This morning, we asked for your completely unscientific, anecdotal reportage on how the 2013 vote has been going. It would seem that the wheels of Democracy are turning fairly well, with only a few squeaky glitches here and there! Hurrah for the integrity of the process and all that.
I wouldn't count on that. If they continue to get trounced through 2014 party elders may be able to rein in the TP enough to put him on the ballot. Too many Dems are willing to play footsie with that clown for my comfort...
DeBlasio's critics talking point this morning seems to be "he only one because his kids are black," with special mention made of deBlasio's son's cool-as-fuck afro.
Only a very small smattering of campaign signage around here in recent weeks, despite the fact that we had a number of contested local races. At the polling place I was asked to identify myself. I stated my name, and the poll worker promptly found my page in the sign-in registry. The identity check consisted of having me sign next to my name, and then comparing my signature in the book to the one that I provided when I voted last year, which took all of about 1.5 seconds. I love living in a state (NY) where sanity about such things is the norm (usually). Since this is a very small town, the worker of course recognized me, so I'm sure that helped too. As always there was a very courteous and friendly attendant stationed at every optical scanner and mine politely showed me how to feed in my marked ballot. Quick and easy.
But it keeps your marked ballot as a physical record of your vote(s). Not like those other jurisdictions where it's all touch-screen and the only evidence of your vote is a stream of ones and zeroes bouncing around somewhere in the circuitry. And although the little screen on the scanner doesn't display each one of your choices (where the poll worker could also see them), it does inform you whether or not you cast a valid ballot. So no Florida-style worries that your ballot will later be discarded as "spoiled" and your vote invalidated.
Your marked ballot, which the machine keeps, is the backup. Something physical that you, the voter, actually touched and marked yourself. In indelible black ink, so there is no ambiguity about what you marked and no possibility of alteration or erasure. The scanner also verifies right there and then that you cast a valid ballot, indicating that the election board fully accepts your vote and cannot invalidate it on some technical basis later. In the event of a manual recount, there will be no dispute over whether or not your ballot was properly marked with your vote and no possibility that it will be deemed to be "spoiled." Your marked paper ballot, and not the machine's optical read of it, is the final authoritative record of your vote.
Pre-election polls of rural, conservative voters are notoriously unreliable because that segment of the population is mistrustful of pollsters. To the extent that they cooperate with the poll at all they often give answers that don't reflect how they will actually vote.
Then there's the sampling issue. With a small, thinly concentrated and widely dispersed population that isn't all that inclined to cooperate with you in the first place, it is difficult to get a truly representative sample. Even the best polls have difficulty getting an accurate estimate of the turnout of this population segment.
It is not uncommon to see actual vote results that are much tighter than the polls predicted when the electorate in question is so cleanly divided between a sizable conservative rural segment and an equally large moderate-liberal leaning urban segment. It is easy to get consistent pre-election poll results from a concentrated population that generally cooperates with surveys, but who may not end up getting out to vote in high numbers on Election Day due to a number of factors, and more difficult to get them from a widely dispersed population that has far fewer impediments to voting on Election Day but which is more difficult for pollsters to contact and who even then may not provide completely truthful responses in pre-election polls.
I wouldn't count on that. If they continue to get trounced through 2014 party elders may be able to rein in the TP enough to put him on the ballot. Too many Dems are willing to play footsie with that clown for my comfort...
DeBlasio's critics talking point this morning seems to be "he only one because his kids are black," with special mention made of deBlasio's son's cool-as-fuck afro.
That's because they're retreating at high speed.
I'd prefer T'Pol.
yeah but i love that italian beef.
Only a very small smattering of campaign signage around here in recent weeks, despite the fact that we had a number of contested local races. At the polling place I was asked to identify myself. I stated my name, and the poll worker promptly found my page in the sign-in registry. The identity check consisted of having me sign next to my name, and then comparing my signature in the book to the one that I provided when I voted last year, which took all of about 1.5 seconds. I love living in a state (NY) where sanity about such things is the norm (usually). Since this is a very small town, the worker of course recognized me, so I'm sure that helped too. As always there was a very courteous and friendly attendant stationed at every optical scanner and mine politely showed me how to feed in my marked ballot. Quick and easy.
And then it's impossible to get a table at a restaurant at 4 pm without a reservation.
Tax it and the state will have trouble finding ways to spend that tsunami of revenue.
But it keeps your marked ballot as a physical record of your vote(s). Not like those other jurisdictions where it's all touch-screen and the only evidence of your vote is a stream of ones and zeroes bouncing around somewhere in the circuitry. And although the little screen on the scanner doesn't display each one of your choices (where the poll worker could also see them), it does inform you whether or not you cast a valid ballot. So no Florida-style worries that your ballot will later be discarded as "spoiled" and your vote invalidated.
Your marked ballot, which the machine keeps, is the backup. Something physical that you, the voter, actually touched and marked yourself. In indelible black ink, so there is no ambiguity about what you marked and no possibility of alteration or erasure. The scanner also verifies right there and then that you cast a valid ballot, indicating that the election board fully accepts your vote and cannot invalidate it on some technical basis later. In the event of a manual recount, there will be no dispute over whether or not your ballot was properly marked with your vote and no possibility that it will be deemed to be "spoiled." Your marked paper ballot, and not the machine's optical read of it, is the final authoritative record of your vote.
Just as well, since he would have blown the whole budget on rum anyway.
Pre-election polls of rural, conservative voters are notoriously unreliable because that segment of the population is mistrustful of pollsters. To the extent that they cooperate with the poll at all they often give answers that don't reflect how they will actually vote.
Then there's the sampling issue. With a small, thinly concentrated and widely dispersed population that isn't all that inclined to cooperate with you in the first place, it is difficult to get a truly representative sample. Even the best polls have difficulty getting an accurate estimate of the turnout of this population segment.
It is not uncommon to see actual vote results that are much tighter than the polls predicted when the electorate in question is so cleanly divided between a sizable conservative rural segment and an equally large moderate-liberal leaning urban segment. It is easy to get consistent pre-election poll results from a concentrated population that generally cooperates with surveys, but who may not end up getting out to vote in high numbers on Election Day due to a number of factors, and more difficult to get them from a widely dispersed population that has far fewer impediments to voting on Election Day but which is more difficult for pollsters to contact and who even then may not provide completely truthful responses in pre-election polls.
When in doubt, I try to figure out which side the assholes are on, and vote the other way.
Fair's fair -- this was the Dems getting even for that GOP plant, Ralph Nader.
No worries -- it'll be a cold day in hell when the GOP wins on the Upper West Side.
Shouldn&#039;t be too hard for the Republicans to spin tonight&#039;s results. <a href="http://i1115.photobucket.co..." target="_blank">" rel="nofollow noopener" title="http://i1115.photobucket.com/albums/k551/denniver...">http://i1115.photobucket.co...