Election Day Update - 2:55 pm

Just got back from the polling place at Wayne Hall on the campus of West Chester University. I got right in because it's off peak hours. When I asked one of the poll workers how the turnout has been, she rolled her eyes, saying "this morning it was insane". I stopped by the MoveOn table outside Wayne Hall and one of the ladies is predicting a landslide. It looked like the LA Times was conducting exit polling, but nobody asked me to fill anything out. Perhaps I'm not in the sample they're seeking.
This morning, I urged my students to get out and vote, and if they can be trusted, I'd say turnout among them is standing at about 50-60%. Encouraging news for Kerry if it's true. It so happened that I was discussing PR and spin mesistering in class today, and I got pretty impassioned about the kind of deception that has been foisted on us.
On the drive in this morning, all the poll places I passed had full parking lots. A colleague from Swarthmore had to wait 50 minutes in line this morning. And if you know anything about Swarthmore, that means 50 minutes worth of Democratic support right there. Turnout is mighty. Lines are long. People are seriously going about this business.
We still use ancient Votamatic punch card ballots in West Chester. Embarassing. Yes, I checked my chads, and none of them were hanging. As I was voting further down the ballot I did see a chad obstructing the hole I was meaning to punch, the kind of thing that I never would have paid attention to before. I double and triple checked everything. My ballot is clean and delivered. I have been waiting 4 years to cast this vote, a vote to cleanse this stain on our democracy.