When will we fing out who the president is?

What are the reasons we do not use popular vote to elect the President?

Question: Do the candidates have to wait in line? Or are they ushered to eth front? Do they have designated spots or anything?

Genuinely curious in Ohio,
Scott Woods

What will happen when the time comes for the polls to close and there remains voters who haven’t casted their vote yet? Will they not be allowed to cast a vote?

I am in Indianapolis and would really like to see Sen. Barack Obama on election day. CNN keeps saying that he’s going to be here, but I can’t find any information on where. Can you please help me.

I wanted to know if the inmates all over US prisons are allowed to vote in this or any elections?

If a person forgot to register to vote can they register and vote today?

I`m not understanding, if the president election is based on electoral vote,why are we as general population voting.

What do you do when you are told you can not vote because they don’t have you registered in the book, but you have your voter registration card?

When the politicians vote, do they have to stand in the line too or are they allowed to cut to the front of the line?

What time will they be announcing the final results for the presidential election in Toronto?

American living in Canada

RE: Robert’s Question

The United States is a federal constitutional republic. This simply means that our government on the municipal, state, and federal levels are governed by officials elected by the people. The power of these officials over the people is regulated by the Constitution.

By contrast, a true Democracy is a form of government in which the regular people hold absolute control over their own government.

If we were a true Democracy, then we would elect leaders directly by a majority popular vote. But, because we are a FCR, our votes basically tell our electors to vote a certain way in the election.

So, to sum it up shortly, we do not use the popular vote because the popular vote is a concept tied to a true Democracy. We are actually a Federal Constitutional Republic so we do it via the Electoral College.

Prisoners can not vote, they lost the right while committing their crimes.

>>What are the reasons we do not use popular vote to elect the President?

The Electoral College was instituted before the first Presidential Election. It’s an easy way to count that also provides some buffers against voters that might make a poor choice. At this point, the Democratic and Republican parties benefit so greatly by the two-party system that the Electoral College supports that it is incredibly unlikely that an law will ever be passed that changes the way we vote. There have been more than 500 attempts to do so, and they haven’t worked yet.

>>What will happen when the time comes for the polls to close and there remains voters who haven’t casted their vote yet? Will they not be allowed to cast a vote?

This may depend upon district, but generally people who are already in queue when the polls close are still allowed to vote.

>>I wanted to know if the inmates all over US prisons are allowed to vote in this or any elections?

Different states are allowed to make their own rules about whether people convicted of felonies are allowed to vote. In most states, former felons are allowed to vote after their felony sentence is completed. Some states require citizens to appeal to the governor for restoration of voting rights.

Popular vote/Electoral College: We have the electoral college for outdated historical and idealistic reasons, originally those elected to the electoral college were actually supposed to be the ones deciding on the president. However, the main argument for keeping it nowadays is that otherwise all attention of the candidates would be paid to large urban areas and expensive media markets, like los angeles and new york. Keeping the electoral college means the voters in more rural areas get more attention and that a not-so-well established and funded candidate has the chance to win over voters in the primaries by trudging through the snow and knocking on doors rather than just buying the most TV ads.

People in line when the polls close are allowed to vote regardless of how many more hours they end up waiting.

Prisoners are allowed or not allowed to vote depending on the state.

It was very touching to see so many people up and out on line to vote. I knew my Husband is registered but never knew this was his first time. Very emotinal day!!!!

Did I just seean interview with an African American voter in Philadelphia saying he voted more than once today ? If this so why aren’t you following up on the fraud ?

@ Teacher: I’m not sure about your specific state, but here in California, you had to be registered before October 20th.

I think I can answer some of the above questions.

For security purposes and time constraints, presidential candidates either don’t stand in line, or go to polling stations that are not that populated.

If you get on line 1 minute before polls close, you are able to vote. They just stop people getting on the line after the polls close.

Inmates cannot vote. They are counted in census figures, but if you are in prison, you cannot vote. Once out of prison, some states allow ex-felons to vote, some don’t.

You can register to vote, for the next general election. The deadline to vote in this one is past.

Results start flowing in when polls close. You will start getting state wide results at 7pm eastern standard time. Projections will be made in individual states if the vote is not close. If the vote is close, no projection will be made until the vote is final and official.

The population votes for the electoral college voters. The population in a state determines which party will be represented by the voters in the electoral college. There are 540 voters in the college, divided by the 50 states depending on the population of that state as of the last official census. Generally, the number of electoral votes of one state do not change from election to election unless the population changes dramatically in proportion to the other states. The state with the greatest electoral votes is the most populous, which is California.

The total number of electoral votes, 540, never changes.

Hope this helps.

I believe that those who have committed felonies canNOT vote…those that are in prison for other lesser charges can vote. To the Toronto girl- I am in Buffalo, NY. Your results should come in around the same time as ours as we are both eastern time zoners. I figure we should have a good portion of the east coast figured by 10pm. Just check the map on http://www.cnn.com to see when the polls close. A lot of results are given within 5 minutes of polls closing.

Candidates do not have to wait in line. They are ushered in and out- due to media attention (at least the US presidential candidates are).

We do not use the popular vote in order for smaller/less populated areas to have a voice. If we went by the popular vote- most presidents would spend all their time in NYC, LA, Atlanta,. Chicago…all the largest cities. Hence all the middle states with much less people wouldn’t be taken into consideration. Granted- now I feel we have the reverse problem. I’m in NY and my state ‘doesn’t count’ b/c it’s reliably democrat. It’s an imperfect system but it’s the one we have!

> If a person forgot to register to vote can they register and vote today?

Probably universally no.

> What do you do when you are told you can not vote because they don’t have you registered in the book, but you have your voter registration card?

Generally, you can cast a provisional ballot. That is, you post a ballot that will count only after they verify that you are indeed eligible to vote at that location. The voting log at the polling location you went to may not have been properly/completely updated by today.

when can we get the final result, since the polls close at different time??

Why do the polls close at different times? In Il our polls close at 7:00 which doesn’t give the Il voters as much time to vote as in, for example, Idaho !!

Also — why do some states offer more available times and locations to vote early than other states? Ex: some days, In Il, only times avail. were during working hours.

My daughter is a student at Butler University in Indianapolis IN. She registered to vote in Indiana and was given an Indiana voters registration card, although a resident of Illinois. She went to vote today but was given a provential(?) ballot, because the voting judge stated she needed an Indiana id. I have another daughter in school in Missouri and she did not need a Missouri Id. This does not seem correct, what do you say, have they stolen my daughters vote?

With such huge numbers of people that took the opportunity to vote early or by absentee voting I heard that these ballots get counted after the polls close in the prospective states. How on earth is anyone going to project a winner with any kind of legitimacy? Also, just who is going to count these ballots and when do they predict to finish?

If I’m in a state other than the one I’m registered in, because of an unforseen emergency, and was turned away at the polling place. I was told by Alabama officials that voting was a privilege, not a right, and despite the fact that I’m a registered voter in Georgia, I could not vote in Alabama. This didn’t sound right to me; because I had a similar experience years ago, having just moved back to Georgia from Florida days before the election, and I was allowed to vote then. Does anyone know the rules regarding this?

In Iowa, you can register and vote today as long as you have proof of identity and residence.

^
polls close at different times, pretty much because of the time zones… in tn we close at 7:00 est but in cali they dont close until 11est

Please chec k your local laws and regulations for procidures when there is a line at the time the polls close, as they very from state to state. In the majority of states, the lines are closed at the time the voting is scheduled to end, allowing those in line to vote. In others, the polling place closes promptly and those in line are turned away.

CNN keeps mentioning that voting is on the first Tuesday in November, and even produced a segment on why Tuesday was chosen. But why does CNN not clarify that it’s NOT the first Tuesday in November, it’s the first Tuesday after the first Monday! Come on CNN, you can do better.

Regarding two of the questions above:

If you forgot to register to vote, you can register today in Idaho, Iowa, Maine, Minnesota, Montana, New Hampshire, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. All other states, it’s too late, unfortunately.

If you run into any problems voting, like the situation described above, you can call the Election Protection Coalition (at 1-866-Our-Vote) or go to their website (http://www.866ourvote.org) to get assistance.

What are the reasons we do not use popular vote to elect the President?
-The founding fathers of the US didn’t trust the American people to choose the right president so that is why we have the electoral college.

Question: Do the candidates have to wait in line? Or are they ushered to eth front? Do they have designated spots or anything?
-I think they have to wait also. Why should they cut in front of everyone?

What will happen when the time comes for the polls to close and there remains voters who haven’t casted their vote yet? Will they not be allowed to cast a vote?
-I think you have to be in line by 7pm (or whatever the time is). So some polling places finish polling after 7pm.

I wanted to know if the inmates all over US prisons are allowed to vote in this or any elections?
-You cannot vote if you have a felony charge.

If a person forgot to register to vote can they register and vote today?
-No, sorry.

Why do CNN and other news agencies consistently misinterpret “margin of error” in polling results? Margin of error refers to the variance around each individual %, not the difference between those two percentages. In other words, one would actually need a difference twice the margin of error in order to correctly interpret that there was a statistical difference between two polling percentages.

For example, the current polling figures are reported for Pennsylvania, where there is a 4% margin of error:
Obama: 52 +/- 4%
McCain: 46 +/- 4%
This means the real % falls somewhere within the following ranges:
Obama: 48 to 56%
McCain: 40 to 50%
The ranges overlap, meaning that there is no statistical difference. Please do not insinuate that there is a real difference between these polling figures.

(The accepted and widely used definition of “margin of error” refers to two standard errors, or the 95% confidence interval around an individual value).

I’m a Barack Obama/Joe Biden supporter. I voted about 3 1/2 weeks ago (absentee ballot). I’ve been informed by many of my friends & colleagues that my vote will not be counted unless the election is so close (within 10,000 votes) that they need to count those ballots. I read my absentee ballot from one end to the other, twice, and no where did it say that my ballot would not be counted. How about those absentee ballots being sent in by the military personnel & people who are abroad? You mean to tell me none of those votes count? Where is the fairness in all this? What kind of democracy is this? I feel that somehow there’s always a stipulation preventing the greatest privilege in a democracy from being fair. What kind of example are we setting to the world when we continually have crooks handling such delicate matters as “our right to vote”. This is something that should be made known to the public so that we can decide on our own how to proceed with our vote. There are thousands, if not millions of people who are in the dark about this “collusion”.
Thank you for your time…DEMOCRATS FOR OBAMA/BIDEN…Let’s take our country back!

no question, just a comment:

It quite surprises me that results/projections are allowed before the last polls close. It seems more appropriate that results should all be aired at once, though very doubtfully enforceable …

What happens to the candidates’ senate seats, depending on who wins? Do Illinois and Arizona both use the governor-appointee system to fill that empty seat?

I am very disappointed with my NYC poll center. People had to fill out paper ballots due to broken machines. They announced the machines were broken at 6:15 am when I stood in line. It was a very chaotic environment inside. Even the hava inspectors were yelling at each other. The police had to be called twice. Sigh.

RE: Patel

Felons cannot vote. They have had this right taken away.

RE: Woods

Usually, if you are in line to vote by the time the polls close, you are still allowed to vote. This may vary by state. This is the case in AZ.

To Steve:

I’m in IN. Your daughter should just have to go down to the county voter registration office and show proof of residency. I have a New Mexico ID and just had to show my bank statement with printed name and address on it to get a regular ballot. There is more information on the various state voter registration/county clerk’s office web pages.

QUESTION ABOUT A PRIOR FELON CONVITION AND ABLE TO VOTE. IF YOU COMMITED A FELONY IN A STATE THAT REUIRES THE GOVERNOR OF THAT STATE TO RESTORE YOUR RIGHT BUT MOVE TO A STATE AND LIVED THERE OVER 15 YEARS THAT AUTOMATICALLY GIVES YOUR RIGHTS BACK AFTER SERVING TIME ARE YOU ALLOWED TO VOTE?

Good Afternoon CNN,

I just sent this email to Congressman Boucher, VA and I wanted to send a copy to you as well.

Dear Congressman Boucher,

With the concern all voters share about each vote being accurately counted, why, when we vote can we not receive an optional printout, or receipt if you will, that summarizes our vote.

This way, each voter has printed proof of who he/she voted for. This would help protect all of us in the event of fraud, error, etc.

I would love to hear what you think. I would also be willing to help with this in any way possible. Thank you very much.

Sincerely,

Katrina Poovey

“What are the reasons we do not use popular vote to elect the President?”

Julian offered an excellent answer. But here’s another point to consider: Members of Congress serve as representatives of the people, and are elected by popular vote, but the President is the executive of the collected STATES as a federation of semi-autonomous entities. This concept, which has fallen out of contemporary awareness, is part ofwhy the framers of our Constitution created the Electoral College. The states as entities themselves elect the President.

Idaho, Iowa, Maine, Minnesota, New Hampshire, Wisconsin and Wyoming have same day voter registration.

Why when I went to vote did I have to show identification but anyone can get an absentee ballot? How are those validated? I could have sent the absentee ballot in for my adult child who now lives in a different state… who would have known?

Q: Which is more exciting the vote today or SuperBowl?

A: Today’s election - hands down (and I LOVE the SuperBowl!)

To people attempting to vote from other states for whatever reason:

Unless you submitted an absentee ballot in advance of today, you are required to vote in the district in which you a registered. If you registered in one municipality and moved to another without alerting election officials, you must go to your original municipality to vote. You cannot just show up at any polling place and vote; each municipality has a list of people registered in that municipality and you must be on that list. Otherwise, who is to stop you from voting multiple times at multiple places?

I WOULD LIKE TO KNOW WHY EX-PATS ARE ALLOWED TO VOTE IN OUR ELECTIONS. I UNDERSTAND IF SOMEONE IS TEMPORARILY LIVING IN A FOREIGN COUNTRY, BUT SOME OF THESE PEOPLE APPARENTLY THINK THE US ISN’T GOOD ENOUGH TO INHABIT, BUT THEY SHOULD BE ABLE TO VOTE AND MAKE DECISIONS FOR THOSE OF US WHO LIVE HERE.

Teresa: depending on what state you’re in, you either:

1) have to be pre-approved for an absentee ballot (most states require a valid reason, like being out of town for work). If you’re approved in this way your name is taken off the list at your normal polling place to ensure you don’t get to vote more than once.

2) have your absentee ballot accepted on a provisional basis until the voter’s identification and registration is verified. If the ballot is legit, the vote stands; if it is not, it is removed from the totals.

Vote counts are not officially finalized for days to weeks after the election is held, but usually the margin of victory is big enough to declare a winner early(except when it is very close like with Bush/Gore).

I was just wondering how the soldiers that are overseas vote?

Who made this rule/law. Even if you get the majority of votes, if you dont get the electorial, it doesnt matter.
So why vote?

Something that also needs to be changed is the way Presidents are elected. People vote but Presidents are elected by electoral votes. This has to be changed and they need to be elected by the people. Do away with electoral voting, do away with the all the Democratic , Republican , and Liberal perties . Let people be elected for who they are and not what party they are on. You wouldn’t have all this B.S. going on .

Actually, in Florida ex-felons can vote.

Proof:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-04-05-florida-felons-voting_N.htm

Hello!

Be critical of the information that you receive from other posters here. People fail to realize that most laws differ from state to state (felon voting rights, registration cut off dates, etc). The BEST place to find the answers to these questions are your states election commission websites.

Earlier today, a CNN news person stated that Election Day is the first Tuesday in November. While that is true this year, for federal offices, it occurs on the Tuesday following the first Monday of November (so the earliest possible date is November 2 and the latest November 8).

Can election results be shown when the west coast has not ended their voting. Wouldn’t people be inclined not to go vote if they saw results were overwhelmingly in favor of one person?

A response to Katrina Poovey’s question.

Both Maryland and Virginia will stop using electronic voting machines after this election. Maryland will completely stop using them as of this election, and Virginia will phase them out gradually as they break down.

The reason for both states eliminating the electronic voting machines is due to the lack of a paper trail, and other security concerns.

One major consideration in Maryland was the fact that Diebold, the manufacturer of the Accuvote-TS system in place, wanted to charge the state an exorbant amount of money for a printer system, according to it’s own leaked internal emails.

RE: kiomara

Think of it this way… say your district receives 5,000 absentee ballots. If Obama leads your district by 5,001 votes, even if all 5,000 absentee ballots were for McCain, they wouldn’t be enough to change the outcome. I believe that’s why some districts may not count them.

As for the electoral college questions, I remember a little from high school Civics class. Having the electoral college and tying it to a statewide outcome also prevents the candidates from pandering to one large or specific demographic group that could decide the popular vote.

i am registered in the state of california and am currently in mass. i filled out my absentee ballot. I recieved my information on the props but no absentee ballot…what should i do?

Im with you Chris when will we all find out who will be the next president of United States.

Sara>> While overseas we can put in absentee ballots about a month before election. Not as much time to decide who we want in office, but still much better than not being able to vote at all.

Lyn>> If they’re a citizen they can vote. Who’s to say they don’t plan to move back to the US? My uncle lived in Italy for 4 years and then moved back to Maine. If their citizenship is revoked then of course they will loose their voting privilages.

Katrina>> I think there are several issues with that which are all regarding logistics. Just the simple act of printing a receipt takes a lot of time, and with unprecidented numbers voting this year, that’s a LOT of lost time. Also consider the additional cost in ink, paper, electricity, etc.. And we can’t (legally) offset it by having voters pay for it (as this would be considered forcing people to pay to vote… which is a big no-no). It seems to me that simply having more redundancy in the system could avoid problems of this type in the future.

Glen>> If you change your citizenship to that state then you will fall under their laws.

jean>> It’s quite an interesting effect. A lot of times it causes voter rallies in the west coast states when a lot of people run out to vote. There’s also a lot of periodic updates throughout the states.

to be honest I think voting only really matters in the swing states. Let my parents vote in illinois where there’s a 60% democratic majority, and my friends vote here in texas where there’s an 80% republican majority. Ohio, florida, and a few other states are where the elections are decided every time for hte last 50 years or so.

mmy i.d. doesn’t have my current address on it, and doesn’t match the one on my voter registration card. i have heard that if you take your check or a bank statement that has you current address on it then you can use that along with your i.d. Is this true? HELP!

do you have to vote in the place your registered in???

Service Members (all 5 branches) serving on a deployment, overseas or any state away from where we are registered to vote can vote by absentee ballot.

The military promotes voting and helps us apply for the ballots.

When I normally vote I usually see my name on the screen used for voting. I did not see my name on the screen. Will my vote count?

I have a question: Why do people who don’t even know how the Electoral College works so adamant about removing it?

dh and Jean F:
I thought there was some “rule” (or at least commonly agreed upon guideline) that the media couldn’t release results until at least the polls on the west coast close (8 PM here in Oregon). Not sure if this is still in effect… Too bad for AK and Hawaii - too far west

Ok, so I have been reading a lot of questions about the electoral college versues the popular vote. And most of the answers have been great, but who makes up the electoral college? And I still don’t understand by we vote when the electoral college votes are the votes that really count?

Message for Lyn: Why shouldn´t Ex-Pats be allowed to vote? They are as much citizens as those still living in the U.S. They have family, ties and of course interests in the U.S even though they aren´t living there physically at the moment. They wouldn´t vote if they didn´t care about the country or what happens there obviously. I speak as I am an Ex-Pat and I follow what happens in my country as much as the next person. Actually, I feel the negative effects of things like foreign policy much more than those living in the country as I am constantly affected by it.

help! I am at school today and was told I could vote here on campus. They gave me a provisional ballot and now I hear that those may not be counted in some places. This is my first time voting so I didn’t even know what that was. WILL MY VOTE COUNT? I neeeed to know, I’m worried because I live not too far from campus but I won’t be out of school until late today and wasn’t sure if I’d make it to the polling center in time, I thought I’d rather be safe than sorry.

Re: Rick

No, the African American man in question said that he got into line, left and came back and got back into line. That was because of how long the line was. It’s really hard to vote twice, not as easy as just coming back a few hours later, sorry Rick.

What happens if there is a tie (269/269)?

LYN>>
the answer to your question is simple, expatriates are still citizens and as such still have the right to vote. They also still have to pay income taxes. I love that you assume that because someone chooses to live and work outside of this country they “THINK THE US ISN’T GOOD ENOUGH TO INHABIT”. With the increase in globalization more and more Americans are living overseas most come back, some don’t and that doesn’t mean they aren’t American, just that they are making good money somewhere else.

Julian, your answer to Robert is tautological. It is as if he asked you why you are not married, and you said “I am not married because I am a bachelor.” It’s true that the presence of the Electoral College meshes with classifying our government as an “FCR,” but I think he was asking why there is such a mediation between the people and the decision making. Some other have suggested answers, along the lines of: the framers of the Constitution did not trust the populace to vote as they wanted them to vote.

when will results be announced for the west coast

I don’t know about other states, but in WI you can register to vote at the polls! Please vote!

Why are results released when other states are still voting?

Katrina Poovey, did you not receive an “I Voted” sticker?

Guys,

The President isn’t elected to represent individual citizens, he is elected to represent the states. I know that sounds harsh, but that is how our government was framed 220+ years ago. Over the years this notion has changed and Presidential candidates now focus on individual citizens’ problems, but that’s not what was originally intended.

That’s why we have the electoral college. Each state has a number of electoral votes assigned to it, based on the number of representatives that state has in congress. Thus, every state is guaranteed at least 3 electoral votes (two senators and at least one representative). These electors are meant to vote for whichever candidate represents their respective state’s interests.

We vote in our states so that the electors know what the citizens of their STATE what. You’re not voting as an American in this election, you’re voting as a citizen of whatever state you live in.

> What happens if there is a tie (269/269)?

The house decides the president and the Senate decides the vice-president. This happened back in the 1800’s when Jefferson and Adams tied for President.

I think if you vote provisional they are supposed to give you a phone number where you can call and see if your vote was counted and if they tell you know they are obligated by law to tell you why! At least that is what I was told in 04 about provisional voting in North Carolina!

I am from masachusetts and the question I have is what time do they tell us the president?

I really don’t understand why third-party candidates are running. It may seem insensitive, but the lack of visuals and the lack of advertisement of the campaigns has not been in their favor… maybe these candidates would have a shot if they had made more of a name or made a bigger impact earlier on in this election. Most of the candidates had been campaigning for the past two years, and I think that if someone really wants to be president he or she will do what ever is needed to get noticed and to be able to have an actual impact on the election.

How is it that CNN can project the winner of a state when only 10 o/o or 15 o/o of the votes have been tallied???

I HAVE A QUESTION CAN SOMEONE EXPLAIN TO ME THE ELECTORIAL PROCESS. How are they selected if they cannot be a member of congress or the house. What process they use in casting their vote. By the popular vote of the state they represent or do they choose whoever they feel is right . What guidelines do they have!

How can I see the state by state results of the early voters. Why are they not being reported along with todays votes at least in parenthesis so we can get a more realistic idea of the count. This is the very reason I did not vote early.

Now that the polls are starting to close, when do we see the results of early voting?

when do we find out who is the next president?

Thank you Steve, your breakdown of the electoral college reply was well written. And very easily understanded!!

I’m a little confused with Election process….THere are several times zones across the US…so therefore polls are closing at the same time, but appear to close at different times across times zones…..I’m wondering, what’s to stop votes in the East from making known results of polling to voters in the west (who are in a different time zone) and therefore skewing the election results??????