I spent 20 years in the military, using absentee ballots only. Since retiring, I have had the privilege of voting in person at a polling place. I feel that there is much less chance of voter fraud. They check my picture ID every time at the polls. When I ask who checks the picture ID of those mail in voters, I get crazed looks and a week explanation that all signatures on mail in ballots are checked against voter registration cards. I am curious about the number of people that the various counties hire that would be able to pass even a rudimentary check as a handwriting expert. If any had to testify in court as to the accuracy of their checks, they would be laughed at by all of the attorneys present (including the judge) and by any members of the jury who were awake.

Vote in person with proper I.D. and vote once.

It seems to me that you have to weigh voting at a polling place against going to a complete absentee system and consider three factors; cost, efficiency and accuracy. If you can give definitive proof that one method or the other is better in all three of those categories, then that is the method you should use. Unlike some of the writers here, I don't think it is something that you need to get all emotional over. You simply have to look at the facts and use the method that is best in the three given criteria [or at least comes the closest]. Since there was wide spread early voting across the nation anyway, there wouldn't seem to be much reason to make everyone wait until the actual voting day to go to the polls to vote. Just mail everyone on the established voting list a ballot and let them have at it. On the other hand, with Washington's really weird ballot system, it might be better to go to the polls so that people who don't understand how to fill out the ballot can get help. On the other hand, you could just move to Oregon and vote simply and sensibly.

at 21 for Hubert Humphrey and have voted in person each time and I would never trade the experience. Obama was only the second person I voted for to win. Clinton the second time around was the first. I guess I back the losers so to speak.

Our real worries should be still focused on are they going to count every vote. Too many forget I think the comments by the King County Auditor at the election four years ago that they never count all the votes. That was the one who kept finding boxes of uncounted votes when Gregoire bought her election for $180,000 she borrowed. Never did hear how or if she paid that back.
I think it would be better if every State was forced to count every last vote before being allowed to release any information to anyone.
And as I mentioned before no one has been elected President, not until the real voting takes place at the Electoral College. They can cast their vote anyway they want, even in total contrast to the popular vote.

The rather obvious solution to the long lines is to offer more voting booths. Especially in this State where one need only ask for the paper ballot there is no reason why a hundred or more can't be marking their ballots at the same time.
Then again why can't all 50 States do as 31 of them do now and open the voting booths for more than one day.
With a population of over 330 million there is no logical reason to force it all into a few hours on one day.
Personally I would like to see the change to a Voting Week and that NO results be released in any State until every single last vote has been counted. Let the talking heads speculate since they love to do just that. The voting system simply needs to update itself to accommodate the larger population, it's just common sense.

is that on the West Coast, people were still casting their votes and Obama had already won!!!

Pierce and King Counties are the only 2 counties in the state that do not have mail-in voting only. How backwards and old-fashioned is that. And, before anyone says I must be young, nope, I'm 55 and have been voting since I turned 18. I got tired of standing in line for 1 to 2 hours or more back in the 80s and have opted for absentee voting since. There are many people who are not afforded the luxury to take off an entire day just to stand in line for 6 hours as was seen in some areas of Pierce and King Counties yesterday. I await the day that there will be nothing but internet voting - that will be the day I will dance a jig. What a waste of paper, manpower, money, etc., to man the polling places and to have paper ballots. We are a family of 3 adults and all 3 of us voted by absentee ballot. The youngest is 22 and the oldest almost 62. Some other reasons I choose not to vote in person: I don't want to deal with the traffic, parking, exit polls, and the people. I prefer to do my voting in the privacy of my home without anyone bothering me - especially those who insist on chit-chatting incessently or to hear those on their cell phones blathering on about some inane subject.

think that voting absenteeism should be a choice. People (for the reasons listed above and more) can't always get to the polls. Those that tough it out in the lines do so for whatever reasons they have. I don't go to the polls for personal reasons. People can be really really cruel and I don't care to subject myself to their cruelty if I can avoid it.

mindirice writes:
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> "dbreneman," what is so negative about people voting by mail?
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1) Most susceptible to fraud. I received a ballot four years ago addressed to by former brother in law, who used to live next door. What would have prevented me from filling it out and returning it? Nobody can validate your identity when you vote by mail. It's rife with fraud and error.
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2) Eliminates a sacred social ritual. There is virtue in the ritual of going to the polls with your neighbors to vote. It is the highest sacrament of our democracy.
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3) Puts one more wedge between people and their neighbors. Years ago, people joined clubs named after animals, held neighborhood potlucks, and interacted with each other in a whole host of ways. Nowadays they sit at home and watch TV or cruise the web. It's a good thing to interact with your neighbors, even if it's only every two years.
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4) Early voters frequently lack all the information (or longer reflection on the information) needed to cast an informed vote. There's no longer a "deadline" for candidates to meet in making their arguments. Results can fluctuate day by day just as polls do.
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That's four just off the top of my head.

It doesn't matter to me because I vote by mail, anyway. If people like waiting in line to vote, let them. I voted yes because it makes more sense to me but to each his own.

If you can't find the time to travel to your local polling station to do your civic duty and vote, perhaps you aren't giving any appreciation to the act itself. It was never meant to be as easy as sending in a ballot through the mail. Voting should be a deliberate act that requires one to show up IN PERSON and physically pull the lever or punch the chad to vote. Voting by mail is a potential fraud in progress and would make it very easy to manipulate ballots. Myself, anytime I hear a "suggestion" from the powers that be that we should ALL vote by mail, the first thing I think about is how easy ballot manipulation would be if we all voted that way.
I don't care what it costs, as the county officials who perpetuate this potential ongoing fraud have no problem spending millions on questionable projects in other areas. Why do they neglect or outright ignore voters like myself who would rather vote at a polling station inside a voting booth IN PERSON like has been done since voting here began?? If they say it's to save money, my B.S. meter indicates they're lying....again. I HATE THE UN-AMERICAN ACT OF VOTING BY MAIL!!!!

Yesterday I had the oppertunity to stand in one of three lines for over an hour to cast my vote. It actually was not that bad. Met some wonderful people, all who understood the reason for the lines. I opted to sit at a table and do my ballot, heck I diddn't mind if someone wanted to look over my shoulder and peek at my answers :) I did not vote for the big O, but I will pray for him,as I do all our leaders.

Instead of mail in voting, a lot of states have "Early" voting. Polls are open two weeks prior to election day. This would be a much better approach. It gives americans a chance to vote on weekends, or when convenient.

can only be viewed as an attempt to force voters to only use mail in voting. This is and should always remain a personal choice- not a "forced" issue because the auditors dept. chooses to limit availability of polling site.

I am pro-choice. That's what America is all about. Choice. If people want to go to the polls, so be it. If we want to mail in our ballots, so be that. I myself have learned to love mail in. But I sure wouldn't want to be told I had no choice in the matter.

Actually - I should have voted NO

Hopefully - President Obama and our Democrats will not make long lines a way of life - and do what is right for the country. I hope and pray he does as well as he sounds. I am definitely a Republican - but didn't become that way until after a good 20 yrs of hard work and swithcing sides in countries around the world when I was in the military and making a living for my family and I.

I have NEVER voted in person as I have always been on the road. With 20 yrs in the military - and now 9 yrs in the contractor world - we just never know where we may be when it comes time to vote. This is the first year I have been home and could have voted - but it was only due to wife being ill so I had to stay home. I almost stopped by the local polling place today as I have never been in one - but it looked pretty quiet - so I did not.

Ladies and Gents - I can tell you first hand - that many countries and peoples from around the WORLD - would love to have even a portion of the freedoms we have here in AMERICA - even with a Democratic President, Congress and House you must make sure you help to keep them in check from removing freedoms we all have, love and should respect. You will not learn to love them as much until you have had them removed. Even the military feels like a 3rd world country at times as you can not do what you want, when you want nor speak the way you want. It has to be that way - AMERICA does not.

Congrats to President Elect OBAMA and for those of you bad mouthing Sen McCain - stop and think - if it were not for him and thousands like him - you would NOT have the right to run your mouth the way you do. GOD BLess AMERICA, Our Soldiers and our citizens.

Bart R. Heimsness
Graham, WA

But it does go a long way towards showing the benefit of having your ballot mailed to you. You get your ballot ahead of time, and can take your time studying it, the voter's pamphlets, your own inclinations, and make up your mind in your own time how to vote. You can mail it in, or drop it off. You have control not only of your vote, but how you vote.
If you don't get your ballot when you expect it, you can take the responsibility to contact the Elections Dept. and find out what the problem is. I was amazed at the number of people wandering into the Library today wondering where they were supposed to go to vote. You don't wait until the evening of Election Day to find that stuff out!

We went to all Mail-In voting in Snohomish County and it stinks. You are no longer connected with the process and there is no guarantee that the postal service will deliver. It is one more layer of filtration which presents one more opportunity for fraud and disenfranchisement.

I would have preferred to vote by mail. But, considering my absentee ballot didn't show up and when I called the Auditor's office I got a full mailbox, I really don't trust all mail-in just yet. I had the pleasure of going to my polling location listed on my voter registration card and voting with a provisional ballot.

You ask me, this is going to be 1976 all over again. We get another relatively newcoming, flash in the pan upstart.

I just hope to God, Obama doesnt turn out to be another Jimmy Carter.

Who cares about McCain and Obama! I wanna hear about the guy I voted for!

I wanna look at those numbers...you know...like, 126 and KNOW that one of those is ME!

HAAAA!!!!

No - long lines make the case for weekend voting.

The polls should open on Saturday morning and close on Sunday night - that would give more people more time to get to the polls. Given that most people work 8-5 on weekdays and many have long commutes, what is up with continuing to hold election day in the middle of the week?

I've been listening to the projected results. When they projected Ohio to Obama, I doubted it. I pulled up Ohio's Sec of State web site and found that the actual votes cast showed McCain leading.
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If you haven't voted, do it. Don't pay any attention to the media.