i am under 18 :(

a month and a half shy, and damn am i pissed about it lol

Then move to Chicago. You can vote if you're under the ground there.

I voted absentee last week ;)

VOTE! Don't let those long lines or bad hours or voter fraud or dissatisfaction with the candidates' horrible qualifications or positions or the pointlessness of it stop you!

I only had to wait an hour and ten minutes when I voted this morning.

I'm actually running a campaign office right now which has helped get about 12,000 people out to vote. Unfortunately, my registration was turned down and I can't vote...

Vote Fraud is a gigantic myth. Over the last six years there have been less then 150 cases of voter fraud, and only a fraction of those actually resulted in a conviction. On the other hand, it is quite clear every election year that tens of thousands of folks are turned away, persuaded not to vote, or deliberately confused about how or where to vote. Voter disenfranchisement is a very big and worrisome problem, which impacts a significant portion of the electorate.

"Voter disenfranchisement" is usually what people are referring to when they say "voter fraud".

Good job whalen! That's very admirable of you to be working so hard to make sure people get to vote.

I am absolutely in agreement with you, voter fraud is barely a problem, while voter suppression is a huge problem, that comes up every year.

Can I ask why your registration was denied? If you'd rather not talk about it I don't want to pry, and won't push it, but I am curious.

@aoe3rules - I'm not sure which people you're referring too, most of the squawking I hear about voter fraud is from people who are at least claiming to be worried about people trying to vote twice, or unregistered voters voting, or people literally committing fraud with the results. Rarely do I hear disenfranchisment/voter suppression called "voter fraud." Perhaps we simply have different sources of information, but that's not the way I've heard it used most of the time at all.

where do you live, and what channels are you watching/what websites are you reading/what radio stations are you listening to?

'round these parts, no news guys gone and shut up about it, y'all know?

(okay, seriously, that's all the news people have been reporting on in VA for the past 72 hours)

Here in St. Paul, Minnesota I only had to walk to the polling office. There was no wait, except my registration had not been processed by the state (like many other residence hall students at the U of M). Luckily, Minnesota has same day registration, and I only had to give them my student ID for proof of address. I found it odd that i didnt have to prove I was a citizen, and think that could be abused with students who are not citizens being able to vote. But, I was prepared with my drivers liscense and my passport. So to everyone else, go out and vote! Those judges running unopposed need your support!

if everyone thought that their vote was pointless and that government was pointless/disruptive the world would be one lazy chaotic place

I'm actually in VA too, though I'm in the DC area, so I may be in a slightly different media bubble than you.

That being said most of my news comes from NPR, washingtonpost.com, and (to a lesser extent) nytimes.com, the free newspapers given out at Metro Stations, and a smattering of whatever else I come across.

Perhaps if I watched/listened more local commercial, and national commercial news I'd have seen it used in that context, but most of the uses of the term "voter fraud" I've heard have been from partisan politicians warning about more or less non-existent concerns about voters committing fraud at the polls. "ACORN is threatening the very fabric of our democracy" and the like.

I've certainly heard a lot about voter suppression/disenfranchisement, but I've rarely if ever heard it referred to as voter fraud.

I should point out that my NPR listening is to the local NPR station, so I'm certainly getting local news, but perhaps not the same I'd get if I watched the 11 o'clock news or whatever, or listened to commercial news radio stations. Oh and DCist.com.

so why arn't people allowed to vote?i dont understand in england as long as your a british citzen and over 18 you can vote

I won't try to speak for the whole country, but voter fraud is a much bigger deal than voter disenfranchisement in Cook County, at least. That's where Chicago is, for you foreigners. You don't get over seventy years of one party rule by keeping things on the up and up.

Also, voter fraud is much more damaging to democracy since the votes people made in good faith are disregarded. Disenfranchisement is still awful, but no one would bother keeping people away from the polls if they thought those votes wouldn't be counted.

We're not too long away from making electing the Polish king seem orderly and fair by comparison. But now I'm sounding like Sicarius...

Have you actually checked the stats on voter fraud in Cook County? Or are you just scared by some fear mongering? How many investigations, arrests, convictions, or proven cases of voter fraud have occurred in Cook County in the last 20 years?

You seem to be speaking on impressions and allegations, not stats. Correct me if I'm wrong...

If you want investigations, just use the Google. A lot for general corruption, but there have been quite a bit for fraud, too. I remember the police had to go to a center not counting the votes of felons last election.

can felons not vote then

no

Actually, they can in a lot of places. That was the point. In almost every state after they get out of jail they can vote again.

so who cant vote

I didn't have to wait at all!

how quickly do the votes get counted after the polls close do any americans know

non-citizens can't vote

what do you mean by non-citzens

Non-citizens would be people from other countries living in the US who have not switched citizenship. There are a large number of legal aliens living here and they don't have the right vote.

Also, we will probably have enough votes counted to determine the winner before the night is over. The electoral college really helps out there.

im in england and the bbc recons the earliest we could know is 02:00 gmt

screw the electoral college. and i'm not just saying that because i think bush cheated (i'm actually sick of hearing that).

at work but have msnbc,dailypost and tpmcafe hooked up to my central nervous system.

'how good?"
"junkie good"

actually, i'm in Arlington right now.

macCain 8
obama 3

How shocking! Obama won Vermont!

come on Indiana!
deliver the goods

"the goods"?

Obama won Pennsylvania, McCain's last hope is finished

88-34

103-34 baring some sort of miracle/cheating obama has got it

By the way if you're looking for somewhere online to keep up to date with what's going on this is what I'm watching:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/us_elections_2008/7700298.stm

"Obama won Pennsylvania, McCain's last hope is finished"

he got my vote there

I'm in Pennsylvania too... but as a foreigner I wasn't allowed to contribute to the electoral count :-( still happy with the result though.

turns out I was in jail on election day, so i couldnt vote even if I wanted to.

oh and valoishapsburg, sorry there wre so many fascists and stormtroopers on your streets in september, I tried my best to get them out

How could you have voted without a legal address?

ahhh true.

although I am a registered voter in ohio.
they dont know that I no longer live there