You're voting today, right?

[Headless Thompson Gunner]

Big day in politics today.  Primary voting season is starting up  Assuming your state holds its primaries today, I hope y'all are voting.  

Word on the street is that turnout is supposed to be very low for this election.  That makes each vote even more relevant.  And local primary elections are some of the easiest to influence through campaigning and politicking.  There's really no excuse not to push hard for good candidates today.

And for anyone who fails to hit the polls on their respective days, can we assume that you'll be decent enough not to piss and moan about the results?  I hear lots of complaints about how the Republican Party isn't good enough and doesn't offer the right candidates.  Well, here's your easiest and best chance to make it better.  Don't pass it up.

[charby]

Iowa isn't until June.

[makattak]

Virginia: Tuesday, June 8.

However, since we just moved, I should probably map out where our polling station is.

[Headless Thompson Gunner]

Yep.  May 4 and May 11 are common dates this year, as are June 1 and June 8.  I didn't mean to imply that today was the one and only day for everyone.

Regardless of which actual day your state uses, the cycle is starting up and I really hope everyone here is willing to get involved.

[Jocassee]

...and remember what they say about boxes.

[Fjolnirsson]

Yes, I got my ballot in the mail yesterday.

[AZRedhawk44]

...and remember what they say about boxes.

No soap or bullets for you, if you don't use the easy one, first.

[roo_ster]

Big day in politics today.  Primary voting season is starting up  Assuming your state holds its primaries today, I hope y'all are voting.  

Word on the street is that turnout is supposed to be very low for this election.  That makes each vote even more relevant.  And local primary elections are some of the easiest to influence through campaigning and politicking.  There's really no excuse not to push hard for good candidates today.

And for anyone who fails to hit the polls on their respective days, can we assume that you'll be decent enough not to piss and moan about the results?  I hear lots of complaints about how the Republican Party isn't good enough and doesn't offer the right candidates.  Well, here's your easiest and best chance to make it better.  Don't pass it up.

08MAY2010

I will be voting.

And not voting won't make the non-voting whiners stop whining.  It is their nature, like a scorpion's sting.

[HankB]

Voted three separate times this year already . . .

* "Early voted" in GOP primary

* "Early voted" in GOP primary runoff for state representative and state Supreme Court justice

* "Early voted" for this week's local elections - city council, proposed city charter amendments, school board, and local municipal utility district

Too lazy to vote? Don't complain if you don't like the outcome.

[Regolith]

Unfortunately, my state requires that you be registered with the party that you vote for in the primaries.  Since I don't particularly like any of them, and always register as "Not Affiliated", I get screwed come primary time...

Doesn't really matter much anyway.  I'll probably end up voting for whoever the Republicans field against Harry Reid, and it looks like the front runner is a Tea Party type. 

[Scout26]

Illinois had our primary back in Feb.

[Balog]

Snohomish is vote by mail only, and I've not received ye olde ballot yet. But I need to call the Post Office, I set up  forwarding to a UPS store postal box and haven't gotten anything yet. :(

[dogmush]

Florida is also a closed Primary state and I'm neither a R or D, so no voting for me.  I will be watching the outcom of ours very closely however.  It's July 26th.

[Tallpine]

Primary here is June IIRC.

Signs are up all over and junk coming in the mail.

They usually mail out the ballots and you mail them back in.

We do the absentee thing for the general election too, instead of driving 50 miles round trip.

[sanglant]

Unfortunately, my state requires that you be registered with the party that you vote for in the primaries.  Since I don't particularly like any of them, and always register as "Not Affiliated", I get screwed come primary time...

Doesn't really matter much anyway.  I'll probably end up voting for whoever the Republicans field against Harry Reid, and it looks like the front runner is a Tea Party type. 

i don't understand the benefit of being a "Not Affiliated". if you join the party most likely to have a candidate you could support you could vote for them in the primary. what would it cost you?

[charby]

Illinois had our primary back in Feb.

So whose the next one in line for prison?

[Headless Thompson Gunner]

i don't understand the benefit of being a "Not Affiliated". if you join the party most likely to have a candidate you could support you could vote for them in the primary. what would it cost you?

There are lots of people who like to pat themselves on the back for not taking sides, for being an open-minded and independent thinker.  Basically, they're not willing to put any thought or analysis into determining which side is more worthy of support, and they hold their laziness up as a virtue.

(I'm not trying to imply that Regolith is this way.)

[grampster]

August in Meechigun

[RevDisk]

For any Pennsylvanians, you might want to check out http://www.votespa.com

You can have vote related reminders or info sent to you via Twitter, SMS or email if you're the forgetful type.

[Regolith]

i don't understand the benefit of being a "Not Affiliated". if you join the party most likely to have a candidate you could support you could vote for them in the primary. what would it cost you?

To put it quite simply: I refuse to endorse a political party whose platforms differ greatly from my own positions.  Both the Republicans and the Democrats have a large number of positions I severely disagree with and which are impractical to try and change from within.  I usually end up voting for one or the other in the end (unless both choices are so repugnant as to force me to go third party), but it's mostly to keep the worse of the two evils from getting into office, and not because I particularly like the guy I'm voting for.

The party that comes closest to my own positions is the Libertarian Party (with several caveats), but unfortunately they are too ineffective politically to be seriously considered. They seem to be more interested in purifying the party and being "uncompromising," while at the same time nominating people for national office who don't seem to be actually , you know, libertarians. Unfortunately, they haven't yet figured out that incrementalism is a faster way to get your policies implemented than insisting everything be done at once.

The result is that I am without a party I can comfortably be part of.

[sanglant]

that's my point, who do you see looking to voter registrations to determine who there going to vote for. basically being in a party(at least in nc) doesn't give them anything, and it gives you the chance to support a candidate closer to your ideologies. what i'm trying to get at, is what benefit does the party get from having more registered voters in there party? sorry if that dosn't make any sense. {}



edit swap {:facepalm:(hmm i need to find one of those without the hand )}

edit: that's better

edit afterthought: whoa it's big
edit edit: i think i got it.
edit edit edit: i decided to do a that just loops 3 times while i had animation shop 2 running.

[Scout26]

So whose the next one in line for prison?

Quinn is the (D) running on the "I'm gonna Raise your taxes or the Skuls will close" Platform.  Funny that's what they said about the Lottery, OTB gambling, Video Poker in Bars, Property Tax Increases, rinse, wring, repeat...  Now wants to create a Property Tax Action Board, where if you don't like your property taxes, you can pay money to join this quasi-.gov agency and they'll go get told to go pound sand regarding your property tax appeal for you.    

Bill Brady (R) pro-gun down stater, State Senator (Bloomington) poli-critter.  Not really part of the combine, and zero name recognition north of I-80.

and this just in, Scott "I was never convicted of slapping that Ho" Cohen, announced that he would run for Governor as an (I) after he was run off the (D) ticket as Lt. Gov by Mike Madigan (D-Daley).  Not sure what the angle is here as that hurts Quinn more then Brady, but Mike Madigan's daugther is the State's Attorney General and everyone thought that she would run for either Obama's old senate seat or Governor.    

Yep, it's gonna be a fun ride this fall......

[roo_ster]

Joining a party to vote in the primary is not an endorsement, it is a means to effect the outcome.

[Balog]

Joining a party to vote in the primary is not an endorsement, it is a means to effect the outcome.

This.

[Tallpine]

In MT it doesn't matter your registered party affiliation, unless you want to run for office.

They send you both D/R ballots, and you send back one or the other.