E-mail from reader Bob Schoeffler:

I live in Tustin, Ca. Our machines were not working when I got to the polls. I was told the only ballots they had left were either Korean, Vietnamese or Chinese. I ended up choosing Chinese. How confusing!

Intimidation! Intimidation!

***

Another e-mail:

Dear Mrs. Malkin,

We have no problem voting in Madison County. The polls are adequately staffed, the workers are at least overtly non-partisan, photo ID is required, and we use simple paper ballots, printed in English and in ample supply. What, for Pete’s sake, is going on in the rest of the country? This is not, or should not be, rocket science.

Clayton Jones
Huntsville, AL

The Hotline concurs and offers an antidote to panic over electile dysfunction:

Remember: millions of people voting * tens of poll workers * thousands of machines = literally billions of voting-related transactions.

We’ve checked in with the national parties, and aside from minor, sporadic tangles and anecdotal evidence of high turnout, there are no major national voting problems.

Reader Scott chimes in from Oklahoma City:

I’ve been going to the same polling place for over twenty years. One of the poll workers is the mother of a friend from high school, another was my college English instructor. While voting I saw many of my neighbors, and the man who cuts my hair, also casting their votes.

We voted on paper ballots by completing an arrow, and inserted them into a machine that tabulates them instantly, beeping if the ballot was marked incorrectly. We have instant counts and a perfect paper trail.

No identification was required because we know each other. No one was being turned away for mischief, fraud, or lack of identification. No one wouldn’t get to vote because these kind people will stay until everyone who gets in line by 7pm gets their chance to vote. No one was being intimidated, there were no threats, and no one was disenfranchised.

Welcome to Red State America – a place where we trust each other because we know each other.

A view from Los Angeles:

Michelle,

I live in downtown LA in a neighborhood that was exclusive at one time but had a 40-year decline and is only now coming back. In short, our neighborhood is
95% working-class minorities and the state doesn’t spend a lot of money making sure our elections go well.

That said, voting was quick and efficient, ballots and workers in all languages were plentiful and even though we used paper ballots and ink markers, they
had electronic card readers on hand and we weren’t dismissed until the machine confirmed our cards read successfully.

Lars T.