Obama In Ohio Encouraging Early Voting - Avoid The Lines and Republican Goons!

[Median Democrat]

It is great how much Obama is not only campaigning, but encouraging people to excercise their right to vote. This also helps avoid Republican efforts to initimidate and harass voters. The election does not just take place on November 4th. Voting has already begun!

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/10/10/obama_encourages_early_voting.html

/snip

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Barack Obama wrapped up two days of campaigning here in Ohio with something you don't often hear at a pre-election rally: Go vote. Right now.

"Right across the street," Obama told a crowd of thousands in a downtown park along the river.

Ohio is one of several states across the country where anyone is allowed to vote early, and everywhere Obama and his supporters campaigned over the last two days, they urged their partisans to vote before Nov. 4.

"If you haven't voted, you can go in this courthouse and vote," Gov. Ted Strickland told a morning crowd in Chillicothe in southeastern Ohio. That way, he said, supporters can spend Election Day "getting other people to vote.''

Obama had similar encouragement for about 750 volunteers he met at a daylong training seminar at the Columbus Convention Center. The room of mostly 20-something campaign workers erupted into cheers and screams when Obama entered, according to the pool report from reporters who accompanied him, as people stood on chairs and tables to get a better look.

/snip

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

1. "Avoid the lines!"

That's classic.

[MikeE]

2. My parents are in OH

and they have already voted.

[Dem_4_Life]

3. "Go vote. Right now. Right across the street"

I love it!

:applause:

[kenny blankenship]

4. This isn't absentee voting is it?

Early and absentee are not the same thing I know, but I heard the Democracy Now interview with Greg Palast and RFK, Jr. which warned strongly against absentee voting. Palast claimed that some states are requiring items like photo id and other documents to accompany absentee ballots when those voters are newly registered, and deliberately not informing voters of all the requirements. The Repukes make sure that their absentee voters are informed of every additional requirement, but Democrats are not on the ball. Absentee voters who fail to jump through all the hidden hoops will simply not have their votes counted Palast claimed. Millions of votes will not be counted he said, and many of the newly registered will be defrauded of their vote by intentionally obscure rules.

[Berry Cool]

5. Let me describe to you my early voting experience in Cuyahoga County, Ohio.

I did it at the Board of Elections last Monday, after work.

Here's how it worked. I filled out a form and stood in a line, waiting to sit down with a person with a computer (there was a whole bank of these people to attend to us, and we had to stand in line until one of these people was freed up to take us). I sat down with the person I was sent to, and that person checked my registration information online. I had her change the address on my registration because I had moved. She had me fill out and sign two forms, because she had to give me two ballots--as a separate ballot was required for the special election to replace Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones, whose district I live in. It was all very "by the book"--in one place I'd neglected to check a box on a form, and she pointed this out to me so I could check it. She then gave me the two paper ballots (Cuyahoga votes on paper now, even on Election Day) along with two envelopes--one for each election, clearly marked as such (I had to put each ballot in its appropriate envelope when done) and sent me to the carrels to mark my ballots. There were plenty of these carrels.

When finished, I folded each ballot as I had been instructed, put it in the proper envelope (the envelopes had shaded-in registration information I'd had to supply on the outside), sealed it, then took both envelopes to a clearly marked gray metal locked box and dropped them in the slot. Done.

Oh, and by the way, I am a registered Democrat. I was not asked for photo ID or any documents. I was informed of all requirements to the letter as I went along, and followed them.

That was my experience. I was satisfied with it, and feel I have every reason to believe my vote will be counted.