Morning Poll: Super Tuesday Voting

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by ARLnow.com March 6, 2012 at 9:35 am 3,162 117 Comments

Voting has started in Arlington for the Super Tuesday GOP presidential primary.

Virginia is one of 10 states with presidential primaries today. Only two of the Republican contenders are on the ballot here, however. Thanks in part to the state’s stringent requirements for getting on the ballot, neither Rick Santorum (a Great Falls resident) nor Newt Gingrich (a McLean resident) were able to qualify. Voters in Virginia will have to choose between Mitt Romney and Ron Paul, with no write-in option.

A local election official said all 52 of Arlington’s polling places opened around 6:00 this morning without incident. Voting will continue through 7:00 tonight. Any registered voter is eligible to vote in the Virginia primary, regardless of party affiliation.

Will you be voting today?

Frivolous

Voting for Ron Paul today, because I love to watch this mess unfold!
- ArlForester
  
  Glad to see you take the process seriously.
  - SteamboatWillie
    
    Chiding someone about the taking the process seriously?
    
    That’s rich, considering that two of the remaining candidates for the GOP nomination are Virginia residents who “took the process seriously” so much that their campaigns failed to make it onto the ballot in their adopted home states.
    
    Viva Ron Paul!
    - Josh S
      
      Two wrongs don’t make a right.
      - nunya
        
        doncha mean two Rons don’t make it right?
- N Jackson Guy
  
  I voted at 06:15 AM this morning at that church on Irving St. No wait. Apparently I was the 5th person there.
  
  I voted for Ron Paul, since I’m pretty sure it’s the last time I’ll be able to vote for him.
- Westover Leftover
  
  Me too!
  - Arlington, Northside
    
    At 8am, I was the only one voting at Swanson. Pretty sad.
- Glebe Roader
  
  I wasn’t going to vote today, but I like that idea. Ron Paul will get my vote.
- dk
  
  I can’t do this because I’m afraid of bad karma.
rick

76% stated they will not vote – inline with the % of democratic’s in Arlington county – – hum!
- Arlington, Northside
  
  It would be nice if those that identify themselves as Democrats stayed home rather than trying to skew the election results. Unfortuantely, I have alredy run into three hard core Democratic neighbors who were wearing their I Voted stickers. 🙁
  - Glebe Roader
    
    Waaaaaaaah!
  - Arlington Cat
    
    Hey, back in the 80’s the Virginia NRA in was telling their members to go out and vote for Jesse Jackson in the primaries. The Democrats are very late to this game.
    - Arlington, Northside
      
      You kidding? In the 60’s the Dems were telling their folks to vote for Nelson Rockafeller, and that was the actual Party not a special interest organization. Great to see my fellow Arlingtonians taking pride in being part of the problem instead of the solution.
      - jackson
        
        How is legally voting in an election of only two choices going to skew results? You worried of Romney? Him getting the nod seems to be a foregone conclusion. Republicans are the ones having a hard time swallowing that fact and fighting it every primary of the way. It’s a good show.
      - Arlington, Northside
        
        It is the principle. Legal or not, stealing a pack of gun from Giant is not going to put them out of business, but it is still not the right thing to do. Inspite of popular belief, spiting on the side walk in front of a church is not illegal, but it is not the right thing to do either.
      - jackson
        
        Stealing gum is illegal. (Can’t comment on the “spitting” since I don’t know where you’re coming from with that example.)
        
        I see absolutely no problem with people voting today. If you’re worried the results might hurt Romney, get out there and campaign harder for him.
      - Arlington, Northside
        
        If you don’t see the problem with folks voting in the primary of the opposite party with the intention of skewing the results for an easier opponent for their candidate in the November, than I can see you just don’t respect the system.
      - Hattie McDaniel
        
        “Respecting the system” has nothing to do with it. It is perfectly legitimate for eligible citizens to exercise their right to vote as they see fit. If you have a problem with that, work to make open primaries not happen in VA.
      - Josh S
        
        It’s a *party* vote. If the party chooses an open primary, that’s their problem. Make a closed primary – problem solved.
      - Zoning Victim
        
        The open primary setup is a Virginia law, isn’t it?
        
        I think it’s interesting that people are willing to compromise their integrity to vote in the Republican Primary and see nothing wrong with that. It may not be illegal, but it still makes anyone doing it a person of questionable integrity.
      - jackson
        
        I would point out that in 2008 Rush Limbaugh called his plan to keep the democratic primaries going “Operation Chaos” and proudly proclaimed that having republicans vote for Hillary would keep the democrats in chaos, but as someone already pointed out, two wrongs don’t make a right.
      - Josh S
        
        If it’s Virginia law, then how is it an issue of integrity? I guess because your primary motivation for voting (if you’re a Democrat) is to mess things up?
        I definitely don’t understand the motivation for having an open primary. Does anyone know?
      - Annie
        
        Excuse me? Voting is like stealing a pack of gun (hmmm…maybe you meant gum) from Giant? If so, consider me a thief…just voted for Ron Paul !!
      - drax
        
        It’s not illegal, jackson.
      - jackson
        
        I know, Drax. Arlington, Northside is making the odd analogies between voting, stealing gum, and spitting in front of churches(?).
      - drax
        
        Okay, thanks for the clarification.
Really

Open primary. the question should be, will you vote today to toy with the clown parade?
- ArlForester
  
  That’s why I registered as a democrat years ago. After being subjected to morons like Albie Eisenberg, I figured it was better to pretend to be one of the morons to have my voice heard.
  - ArlingtonAaron
    
    No party registration in Virginia. So, no, you didn’t.
    - Arborist
      
      You really expect honest politics from a Republican? Texas would have it no other way.
      - Zoning Victim
        
        You could have just put the question mark after the word “politics” and been completely accurate.
    - ArlForester
      
      It was to vote for who would run as a Dem for County Board and yes I did. It wasn’t for the state.
      - drax
        
        No, you didn’t register to vote as a Dem for county board but not the state. There is no such thing. There is only on voter registration. It qualifies you to vote in Virginia in any kind of election, local or state, and it is not by party.
        
        You’re digging the hole deeper.
        
        Unless you’re trying to say that you participated in a real caucus – one where you come to a party meeting and don’t use a voting machine to vote – you’re full of it. And I don’t think Arlington Dems have had a real caucus in a long time.
  - Max
    
    So in other words you’ve never registered to vote in Virginia
    - ArlForester
      
      County board. Can you not read?
      - drax
        
        There is no such thing as registering to vote just for county board.
        
        You’re either very very confused or making things up.
Jkih

Hell yes!!! Voting to Restore America Now!!!
Burger

Stringent requirements? Really? The people running for president will be the most powerful person in the world and as part of those duties will be enforcing the laws. I don’t think it is too much to ask of these people to follow the rules stated. If they don’t deem it necessary to make the effort that is on them not the Commonwealth.
- xcurmudgeon
  
  Anyway, the requirements aren’t “stringent”–many states have stricter requirements. If Ron Paul could get on, the others could. The fact that Gingrich and Santorum could not get on is a testatment to the absence of organization in their campaigns, which in turn reflects poorly on someone who wants to run the country.
  - dk
    
    +1
  - Zoning Victim
    
    It’s widely accepted that VA has some of the most stringent ballot requirements in the country, but like you said; it’s hard to think that someone can successfully run the most powerful nation in the world if they can’t get their act together to get on the VA ballot.
    - Captain Obvious
      
      The folks who didn’t make the ballot (Santorum, Gingrich, etc.) made absolutely no effort to get the required signatures until a couple of weeks and, in some cases, a couple of days before the deadline. The RPVA actually gave numerous interviews to the media expressing concern over the fact that these campaigns hadn’t attempted to collect a single signature, and even that didn’t spur them to action. Pretty pathetic, and makes clear that their failure to make the ballot has everything to do with laziness and disorganization, and not whether the requirements are “stringent.”
- Arlington, Northside
  
  It is sad that it is easier to get on the general election ballot in Virginia as a nut job than it is to get on the primary ballot.
ArlForester

Why would the polling places have opened with incident?
- nom de guerre
  
  Because American Black Vultures have been spotted in Arlington!
- Grandstander
  
  You’d be surprised how inept poll workers can be at even the simplest of tasks.
  - Arlington, Northside
    
    I have not found them to be inept in Arlington. Old, but not inept.
ksu499

One vote cast for the half-crazed elf!
- Arlington Cat
  
  It is a shame you couldn’t vote for a fully crazed dingbat named Michele.
  - Marcus Bachmann
    
    My wife is FABULOUS!!!
    - nunya
      
      +1
    - Tabs
      
      Ha. She matches your tie!
Arlington Cat

I can’t vote for Michele Bachmann? What about Herman Cain? Rick Perry? Huntsman?

Do I have to sign a pledge?

What about the doughboy husband of former Fairlington resident Calista Bilsek? You know, the guy that goes to Tiffany’s a lot? I can’t vote for him? I can’t vote for this Newt guy?

A friend in Annandale showed up at 9:00 AM to vote. He was the 19th person to vote this morning there. Yes, there is excitement out there!

Considering Iowa, Florida, Maine, Michigan, and Washington’s elections were all screwed up, how will the Virginia GOP screw up this one? Oh, that’s right, they already screwed it up so over guvnor would be Mitt Romney’s VP nominee. (Vice President, not Vaginal Penetration).

Who is Rush Lambaugh and Sean Hannity supporting?

Yeah, I will go vote for Ron Paul at lunchtime.
- Josh S
  
  ^^ The case against democracy.
  - drax
    
    Or cat suffrage.
    - OldTimer
      
      Think the litter box needs a’changing.
Pablo

This Obama supporter proudly voted for Ron Paul! Can’t wait for the George Allen campaign to start calling me in a few months. It’ll be another laugh.
- Arlington, Northside
  
  Nice of you to corrupt the already broken system further.
  - ArlForester
    
    You really expect honest politics from an Obama supporter? Chicago would have it no other way.
    - drax
      
      …says the guy who claims to have registered as a Democrat just to skew Democratic primaries, despite there being no party registration in Virginia.
      - ArlForester
        
        I see you can’t read either. It explains a lot.
      - drax
        
        I can read just fine. I can see that you’re deeply confused about the voter registration process in Virginia.
  - Arlington Cat
    
    The Virginia GOP already corrupted it; we are just teaching them the law of unintended consequences.
    - Arlington, Northside
      
      No more or less corrupt than the Democratic Party of the Commonwealth. You make it like they set up this system so you will hit them for it. The Party did not create this system, the legislature did, a legislature that has been in the hands of the Ds more than the hands of the Rs through the history of Virginia. Your attitude is as bad as Limbaugh’s, only from the opposite direction, is that something you are proud of?
      - jackson
        
        Voting in a primary is not “as bad as Limbaugh, only from the opposite direction,” by any amount of hyperbole you want to throw around.
      - Arlington, Northside
        
        Probably worse actually. Limbaugh is just spewing crap, words that can be ignored, as hard as it might be to. A vote in a primary to remove the other party’s desired and/or more capable candidate is an actual action that could cause a real skewing of the process.
      - jackson
        
        If Romney is truly the “party’s desired and/or more capable candidate” it would take a HUGE effort by interested democrats to skew the results enough to change it, unless republicans are so apathetic about Romney that they aren’t going to bother to vote at all today, which makes it kind of their fault too.
      - Pablo
        
        Arlington, Northside–
        
        You don’t seem to like people acting completely within the law.
        
        This is the system. Don’t like it? Leave. Which is exactly what Republican legislatures and governors are trying to tell unions, women seeking abortions, people trying to vote without photo IDs (voting is a RIGHT by the way) and the list goes on.
      - Quoth the Raven
        
        I love how some Dems are always so uncomfortable with rules requiring people to prove their eligibility to vote. Why so concerned about that?
        
        And great “love it or leave it” comment, Pablo, especially how you tie it to your perceived list of wrongs.
      - jackson
        
        “I’m really getting tired of your intolerance to my intolerance.”
      - Josh S
        
        Only if you figure that the two political parties somehow dictate who can be president. It’s tradition, nothing more.
      - Zoning Victim
        
        Lying, in most cases, is perfectly legal, but the bottom line, Pablo, is you’ve proven yourself a liar by signing an agreement you have no intention of living up to; congratulations. When you’re complaining about certain politicians or political groups having a lack of honesty, just remember you can’t be trusted, either.
      - CH
        
        Hey, Zoning Victim…. you are aware that other than affirming one’s identity, there was no “agreement” one had to sign to vote today, right? The VA GOP had talked about a loyalty oath, but they backed off from actually instituting it. Not like it’d be enforceable (or constitutional), anyway.
      - Zoning Victim
        
        Hey CH, I am now since I just came from the polls. The only reason I’m on here now is to retract my statement and apologize to Pablo. So, my apologies Pablo, it was my understanding that you would have had to sign the oath to vote in the primary.
      - Arlington Cat
        
        There were reports this year of Democrats destroying ballot petitions?
        
        Did you see the Richmond Police in full SWAT gear (shields, batons, helmets, everything) block access to our state Capitol yesterday? Which Democrats do you think called the police for protection against 850 20-something women?
      - drax
        
        So the Rs promptly moved to fix the system?
        
        No, they were too busy with that ultrasound business.
- brif
  
  Pablo won’t need to sign any agreement to vote today, so it’s not clear what zoning is talking about.
FunnyMunny

Those decrying the cross party voting might find this interesting. Seems our future President-bot Mitt Romney was for it before he was against it….

http://www.addictinginfo.org/2012/02/29/jon-stewart-reveals-mitt-romney-flip-flop-on-voting-in-primaries-video/
- Zoning Victim
  
  Haha, “President-bot,” that’s great.
Max

Ah right. Voting in primaries that don’t matter to you. Conservatives were all about this in 2008. Limbaugh even told people to do it. How’d that work out for them? I’d do it, but only to write in Santorum to keep things frothy. Sadly, I need to rearrange my sock drawer.
Pablo

Hey Quoth the Raven–

Voting is a RIGHT. Seeing the closeness of so many recent elections, the Republicans are making up all sorts of voter fraud conspiracies that don’t exist–except in the case of the Indiana secretary of state. Look it up. He’s a… Republican and he’s been convicted.

There are folks, particularly older, who don’t have photo ID in a lot of states that make it expensive to get one. So when you require it, you get to deny people their RIGHT to vote. Nice system.

As to “Don’t like it? Leave,” that’s the system Republicans want in states like Virginia. Go get your abortion in Maryland. Or have the kid. Good luck. Go join a union in New York. Don’t have photo ID, go move to California and vote there.

Which is why it’s so much fun today to vote in a Republican primary when the party has become such an extremist laughing stock.

Don’t like Democrats voting in your primary? Fix the system or leave.
- Lloyd
  
  That’s “fun” to you? What’s second on your fun list, pulling the wings off bugs?
- Quoth the Raven
  
  Actually, I could care less if Dems (or anyone) votes for whoever they want whenever they want. If that’s the system VA has, great. Why anyone would choose to do that (and think it’s “fun”) is beyond me, but that’s not my business.
  
  Thanks for pointing out that voting is a right. Had the word “right” not been in all caps, I would not have been able to understand. We have plenty of rights, but none of them are absolute (or at least I can’t think of any), and the government is able to put some reasonable requirements on those rights. Asking someone to prove that they are who they say they are seems reasonable. Why are you so afraid of that?
  
  But your total nonsequitor involving unions, abortions, etc just didn’t make any sense. You have a bone to pick with GOP, I get it. But if you’re going to make a nonsensical comment that has nothing to do with the thread itself, at least own the comment!
- Zoning Victim
  
  You obviously don’t understand the process. Voting in a primary is not a right. It is within any political parties right to run any candidate they want, regardless of which candidate the members of the party back. A lot of the delegates that are being reported as Romney’s aren’t even legally bound to cast their vote for him.
  - Josh S
    
    +1
    
    People, they’re clubs. Clubs. Labels, even. Witness the many, many politicians who have changed party affiliation while in office. Or the fact that so many corporations give money to both “sides.”
    
    The hyperbole about the nomination process is almost entirely without merit unless you are a member of the Republican club. Come September, October, when we have people on the ballot for President, then that will matter.
  - drax
    
    Uh, what?
    
    Parties may not just ignore the primary, not in Virginia, and not in any other states I’m aware of. They are binding, and voting in them is a right.
    
    In some states, the party can choose whether to have a primary (including Virginia) but if it chooses a primary it is bound by it. In some states only party registrants can vote, but we don’t have that.
    
    As for delegates, yeah, the delegates usually aren’t bound, though sometimes they are on the first ballot.
    - Lloyd
      
      Uh, what about non-binding caucuses?
    - Zoning Victim
      
      I challenge you to find a right to vote in primary elections codified in either the US’ or Commonwealth of Virginia’s constitutions.
      
      I didn’t say they could ignore the delegate votes in the primary, I said they can pick any candidate they want without regards to who the members of the party support. That doesn’t mean they can tell everyone that they are going to have primaries and then renege on the rules they set. It means any party can just decide they are going to appoint whatever candidate they want (which shouldn’t be confused with actually getting that candidate on the ballot of any particular state).
      
      There are a lot of delegates that aren’t legally bound, too. I’m not sure if there are enough of them to override the outcome of the primaries if it’s a landslide, but they can easily override close primaries.
      - drax
        
        I don’t believe party officials in Virginia can legally pick whomever they want and ignore the primary results.
        
        If you’re saying the delegates who get sent to the convention aren’t bound to vote for who they are pledged to, well, that’s different. That would depend on convention rules. Is that what you mean?
      - drax
        
        Here is the most relevant section of the law:
        
        http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?000+cod+24.2-545
        
        It’s quite clear that the primary election is binding, if the party has chosen to use a primary.
      - Zoning Victim
        
        Yes, my point is defined in the beginning of that law where it says, “The duly constituted authorities of the state political party shall have the right to determine the method by which the state party will select its delegates to the national convention to choose the party’s nominees for President and Vice President of the United States including a presidential primary or another method determined by the party.”
        
        The primary election is binding in VA for most of it’s delegates, but the party still decides what method it will use to select the delegates it sends to the national convention. If they submitted rules for the next election saying “we’re picking whoever we want and not holding a primary because we don’t care what anyone who is not a member of the Republican Party thinks,” that would be perfectly legal.
        
        The parties are also free to pressure a primary winning candidate to release all of their delegates, which would allow them to vote for another candidate of their choosing. Section D makes this clear:
        
        “If the party has determined to use another method for selecting delegates and alternates, those delegates and alternates shall be bound to vote on the first ballot at the national convention for the candidate receiving the most votes in the primary unless that candidate releases those delegates and alternates from such vote.”
        
        The law is unclear on what would happen if the Republican Party decided to throw a candidate out of the party after the primary.
      - drax
        
        Ah, I think I get it – you’re saying that the party can choose whether to have a primary or not. Correct?
        
        I thought you were saying the party could have a primary and then ignore the results.
        
        (On “throwing a candidate out of the party” – I don’t think a party can do that. All it can do is not nominate that person for office.)
      - Zoning Victim
        
        Yes, your first statement is correct.
        
        Sure they can: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kent_Williams_(politician)
        
        “During his second term, he voted with all 49 House Democrats to elect himself Speaker. Shortly afterward, the state Republican executive committee threw him out of the party.”
        
        They’re a private political organization and can kick anyone they don’t like out; it’s just unclear how that would affect the delegates if it happened after the primary but before the nomination.
        
        I can only hope that if it was found out after his primary win that Romney did something horribly immoral or illegal, that the Republican Party could expel him and recapture his delegate votes for a more suitable candidate. Obviously, he’d most likely bow to pressure and step down, but I’d hate to think he could force the RP to keep him as their candidate under those conditions.
      - drax
        
        Hmm.
        
        How do you remove someone from a political party when you never “join” in the first place? Do you have an official party ID card? I don’t. Did you send in an application? Not me.
        
        Political parties are nothing more than affiliations. You can kick someone out of a party office or leadership position, but you can’t just say “you’re no longer a Democrat.” You can’t stop someone from calling themselves a member or voting for you. I suspect that your source describes the party “discussing” removing him and not actually removing him because they discovered the same thing.
        
        And if that person were to get on the ballot and run in a primary and win a nomination, that would probably also have to be honored by the party.
    - Lou
      
      Parties may not just ignore the primary, not in Virginia, and not in any other states I’m aware of. They are binding, and voting in them is a right.
      
      There is so much wrong with those statements, it’s hard to know where to begin.
      - drax
        
        Wow, so you think primary results should be routinely ignored?
        
        If you have something to say, Lou, say it or go away.
      - Lou
        
        Well for starters, how about the “in any other states I”m aware of” part where the states are not having a primary at all? Do the parties in those states get to ignore “the primary” that is not happening? I think there are something like 15 states doing local caucuses and state conventions instead of primaries for the Republican delegates.
        
        Now you are aware to that.
      - drax
        
        Gee, Lou, is it obvious that states not having primaries don’t apply in a discussion about primaries?
        
        Yes, it is.
      - Lou
        
        They are binding, and voting in them is a right
        
        Also, some states have delegates AND super delegates, the super delegates being unbound by the results and the rest proportionally allocated.
        
        Now you are aware of that, too.
      - drax
        
        Lou,
        
        You should read the rest of the thread. It was unclear to me what Zoning Victim meant, but now I think we understand each other. You’re coming in late to the party and thinking you have a point. If you are confused – and you are – just ask for clarification. It worked with me and ZV, and now we’re on the same page. You should try it.
        
        And, really, superdelegates? That’s your reply?
      - Lou
        
        Yeah, I read the thread. And I pointed out where you are wrong.
        
        You’re welcome.
      - drax
        
        No, Lou, you misunderstood. But if it makes you feel good about yourself….
CH

One more Dem here that voted for RP.

My only regret was that I could not vote for the sex-obsessed anachronism known as Rick Santorum.
- Arlington, Northside
  
  So much for doing the right thing in Arlington.
  - CH
    
    Doing what I can, for my country!
  - drax
    
    What’s wrong with legally voting in a way that is most like to get your preferred candidate elected?
    - Arlington, Northside
      
      What would be wrong with staging a wreck on I-66 to make W&L’s Lacrosse opponent’s bus late for the game and have to forfeit? Legal does not always mean right. I thought only our politicians that come and pollute our area with their vitriol didn’t understand that, but apparently a lot of voters don’t either.
      - drax
        
        I didn’t say legal was always right though.
      - Zoning Victim
        
        Virginia law says it’s right (purposely getting into an accident is illegal, btw). If the political parties don’t like it, then they should change the laws. If there is no pledge and Virginia law says it’s an open primary, I don’t see where Republicans (or Democrats when their turn comes) have any right to complain.
billj

Libertarian-leaning Republican here.. voted for Ron Paul for the second presidential primary in a row.
- Arlington, Northside
  
  I guess at least one of Dr. Paul’s votes will be legit. 😉
  - Zoning Victim
    
    Two
ArlForester

As usual, the dems failed. Romney won big.
- jackson
  
  Yes, in a primary where the other two candidates weren’t even on the ballot and write-ins weren’t allowed, Romney won. (Psst: It wasn’t a giant democrat conspiracy to push Ron Paul to the top. It was just a few commentors on this board ribbing you.)
- EastPike
  
  Unfortunately this also means failure for the Republicans. Did anyone actually WANT Romney to win?

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