What's the haps?

[Parn]

I am looking forward to the massive amounts of butt hurt that will be exhibited on Fox News and conservative talk radio as Obama is re-elected.  The electoral math never favored Romney, ever, since the Republican party continues down a losing path of catering to a dwindling demographic.

[Bytor]

I remember as a kid staying up to see who our next president was, I was always excited and enthralled. I have to admit while i am still somewhat curious I don't care that much, I wonder if I'm jaded or simply apathetic, or what. having said that I probably will watch the coverage until the results are announced.

[Starmongoose]

I smell like smoke from last night. Twas a good night.

[dyeager]

I remember as a kid staying up to see who our next president was, I was always excited and enthralled. I have to admit while i am still somewhat curious I don't care that much, I wonder if I'm jaded or simply apathetic, or what. having said that I probably will watch the coverage until the results are announced.

I always enjoy watching. But then again I used to play Fantasy Congress regularly.

[MeshGearFox]

Just voted. Not gonna say who I voted for but I will say that they had a funny name.

Also man, I'm getting Build a Bear ads on RPGFan. What sucks about build a bear is that some times they get in adorable little motherfuckers like that plush seahorse and I'm like shit I want that. ExceptI can't get it because it's build a bear and there's this whole fucking process and I can't just like grab a thing, pay for it, and leave, before anyone things I'm a pedo or w/e.

[Starmongoose]

I have a plush seahorse, Seabiscuit. :D He's cute. I know what you mean about feeling like a pedo though. x.x I just like cute things damn it, and kids are not cute.

[Alisha]

time to vote for the big O again.
IT'S SHOWTIME!

[Starmongoose]

There are ads for the American election over here. WHY. This is madness.

It's like the bloody X-Factor.

[Kevadu]

Washington state does all voting with mail-in ballots.  It's really pretty awesome.  I can vote on my time, and take as long as I want to actually research the candidates (sure I knew who I was voting for President, but for some of the smaller local positions I really didn't know anything about them), and there's no finding polling centers, waiting in lines, etc.

Why don't all states do it this way?  It's just better.

[dyeager]

I have to walk a block and a half to my polling location here in Delaware. Truly I live in the dark ages.

I do sympathize with the research issue - I am kind of a politics and legal process junkie but I absolutely get that most folks are not. These days though, with all of the google tools available that pull up sample ballots for you and aggregate the candidates and their websites, plus Project Votesmart, etc - there are more resources then ever and certainly plenty of time to put together a cheat sheet.

[Dincrest]

I believe Oregon does all voting with mail-in ballots too.  I think that's better than the "go to polling place and funk around with wonky machines" because people are lazy and/or find going out of their way to a polling place an inconvenience.  I think all states should do mail-in ballots. 

And, yes, I voted today. 

[dyeager]

Just bear in mind that there are real legit fraud possibilities with mail in voting. There are plenty of places on the internets I'm sure you can find in seconds that explain some of the ways fraud can happen with mail in voting vs. in person polling - not to say it can't happen with the latter, just that mail in voting offers even more opportunities for it.

I bring this up as the reason many states haven't switched to it, not that it is necessarily bad.

[Dincrest]

I've been reading that some of the touchscreens on haphazardly built tablet-style voting machines had trouble registering votes.  Like the guy, whose video is going viral, who kept pressing the Obama option, but it kept highlighting Romney; and when he highlighted Jill Stein, it was fine.  So the picture is being painted of the "biased machine." 

Both mail-in and in-person have their drawbacks, but I think Mail-In= more votes because it casts a wider net of responders.  Will there be skewed and perhaps fraudulent votes?  Absolutely.  What is statistics without outliers, variations, and deviations? 

[dyeager]

I've been reading that some of the touchscreens on haphazardly built tablet-style voting machines had trouble registering votes.  Like the guy, whose video is going viral, who kept pressing the Obama option, but it kept highlighting Romney; and when he highlighted Jill Stein, it was fine.  So the picture is being painted of the "biased machine." 

Both mail-in and in-person have their drawbacks, but I think Mail-In= more votes because it casts a wider net of responders.  Will there be skewed and perhaps fraudulent votes?  Absolutely.  What is statistics without outliers, variations, and deviations? 

Well, this isn't an either/or circumstance. All methods currently available have drawbacks and security holes that make fraud possible.

The point I'm making is simply that mail in voting is far more susceptible to fraud. Both are susceptible, but most of the prevailing evidence suggests very strongly that mail in voting, like they have in Oregon, is way more vulnerable.

I'm not advocating getting rid of it or anything, and I'm certainly not suggesting in person polling is anywhere close to perfect.

[Annubis]

If the US decides it doesn't want Obama, just send him our way.
We'll gladly take him in Canada.