Voting day blog

6:00am -- Alarm rings and radio comes on. News covers decision in SD to prevent Rs from following NAs to parking lots and recording license plate numbers. News also reports decision in OH to reverse 2 lower court rulings on Rs verifying residency. Back to sleep for 1/2 hour.
7:30am -- News, news, and more news. Finally decide on my candidate for IN governor. More bad news out of Iraq; will W go down as the next Teflon president if he wins today?
8:00am -- Head out to polling station. I live less than 1/3 mi from my precinct spot and can see cars already parked in the street. Looks like GOTV really worked this year.
8:15am -- Worked indeed! There must be 350 folks in Lincoln 11's polling station and only 3 voting machines to handle the turnout. One of the clerks implores people not to sign in and then not vote as it will cause the tallies to be incorrect. For the first time ever I wonder if my vote will count.
8:30am -- I see my MIL who left the house an hour and 1/2 earlier than I still in line. She still hasn't voted.
9:00am -- I've called my wife to inform her of the madness. I've also spoken to my family on the east coast. I wonder what it's like in the contested states!
9:30am -- Thinking I might need to cancel my lunch appt in 2 hours. Wish I'd brought my coffee with me.
9:45am -- Clerk again implores people not to sign in and then ditch. This is amazing. The lack of an internet connection is killing me.
10:00am -- The demographic has changed so much I can see the old guard cringing. I'd guess we're looking at a 45/55 D/R constituency. I should've been here at 6am.
10:15am -- Closing in on the 2 hour mark. Democracy 101 is in session and people are in a generally good mood. Folks with kids present are getting to know each other well; folks with physical conditions are sitting down. It seems like community has finally arrived in Lincoln 11. I'm dying to read today's Note.
10:30 -- 45 minutes to go. There's no way we'll know tonight we'll know who has won the White House or the Governor's mansion if others are suffering lines like this one. The polls close at 6pm but it will be 10pm or later before the lines empty out. I bet there's going to be at least 2 days before we know who the next president will be. I wonder how high the turnout will be. 10 million more voters this year? 15 million? Someone actually tried to start a wave. Are folks getting edgy or what?
10:45am -- My wife has arrived and I can see her on the far side of the hall. At least she brought her French language CDs and book. The kids in front and behind me can taste how close we are.
11:00 -- Voted. Off to lunch appt with a former colleague at PeopleSoft. He waited but half an hour to vote this morning.
12:15pm -- Made it to the office and finally got my news fix. Sentiment leaning towards Kerry but who knows? Time to get to work and lay off the news for a bit. Found an interesting site that predicts the electoral college.
1:30pm -- My dedication to work faltered early and have been back searching for news. More and more outlets, websites, and gut reactions say Kerry will win. Back to work for a bit.
2:30pm -- With cookie consumed and coffee in hand, listening to Brother Tavis who has Peter Jennings on to discuss how the networks will not make early calls as they did in 2000. Kerry continues to pull out his lucky charms (the 4-leaf clover from Iowa and his Red Sox cap for starters) and the mood continues to be leaning towards the Ds.
3:45pm -- Another break to check the news; not much has changed. Responded to a NY Times forum asking people to discuss their voting experiences today. Waiting for ATC to hit the airwaves at 4pm.
5:00pm -- Elation. Waiting for the TV news coverage to begin.
7:00pm -- Cautious elation.
8:00pm -- Still waiting for the call but the exit poll data is not holding up to the results. What the heck is going on?
9:00pm -- FL is not headed to Kerry. . .
10:00pm -- Have the public been duped? This thing's going to W; he's got the plurality and the EVs. What about the high turnout? Did the Rs do a better job at GOTV?
11:00pm -- Bush will return. Amazing. Hats off to Rove. He's a genius.
12:30am -- Nobody will call OH but stick a fork in this thing.
3:00am -- Woke up thinking about OH -- it's still not good.
6:30am -- What's the future of the D party? Who will represent in 2008?
8:00am -- Waiting for concession.
2:00pm -- Finit.