Paris Parfait

Today's the day: Vote for change.

Mural, Haight Street, San Francisco. Photo by Julie Michelle.

Reasons I support Sen. Barack Obama for president.

Make your vote count

If you encounter problems in casting your vote at the polls, please contact Election Protection at 1-866-OUR-VOTE (1-866-687-8683).Non-partisan lawyers may be dispatched to problematic precincts at a moment’s notice, should any contested votes become an issue.

In some locations - particularly in key battleground states - election observers and lawyers may be on hand to address voting issues. Ask for help. Every vote matters.

Document your voting experience with video or a digital camera.

Watch the polls online at OurVoteLive.org,developed by the Electronic Frontier Foundation for Election Protection. Visit OurVoteLive.org to view, sort and analyze reports coming into Election Protection from voters around the country.

Bruce Springsteen performs for Sen. Obama and his family and supporters in Ohio.

It is hoped it's a harbinger of races to come: Sen. Obama has won the tiny hamlet of Dixville Notch, New Hampshire 15-6. It's the first time since 1968 the community has voted for a Democrat.

Even as we vote for change, the Bush administration continues wreaking havoc with our democracy. Let's make history today and take back our country. YES WE CAN!

Scroll down the page for the latest report of voting issues around the country, updated throughout the day.

If ever there was a case for voter reform, it's this election

If ever there was a case for voter reform, it's this election

The nonpartisan group Election Protection is closely monitoring voter requests for assistance and reports of problems at the polls through its hotline (1-866-OUR-VOTE), website and tens of thousands of volunteers across the country. Over 25,000 reports were received Monday and are being investigated by Election Protection legal experts.

Kansas City, Missouri: Reports are coming in from voters at a largely African American polling location, who are being warned of a six to eight hour wait to vote (despite the line being short) and forced to put their names on a list while in line to vote. Poll workers told 600 people waiting in line that if they had a number, they could come back any time before 8pm to deliver their absentee ballot in person.

Texas: Several reports have come in from voters who have not yet received their absentee ballots.

New Jersey: Election officials will not be able to process all new voter registrations in time for Election Day. As a result, they are planning to make a large number of voters cast provisional ballots.

Westchester County, New York: An official county mailer was sent out in English and Spanish – the Spanish version lists Election day as November 9th.

Colorado and Florida: A steady stream of newly-registered voters report that they have yet to receive their registration card or polling place location.

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: Callers have reported robocalls telling them Election Day is Wednesday, November 5th.

Ohio: Voters have been falsely told they can send in absentee ballots as late as November 14th.

North Carolina: Fliers were left on cars at a shopping mall instructing Republicans to vote on Tuesday, Nov. 4th (the actual Election Day) and Democrats to vote on Wednesday Nov. 5th. The same thing happened in Virginia, where police are investigating.

Louisiana: People who moved out of their damaged homes after Hurricane Katrina are reporting confusion about their registration status and voting precinct.

Maryland and Virginia: Voters report receiving calls, purportedly from the Obama campaign - but actually part of Republican voter suppression tactics - with inaccurate polling place locations.

Indiana: Early voting centers are closing at noon. Many people left standing in line have been sent away, without getting to vote. Election law is unclear about this situation.

Michigan: Many registered voters’ names are not appearing on the state website that verifies registration status. This means voters can’t find their polling location on the site.

During the past two weeks, Election Protection's 1-866-OUR-VOTE hotline has received over 100,000 calls from across the country. For live updates, go here or via twitter.

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UPDATE 9 p.m. Paris time:

Florida: Election Protection has received more than 30 calls from voters across the state concerned their precinct's optical scan machine is not working. When this occurs, ballots are supposed to be placed in a “a secure bin" under the voting machine. Because of the volume of ballots, these bins are now filling up. Election Protection has received several reports of poll workers collecting ballots in a bag, which is not in accordance with the law. Election Protection is working with local election officials to ensure all votes yet to be counted due to optical scan malfunctions are placed in secure locations.

Michigan: As of 11:45 a.m. EST, voters on Detroit’s East side were waiting five hours to vote in a 1,000-person long line at Beth Eden Baptist, because of an understaffed polling operation. An Election Protection partner law firm in Detroit is investigating the situation.

Ohio: Voters in several Ohio counties reported problems at polling locations, due to poll workers refusing to accept proper identification and forcing voters to cast provisional ballots.

Virginia: Many machine issues from early this morning have been resolved, but residual effects in the Chesapeake area indicate some voters are waiting in five to six hours.

As of 2:45pm, Election Protection has received over 48,000 calls today to the 1-866-OUR-VOTE Hotline:

Florida: Election Protection has received more than 30 calls from voters all across the state concerned that their precinct's optical scan machine is not working. When this occurs, ballots are supposed to be placed in a “a secure bin" under the voting machine. Because of the volume of ballots, these bins are now filling up. Election Protection has received several reports of poll workers collecting ballots in a bag, which is not in accordance with the law. Election Protection is working with local election officials to ensure that all votes that have yet to be counted due to optical scan malfunctions are placed in secure locations.

Michigan: As of 11:45 a.m. EST, voters on Detroit’s east side were waiting five hours to vote in a 1,000-person long line at Beth Eden Baptist, largely as a result of an understaffed polling operation. An Election Protection partner law firm on the ground in Detroit is investigating the situation.

Ohio: Voters in several Ohio counties report problems at their polling location. due to poll workers not accepting proper identification and forcing voters to cast provisional ballots.

Virginia: Many machine issues from early this morning have been resolved, but residual effects in the Chesapeake area indicate some voters are waiting in line for five to six hours.

UPDATE 8 p.m. Paris time:

ELECTION ALERT: VIRGINIA AND PENNSYLVANIA VOTERS FACE SERIOUS THREATS TO THEIR VOTING RIGHTS AT THE POLLS

Voters can call 1-866-OUR-VOTE (1-866-687-8683) to report issues at the polls.

Voters are reporting major obstacles to casting their ballot in polling locations across Virginia and Pennsylvania, which could disenfranchise thousands of [state] voters. Long lines, broken voting machines, ballot shortages and misused absentee ballots threaten to rob thousands of eligible voters of their right to vote.

Virginia: Dozens of polling places are experiencing varying degrees of machine malfunction. Some polling places either are completely closed or have been closed for hours.

Thousands of voters may have been turned away illegally by polling workers. Voters illegally have been issued with provisional ballets where machines have been broken.

Students at Virginia Tech, previously victims of misinformation, have seen their polling place suddenly and unexpectedly moved six miles to a location with little parking.

Pennsylvania: Voting machine malfunctions are widespread in at least a dozen locations, mainly focused on Pittsburgh and Philadelphia.

Campaign materials are being illegally distributed at polling locations in Pittsburgh.

Voters across the state are reporting that they never received their absentee ballots, which is creating additional chaos at the polls.

Several other states like Florida, Ohio, Colorado and Michigan are reporting long lines, due to problems with registration lists and poll locations.

Election Protection legal volunteers are working to resolve these issues quickly to ensure that no one leaves their polling location without effectively casting a ballot. Voting rights experts urge voters to stay patient and cooperative in the meantime. Report all instances of voter intimidation or disenfranchisement immediately to Election Protection's 866-OUR-VOTE hotline.

All voters have the right to vote without intimidation or problems. these sorts of problems threaten individual voters' rights,as well as the integrity of our election. The only way to prevent such failures in the future will be to institute comprehensive election reform to improve the registration process, voting systems, and administration and to prevent disenfranchisement of all voters.

This is an UPDATE to the original post that vanished about 6:30 p.m. Paris time:

As of 12:30 p.m., Election Protection received over 41,000 calls to the 1-866-OUR-VOTE Hotline since phone lines opened at 5:30 a.m.

• Florida: Voters in the Tampa-St. Petersburg area have experienced numerous problems trying to cast ballots this morning. We have preliminary reports of voters being turned away from the polls for incomplete registrations and instances of the statewide problem of broken optical scan machines in some two dozen polling locations all across the state.

• Michigan: Voters are reporting massive voting machine malfunctions across the state, resulting in long lines and discouraged voters leaving without casting a ballot. In many cases, poll workers are asking voters to cast their ballot on paper, saying they will tally them later. Some voters are being asked to vote on paper using magic markers!

• Missouri: Election Protection received multiple reports of swapped poll books (voter lists for a given precinct at the wrong location) in Kansas City, MO. This issue has been resolved.

Through the veil

City skyline glimpsed through lace curtains, Antoni Gaudi's La Pedrera, Passeig de Gracia, Barcelona, Spain.

"One should really use the camera as though tomorrow you'd be stricken blind. To live a visual life is an enormous undertaking, practically unattainable. I've only touched it, just touched it." - Dorothea Lange 1895-1965.

“The world is a book and those who do not travel read only a page.” - Saint Augustine, 354-430.

"Travel is fatal to bigotry, prejudice and narrow-mindedness. Broad wholesomeness and charitable views cannot be acquired by vegetating in one tiny corner of the globe." - Mark Twain, 1835-1910.

This marks 1,501 posts for Paris Parfait. Thank you for reading. Merci bien. Muchas gracias.

We still have work to do; help get out the vote.

Phone your friends and neighbors and remind them to vote. Help those without transportation get to the polls on Tuesday, Nov. 4th. Let's pour all our energy into helping get out the vote for Sen. Barack Obama. The alternative is unthinkable. Our future is at stake. Hope + action = change. Yes, we can!

P.S. And make sure your friends and family know the facts. The McCain camp is pushing deliberately misleading information about Sen. Obama's policies on clean coal technology. The real story is here. Ohio's Republican senator said McCain's plan to fight global warming would "put coal out of business."

And on the eve of the election, Sarah Palin still has not released her medical records, despite promising to do so. Bu she was "cleared" of any ethics violation in firing an employee. Of course the "investigation" was conducted by an Alaska state investigator Palin herself appointed. No surprise there!

Documenting voting experiences

Election Protection reports emerging voting issues in over 80,000 calls to their 1-866-OUR-VOTE HOTLINE.

Update 7 p.m. Paris time:

On Sunday, Election Protection's hotline received over 8,000 calls from across the country.

Some key issues:

Katrina displacement: People who moved out of their damaged homes after hurricane Katrina are reporting confusion about their registration status and voting precinct to Election Protection's 866-OUR-VOTE hotline. Voting rights experts are working to resolve these questions to ensure all eligible voters from the New Orleans area can exercise their right to vote in this historic election.

Absentee voting problems are being widely reported, with particularly high rates in Virginia, Ohio and Florida. In one example, a caller from Florida had requested absentee ballots for herself and her husband, a stroke survivor unable to go to the polls. Neither ballot has arrived and if they don’t, she will be unable to vote. as she is unable to leave her husband’s side to go to the polls.

Polling place problems – such as extremely long lines – are of great concern to voters in Florida and Georgia, particularly in Miami-Dade and Broward counties, Florida and Fulton County, Georgia.

Long lines: Callers have reported six-hour wait times in Richmond, VA. A caller from Palm Beach County, FL reported waiting in line for three hours, only to be told the machines were broken. Some Georgia voters have waited up to ten hours to cast an early ballot.

Disability issues: Reports of difficulty obtaining information or voting at polling places are being received from across the country, with concentrations in Florida, Georgia and Pennsylvania. For example, a caller from Michigan - whose husband is paralyzed by multiple sclerosis - reported difficulty in obtaining concrete information on how to ensure her husband’s vote was counted.

Registration concerns still top the list of concerns of callers from battleground states.

Election day meltdown?

Record registration and long lines for early voting are causing a ripple of anxiety across the country, particularly in battleground states like Virginia. Local newspapers are warning voters to watch for things that could go wrong on Election Day. Watchdog groups are gearing up for potential legal battles.

Document your voting experience

Be prepared for long lines; along with your identification, bring a bottle of water and maybe a snack. If you're willing to document your voting experience, bring your digital camera and/or your video camera. If you see voters being turned away from the polls, talk to them and ask what happened. Report any unusual occurrences, such as vote flipping on touchscreen machines, to election officials and bipartisan election observers. Recording what happens at your local polling station helps provide evidence necessary for nationwide election reform. Submit your information to Election Protection and/or Video the Vote.

Know your rights. If a voting machine doesn't work properly, you have the right to vote via paper ballot. If the polling place is out of paper ballots, you must be allowed to vote via provisional ballot. If you are standing in line before the polling place's official hours end, you can vote. If you experience any problems when attempting to vote, telephone Election Protection at 1-866-OUR-VOTE (1-866-687-8683). Depending upon your location, you may find bipartisan election observers or lawyers on hand to assist you.

Visitors standing in line to see Casa Batllo in Barcelona, Spain. Alas, waiting in line is a universal dilemma.

Long lines for early voting

Long lines are THE story of early voting in many states. In Pima County, Arizona, 300 voters were turned away Friday, after a computer glitch shut down an early voting site. Luckily, states are taking action. Ohio has redistributed voting machines to ease lines on Election Day. Some counties in Georgia have extended their Nov. 4 voting hours to accommodate voters.

Follow election updates here and here. To search Election Protection’s voter database, go here.

More newspapers endorse Obama

For the latest newspaper endorsements for Sen. Barack Obama as president, go here.

Antwerp angel

Fuschia angel, Antwerp, Belgium.

"The eye sees only what the mind is prepared to comprehend." - Henri Bergson

Hillary Clinton urges voters to choose Obama

In an op-ed piece today in the New York Daily News, Hillary Clinton writes about why Sen. Barack Obama is the president we need. An excerpt:

"On Tuesday, New Yorkers and Americans have a big decision to make. Do we continue to pursue the policies of the past eight years or do we chart a new course? I believe we can and we must chart a new course led by President Barack Obama.

"How can it be any other way? We find ourselves in an economic crisis born and bred by the failed policies of Washington Republicans: gut regulations; cut taxes for billionaires and big corporations instead of the middle class; continue tax breaks for oil companies, drug companies, insurance companies and companies that ship jobs overseas; deny the home mortgage crisis; ignore the energy crisis and dismiss the health care crisis.

"The result? Businesses can't find credit. Students can't find college loans. Retirees' nest eggs are starting to crack. I've met hardworking men and women near retirement who are afraid to check their 401(k)s. Health care premiums have doubled. On Thursday, we learned that the economy actually contracted in the last three months. And the United States has lost jobs for nine straight months; President Bush has the worst job creation record of any President since the Great Depression.

"And the fact is, President Bush has practiced what Sen. John McCain has preached. We know that Sen. McCain and the Republicans are only offering more of the same.

"The Republicans' answer to jobs being outsourced: continue tax incentives to companies that outsource jobs. Their answer to a broken health care system: throw everybody to the mercy of insurance companies. Their answer to rising economic insecurity: privatize Social Security. Their answer to rising costs and stagnant wages: trickle down tax cuts for millionaires instead of middle class families.

"To McCain and the Republicans, America can't win unless most Americans lose. That's why they ignored the home mortgage crisis until it became a financial crisis. That's why McCain has proposed even more tax cuts for the oil companies and drug companies. And that's why McCain has said repeatedly that the fundamentals of our economy are strong.

"We cannot afford four more years of the same broken ideological policies. Barack Obama must be our President. Joe Biden must be our vice president. And Democrats must once again clean up an economic mess the Republicans left behind. We've done it before, and we'll do it again..."

Read more here.

And the New Yorker endorses Obama:

"...Although his opponents have tried to attack him as a man of 'mere' words, Obama has returned eloquence to its essential place in American politics. The choice between experience and eloquence is a false one - something that Lincoln, out of office after a single term in Congress, proved in his own campaign of political and national renewal. Obama's 'mere' speeches on everything from the economy and foreign affairs to race have been at the centre of his campaign and its success; if he wins, his eloquence will be central to his ability to govern.

"We cannot expect one man to heal every wound, to solve every major crisis of policy. So much of the presidency, as they say, is a matter of waking up in the morning and trying to drink from a fire hydrant. In the quiet of the Oval Office, the noise of immediate demands can be deafening. And yet Obama has precisely the temperament to shut out the noise when necessary and concentrate on the essential.

"The election of Obama - a man of mixed ethnicity, at once comfortable in the world and utterly representative of 21st-century America - would, at a stroke, reverse our country's image abroad and refresh its spirit at home. His ascendance to the presidency would be a symbolic culmination of the civil- and voting - rights acts of the 1960s and the century-long struggles for equality that preceded them. It could not help but say something encouraging, even exhilarating, about the country, about its dedication to tolerance and inclusiveness, about its fidelity, after all, to the values it proclaims in its textbooks. At a moment of economic calamity, international perplexity, political failure and battered morale, America needs both uplift and realism, both change and steadiness. It needs a leader temperamentally, intellectually and emotionally attuned to the complexities of our troubled globe. That leader's name is Barack Obama."

Dick Cheney endorses McCain

John McCain has earned the endorsement of Dick Cheney. First Bush, now Cheney. Do Americans need reminding of the failed policies of Bush and Cheney - the same policies now embraced by McCain and Palin?

Photo of Sen. Barack Obama courtesy of Obama for America.

Scroll down the page for another post today.

What the French president didn't do

Hard to believe Sarah Palin was so thoroughly taken in by a Canadian radio personality's prank phone call; more evidence she doesn't have a clue about the wider world. The questions are outrageous in their bravado, yet Palin just laughs - all the while, believing the president of France is speaking.

The Canadian press weighs in on Palin's cluelessness. Guess Palin's staff should have done a better job in vetting her phone callers!

Still no medical records

Two days before the election, Palin still hasn't released her medical records or any information whatsoever about her health. Two weeks ago, she told NBC's Brian Williams she would release her medical records. The campaign promised Kate Snow of ABC News's it would release the records early last week. Snow has repeatedly requested the records, only to be told they're "working on" the request.

Palin, 44, insists she's had no health problems. How difficult can it be to gather her medical records? What is she trying to hide?

Photo of "punked" door knocker, Barcelona, Spain.

All Saints' Day

Stained-glass window at Antoni Gaudi's Sagrada Familia, Barcelona, Spain, for the All Saints holiday.

A frightening prospect

Please help make sure this doesn't happen. Phone your neighbors, call your friends, help the elderly or those without transportation get to the polls on Tuesday, Nov. 4. Never before has it been more important for Americans to exercise our right to vote. Vote for a brighter future for our children and their children. Vote for a stronger country that cares for all Americans, not just the privileged few. Make your voices heard: every vote counts. It's up to us. Vote for change.

Even McCain's economic advisor advocates Sen. Barack Obama's plans for the economy. Ronald Reagan's former chief of staff has endorsed Obama.

At the very least, we need a president who understands the First Amendment.

The Colorado Secretary of State is defying the law, continuing to purge voter rolls. So a judge has issued a "cease and desist" order.

Seems the federal government is breaking the law, on behalf of McCain - or is it Bush breaking the law, on behalf of McCain? They're really scraping the bottom of the barrel, in desperation.

And here's a key reason we simply can't afford four more years of failed Republican policies and their regardless disregard for human rights and the law.

Bob Geiger has the latest political cartoons here.