Hey, did you vote?

[Taco-Calamitous]

Of the people who are in the US, did you vote? I voted. How I voted probably won't effect any outcome, because I live in Oregon, and it's going to go blue, most likely, but I voted anyway.

There was a dude on Twitter I follow who was gonna burn his ballot in front of the voting place. It probably had the same effect as voting, lol.

Anyway, hi.

[Pete]

We don't vote until Tuesday. I just moved to a new town outside of the city, so I don't know who to vote for. I should probably look into that.

I recently changed my registered party to none, because they all suck in the end.

I also don't like that I don't have to show any ID to vote. That's kinda bullshit to me

[Taco-Calamitous]

Oh yeah, you gotta go vote in person, don't you? We get mailed our ballots, and then we either mail them back in, or drop them off at a drop-off site. Seems to make more sense to me that way. You don't have to dedicate time out of your day to go to a voting station, on probably a work day, that way. I think one of the theories in one of my Poli Sci classes, as to why some people don't vote, was because they had to take time during a working day to stand in line somewhere and vote. It probably does discourage a lot of people.

[Pete]

It usually goes pretty quickly, and polling places are usually schools and community centers. If memory serves me right, they're open from 7am-9pm. In theory, they should be within walking distance from your house.

The weird thing about it though is that teachers still have to show up at the schools, even though the kids have off and election officials and volunteers handle all of the voting procedures, which go on in the gym.

I usually go after work and doesn't take more than 15 minutes. I believe there are special provisions, like allowing you to leave early to vote.

The idea of mailing your ballot is pretty cool though. Do you have to sign it or take some precaution to verify that it's actually your personal vote?

[Taco-Calamitous]

Yeah, you gotta sign the envelope, swearing that you are the person the ballot is supposed to be for, etc. There's also a "ballot secrecy" envelope.

[nix]

What are you lot voting on now?

[Taco-Calamitous]

It's the midterms this year. We're voting on US Senators and Representatives, State Governors, Representatives and Senators, mayors and local officials, and local laws/policy measures. We vote on this stuff every 2 years, although there were a lot of "special elections" the last two years to fill in positions that were vacated, because the person who held it joined the Trump administration, among other reasons.

Some would say we're voting on which local oligarchs get to screw us over, now, lolol.

[Heartless Angel]

I always do. Remember kids, if you don't use your vote, an illegal immigrant will.

[Clint]

Oh yeah, election day was yesterday.

So anyway, no, I didn't vote. I would have, but I'm forgetful about things I don't actually care about. I bought a new mattress yesterday though!

[Pete]

I voted. The school was 2 blocks from my house. There were three people in front of me in line, so I was in and out in about 10 minutes.

I don't really like the new way we do the voting. It's basically a giant Scantron sheet that we fill in with a pen. We stand at little individual tables in a row, with partitions that remind me of urinals. Then we slide our sheet into what looks like a giant paper shredder with a computer screen attached to it. It thanked me for my vote but didn't provide a sticker. I mean, that's the real reason we vote anyway, isn't it?

I like the old way with the actual booth with the heavy curtain, where you actually punched out tabs for your votes, then pulled down a lever. It was like fuck yeah, democracy! This new way is probably a million times easier and more cost effective but very underwhelming.

[nix]

This new way is probably a million times easier and more cost effective but very underwhelming.

Dont worry, it's just as pointless

[Michael Swayne]

I voted absentee, as I do every election day. I don't like to deal with people, and I believe in the last voting thread, I stated how here it isn't as secretive as it should be. Anyway, they sent me the ballot, I filled it out, and mailed it back in. I was a little sad, because I was sent one of those little 3-inch long pencils like usual, and I had to use my own writing utensil. And as usual, it felt like my ballot was counted wrong, because it seems that no one I vote for ever wins. The gas station at the corner near my house did not get their liquor license issue passed, so that was something I actually got correct. It just means that the drunks will have to continue going to the other side of town for their beer. I know, sad face!

[Pete]

So you would rather have a bunch of drunks risk driving across town to get their booze than walk to the local gas station? That seems awfully backward.

Also, I didn't know it was a voting measure to determine if a gas station could sell beer.

[Michael Swayne]

Here in Ohio, businesses that wish to sell alcohol have to apply and make an issue on the ballot. If it passes, they will obtain their license. Then they have to renew every three years or so, and we vote on if that happens as well. For the longest time, my county was dry, and it was only recently when the licenses started getting approved.

[Taco-Calamitous]

So weird to me, the concept of "dry counties." I never experienced such a thing until I was stationed in Arkansas. The base happened to be in a dry county, in fact, although it didn't have to adhere to that. But if you go to the the Jacksonville, AR Walmart, you will not find a beer section, I don't think. Also, in Arkansas, you can't buy beer on Sundays. So friggen' weird.

But yeah. I thought dry counties were only in the South. Seems like a rather conservative value to hinder people from drinking. Certainly not libertarian. The libertarian thing to do would be to allow people to poison their bodies any way they wanted, lolol.

[Pete]

I was in Indiana one time and they had the entire beer/liquor aisle closed off with a rope. The concept of this absolutely blew my mind. Being in the middle of farm county on a Sunday where my football team wasn't playing, I could have used several beers. Oddly enough, when I went to dinner later that day people were served drinks. So it's ok for me to get loaded at dinner, but I couldn't grab a six pack? Just backwards.

I do kind of get the concept of the dry county though. If I lived somewhere with nothing to do, I'd drink all day too

[Heartless Angel]

We have weird laws in Nebraska. Any privately owned retail store can sell booze, but only between 6AM and 1AM Monday-Saturday, but not before noon on Sunday.

Some laws are just weird in general, though. We have a law against whale fishing in Nebraska. There are literally 0 whales in Nebraska, not even in zoos.

[Pete]

Heartless, to be fair, there are some very um, corn fed people in Nebraska.

In New York, I think a lot of the old blue laws were never enforced, except when I was trying to pick up beer before softball before 8am on Sundays. Some 7 Elevens have no problem selling beer whenever, others had a strict 8am rule and one wouldn't sell on Sundays at all.

I am a little jealous of other states that can sell both beer and liquor in a supermarket though. We can buy beer and sometimes shitty wine in a supermarket, but have to go to a separate liquor store if we wanted liquor or wine. Oddly enough, liquor stores don't sell beer, though we also have separate beer distributors, which exclusively sell beer, along with crap like cigarettes and chips