I’m an election judge for the upcoming general election. I went to training yesterday morning. We set up a polling place in exactly the same way we will on Election Day, ran through some sample voters and tried to handle the problems we ran into. It was pretty clear that all of us knew what to do if someone tried to campaign within the polling place or tried to vote twice. But not too many of the judges were really sure how to handle any technical issues that came up. In my county, we use Diebold machines — purchased before Diebold became Premier Election Solutions last year. The demographics of our judges skews heavily toward the older end of the spectrum, although there are younger judges as well. But it’s not just age that causes... [Read more]

We’ve been running a poll in the sidebar, asking you ‘Do you know who you’ll be voting for on November 4?’ Thirty people have voted over the last two weeks and I’d like to share the results: ‘Do you know who you’ll be voting for on November 4?’ 21 votes ‘Yes, and it’s one of the third party candidates.’ 4 votes ‘No, I’m still undecided.’ 4 votes ‘No, I’m still undecided.’ 1 vote Nothing especially unexpected, I think: A surprising number of voters remain undecided, even outside our fairly unscientific poll and very few voters are planning not to vote this year — although there are a few. [Read more]

I try to keep up with both conservative and liberal media. This morning, the buzz has all been about Colin Powell’s endorsement of Obama. A couple of items have particularly caught my attention. The first is a video that I found on Daily Kos: This video intercuts Colin Powell’s announcement with specific examples of his concerns about the McCain campaign. I think that Powell’s concerns are shown as very valid — no matter the actual party politics. The National Review’s response to Powell’s endorsement was another item I found this morning. While I generally feel that the NRO has well-written, interesting articles in line with conservative thoughts, I really have to question the decision to post this morning’s... [Read more]

During this election cycle, the number of first time voters getting involved is phenomenal. I tracked down a voter who had registered just for the upcoming election and asked her what motivated her to register this year. Shoshana, from Denver, told me the following: I am one of those Americans who has not felt their vote to be very important in past presidential elections. Fortunately, because of my age, I have only been eligible to vote in one other presidential election. At that time, I was studying abroad in Australia and found it to be much too troublesome to get an absentee ballot. I also didn’t feel as if there were a clear candidate to vote for: W had failed to make many good choices while in office, but Kerry wasn’t going... [Read more]

We’ve been running a poll in the sidebar, asking you “What is the most important issue in this election?” I wish I could say that the result was more of a surprise: 20 readers have voted for the economy. Energy picked up only three votes and the War in Iraq got two. A reader added in Sovereignty, and that picked up two votes as well. We’re starting up a new poll today. The question is “Do you know who you’ll be voting for on November 4?” You can vote in the sidebar. [Read more]