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"They Keep Voting!"
Mar. 5th, 2008 11:25 pmLast night I went out to the local elementary school to caucus. It was mass chaos and the precinct chairs were all new and didn't know what to do. There were three precincts voting at the school, and it seemed there were about 150 people from each precinct there to caucus. Once we were allowed into the cafeteria, we quickly filled all available space, and all the little tables and chairs.
Actually, someone let us in to early, and the precinct chairs were not ready for us. Immediately one very fervent supporter of her candidate was in the grill of her precinct chair saying she was told to "watch out for irregularities and attempts by the precinct chair to disenfranchise her!" It got tense between the two - I guess it makes one understand why no-one wants to volunteer for these jobs - but the precinct chair did a smart thing by asking the ready-to-be-disenfranchised woman to help her validate the voters with her. She was very happy about that.
When we got into the cafeteria at 7:15 the regular voting was still going on. The people in line at 7 hadn't gotten through. Until the primary voting was finished, we had to wait. (side note, the Republican chair came outside a few minutes before 7 to see if anyone was trying to turn away Republican voters from the primary. He looked very sad when he discovered there were no Republican voters waiting for their precinct meeting, period.)
While we waited, little groups began to form and I got to know some of my neighbors. I didn't see anyone from our complex, but met several people from the neighborhood behind me. it seemed that most were going for Obama.
We finally got the voting roles so everyone could check in at 8:15. Everyone there had to show that they voted in the primary. Once you were verified you signed a sheet giving who you were voting for. It wasn't like Iowa where to tried to convince everyone to come to your side. If you didn't care about selecting delegates for the county convention, you could leave.
i decided to stay to see how the vote would turn out, and how the delegates were chosen. All of the Obama supporters for our Precinct got together and chose delegates and alternates, and so did the Clinton group. It was announced at around 9:30 that we would send 9 delegates for Obama and 5 for Clinton. I was chosen as an alternate delegate, but it's doubtful that I'll be chosen since I'm so far down the line. There were many Obama volunteers. Most of Clinton's camp had left, and they were struggling to convince 5 people to volunteer.
As we know now, the state didn't go for Obama like our little county did. It's a disappointment, but it was still pretty close. I'm not mad, or incensed or even that bummed out about it, though it did get a little tedious watching the results on CNN. It happened, and now it's done - here.
What sucks the most is that this primary season will continue on for weeks. I wish one of the candidates would have broken out and we could call this a day, but unfortunately there's 7 week until Pensylvania votes. I'm sorry for you guys who will have to see these two campaign for weeks now.
Personally, I'm glad it's done for here, and I did what I could. No more calls or ads. Now we get to see if the long slog will hurt the Democrats chances this fall, or if it will do the opposite, keeping McCain out of the news and building a stronger candidate. Certainly there will be some bloodied noses out there before it's over.
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Otherwise, Project Runway - I didn't even watch tonight. I knew who they would pick. Meh. I wasn't really interested in any of the final three. Bring on Top Chef.
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I took a few pictures of the caucus, but let's just say I'm no photojournalist. It's just a bunch of people standing around. I need to work on composition more.
___________________________________________________
Also, the title of this post comes from a sound clip that they often use on the Michaelangelo Signorelli Show on Sirius. It's Hillary Clinton saying, "they keep voting!" Sounding like she's suprised. I'd love to know where that clip came from. Given that we voted twice, and it looks like Florida and Michigan may vote again, I guess that clip will get a lot of use.
Actually, someone let us in to early, and the precinct chairs were not ready for us. Immediately one very fervent supporter of her candidate was in the grill of her precinct chair saying she was told to "watch out for irregularities and attempts by the precinct chair to disenfranchise her!" It got tense between the two - I guess it makes one understand why no-one wants to volunteer for these jobs - but the precinct chair did a smart thing by asking the ready-to-be-disenfranchised woman to help her validate the voters with her. She was very happy about that.
When we got into the cafeteria at 7:15 the regular voting was still going on. The people in line at 7 hadn't gotten through. Until the primary voting was finished, we had to wait. (side note, the Republican chair came outside a few minutes before 7 to see if anyone was trying to turn away Republican voters from the primary. He looked very sad when he discovered there were no Republican voters waiting for their precinct meeting, period.)
While we waited, little groups began to form and I got to know some of my neighbors. I didn't see anyone from our complex, but met several people from the neighborhood behind me. it seemed that most were going for Obama.
We finally got the voting roles so everyone could check in at 8:15. Everyone there had to show that they voted in the primary. Once you were verified you signed a sheet giving who you were voting for. It wasn't like Iowa where to tried to convince everyone to come to your side. If you didn't care about selecting delegates for the county convention, you could leave.
i decided to stay to see how the vote would turn out, and how the delegates were chosen. All of the Obama supporters for our Precinct got together and chose delegates and alternates, and so did the Clinton group. It was announced at around 9:30 that we would send 9 delegates for Obama and 5 for Clinton. I was chosen as an alternate delegate, but it's doubtful that I'll be chosen since I'm so far down the line. There were many Obama volunteers. Most of Clinton's camp had left, and they were struggling to convince 5 people to volunteer.
As we know now, the state didn't go for Obama like our little county did. It's a disappointment, but it was still pretty close. I'm not mad, or incensed or even that bummed out about it, though it did get a little tedious watching the results on CNN. It happened, and now it's done - here.
What sucks the most is that this primary season will continue on for weeks. I wish one of the candidates would have broken out and we could call this a day, but unfortunately there's 7 week until Pensylvania votes. I'm sorry for you guys who will have to see these two campaign for weeks now.
Personally, I'm glad it's done for here, and I did what I could. No more calls or ads. Now we get to see if the long slog will hurt the Democrats chances this fall, or if it will do the opposite, keeping McCain out of the news and building a stronger candidate. Certainly there will be some bloodied noses out there before it's over.
_____________________________________________
Otherwise, Project Runway - I didn't even watch tonight. I knew who they would pick. Meh. I wasn't really interested in any of the final three. Bring on Top Chef.
_____________________________________________
I took a few pictures of the caucus, but let's just say I'm no photojournalist. It's just a bunch of people standing around. I need to work on composition more.
___________________________________________________
Also, the title of this post comes from a sound clip that they often use on the Michaelangelo Signorelli Show on Sirius. It's Hillary Clinton saying, "they keep voting!" Sounding like she's suprised. I'd love to know where that clip came from. Given that we voted twice, and it looks like Florida and Michigan may vote again, I guess that clip will get a lot of use.
