Photo by EM JAY (Gather Director of Chaos & Uprisings) W.

Why do you vote early? My husbond should have done that. He is in the hospital.I don't know if he will get out to vote. I sure hope so.

Early voting is encouraged in Ohio because in 2004 things were so screwed up. They "didn't expect" all the newly registered voters to show up and they didn't provide enough voting machines (no touch screens then in our precinct). People were told to go to different polling places and the workers couldn't handle all the chaos. Most of it was Ken Blackwell's doing - he worked hard to disenfranchise new voters.

I live in an area of town where they are expecting a huge turn out again. There is a shortage of poll workers now because the retirees who have really been the backbone of the polls for many years, don't want to deal with the touch screen computers. My friend told me he quit because the training was horrid and no one would answer questions completely. He works with computers every day. So the touch screens have discouraged people from working the polls.

Everyone has his/her own reason for voting early. I did so because I had made up my mind and wanted to vote on paper so I could take photos of my ballot. I was assured by the Election Protection people that they are monitoring early voting closely. We have a Secretary of State who is striving to provide fair elections in our state this year too, not a conniving bastard who promised his master he would "deliver " state to him.

Check into absentee voting for your husband. There may be a provision for those who are hospitalized unexpectedly.