Election Day '08

Haven't had your fill of election day prattling from all corners of the blogosphere? Then read on!

Boy am I sleepy. It has already been an interesting day, and it's not even lunchtime yet.

I rolled out of bed at 6:15 this morning and, because of the unseasonably gorgeous weather, hopped on my bike to head to my polling place. This year, I got to cast my ballot at the lovely Olbrich Gardens - and by the time I got out of there an hour and a half later, was glad to have had the pleasant vistas to keep me mildly entertained.

When I rolled up at 6:55, there was already a long line snaking down across the parking lot. Everyone seemed upbeat, though, and once the doors opened the line moved at a relatively good pace. Unfortunately, at around 7:20 word came that the one and only tabulation machine on the premises had jammed. They were instead bundling all of the ballots into a clear, sealed and signed plastic bag until such time as "someone from the city" came out to fix the machine. We were assured that, once that happened, all of our ballots would be fed into the counting machine for us, so I can only hope and assume that that happened.

For what it's worth, I was voter #280 at around 7:55/8ish.

I'm following a couple of live blogs that are attempting to track the goings on at various polling places in the area, and so far no major mishaps have popped up (just something about misinformed poll workers in Sun Prairie).

Tonight, I'll be doing some live blogging of my own, covering the election results viewing party being thrown at the High Noon Saloon by the Daily Page. The link is already active, even if the live blogging won't commence until 8pm. So if you're looking for oh-so witty and snarky commentary on the elections and the singing abilities of Madison's political junkies, please come on by and have a read.

In the meantime, if you find yourself becoming overwhelmed by the anxiety and excitement of the day, may I recommend a cleansing dose of puppies? I find it's good for the stress levels.

So, how's everyone's election day going?

UPDATE: This is cool. Granted it's on the honor system, but Facebook is tracking how many of its users have voted today. Provided that even most of the folks who've said "yes" are telling the truth, the numbers are encouraging, I think. As of 11:39AM, it's at 1,765,887 and climbing.