I voted at 6:00am, on an old-fangled, lever based, circa 1950 machine.
The lines were quick, and the little old ladies who were the poll watchers were simply adorable.
My contribution to the electoral process was that one of the old dears dropped her glasses, and the lens went skittering across the floor. I managed to pop it back into her frame.
Democracy saved.
In any great organization it is far, far safer to be wrong with the majority than to be right alone. —John Kenneth Galbraith
Asian currencies continue to sell off vs the $ on the heels of the news yesterday that South Korea said they will look into hot money inflows stemming from the $ carry trade and the Bank of Indonesia said they are looking into the foreign buying of bills. This follows the news a few weeks ago that Taiwan was limiting foreign deposit holdings and Brazil was taxing foreign inflow transactions. As I mentioned yesterday, we may have reached a short term pain threshold in terms of $ weakness and foreign countries are fighting back as they certainly won't wait for...
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November 4th, 2008 at 6:51 am
I voted already too. No lines (of course this Vermont). old school machine.
It’s time for a new generation to take the reins of America…
Bye Bye Baby Boomers!
Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.
November 4th, 2008 at 7:02 am
I voted by mail in Calif. last week. It’s the modern way to vote
November 4th, 2008 at 7:23 am
This stock market rally sure makes everyone feel a little better before they go vote.
November 4th, 2008 at 7:32 am
I was there to vote a little before 6AM and there was a line out the door. At least it moved VERY quickly and I was out in < 10 min.
As a non-Democrat in Massachusetts, my vote doesn’t really matter on most things, but at least I got to vote to eliminate the state income tax and to de-criminalize marijuana!
HCF
November 4th, 2008 at 7:55 am
If Clinton wouldn’t have made it so hard in industry with his environmental laws and outrageously high taxes, maybe the little old lady would have a solid pair of glasses. (<=== weeks left of comments like this)
November 4th, 2008 at 8:09 am
line was way too long to try and get a vote in before work. The polls only open at 7:00 am, I am hoping to make it back before they close…southwest Florida here…
November 4th, 2008 at 9:03 am
I voted weeks ago by absentee ballot. I am working in a “swing state” (Pennsylvania) and I am hoping to stay up late enough that I find out the results of the national election. Unfortunately, I have to be at work early tomorrow morning. So I may not have the luxury.
Having said that, I suspect (am hoping) that this election will turn out to be cathartic.
November 4th, 2008 at 9:04 am
My wife is there right now. Am going in about an hour or two. Personally, I can’t wait to vote this year far more than any other year. Our long national nightmare is nearly over.
November 4th, 2008 at 9:53 am
Cant say enough how cool it is to be able to mail in or drop off your own vote…
I like the system out here in Washington State.
I-Man voted last week…
November 4th, 2008 at 10:42 am
Voted by weeks ago in CA. Something about the voting experience, fraught though it is, leaves one feeling hopeful. Maybe the positive sentiment in these first few comments reflects a shift in sentiment that will carry over into the markets and economies of the world. There’s lots to be grateful for and hopeful about.
November 4th, 2008 at 10:55 am
My pop is one of those adorable old folks who volunteer every election cycle… I’ll have to see if I can find my registration card (it’s in my ‘valuable documents’ pile :p)
November 4th, 2008 at 11:09 am
Interesting rally today…
What is this?
By the rumor (Obama) sell the news (Obama wins) ???
And where the hell is everybody???
Its like the regulars didnt make the move over to the new site… I miss everybody. Its about time for John Borchers to make a QID sucks post isnt it?
Oh well, maybe once the election is over we can all get back to talking the market again.
BTW, Lefty, I think today would be a good day to cover on my short VIX Nov 70 calls. Still recommending staying long the indices (SPY, QQQQ, DIA) and short the yen (FXY) tho.
Todays move in GLD is a little surprising, I would’ve called that the other way.
November 4th, 2008 at 11:27 am
I voted but I would have felt a lot better about it if it *was* on an “old-fangled, lever based, circa 1950 machine”. Unfortunately, it was on one of those “new-fangled, touch-screen, digital machines – which makes me nervous.
November 4th, 2008 at 11:35 am
I-Man:
The GLD move is probably the crazies expecting armageddon if Obama wins, e.g.
http://blogs.chron.com/texaspolitics/archives/2008/11/state_official.html
and that is one of the sane ones. I know someone in a quiet suburb who is probably stocked up on gold, guns and canned goods.
My daughter back at our house in New Orleans said that a neigborhood grocery was stocked up on Corbell and joked that she would make sure that her Obama sign was prominently displayed tonight. I told her it should have the same effects as lamb’s blood on the door
November 4th, 2008 at 11:38 am
Voted in NM last week. We still fill in the circles. With a #2 of course. We’re a poor state.
November 4th, 2008 at 11:48 am
Mike in NOLA:
Thats some crazy shit right there buddy… where do you find this stuff???
http://blogs.chron.com/texaspolitics/archives/2008/11/state_official.html
November 4th, 2008 at 11:56 am
I miss those big old machines in NYC. You really felt like you were voting when you clicked the little switches and then pulled that big level to record your vote.
The machines we use in our little CA suburb are small and awkward and not at all fun. At least they’re not made by Diebold though.
November 4th, 2008 at 12:08 pm
stood in line for about 25 minutes outside the door on a crisp but nice day here in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, which is the tightest county in terms of R vs D makeup in the country. Pushed the Barack button and by doing so voted for a democrat for the first time in my life.
November 4th, 2008 at 12:09 pm
I-Man
Just read The Chronicle. Texas is a strange mix: much of Houston is pretty liberal-intellectual, e.g. a year or so ago there was a night with Seymour Hersh.I imagine Austin is similar. Yet, in a lot of the state the wacko’s rule. They have 3 fundamentalists on the textbook selection committee and a law that allows teaching a bible course in school as a “history” subject. So the Chronicle usually has some interesting stuff.
Some is so wild you wonder whether it’s toungue-in-cheek:
http://www.chron.com/commons/persona.html?newspaperUserId=jreynolds&plckController=PersonaBlog&plckScript=personaScript&plckElementId=personaDest&plckPersonaPage=BlogViewPost&plckPostId=Blog%3ajreynoldsPost%3a589f5900-cf9e-458e-abb7-285458815366
November 4th, 2008 at 12:26 pm
Just voted here in Minneapolis. About an hour+ wait. Not bad. The line was long but moved pretty efficiently. Miss the old lever machines as well. Ours was filling the circles with a pen and then putting the ballot in a counting machine.
Like I predicted months ago, the turnout for this election is going to be insanely high (for the U.S.). People are storming the polls in big numbers, mostly to repudiate the GOP.
November 4th, 2008 at 5:14 pm
Found my card, voted (the main vote was against my house rep, as he voted _for_ the bailouts).. Very pleasant, considering it was after my late lunch…
November 5th, 2008 at 6:10 am
yep, Voting was interesting, I went @~15:00, thinking that the lunchtime crowd would have thinned-out by then..guess again. Peep were parked everywhere there wasn’t trees. Had a line of ~100 people, and, from asking around, it was that way all day. We even had, imported, Obama campaign “poll-watchers”.
All tolled, in our district, ~1900/~2550, including ~150 absentee, voted. One of the higher turnouts since 2000. Though, I will say, the media coverage, during the day, was beyond the pale. It certainly seemed like they were ‘projecting’ finishes well before the polls closed. The after-5 voter stream substantively tailed off.
Operation FD: My Mother is a long-time Elections apparatchik.