I voted! I voted and I’m so proud. If you voted, even if you voted for a different candidate than I did, I’m proud of you, too. No matter what the outcome, I am so moved and enthused by the voter turn out this year. Young voters. Women voters. Just old enough voters and really, really, REALLY old ones. My kid brother voted in his first election today. Many others proudly did the same. THAT’S SO AWESOME!

If you are an American and you voted, that means you care about this country, and to you I say thank you. Thank you thank you thank you.

UPDATE: Simon Owens who writes over at Bloggasm sent me the link to an article he wrote for PBS about Web 2.0 tools that are being used during the election. This is an exciting time to be into social media… I plan on bringing my flipcam to the booth with me.

You can check out his article here: Citizens, Media Use Social Media to Monitor Election. Thanks, Simon!

The first video they’re referencing is this one. 537 people decided the last election! I’m sure it’s more complicated than that, but still. My friend Dan is having trouble getting his absentee ballot from his home state of South Dakota, and the stories of people not being able to cast their votes because of bureaucracy and shady polling practices keep popping up everywhere.

One thing about Election Day makes me angrier than voter apathy, and that’s voter disenfranchisement. If someone turns you away from the polling place or tells you that members of your party vote on Wednesday, they are being shady at best and illegal at worst. Tell someone. Get the story out. It’s not “not a big deal.” It’s your rights being squashed, and the implications of that stretch far beyond November 4.

Here are some good sources. If you know of others, let me know.

866-OUR-VOTE or 866ourvote.org
www.twittervotereport.com (if you use twitter)

These are wikis that you can use to report any closings out.
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Portal:Election_Protection_Wiki
www.votersuppression.net

Don’t be a dumbass.

Heads up! On Election Day, we will be voting for other offices besides President. Do you know who’s running? Get a sample of the ballot you’ll be working with on November 4 and research the candidates and issues that you’ll be looking at. Don’t just vote down party lines, and please, for the love, don’t just vote for the person with the nicest name because that’s all you know of them. (If that IS your preferred method, do the rest of us a favor: sterilize yourself.)

I have my towns sample ballot, and I’m researching the candidates now, writing down my choices, and bringing a cheat sheet into the booth with me. Local politics are important, too, and, given the shady shenanigans of the past couple of elections, it may be the strongest voice you have.

Some states will have also have some special questions on them (like voting on Proposition 8 in California). Make sure you understand what the questions are and how you feel about them before you get to the polling place. Don’t just stand there behind the curtains scratching your head about what they mean. You might be voting for something you don’t actually believe in.

DON’T BE A DUMBASS!

Go Vote – Something For The Ladies from theambershow on Vimeo.