(no subject)

[redbird]

We voted this morning, as usual. There was a line out the door of the
polling place, but an Obama volunteer told us that that line was to find
out which election district you were in, and if you knew that you could
walk into the building and get in your E.D.'s line. (Election districts
are a purely administrative thing, and determine which voting machine
you're sent to; there are four or so in my polling place.) So we walked
in, via the side door, and got into the line for the 66th E.D. There,
someone explained that it was two lines, A-L here, M-Z over there. So
cattitude stayed put, and I went to what turned out to be a
much shorter line. I was out in five minutes, with voter number 80 for
my machine; it took him half an hour, and he was 124. In an off-year
election, we'll be around 21 or 22; in 2004 it was the low 40s. Since
this combined those two, call me 160 and him 200. Four to eight times
the usual turnout, if the day continues like this. I let the woman
behind me go ahead of me, because she was fretting about being late, and
I figured one minute wouldn't matter.



When I got here, I sent around an all-staff email about Election Day
freebies, mentioning ice cream (Ben and Jerry's, 5-8 today), Starbucks
coffee, and donuts, and then "there's more, look around online" because
it doesn't feel appropriate or comfortable to tell umpteen co-workers
that Babeland is giving away sex toys.



Note that these are turnout numbers for New York City, where we're all
assuming Obama will win big, and in a district where nobody seriously
thinks the member of Congress, state senate, or state assembly are
close.