Voting In NYC Has Now Become Ridiculously Complicated

[Me.]

Used to be you go in , sign your name, pull the lever. Today was long lines and chaos. Get in very long line to sign and get ballot, wait for a 'booth' to fill out ballot, get in line to scan ballot. They just had to fix what wasn't broken. I noticed the waits were really hard on seniors.

[Enthusiast]

1. That was the objective. Ridiculously complicated! Chaos! Long lines!

The GOP must restrict voting if they are to win. And they have successfully restricted voting. In every contested state Republicans have taken action to make voting harder in some manner.

We requested an absentee ballots here in Ohio. My wife received her's but mine did not arrive. We waited a few days then questioned the board of elections about my ballot. They said, "Well, we accidentally sent yours to someone else. They returned them to us. We will send it right out to you." I found this just a tad suspicious. My wife is registered as a Republican because she worked in a political office for a while. She did this because she had to vote in Republican primaries to support the office holder. It is well known that I'm a liberal dirty hippie.

[No Elephants]

2. New York City is under Bloomberg, who endorsed Obama, and New York State, whose Governor is a Dem.

[Me.]

4. True

But we were forced to make the change despite our objections and threats of penalties and lawsuits for this congressional mandate. We were the last state to change over under duress due to a gov, mandate. My question while standing in lone was 'which lobbyist's money forced this change on us'/

[No Elephants]

5. I was only replying to a statement implying that Republicans caused your wait.

I don't think we can keep blaming everything on Republicans.

I don't even think we should. I think it's dangerous to our own best interests to do that.

Because, in the end, this society should not be about Republicans or Democrats, or even about Republicans AND Democrats.

It should be about us.

And that is what both Democrats and Republicans hope we will forget. That is why they play divide and conquer to the max. "Oooooh. Romney said this about Obama. Donate to Obama." {"Oooh. Obama said this about Romney. Donate to Romney."

I even got annoyed when people started talking about a bi-partisan response to Hurricane Sandy.

Hurricanes are not bi-partisan. They are non-partisan. Tax money is not bi-partisan. It is non-partisan.

We should not be thrilled simply because a Republican and a Democrat manage to get along long enough use our non-partisan tax money to help some of us out when some of us are in dire straits.

A totally non-partisan use of our non-partisan tax money for our benefit should be a matter of course, not something we swoon over.

And Lord knows, a disaster that will cost us billions of our non-partisan tax dollars should not be used to help a Democrat win re-election as President in 2012 or a Republican continue his self-serving campaign for election as President in 2016.

We need to wake up and demand better from both Democrats and Republicans. Indeed, from all politicians and politician wannabes, Democratic, Republican or third party.

But, I digress. I was not responding to your OP about your wait in general. I was responding only to a specific statement that your wait was due to Republican vote suppression.

[Me.]

6. I Wasn't Pointing A Finger At Pubs Specifically

But Congress directly and the lobbyist money that was at the root of everyone having to change their voting machines. NYS fought hard against for a couple of years but was eventually forced to give in to a less efficient and less safe system. And yes I was Lucky for only having to wait 1 1/2 hours but some of the seniors in line had a VERY hard tome.

[No Elephants]

7. Dupe.

[No Elephants]

8. I know you weren't. My Reply #2 was not a reply to your OP. My Reply #3 was my only reply to

your OP.

Also, in Replying to your OP, I meant that you've been lucky in prior elections, when you did not have to wait at all.

I have never had that experience in a Presidential election. I just consider myself lucky when most of my wait is indoors and I don't have to stand outside in Boston in November.

Had election day been the day of Sandy or during the nor'easter that we got right after Sandy, I think I would have stayed home, much as I love voting.

But, I don't think you can even blame only lobbyists. All lobbyists can do is try to influence legislators. Lobbyists have no power to enact a single law--and they have no duty to represent the public, either. Their only duty is to their employers.

In the end, the responsiblity is on the shoulders of the greedy legislators who actually enact laws. And the executive who signs the laws.

[No Elephants]

3. You've been very luck Me.

In 2004, I waited for 4 hours, at least half of that outside in the pouring rain, to vote in Boston, whose Mayor is a Democrat. (Same Mayor for almost 20 years, unfortunately.)

Today, with a Democratic Governor and the same Mayor, it was only over an hour and I considered myself blessed. Then again, I purposely chose a time when I thought I would get through the line quickest.

I have had to wait on line to vote in New Jersey, New York and Massachusetts since I was 21.