machines and buy some new commissioners.

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This just in. . . November 6, 2012 at 11:48 pm

Obamas Return to White House as Romneys Return to 1954

BOSTON (The Borowitz Report) — America cast its historic vote today, sending Barack and Michelle Obama back to the White House while sending Mitt and Ann Romney back to 1954.

The election meant the end of the road for Mr. Romney, who had been actively seeking the Presidency for the past sixty-five years.

Addressing supporters at the Boston Convention Center, Mr. Romney called his defeat tonight “bittersweet”: “On one hand, I lost the election. But on the other hand, I’ll never have to show anyone my taxes.”

If he had won tonight, Mr. Romney would have become the first man elected President after telling half of the country to screw themselves.

Vice-Presidential nominee Paul Ryan addressed the subject of his defeat in characteristic style, telling supporters that he had won.

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Destiny Now November 7, 2012 at 12:47 am

We’re in Ward 34 (Richland County) and went to vote at 5:15. Long line and only two machines. After about 30 minutes, they brought in another machine. It gave a few problems, off and on, but it worked more than it didn’t. Voted at 7:15 and the last people in line probably didn’t vote until 9 or 9:30.

We talked to a poll watcher when we were just about to be called over to vote and he said some people had told him their wait was as much as 3 hours today in that ward. I asked him to please find out how many registered voters are in that ward: he asked one of the poll workers and it took a couple of minutes, but they did some checking (really?) and the figure came back: “about 1250.”

I’ve never seen less than 5 or 6 machines in that ward for a presidential election. By state law, there is supposed to be one machine provided for every 250 registered voters, so there should have been 5 machines there all day.

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