The most disturbing election related item I have heard today...

[phrogpilot73]

I heard one of my coworkers today state that he was probably not going to vote because he would have to wait in line for possibly 1-2 hours. He also said that if he was waiting in line for 20 minutes, then he was willing to do that. This bothered me deeply.

The night before the first Iraqi election, as a Marine Helicopter pilot, I was tasked with transporting election workers and ballots all across the Al Anbar province because it was too dangerous for them to travel via roads. I ended up flying for 8 hours that night, moving election workers and ballots until the wee hours of the morning. These election workers had their lives threatened, and when one of the election workers got on board my helicopter he was very animated and was trying to communicate to my crewchief. At first I thought he was so animated because his life had been threatened, or because it was the first time he had ever flown on a helicopter, or even perhaps because it was 3 am and he was tired. When he finally was able to break the language barrier with my crewchief, he wanted to know where the ballots were. He was more concerned about the ballots than his own life.

The next morning, I listened on my shortwave radio as Iraqis waited in line for hours, their lives threatened as well, with indirect fire attacks on a number of polling places, so they had an opportunity to vote. I'm sure everyone here has seen the pictures of Iraqis with their ink-stained fingers, beaming with ear-to-ear smiles because they were finally given the opportunity to vote.

I don't care if you're a Democrat, Republican, or Independent. I don't care if you vote for Obama, McCain, Nader, or write in your next door neighbor. Hundreds of thousands of men and women have paid the ultimate sacrifice throughout the history of this country in order to guarantee that we are able to vote freely, and it is a right that make no mistake is envied throughout the world. Go out and vote, no matter how long the lines. Enjoy the freedoms that have been provided for you by participating in the election.

[webmaster]

From everything I heard in MD the lines weren't too bad at least in the morning.

[ENSFINLEY]

Originally Posted by webmaster

From everything I heard in MD the lines weren't too bad at least in the morning.

Georgia hasn't been bad either... I think the news is driving around looking for the pooling stations with the longest lines and reporting as if that is the norm for all stations.

[webmaster]

Did anyone see the news report from Fox? Something about people with night sticks threatening voters

[eswsswo]

There was a report about a man in a Black Panthers suit holding a stick and threatening people in Philly I think it was. The cops came and removed him though.

[yoshi]

yeah - there's a video of it on youtube when the two guys are approached by a guy with a cell phone camera. breitbart has the follow on video of the police approaching the two guys a little bit later. it was really pretty funny, actually. as for the voting, i really like voting in the military. all i have to do is fill out my ballot and mail it in. this is a huge time saver come election day.