Tales from the early voting lines
The way things are going so far, you can probably walk right in and vote in a matter of minutes on Election Day. Record lines are the story at most every early voting location in The Tar Heel State. The drive by media are trying to tell us that Democrats are flooding the early voting sites. But, here in yellow-dog GOP Moore County, we’re seeing crowds in line for early voting unlike anything seen since 2000.
One of the more interesting stories I’ve been hearing? People going into the polls and ONLY marking Donald Trump’s name. “No one else on that ballot has given me a reason to vote for them,” is what one of those voters told an associate of mine. If this is a statewide movement, or simply an isolated phenomenon, remains to be seen.
Despite information like that, the drive by media is still trying to sell the idea that Donald Trump is KILLING the GOP at the polls. Here’s The Washington Post:
It wasn’t supposed to come down to this. The Senate majority was supposed to be decided in New Hampshire and Ohio and Florida.
But here stands Sen. Richard M. Burr, rallying fellow North Carolina Republicans with a lot more than his own 22-year congressional career on the line.
“I’m in the race of my life,” he tells hundreds of party activists gathered for a fish fry here at the home of stock-car racing legend Richard Petty. “I’ve got the toughest race I’ve been in, and it’s primarily because North Carolina is a battleground state.” […]
*Suuuuuuuuure.* It can’t POSSIBLY have anything to do with his voting record — the most liberal among the state’s Republicans — or his reluctance to fight ObamaCare or his practical avoidance of his constituents the last six years.
The Post DID manage to find a North Carolina woman who split her ticket like this: Gary Johnson for President, Cooper for Governor, and Burr for Senate. One vote for each party. *What a genius!* (Thankfully, The Post’s writer admitted she was the only one at the early voting station doing anything close to that.)
MORE:
[…] With a four-seat margin, Republicans cannot afford a Burr loss if they are going to keep their majority, and polls have shown him leading but struggling to break away from his Democratic challenger, former state lawmaker Deborah Ross.
Ross is benefiting from a strong Democratic turnout effort and from campaign visits from President Obama, presidential nominee Hillary Clinton and her running mate Tim Kaine. First Lady Michelle Obama is scheduled to campaign in the state Thursday.
Burr, meanwhile, has had to deal with the headaches of sharing a GOP ticket with presidential nominee Donald Trump, as well as Gov. Pat McCrory (R), whose decision to sign a state bill blocking local anti-discrimination laws, known as HB2, sparked a backlash in the state and beyond.
“It’s like a dumbbell,” said Gary Pearce, a veteran of Democratic politics in the state. “He’s got two weights on either side of him, between Trump and McCrory.”[…]
Gary Pearce. Now THAT is an objective source. (Was Blinkin’ Chris too busy? Too catatonic to comment?)
Trump IS the only thing producing ANY excitement among GOP base voters in North Carolina. When is the last time 30,000 people showed up for Richard Burr? And Pat McCrory is beleaguered by the same problems Burr is — an allergy to conservatism and an overall contempt for his party’s base. Both men would be cruising to victory against their bush league opponents if they had simply pretended to be OK with conservatism.
I voted last Thursday and voted for every idiot on the GOP ticket. And ONLY because none of them to my knowledge un-endorsed Trump.
However, this election has taught me this….the party MUST purge every single turncoat we can. That means, for me,
#NoBushesNoRomneysNoRyans.
I had not heard the bit about just voting for Trump and no one else until just after that statement attributed to Robin Hayes, but probably originating with Woodhouse, that threw Trump under the bus immediately after the release of the potty mouth tape. I heard people talk about doing that three times over the next day. Each time, I listed the Republicans on the ballot who I knew were still in Trump’s camp and got promises they would at least vote for those. One guy even wrote down the list I gave him.
I am concerned when I hear that same thing from other counties. People like Ryan and McConnell and Woodhouse may have crapped in their own mess kit and screwed a bunch of folks on the ballot.
This may interest you guys. Remember, OVER BROKEN GLASS IF NECESSARY!
http://www.accuratepolitics.com/p/early-voting.html
This really sucks. We have the choice of Burr going up there and telling to bend over and take his liberal voting pattern. Or we can elect a dyed in the wool progressive radical to do the same thing…but to a more destructive scale. Now that these stories are out I may be more in favor of the democrap-lite version…especially if Hitlary gets in office so that Republicans can block anything she tries to do. .
Republicans blocking? That’s a pipe dream. Democrats are already salivating at the prospect of passing a massive amnesty with Paul Ryan’s help.
I am sure that this will fail into the category of just complaining but I have to say I never seem to find reason to be impressed by local party activists when it comes to GOTV.
I had to run to one of the 4 early voting locations in our county today to drop off some materials to a friend who was helping at the polls (Randolph County). As I approached the front, the lady from the local Democratic women’s group (she self identified) offered me a list of their candidates which is nicely laid out on a 8 x 11 sheet of paper. After looking at it, I handed it back to her.
Then I went to the GOP volunteer (who was very engrossed in her conversation with another activist handing out candidate literature) and waited patiently for her to take a breath so that I could ask her for a copy of the GOP list (I had to ask her, she didn’t approach me at all).
The yellow sheet of paper (1/4 of an 8 x 11) was printed in very small type. I guess people would think that is ok but the part this just strikes me as stupid is that the names were NOT in any real order.
In Randolph County, we are voting on written paper ballots (WONDERFUL! Less prone to rigging). However, what level of intelligence and forethought does it take to actually print the names in the order that voters would encounter the names as they work down the ballot?
I swear, between an almost empty party office and poorly designed flyers, it really seems to me that the very party activists that should be working hard to elect our wonderful candidates are more in the way than part of a GOTV solution.
For the life of me, I don’t understand people.
Amen! I always advise folks to design their handouts with large print and to list the candidates (a) in the exact order they appear on the ballot, and (b) using the exact same spelling and office sought as listed on the ballot. Want to know what’s even easier? Handing out a pre-marked sample ballot.
Also, I tell poll workers to be brief, be polite, and ask questions like, “Would you like a list of conservative judges?” or “Do you know who you’re voting for in the Attorney General race?” If people hear, “Here’s the list of Republicans,” they think only of President, Governor, etc., and think, “I already know who I’m voting for in those races.” Pick a race nobody knows anything about, like judges or Council of State, and ask voters about that.
And for the love of Pete, don’t get sucked in to talking to one voter for 5 minutes on anything. You want to talk to 5 voters in 1 minute, not 1 voter for 5 minutes. While you were talking to that voter for 5 minutes about what you just read on Drudge, 5 voters walked in to vote who don’t know the difference between Buck Newton and Buck Owens.
Get involved & do it yourself! We HOP volunteers don’t get paid as most Democrat workers do!
If your comment is directed at me, I can assure I am very active and involved daily on behalf of various GOP candidates every day until election including working at the polls.
However, it does not require more help or paid staff to design flyers that are effective or to encourage volunteers to focus on the tasks at hand instead of just hanging out in offices or at polling places.
I voted on October 25 in Cary. Signs everywhere to remind you NO ID REQUIRED. I pulled mine out to offer up so pull my name and address more easily and as an experiment. The lady at the head of the line, directing me to an application rep, told me I didn’t need it. I said and I quote ” I don’t care”. When it was my turn, I presented my ID to the man at the table. You would have thought it was a copperhead. He again told me it was not required. I said and I quote ” I don’t care”. he tried to hand it back, I asked him to pull my info from it. He became visibly insulted that I would present my ID. Long story short, voter fraud is EASY!!!!!
Voter suppression is easier and much more widespread. Ask the GOP.
Voter suppression does not exist. If it did it would be prosecuted.
The only votes that photo Voter ID laws suppress are those of dead people and illegal aliens, and those illegal votes SHOULD be suppressed. I am sorry if those illegal vote constituencies happen to be traditional Democrat demographics, as Ray Stevens sang about in this song:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUEqh07E4dY
I will unenthusiastically vote for Burr. If he loses, however, he has only himself to blame. I worked hard for the Burr campaign in 2010. At that time he had a 75% conservative score. Today his score is 41%. He has ignored voters for six years. We wrote a letter signed by 12 tea parties across the State requesting a meeting with him in 2012 – crickets. In 2013 voters across the State implored him to hold townhalls to discuss Defunding Obamacare. We held the townhalls anyway where hundreds of concerned voters showed up. Burr said it was a Dumb Idea and didn’t show up. He has continued to fundObamas destruction of America over and over again. Burr has become a member of the Washington Cartel and his disdain for NC Voters has been on full display. His protege Tillis is following close on his coat tails.
What is more infuriating to me was Burr voted to confirm two out of the three judges who destroyed the Voter ID bill. It was our only best chance to have fair elections, but that is now lost.
THE ONLY THING VOTER ID SUPPRESSES IS VOTER FRAUD!
The easiest election I’ve ever voted in. TRUMP, TRUMP, TRUMP. We’re coming
I’ve been a Republican activist for 50 years and I am hearing many, many Republicans telling me they voted for Trump and left the rest of the ballot blank to protest the corrupt GOP Establishment’s support for Hillary. I’ve never seen such Republican disgust since I have been in politics.
If this is true, it’s VERY unhelpful for the judges. They have nothing to do with GOP infighting and are holding the line in our state courts. Single-shotting Trump hurts. A LOT.
True. Bob Edmunds, Bob Hunter, and Valerie Zachary deserve better and so do we. Wouldn’t vote for Burr or my state rep, though
There are also other conservatives on the ballot who are not dissing Trump and whose support he will need such as Walter Jones, and also some of our conservative legislators.
I can see not voting for establishment hacks, but also not voting for the conservatives on the ballot is just dumb.
I said I would never vote for Burr again after what he did in Mississippi unless he did something really major to make up for it, and I am still waiting. That disgusting act will cost him my and my family’s votes.
Do not forget to vote your local races. The county commissioners, city councils, and school boards have a huge say in your day to day life. They are at least as important if not more so than any of the up ballot races.
Im conservative but still voted for Hunter as I did all of the GOP candidates. And Judge Berger should be supported by everyone who supports conservative judges, not just Edmunds and Zachary.
Even today’s news shows the Hillary email-DOJ scandal becoming toxic—and yet the GOP leadership will not even hold a press conference to condemn her. This would greatly help our entire ticket. The GOP Establishment is doing everything it can to elect Hillary. The only way to send a message to these GOP crooks is to single-shot vote for Trump. I did that yesterday. First time in my life I didn’t vote the Republican ticket. I have had it with the GOP.
The whole GOP is NOT the problem. I can see not voting for some of the establishment dolts, but why punish conservatives who are dutifully supporting Trump? That makes no sense whatsoever! There are both types on the ballot.
GU Wonder: Are you suggesting that we vote for carpet-bagger McCrory who tried to destroy the NC Sons of Confederate Veterans and confiscate our license tags? Surely you jest. He’s not getting the votes of any of our 10,000 members.
Would you vote against Rep. Mike Speciale who sponsored the bill to protect Confederate and other historical monuments? Or the other legislators who voted for that bill? Heck, Governor McCrory even signed that one, although whether that makes up for his big screw up earlier on the licenses plates is for each voter to decide on his own.
Or would you vote against Sen. Phil Berger who stood up to the governor and told him the Senate would NOT pass a bill to end the SCV license plates?
My point is that there are good guys as well as bad, and if you fail to support the entire ticket, you can hurt good guys, too.
My ancestors fought in the War for Southern Independence, too, and I was appalled with the governor’s actions on the license plates. Sen. Berger and Rep. Speciale are heroes for their actions on these issues. As to the governor, I have mixed feelings, given that he did sign the Speciale bill and he has shut up about the license plates after Sen. Berger backed him down. I have SCV friends who are now okay with McCrory and some who are still upset with him.
BTW, one way on the ballot to thank Sen. Berger for standing up for southern heritage on the SCV license plate issue is to vote for his son for the Court of Appeals. All NC voters can do that.
GU Wonder
Amen to all of your points! God bless you!
The NCGOP had some mailers out today blasting Hillary Clinton, so they are belatedly engaging in the Presidential race. Wasn’t Woodhouse bright enough to know that these needed to get out earlier to stop the upset Trumpsters single voting him? Now there have been a number of days of early voting for that to have already been happening. More incompetence of Woodhouse. When can the NCGOP be rid of this fool?
Sending out mailers this late is a bit like a child sending his wish list to Santa around lunchtime on December 25th.