It’s Election Day, and if conditions aren’t ripe today for good turnout, no such conditions exist: A warm, sunny day, a very high-profile mayoral race, an almost-as-high profile referendum, and only one unopposed candidate on the ballot. Early voting is up 30% over 2001. If you haven’t voted yet, you’ve got twelve hours to do so today. If you don’t know where to vote, click here and find out.
UPDATE: Rob is writing again, and he has his endorsements up. If other local bloggers have an endorsement post, send me your link or leave it in the comments and I’ll add it here.
UPDATE: Another Rice Grad isn’t voting here this year, but he does have his preferences.
UPDATE: Oopsie. Bad eSlate machines!
Those who showed up early at the Holiday Inn at 7787 Katy Freeway to vote found that the eSlate machines that were supposed to make voting so much easier and more accurate were on the fritz. While technicians made repairs, election judges passed out sheets of paper torn in half, along with sample ballots, and telling voters to write in their votes.
David Puckett said he sat down on the floor and spent 25 minutes scribbling down his choices while other voters just took the time to write in their votes on the top races before dropping their homemade ballots into a pasteboard box. He said an election judge told him to write on the back of the paper if he ran out of room and then told him he might need to vote again this afternoon if the eSlate machines come back up. Then, Puckett said, the judges decided a second vote wasn’t such a good idea.
“They’re making up rules as they go,” he said. ” It’s unbelievable.”
Puckett’s worried his vote won’t count.
“I will come back if I need to. I want my vote to count,” he said. “It’s my privilege. It’s my duty. I want my people to win.
Despite the assurances from the County Clerk’s office that those handwritten ballots would count, I’d make a return trip. No one can read my handwriting, anyway.
Are you sure you really want my endorsements post? It is here: http://ricegrad.blogspot.com/2003_10_26_ricegrad_archive.html#106767078347152667
Sure. More information is always better than less when it comes to elections. Thanks!
I was out working the polls in Precinct 4 this morning. Turnout seemed very, very, low there. At 11:00AM there had only been 245 voters (out of 5000 registered). I stayed at that polling place between 11:00AM and 1PM and saw only about 15 additioanl voters come in. My own polling place (precinct 1)seemed a bit busier when I went there to vote. I asked the Dem Precinct chair how turnout had been and he said it had been steady but not busy. I hope it picks up this evening.
I did meet Hector Longoria’s wife at Precinct 4. She was very nice and a pleasure to talk to. Too bad I couldn’t bring myself to vote for her husband.
I did meet Hector Longoria’s wife at Precinct 4. She was very nice and a pleasure to talk to. Too bad I couldn’t bring myself to vote for her husband.
I met her at a mayoral candidates’ forum in the Heights back in September. Agreed, she’s a nice lady, and she’s married to someone I’d never vote for.
When I looked on the Hart InterCivic web site (here) a few weeks ago, I found a product testimonial for eSlate… by our very own Harris County Clerk, Beverly Kauffman. Does anyone else see this as a potential conflict of interest, whether or not she was paid for the testimonial?