Voting in VA

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Right - I am usually out of Arlington from 9 am to 7 pm -- so 10 hrs instead of 11. There is NO way I will go vote in the morning. Can I just pick that reason and stretch the times to make it work? Or go with "business outside the county"?

Why can't you leave the office a bit earlier? I am sure your boss will understand.

I don't have that kind of job. And no by no means will my boss understand.

This is exactly why we need to move elections to a Sunday. Or make early voting available in all 50 states.

Or at least be reasonable about it and extend poll closings. I know votes need to be counted that night, but closing at 7!? I have a feeling that poll timings are set by Richmond, where everyone works from 8-5, precisely as a 20 min drive home and thus has from 5:20 until 7 pm to work. Doesn't work as well in places where work hours and/or commutes are longer. Mass. and NJ are open until 8 pm, NY until 9 pm; I don't see any reason we couldn't extend it an hr or two.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Right - I am usually out of Arlington from 9 am to 7 pm -- so 10 hrs instead of 11. There is NO way I will go vote in the morning. Can I just pick that reason and stretch the times to make it work? Or go with "business outside the county"?

Why can't you leave the office a bit earlier? I am sure your boss will understand.

I don't have that kind of job. And no by no means will my boss understand.

This is exactly why we need to move elections to a Sunday. Or make early voting available in all 50 states.

Or at least be reasonable about it and extend poll closings. I know votes need to be counted that night, but closing at 7!? I have a feeling that poll timings are set by Richmond, where everyone works from 8-5, precisely as a 20 min drive home and thus has from 5:20 until 7 pm to work. Doesn't work as well in places where work hours and/or commutes are longer. Mass. and NJ are open until 8 pm, NY until 9 pm; I don't see any reason we couldn't extend it an hr or two.

I guess you have never driven through Richmond during rush hour. Twenty minute drive, my arse!!!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Right - I am usually out of Arlington from 9 am to 7 pm -- so 10 hrs instead of 11. There is NO way I will go vote in the morning. Can I just pick that reason and stretch the times to make it work? Or go with "business outside the county"?

Try approaching this in a forthright manner.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Right - I am usually out of Arlington from 9 am to 7 pm -- so 10 hrs instead of 11. There is NO way I will go vote in the morning. Can I just pick that reason and stretch the times to make it work? Or go with "business outside the county"?

Why can't you leave the office a bit earlier? I am sure your boss will understand.

I don't have that kind of job. And no by no means will my boss understand.

This is exactly why we need to move elections to a Sunday. Or make early voting available in all 50 states.

Or at least be reasonable about it and extend poll closings. I know votes need to be counted that night, but closing at 7!? I have a feeling that poll timings are set by Richmond, where everyone works from 8-5, precisely as a 20 min drive home and thus has from 5:20 until 7 pm to work. Doesn't work as well in places where work hours and/or commutes are longer. Mass. and NJ are open until 8 pm, NY until 9 pm; I don't see any reason we couldn't extend it an hr or two.

I guess you have never driven through Richmond during rush hour. Twenty minute drive, my arse!!!!

Lived in Richmond. What they call rush hour is just not what rush hour is like in big cities.

[Anonymous]

If it's inconvenient to vote on Tuesday, pick the reason that best applies to your circumstances. There's no reason for people to stand in line for hours on Tuesday when you can vote early. It's ridiculous.

[Anonymous]

"Business outside county" works for most commuters.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Right - I am usually out of Arlington from 9 am to 7 pm -- so 10 hrs instead of 11. There is NO way I will go vote in the morning. Can I just pick that reason and stretch the times to make it work? Or go with "business outside the county"?

Why can't you leave the office a bit earlier? I am sure your boss will understand.

I don't have that kind of job. And no by no means will my boss understand.

This is exactly why we need to move elections to a Sunday. Or make early voting available in all 50 states.

Or at least be reasonable about it and extend poll closings. I know votes need to be counted that night, but closing at 7!? I have a feeling that poll timings are set by Richmond, where everyone works from 8-5, precisely as a 20 min drive home and thus has from 5:20 until 7 pm to work. Doesn't work as well in places where work hours and/or commutes are longer. Mass. and NJ are open until 8 pm, NY until 9 pm; I don't see any reason we couldn't extend it an hr or two.

DH had this problem--but he was patriotic enough to be the first in line to vote at 6 a.m. FWIW, there were other patriots there as well. If you want to vote, vote at 6. No problem. Get there at 5:45 and you should be okay. Definitely out by 6:30 with plenty of time to get to work by 9.

[Anonymous]

I'd rather pop in and vote today with no lines, personally. I voted first thing in the morning once and had to wait like 30 minutes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DH had this problem--but he was patriotic enough to be the first in line to vote at 6 a.m. FWIW, there were other patriots there as well. If you want to vote, vote at 6. No problem. Get there at 5:45 and you should be okay. Definitely out by 6:30 with plenty of time to get to work by 9.

Yes, the rest of us just have a "patriotism" problem. You sound like a Republican.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Right - I am usually out of Arlington from 9 am to 7 pm -- so 10 hrs instead of 11. There is NO way I will go vote in the morning. Can I just pick that reason and stretch the times to make it work? Or go with "business outside the county"?

Why can't you leave the office a bit earlier? I am sure your boss will understand.

I don't have that kind of job. And no by no means will my boss understand.

This is exactly why we need to move elections to a Sunday. Or make early voting available in all 50 states.

Or at least be reasonable about it and extend poll closings. I know votes need to be counted that night, but closing at 7!? I have a feeling that poll timings are set by Richmond, where everyone works from 8-5, precisely as a 20 min drive home and thus has from 5:20 until 7 pm to work. Doesn't work as well in places where work hours and/or commutes are longer. Mass. and NJ are open until 8 pm, NY until 9 pm; I don't see any reason we couldn't extend it an hr or two.

DH had this problem--but he was patriotic enough to be the first in line to vote at 6 a.m. FWIW, there were other patriots there as well. If you want to vote, vote at 6. No problem. Get there at 5:45 and you should be okay. Definitely out by 6:30 with plenty of time to get to work by 9.

Op here - as I've said earlier, I don't care that much and would rather not vote than be at a polling place at the crack of dawn. Ruins my whole day to be up and out of the house that early and my day doesn't end at 5. Guess I'm not as patriotic as your DH, sorry.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Right - I am usually out of Arlington from 9 am to 7 pm -- so 10 hrs instead of 11. There is NO way I will go vote in the morning. Can I just pick that reason and stretch the times to make it work? Or go with "business outside the county"?

Why can't you leave the office a bit earlier? I am sure your boss will understand.

I don't have that kind of job. And no by no means will my boss understand.

This is exactly why we need to move elections to a Sunday. Or make early voting available in all 50 states.

Or at least be reasonable about it and extend poll closings. I know votes need to be counted that night, but closing at 7!? I have a feeling that poll timings are set by Richmond, where everyone works from 8-5, precisely as a 20 min drive home and thus has from 5:20 until 7 pm to work. Doesn't work as well in places where work hours and/or commutes are longer. Mass. and NJ are open until 8 pm, NY until 9 pm; I don't see any reason we couldn't extend it an hr or two.

The poll times are a specific attempt to suppress the vote of working people, i.e. Democrats. There is no other justification for limiting access. Anyone who prizes our democracy should be arguing in favor of early voting, late poll hours, same-day registration, whatever it takes to allow every single American to participate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Right - I am usually out of Arlington from 9 am to 7 pm -- so 10 hrs instead of 11. There is NO way I will go vote in the morning. Can I just pick that reason and stretch the times to make it work? Or go with "business outside the county"?

Why can't you leave the office a bit earlier? I am sure your boss will understand.

I don't have that kind of job. And no by no means will my boss understand.

This is exactly why we need to move elections to a Sunday. Or make early voting available in all 50 states.

Or at least be reasonable about it and extend poll closings. I know votes need to be counted that night, but closing at 7!? I have a feeling that poll timings are set by Richmond, where everyone works from 8-5, precisely as a 20 min drive home and thus has from 5:20 until 7 pm to work. Doesn't work as well in places where work hours and/or commutes are longer. Mass. and NJ are open until 8 pm, NY until 9 pm; I don't see any reason we couldn't extend it an hr or two.

DH had this problem--but he was patriotic enough to be the first in line to vote at 6 a.m. FWIW, there were other patriots there as well. If you want to vote, vote at 6. No problem. Get there at 5:45 and you should be okay. Definitely out by 6:30 with plenty of time to get to work by 9.

Great that your DH had you to stay home with the kids. Congratulations, patriot.

[Anonymous]

Northern VA has de facto early voting.

Maybe not as involved as say NC and NV, where over half the voters have already voted by Election Day proper, but like 29k of 118k voters in 2012 voted absentee in Arlington, and in other parts of Northern VA it was well into the 15%+ range.

You also don't have a guarantee you won't be called upon to work late, etc., or that traffic jams won't keep you away from the election, either.