Comments on Super Tuesday dispatch from Illinois. . .

"long for the days of the old machine" Yeah, Daley would make sure you voted for the "correct" candidate.

LOL

the new york times has a local blog dedicated to this election and is recording voter problems. one of the comments should be helpful to anyone across the country:

"If you’re having a problem voting, call 1-866-OUR-VOTE (1-866-687-8683). It is a nonpartisan hotline staffed by lawyers and if necessary they will go to the polling places to straighten out problems."

It would help enormously if the poll workers in Chicago weren't all so fucking old--I don't think there was a single instance in all the years I lived there where I didn't have to show the old ladies how to do their job.

Well, when I voted earlier today for Clinton, it was the older, more experienced white-haired poll worker who was showing the cute, confused, young poll worker what to do.

It's on a day like today that I miss MN. Going to the caucuses there was like going to church. No fuck ups, everyone polite, enthusiastic but with a certain gravitas befitting the seriousness of picking the most powerful politician in the world.

I'm suspecting that the WA caucuses will be... a little less like that. Though I live in Issaquah, so how rowdy can it be?

Another Chicago-area voting story:

This was my first primary in Chicagoland, and I wasn't familiar with the rules. When I voted, I was given the choice to vote D, R, G(reen) or Nonpartisan. I asked, "if I chose nonpartisan, would I be able to split my vote between parties?" and was told yes. When I went to vote, I was only given the choice to vote for the referendum on VHA funding. I wasn't given the choice to vote for other federal or state offices.

When I told the election workers about this, they were bewildered. They finally figured out that I had to declare my party and could only vote within that party. They then let me change my party affiliation and vote again. Granted, I only voted twice on the referendum, but it does show that it pays to vote early and often in Chicagoland.

Wow, this makes me appreciate voting in NYC! Though it was weird (they use those old-school machines with the levers - in OK, we had scantron sheets), everyone was very friendly and extremely helpful. I voted before work in my neighborhood (West Harlem), and it actually put me in a good mood for the rest of the day, so pleasurable was the voting experience.

I was shocked when I entered my polling place in a near south Chicago suburb to find that the voting machines had not arrived yet. That was at 6:20. The judges were sitting around drinking coffee and all that they could say is "come back later."

Does not look good at all!

chicago is miserably cold, when i was a kid i use to visit my aunt in humboldt park before it got gentrified and man i have no idea why people live there. when the wind blows u feel like u gonna die.

It's a week day. Everyone's working or in school. Duh!

I’m a Chicago voter as well – voted at 8 am, no problems, a decent crowd of people there. Storm isn’t supposed to really hit until around 6 pm. I don’t know, I think we’ll be alright. Plus, the city is going to be so overwhelmingly for Obama, it seems doubtful that many of the Chicago districts will be in Hillary’s camp.

My old polling place used to give us candy after we voted. That was awesome. Now I vote in a church – weddings, funerals, and voting are the only instances when I see the inside of a church anymore.

The weather is not bad, it's just starting to drizzle now. My polling place was pretty busy. The entire South Side is a sea for Obama - but, of course, he does live here. His house is in Hyde Park and his megachurch is on 95th Street.

Oh yeah, and my favorite Chicago voting story is that a couple years ago, the ultra-conservative owner of a popular dairy/ice cream business here (bearing his name) was running for office. If you brought in your voting receipt to one of their stores you got free ice cream. It was definitely a throwback to when votes in this city used to be purchased with drinks at the bar – updated for the modern era.

I'm up in Lake County, and voted at 6:15. First time I every had to wait in line. Very crowded and there were many more people wearing the "Proud to Vote" sticker on the train downtown this morning.

So Youz Guyz in Chicago might be wimps about the weather (we're supposed to get 14" tonight, and I'm not even gay) but we're pushing Obama up here.

@ 11

Every election day is a weekday/work/school day. I usually vote at 7 a.m. and have to wait in line--today, no line. That's the basis for comparison here.

If the weather's going to be a factor, I would guess it would be more for the suburbs (people trying to drive home from downtown, or from their Metra stop to their home) than the city. Plus, the northern suburbs are supposed to be hit the worst, and they tend to be more Republican anyways.

@15 -- I waited over an hour for the Nov. 2004 election. I'm hoping the new polling place has their act together, because that was crazy.

Maybe more people voted early this year. The following says that 9 percent, including absentees, voted early in IL in the 2006 general, the first year you could.

http://www.elections.il.gov/Downloads/ElectionInformation/PDF/EarlyVoting.pdf

A friend in L.A. who experienced grief & confusion at her polling place just shared this observation in an email:

"This could be one of the reasons why some folks don't come out to vote - CRABBY PANTSUITED GRANNIES!!!"!

@14, i think taht is a brilliant idea. it isnt about partisanship, it is about getting out and voting. and alcoholics.