GO VOTE!

Can you mail me a piece of candy? I voted.

And you will be happy to learn that, depsite my right wing, libertarian views I voted against the stupid Virginia Marriage law and for Webb(D) and Feder(D). Allen(R) is a bit of a tool (no, he is a big tool) and I am a great proponent of keeping a fire lit under our elected representatives and making them nervous in their jobs. They should have the view that nothing they do is ever good enough and should be striving mightily to do a better job.

I will, of course switch my votes next time if circumstances warrant.

show me your "I voted" sticker

This is one thing I really miss about Minnesota. They don't give us those stickers here in Massachusetts. I really liked wearing that little thing all day long.

No, you have to come by my office. It's only what, 1500 miles away? It's totally worth it, man.

You guys are so lucky to be able to vote in US elections:( I'm stuck in the welfare hell of Finland.

Sounds like Minnesota has fusion voting... we currently have that as a ballot initiative in MA, and it is unlikely to pass.

Voted absentee for Ohio a couple weeks back. Hopefully the Republican Secretary of State won't simply shove all the (overwhelmingly Dem) non-Military overseas votes into the shredder.
I voted partisan on Congress and State Rep but carefully Googled everyone else. Turns out I voted straight Dem (+1 non-party-endorsed for County Board of Ed) even before I realised some of the candidates I had selected were Dems. Goes to show that the party really does reflect my preferences, or at least the Ohio party does.

Yes, Mikko, but you have sauna and Salmiakki, so it can't be all bad (unless you hate both of those, in which case, so sorry). Would it help if I said I loved the year I lived in Finland?

Also, I'm with Corsair. I consider myself to be a right-of-center libertarian type, but I voted for Democrats at the national level and for governor (and I voted a couple of weeks ago, so I think that's worth a bag of candy, or maybe a case of beer, actually). The rest (county/local) were more of a hodgepodge. This, however, says nothing about how I will vote in 2008. Bring on the gridlock!

Vote for treats!
They should generalize this at polling places.

Andy:
"Yes, Mikko, but you have sauna and Salmiakki, so it can't be all bad"

Actually, I just moved to a new apartment and it doesn't even have a sauna:(

"Would it help if I said I loved the year I lived in Finland?"

There are things to love, but our political environment is not one of them. I guess it's okay if you realize not to criticize the belowed welfare model.

True, Finns are a lot less religious (despite the fact that creationism IS taught at public schools - contrary to what many Americans believe) than Americans but that's not an issue of intelligence - it's just plain luck - a cultural issue. The Finnish atheists might as well believe in toothfairies. After all, true atheism derives from rationalism.

My polling place is open from 6 am to 9 pm. I think the more hours, the better. I love voting in New York - hereabouts they still use the old-style lever system. I had to have someone show me how it worked the first time I voted here. I was all "Where are the scantrons? Where are the paper punches?" Gotta love the clinky chunky sound when all the levers register and the curtain opens.

Oh God, the horror of the welfare state! The Wailing! The Gnashing of Teeth!

Well, as Blair and his collection of hypocritical warmongers are doing their best to destroy our welfare state, finishing the job that Thatcher started, I have little sympathy.

There are things to love, but our political environment is not one of them. I guess it's okay if you realize not to criticize the belowed welfare model.

Yes, I enjoyed 35% of my paycheck being taken before I ever saw a markka of it - and given that I was on an internship salary, taking 35% of "not much" left me "a lot less than not much."

The only real abuse of the system I saw was what I called the Otto Karin Park Drinking Club: a bunch of old men who spent all day in Otto Karin park drinking on the government's tab. It's good work if you can get it.

True, Finns are a lot less religious (despite the fact that creationism IS taught at public schools - contrary to what many Americans believe) than Americans but that's not an issue of intelligence - it's just plain luck - a cultural issue.

I think you should push for teaching the Kalevala as literal truth, then you can say witty things like "Gay marriage is wrong! It was Väinämöinen and Aino, not Väinämöinen and Pekka."

From the 1930's to the 1960's Quebec was under sever control from the Catholic church (a period now refered to a the greath darkness) with the help of Maurice Duplessis the strongest demagogue in Quebec political history, in exchange for moral laws and fighting the evil communist unions the church would directly endorse the National Union party (official color Blue) against the Liberal party (official color Red).

Because of this all the priests and pastors of quebec would on their last sermon before election night say this now famous phrase.

Just remember that Heaven is blue and Hell is red!

Odly enough it seems to still apply today:)

PZ, You might want to check local, state and national laws regarding offering anything of value (candy) to induce one to vote. Even if you don't "bribe" them into voting for a specific issue or person offering goodies to get them to vote may be a problem. By they way, you would not be the first college prof to step over this line.

As a lucky resident of Connecticut, I'll be at the minimum campaigning distance from my polling place, holding a sign reading in big, black letters, "JOE LIEBERMAN VOTED FOR TORTURE". I hope it will be a conversation-starter.

Do those dirty Republican students get the candy as well?

hehe, way to go - give `em candy instead of religion, it`s way more potent anyways. And the lasting flavor is definitely better.

Best of luck regarding the election.

PZ, I hate to say it, but I think hoody has a point- if a student shows up and says "I'm a Republican, and I'm not voting!", you should give them two pieces of candy.

You guys and you paper ballots. You're so lucky. I'll be voting on one of these today. Try the demo. I felt like I was playing with a Speak-and-Spell.

Voter #301 in Arlington VA. Go Webb and No on #1 (proposed Amendment to incorporate hate-filled bigotry into our commonweath's constitution.)

Done. New UMD PhD grad student here. Straight DFL, of course. This is a year where sending a message to the R's is more important than virtually anything else. A year for the yellow dog dems, if there every was one.

I didn't know much about the county and local races though, as I just moved here a couple months ago. So I made the assumption that the incumbent judges (the odd ones who were actually running opposed) were likely to be Democratic. That might well not be true, though Duluth itself seems to be pretty DFL happy so it seemed as good a chance as any.

Next time you're speaking at UMD or in the vicinity, bring some candy and I'll bring my sticker.

There should be a national holiday to vote. No one should have to worry about missing work because some blue hair doesn't know how to get the machine to work.

The reason we don't get it off is because republicans like supressing the votes of the working class. Long waits supress the vote and there's longer lines in urban areas.

We get a day off for freakin Columbus! Well some do.

Ha, I was there 15 minutes before the polls opened, and I was voter number 14. ;-)

Voter turnout looks fairly strong around here (north of Pittsburgh).

I think you should push for teaching the Kalevala as literal truth, ...

I'll vote for that: any book that says the world was created when an egg fell off some lass's knee is worth reading.

Bob

show me your "I voted" sticker.

This is one thing I really miss about Minnesota. They don't give us those stickers here in Massachusetts. I really liked wearing that little thing all day long.

This seems to depend on which election and which polling location, and I don't know who supplies the stickers. I have gotten the sticker at some Massachusetts elections and not at others (including general elections at the same polling location).

PZ, You might want to check local, state and national laws regarding offering anything of value (candy) to induce one to vote. Even if you don't "bribe" them into voting for a specific issue or person offering goodies to get them to vote may be a problem.

In Washington a number of years ago, the Indian tribes pushed a ballot initiative to permit more gambling, and promised to split a large amount of money among all people listed as having voted in the election if they won. This offer was ruled as being perfectly legal. The initiative nonetheless was defeated at the polls.

This seems to depend on which election and which polling location, and I don't know who supplies the stickers. I have gotten the sticker at some Massachusetts elections and not at others (including general elections at the same polling location).

I'll have to start shopping for a new district. I've lived in Newton, Somerville, and now Boston and never received one.

Does it count if I convinced a family friend who's a recently naturalized US citizen to vote against Santorum?

I live in PA and voted against Santorum.

Looks like the people of Pennsylvania have woken up and decided enough is enough.

Democrats and Republicans - two cheeks from the same arse in the ongoing and grim farce of American politics.

I voted! And I've got the sticker to prove it! I'll be by in the morning for my candy (that's a joke, silly).

Hmm...Maybe this time the link to my sticker will work.

I walked into Minneapolis' Block e Panchero's for a burrito lunch today and the guy at the register charged me only for the soft drink (iced tea). The burrito was "free" because I was wearing my "I Voted" red sticker on my sweater. What a pleasant surprise! When I voted at 7:45 a.m., about 250 people had already voted at our polling site.

Whatever Socialist. It's flawed but works.

Regarding the inconsistent provision of "I voted" stickers: if you Google "I voted" sticker the ads that pop up will let you buy a roll of 1000 stickers for about $12
(looking at the top sticker from the top linked site), and half that if you buy in serious volume.

It's too late for this year, but if you get a kick from this symbol, and think others will too, $12 ain't much and I'd guess that if you drop off a roll at your polling place next time you vote, the poll workers will be happy to give out the stickers (or let the voters take them).

I miss those snazzy stickers. In SD you just go in and leave, without parting gifts.

And we had a bunch of iffy amendments up, gay rights and all sorts of unions (a broad law), property reassessments, judicial lawsuits, and a legislature reworking (another broad swipe). Then initiated measures on cigarette taxes, school year changes, cell phone taxes, marijuana, government aircraft use, and video lotteries. And, of course, abortion.

I'll have to see what state I'll be in tomorrow.

Unfortunately I didn't really know who most of the people on the ballot were, as all of the ads that I heard were for Minnesota... Patty Wetterling this, Michelle Bachmann that, Amy Klobuchar (or however it's spelled) is evil, and on and on. (I live in western Wisconsin.) I ended up going with a straight D ticket. I knew of Doyle and he's vetoed (or at least promised to) a few icky laws, so I gave him the benefit of the doubt.

Sadly, Wisconsin also had a marriage amendment thing to vote on, which would not only have defined marriage as "one man, one woman," but would have also denied any similar arrangement for other couples. That is, no "civil unions" or anything like that for gays. It also, and this one totally baffles me, had one for instituting the death penalty. That one totally shocked me, as the government site I checked last night only mentioned the marriage one. I don't remember the details for sure, but I think it would have allowed the death penalty for first degree homicide with DNA evidence. Both of those ones got a "No," once I recovered from the shock.

Steve_C:
There should be a national holiday to vote. No one should have to worry about missing work because some blue hair doesn't know how to get the machine to work.

PZ, or another Minnesotan, could correct this ex-Minnesotan if he's wrong, but doesn't Minnesota has some law that employers have to let you go vote? Maybe it was just a policy at the particular company I worked at. (I think they even let you go while you were on the clock!)

Oops, got my "baffled" and "shocked" mixed up... I was shocked to see such a thing on the ballot, and baffled that it wasn't mentioned on the government site.

They're now saying Santorum lost. I checked results, and it was a landslide (70ish/20ish I think).

Yeeahaa - Santorum is down! I just love American democracy:) The idiots can't fool you forever.

Andy:
"Yes, I enjoyed 35% of my paycheck being taken before I ever saw a markka of it - and given that I was on an internship salary, taking 35% of "not much" left me "a lot less than not much.""

And the 35% is not the end of it - VAT is over 20% (and even more for oil & such) so effectively 50% of your paycheck is taken by the government.

What are the major welfare payments in Finland? I'm interested in doing a post about welfare, so I'd rather look at multiple systems.

Santorum lost! Santorum lost!

Yeah, but Allen's apparently going to win.

This just in. Election results for Ohio State Board of Education:

Tom Sawyer at 54% of the vote, winning over Deborah Owens-Fink at 24% of the vote. Owens-Fink has been the "chief creationist" of the BOE here in Ohio. Bye bye Deborah.

I am disappointed in you, Americans. Allen is winning in Virginia, despite being a misogynistic rightwing nutcase. Republicans are winning as well in Tennessee, and have won in Arizona, Nevada. Reps need 4 seats to retain the senate. Sigh!

How is it possible that millions of people in this country are intellectually so blind and so foolish, so as to make the same mistakes over and over?

even more important than sanctorum sucking flames, is that the dems...

control the house again (gained 17 seats so far)!

the all important ways and means committee lost it's two biggest rethuglican fatheads.

it's been a good week so far...

as of 9pm pst, the dems only need 3 more seats to take back the senate too.

Won the Pa-08 race I was out here on, but its close enough to be recounted. Wetterling, as I predicted, was crushed. Told you so.

"Yeah, but Allen's apparently going to win."

Not so; Webb has declared victory, following Bush's 2000 strategy.

Alon levy:
"What are the major welfare payments in Finland? I'm interested in doing a post about welfare, so I'd rather look at multiple systems."

It depends on whether you have been employed in the past or not. If you suddenly become unemployed you still get about 60% of what you used to make a month assuming you have been employed for about a year during the past two years. If you haven't been employed you can get around 200-400⬠a month (250-500$) for pretty much as long as you want plus the local governments help you pay your rent (also generous and the amount depends on whether you live alone, whether you have kids, how big is the rent etc.).

Students are also supported so that you really don't have to work at all or take any loans (some do but that's because they don't know how to use money) for as long as you study.

And then there are generous maternity leave payments, social security payments, benefits for the sick and so on.

Weldon got the boot! Awesome!

And don't let anyone tell you that its a conservative democrat movement that won us the house. It wasn't.

Now if tester and Webb can just eek out their wins through the recounts it'll be an even more brutal loss for the republicans.