Election day.
by Sunita
The line is snaking outside the doors of my polling station (which, unlike Russia, I can see from my house). It started just after the polls opened at 6 a.m.
ReaderWriterVille
Blog in progress
The line is snaking outside the doors of my polling station (which, unlike Russia, I can see from my house). It started just after the polls opened at 6 a.m.
ReaderWriterVille 
I voted absentee so I wouldn’t have any excuses and am glad I did because it’s raining here.
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It’s a beautiful day here, thank goodness, because we need everyone out that we can get if Claire is going to keep her seat. And we don’t have early voting. We have absentee, but it’s not that easy and the lines were an hour long over the weekend.
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It was pouring rain here mid-day when the DH and I went to the polls. It was also the very busy! I was happy to see such a good turnout in such bad weather. Our most contentious races are at the local level. Maryland does have early voting and the turnout was double what it was in ’16 (with the same number of polling locations).
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That’s wonderful to hear! We have not one, not two, but three marijuana legalization initiatives on the ballot, which has to raise the incentive for people to come out! I’m still building a blanket fort from which to watch the returns, though.
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I favor the peek thru the fingers approach, with sound muted, for viewing election returns. But I can see the desirability of a blanket fort. I find a glass of wine also helps.
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The mute button is so key to getting through the night. And there will definitely be adult beverages served in my fort.
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It’s going to be a long night of finger-crossing. It’s always a strange experience living outside the country at a time like this. (In our recent civic election, there was a 30% increase in early voting but a lower number of ballots cast overall. I’m hoping that’s not the case in the midterms!)
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It is weird to be elsewhere on a big election night; stressful in a different way. It looks like turnout is high in lots of places but on both sides. Which means delays and uncertainty galore.
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Well, no big surprises in my part of Maryland, so that made for dull viewing. I was bummed that Beto didn’t manage to beat Cruz in Texas, but otherwise generally pleased.
How did your evening go?
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Badly. Claire McCaskill lost to a too smooth white guy who will be a big Trump ally, and losing Heitkamp along with Claire hurt. I knew both were tough races but I was hoping we’d keep at least one. I can only hope Tester can somehow pull it out in Montana. And the neighboring district’s horrible Tea Party woman withstood a strong challenge from a good young Democrat candidate. On the other hand, both the minimum wage and anti-gerrymandering initiatives cruised to victory so there is a silver lining.
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