So it looks like Obama won the election...
However, I'm curious about polling in America, since it (seems) to be different from Australia (forgive me if these are ignorant questions!).
- why isn't voting compulsary?
- why don't people vote? is it laziness? or they don't feel obligated to?
- how old do you have to be to vote?
- what are the criteria for absentee voting (posting a vote in before ( Read more... )
-In Texas, you can vote absentee if you'll be absent from your county on the day of election. College is a good excuse, but they hassled a friend of mine who simply worked in a different county 15 miles from his home who didn't want to take off work to vote.
-In Travis County (Texas), we early voted from October 20 to October 31 this year, which included a full weekend of early voting.
-I think federal employees can get two hours at either the beginning or the end of your workday to vote on Election Day.
-In Texas, felons can vote once they're "off paper" and have served their parole. My understanding is that this varies by state.
The campaign was long and arduous, but I think it gave us time to see the true character of the candidates. In the past month, McCain and Palin slung every type of mud in the book at Obama, and it turned people off. If McCain had run the type of campaign that corresponded to his gracious concession speech, or chosen a running mate who didn't pander to the religious right, the race would've been much closer. In contrast, Obama offered a vision of hope and unity for the future. It was an honor to campaign for him, and we registered thousands of new voters this summer through his campaign. I am very impressed by the way his campaign marshaled an army of volunteers -- I tried to help at my precinct today and actually wasn't needed!
Reply
Reply
Leave a comment