It's because all of our schools are polling places and there is a security risk with unvetted adults traipsing through schools when kids are present.

I don't get this. I have voted in many schools (and had the school I went to be a polling place!). You put the polls in an area that has a direct route to the outside, and put someone to guard the internal door.

Unfortunately, our school does not have an area like this. At all. You have to go through hallways no matter where we put the voting area.

IME, schools are only closed on election day if it's a presidential election year. Midterm elections don't have a high enough turnout for security to be a real concern.

We're closed for midterms, too. And primaries. And any time there is an election. For closed=kids not at school, teachers in an inservice.

We need to have those inservice days anyway. They're not extra days, so I figure they're just killing 2 birds with one stone.

Along with puzzling out what is up with that proposed amendment to the Illinois Constitution.

If that's the one about requiring a 3/5 vote on pensions, please vote no.

Oh, right. Yes, definitely no.

If that's the one about requiring a 3/5 vote on pensions, please vote no.

That's the one, and I was planning to vote OH HELL NO.

I'm close to burning incense and chanting to the gods of Nate Silver.

Our schools are closed tomorrow. Which means Bobby can prepare my house for the party!

I'm close to burning incense and chanting to the gods of Nate Silver.

Indeed. Right there with ya.

Princeton Election Consortium: [link].

Oh thanks! I hadn't seen that one.

ita,

it has been brought up before, but I really do think you need to speak to a hospital ombudsperson.

you need a hospital sanctioned conclusion to this bullshit since they don't seem to respect your own physicians.

and may I just say: you have insurance. god forbid you didn't. everyone thinks insurance is a panacea and it isn't even that.

sorry for typos and missing words. I am in a 60 hour period of rage-typing.

Oh thanks! I hadn't seen that one.

I think it's actually more statistically sound than 538 (which is nice, because it predicts a minuscule chance of a Romney win). However, Nate Silver's model has two advantages. It's less jittery where individual states are closer to a tipping point, and because he includes a wider array of variables in his model, it's much better for generating commentary.

And in my favorite bit of non-statistically rigorous polling: our local bakery's cookie poll still has Obama ahead (and has for the whole poll, IIRC): [link] The cookie poll has picked the winner correctly of every election they've been doing it.

I BELIEVE THE COOKIES.

(No, seriously, y'all: every day I check 538, the Princeton site, and the cookie poll site. For realsies.)

I'm with Steph--Five Thirty eight has been my happy place for a while, and then when billytea linked to the Princeton site I had two happy places.

COOKIE POLL. t edit Would tasty sugary baked goods lie?