Results tagged “voting”

The D.C. Council voted today to give preliminary approval to a bill that would allow District of Columbia voters to cast early ballots and to register and vote on Election Day. The Post has more on the story.

"For anyone who wants to vote, I want it to be a smooth, efficient operation."

Look, I know what you're thinking: just when are Virginians going to be able to wear clothing plastered with Terry McAuliffe, Bob McDonnell, or other state candidates or messages to polls, without the fear of being expelled? When will the brutish reign which condemns them to wear but lackluster cloth ever end? For the love of all things tacky, let them free! Well, my friends to the south, I bring you good news: the Commonwealth now says go for it. [Ed. note: Alas, not until July 1st. Thanks aaronw79!] Virginia had banned wearing campaign-related clothes at polling places as a "political act" last fall, but now obviously wants to free up the market for cheap, iron-on decal shirts. (Now to await the McD/McA paraphernalia cottage industry with baited breath.) D.C.'s ban? Still in effect. Baby steps, I guess.

So what exactly caused all those phantom votes in last September's D.C. primaries? Well, thanks to Sequoia Voting Systems, city officials will soon be able to fully investigate that very question. The Post reports this morning that the manufacturer of the District's voting machines -- which, for some reason, created thousands of of extra write-in votes out of thin air last fall in City Council and Shadow Senator races -- has agreed to give the Council sensitive information about how the machines tabulate votes including source code, in order to avoid a lawsuit. It's a relatively big concession for the manufacturer and potentially sets a precedent for similar voting mishaps around the country; in addition to the District, seventeen states also use Sequoia machines. The Council says that its findings will be made public, even though Sequoia has had a long history of fighting such inquiries into its "trade secrets" -- here's hoping.

Ever since the D.C. Council voted to recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states, there has been a growing debate over whether or not the District will proceed one step further and fully legalize the practice. Proponents have been thrilled at the possibility of the city's legislature making the move; opponents have warned of a great social and cultural conflict that could result.

The Examiner reports that voter turnout in the metro area last week was not historically high. The DCBOEE was predicting about 63 percent voter turnout this year in the District once all absentee votes were counted. In 1984, when Walter Mondale was running for president, voter turnout in D.C. was up at 77 percent. Virginia and Maryland similarly fell short of setting records this year. That seems pretty weird, considering the long lines we saw at many precincts early in the morning. What could explain the disparity? Seems like a lot of this year's enthusiastic voters voted first thing in the morning, and that rain in the evening on Tuesday might have kept people away after work; lines at most polling places after 10:30 a.m. or so were virtually nonexistent.

When you add #dcistvote to your Election Day messages on Twitter today, they should appear in the above feed for everyone to see. You can also subscribe to the feed via RSS, and view the live feed on Twitter here. Scroll through and see what DCist readers are talking about on Twitter today.

     

DCist Music Editor Amanda Mattos snapped some photos of the various 'I Voted' stickers represented in her office. D.C.'s sticker seems kinda lame compared to most of the rest of these, doesn't it? And don't forget to take advantage of the many freebies available around town today if you're wearing an 'I Voted' sticker.

"Did you vote?" a co-worker asked me. "No," I sheepishly replied. "I'm not a U.S. citizen." With lines snaking around many a polling places and voters excitedly talking about the potential for history being made today, not being able to vote is something of a downer. Those of us not casting ballots today -- the non-enfranchised, if you will -- will spend the rest of the day looking for a stray "I Voted" sticker, both to make ourselves feel like we're part of the process and to help deflect the glares of real voters who may think we're just ducking our civic duties. But it's impossible not to share in the excitement surrounding the day. Hundreds of voters were lined up outside Bancroft Elementary School in Mt. Pleasant as I set off to work today, a sight repeated at two other polling places along Columbia Road. Maybe I'll go fill out the sample ballot my roommate received and put it in a shoebox. I'll feel a little more like a voter, and Bob Barr will at least get one vote. - Martin Austermuhle

Your tweets are still rolling in to our #dcistvote Twitter feed, but first here's some dispatches from the DCist staff on their polling place experiences this morning.

According to alarmists from both sides of the aisle, all hell is going to break loose depending on which candidate emerges from the ashes of tomorrow's presidential election. Pestilence, Famine, War, Death -- think your typical Adams Morgan Saturday night minus the jumbo slice.

We brought it to your attention this morning, but in case you're a visual learner, flickr contributor DC Metrocentric brings forth visual proof of the long lines at the Courthouse voting location. If you're out and waiting in line, feel free to document your experiences and send them to us.

The D.C. Republican Committee sent around word late yesterday that a registered Republican living in Ward 2 was mailed an absentee ballot that is missing candidates and includes a candidate from another Ward.

You may have read in the Washington Post this morning that today is the first day that District residents may cast "in-person absentee" ballots, up until Nov. 3. All you have to do is show up at the D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics headquarters at 441 4th St. NW, Suite 250N, to request an absentee ballot and vote right then and there. Sounds great, right? Especially if you think you might be out of town or say, busy covering the election on Nov. 4.

report for accuracy prior to public release.

Today is our local primary election, the day when registered Republicans and Democrats in the District head to the polls to decide the outcome of the more or less symbolic general election (seriously, if you actually care about local politics and you're a registered Independent, you ought to think about picking a party just for the sake of having your vote matter).

If constantly counting superdelegates has started to wear thin, public voting for the RAMMYs may provide a much needed respite from politics for the gourmands in us. Until this Friday, May 30, area diners can voice their opinions and mark their ballots in four categories of this year's Restaurant Association Metropolitan Washington RAMMY Awards.

   

The city opened up online voting for residents to choose their preferred design for the official District of Columbia quarter at the end of last week. You can vote for your preference between the three proposed designs, which depict Frederick Douglass, Duke Ellington and Benjamin Banneker, at this web site, with voting open between now and June 18.

Now that the 2008 presidential primary season has officially begun, it's time to make sure you're registered to vote. The District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia will all hold their presidential primaries on Feb. 12, which means voter registration deadlines are looming.

Over at Huffington Post, Andrea Batista Schlesinger of the Drum Major Institute has a nice roundup of what she thinks are the best public policy initiatives of 2007. Number six on her list is the D.C. Voting Rights Act, and she has a solid grasp on why congressional representation for the District is so important:

Eleanor Holmes Norton, D.C's indomitable delegate, can debate with the best of them, but without the D.C. Voting Rights Act, neither she nor anyone else D.C. residents elect to Congress can cast a binding vote. No matter that the District's population is greater than, say, Wyoming's (two senators and a representative, thank you very much) or that its residents pay taxes and serve on juries, or even that the U.S. is a signatory to international treaties guaranteeing full voting rights.

When in the closing days of 2006 we looked back on the year in D.C. voting rights, we optimistically hoped that 2007 would finally be the year that saw some movement on enfranchising the District's residents. Movement, yes; resolution, not so much. So as we wind down 2007, we're again left hoping that maybe the coming year will be the one.

Earlier this month the Post revealed that the majority of mail sent from the District is bastardized with a postmark reading "SOUTHERN MD." or "SUBURBAN MD.," a practice imposed soon after a 2001 anthrax attack in a D.C. postal facility. District officials and voting rights activists were none-too-pleased -- after all, if they take our postmark, what's next? Our women and children?

Hilda Mason, 91, who served more than 20 years on the D.C. Council, died yesterday at Washington Hospital Center.

Remember those billboards that popped up in the 1980s that counted up the national debt, dollar by dollar? Pretty scary, huh? Well, District voting rights activists want something similar for their cause. Today the D.C. Council held a hearing on legislation that would allow the city to place two large LED billboards -- one outside the John A. Wilson Building and the other outside the new Washington Nationals stadium -- that would display the amount...

If the powers that be think we're going to go easily or quietly, they're wrong. The Post today exposed a devious little plan to chip away at the District's identity, starting with phasing out the city's postmark and replacing it instead with one bearing the name of our northern neighbor, Maryland. According to a Post study, of 235 letters mailed from every quadrant and zip code within city limits, only 24 -- 10 percent --...

Sure, it's December and we're all preoccupied with holiday cheer and making plans for that one New Year's party that will finally be worth the all the hype. But even though they've suffered some setbacks this year, D.C. voting rights activists are pushing the cause through the holiday season. On Thursday, December 6, the D.C. Council will hold a hearing to consider legislation that would place large electronic billboards outside the John A. Wilson Building...

One of these guys might be the next president, so it's good to try and parse where they stand on District voting rights. At least that was the thinking over at D.C. Vote, who recently recorded and sent in a number of videos of District residents asking the presidential candidates from the Republican Party where they stood on D.C. voting rights. The videos, eleven in all, were submitted to CNN for the upcoming CNN/YouTube...

>> The Senate might have to work all weekend, in advance of a possible vote on Sunday on whether to take up a $50 billion war funding bill that calls for a troop withdrawal from Iraq in 12 months, Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) warned. Be prepared to hear all your Senate staffer friends complain about this at happy hour tonight. [The Hill] >> Foxhall Road will be closed to traffic between MacArthur Boulevard...

Good morning, Washington. Make it to the polls yesterday? If so, we hope you did so before the sun went down — it got cold in a hurry last night, as the area rapidly moved from warmer-than-usual temps to colder-than-usual ones. CapitalWeather is saying that the weekend should be warmer, at least. Election 2007: The results are in, and it looks like it was a good night for Virginia's Democrats. The Dems picked up...