This was all over comics sites earlier, but I figured some of you reading this would appreciate it: Stephen Colbert won the election for President in the Marvel Comics universe.

Well... sort of...

alenxa  and I got up early so we could hit the polls first thing in the morning and not have to worry about whether we'd be stuck in an insanely long line at the end of the day, like we were in 2004 and 2006.  The first thing we noticed was the sound of rain falling outside.  Since we were expecting a huge turnout, I'd planned on walking, fearing we might have to park far enough away that we might as well have walked.  Fortunately by the time we left, it had died down to little more than a drizzle.

We got to the polling place, an elementary school, about 7:05, just after it opened, found the right line (they had two precincts voting at the same location), and there were only about 15-20 people ahead of us.  We got into a conversation with other people around us about the merits of early voting (one guy joked that he'd already voted for the 2012 election), exit polls, and the electoral college.

The poll workers were a surprise.  Usually in this area it tends to be older people who volunteer to run the polls, but it seemed like 2/3 of them were in their late teens/early twenties.  Katie figured it had to do with the economic slowdown: we know who's out of work.

They've mostly worked out the kinks in the electronic voting system, though they're now offering a choice of electronic or paper ballot when you sign in.  You go through several stations, signing the roll of voters, confirming your address, and finally getting either a paper ballot or an access key for the electronic ballot.

I still don't like the user interface on these voting machines -- it's a paddle wheel interface, where you rotate a dial to move the selection on the LCD screen forward or back, with buttons to check things off -- but it does at least include a printed record.  There's a roll of paper in the machine with a window, and after you've confirmed the summary of your selections (with a big red button that says "Cast Ballot"), it prints them out, asks you to confirm the printout, then scrolls it out of view so the next person can't see what you chose.

Anyway, the whole process took only 35 minutes from finding the line to picking up the "I Voted" sticker.  Kids were just starting to line up for class.  We went home, dropped off the umbrella (which we never actually needed), picked up our stuff and drove off to work only 15 minutes behind normal schedule.

I realized yesterday that during the entire campaign season, I hadn't seen a single sign, commercial or mailer for the Senate race (unless you count the "Please make your entire ballot look like this" cards that various groups send out). Hadn't heard a radio ad. Hadn't even received a robocall. Nothing for Feinstein. Nothing for Mountjoy. Nothing opposing either of them. If I hadn't read the sample ballot, I wouldn't have even know who the challenger was.

I can only infer from this that, at least in the LA/OC area (since we get the same TV stations), the race was presumed to be a slam-dunk and both candidates decided to focus their campaigns elsewhere. Either that or I really wasn't paying attention.

(Similarly, in our House district only the Democratic challenger posted campaign signs, and the incumbent Republican still won handily. But then, this district has run Republican since dinosaurs roamed the Earth.)

Did anyone else see any serious CA Senate campaigning?

Stick with morning voting next time.

"Oh, it's only a midterm election! How crowded could it be?" (Yes, that was me.)

Feh.

alenxa and I arrived at the polling place at 6:30 PM. The people who got in line behind us decided to leave, have dinner, and come back. Of the two of us, Katie voted first. I walked out of the voting booth at 7:58 PM.

It wasn't as bad as the last time we voted in the evening, which was either the 2003 recall election or the 2004 presidential election. That time we were still in line at 8:00, and they made the cut-off anyone who was in line by 8 PM. IIRC the local Starbucks had actually sent over free coffee for people waiting in line.

But it was a far cry from last November, when we arrived and only one person was in line ahead of us.

Woke up early (well, early for me) so we could get out and hit the polls before work. I was amazed that there was only one person in line ahead of us. Not only that, but there was only one line, not three or four broken up by last name.

Well, it's a mid-term election. Plus it's morning, and the last few years we've gone in the evening. (There was one year that I voted at lunch, but I had to drive alenxa to the poll after work anyway, so it's easier if we just both go at the same time.) It must have been last year that the line was so long that we got there at 6:30 or 7:00 and didn't finish until after the polls "closed" -- meaning they didn't let anyone else get into line. (Sensibly, they allowed anyone who was in line by 8:00 to vote.) And there were a lot of people waiting behind us!

Now on to programming for a few hours until Microsoft kicks their patches out the door.

While I can't predict how crazy today will be, I already know tomorrow's going to be nuts, what with...

1. The election (all you Californians are planning to vote, aren't you?).
2. A deadline at work.
3. Microsoft Patch Tuesday.

All this means that I can't stay home with the cold that I picked up on Saturday!

(Reminder to self: must remember to blog when happy.)