A US Election Thread Where We Will Be Nice to One Another (but not to seditionists)

Same sentiments here - may it all play out peacefully and deliver stability for your country and perhaps a return to normalcy. I’ll definitely be on the couch tomorrow watching non-stop coverage while I work.

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I am watching from afar and hoping for a good outcome :crossed_fingers::yellow_heart:

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I second this.

But I won’t be watching the coverage as it stresses me

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Thanks all non-US folks :slight_smile:

Won’t be any info worth watching until at least 8PM Eastern, because there are some states like North Carolina, Georgia, Florida, and Ohio which might have accurate early returns and are important to either candidate. But, like 2020 in general, this is likely to be a very long drawn out process. Potentially much worse than the 2000 Bush v Gore election.

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Schools closed on election day? In the United States? Like everything else, it must just vary wildly by state, but I didn’t realize any states closed the schools.

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My neighborhood used to have polling at schools, and schools were still in session. I know some of the polls have moved away from schools, but definitely not all.

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Yes, I used to vote at a school that was in session. Voting used the gym, and I think the kids just didn’t have gym class that day? Where we live now, virtually all polling places are churches.

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Yep, same with the gym in my neighborhood.

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I mentioned to my sister I never remember my school closing or having voting there, but I went to a parochial school and my sister pointed out that would have been kind of a conflict of interest. Wouldn’t having poling in churches kind of be a conflict?

(Apparently here it is up to the school district, but schools are the primary polling location here and most chose to close if there is polling there and they use the day as a teacher’s in service day (so teachers still have to work but there are no students around). Apparently it is a safety concern (with so many cars coming and going) and might depend how the school parking and drive and population of the town is laid out. Anyway, the elementary school that is our polling place (down the street) is closed today for voting. It was supposed to be moved this year to the summer camp main building, but then covid happened and I guess they decided the school was better (it is a bigger space).)

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I’m not sure safety or conflicts of interest are of great concern around here.

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My elementary school voting took place in the cafeteria. They just roped off half the cafeteria. So we watched people walk in and out all day to vote.

I wonder if this is different with all the security around schools now.

I vote in a bank now; but I dropped off a ballot weeks ago.

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Good point. We didn’t have any of that when I was in school…

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Chicago Public Schools doesn’t close their schools on election day; my polling place in the Before is the high school down the street.

This year it got moved to a huge park district facility, I assume for the greater ability to socially distance.

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We don’t close here but also we have been vote by mail for 20 years.

But our schools are still closed for covid in the cities :joy:

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As a voter I had to go through the metal detector just like all the students.

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Hmm, my old polling place definitely used to be a church! (NY state.)

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My assigned polling location is a church. They truly just use the building and voting does not take place in the sanctuary, so I’ve never felt uncomfortable about a possible conflict of interest (I’m a nonbeliever).

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I am going on airplane mode now but be safe out there yall

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So I did end up voting by mail in ballot (after mostly unfounded but lingering signature fears further up thread) but I dropped the ballot off in person at city hall (to a ballot box with poll workers present, not just a curbside box). It was recorded as “received” them today the status online switched to “vote recorded”. I was also able to actually find an FAQ on the county voting website that “ballots will not be discarded for signature mismatch” so either way thankfully in my location that wasn’t a real worry

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Went out for a doctor’s appointment earlier and then had to go to a different office for bloodwork. Saw a lot of “I voted” stickers!

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