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* Post your afternoon voting experiences, your observations of campaigns you may be working, general observations, discuss the news updates, etc., etc. etc. below.

…Adding… Somebody else asked me this earlier today and Marc Ambinder poses the same question on his site: (W)on’t long lines discourage voters voting for a candidate they think is going to lose? Discuss.

That cool Google gadget on the right side of the page appears to automatically refresh itself, so you won’t need to reload the page to see updates. We’ll have live TV coverage later today as well, and that’ll load in a separate window.

* 5:51 PM - Some leaked exit polling numbers. Again, beware….

* 5:46 PM - Exit polling top issue:

Economy 62%
Iraq 10%
Health Care 9%
Terrorism 9%

* 5:36 PM - From CBS: An Associated Press exit poll finds six in 10 voters across the country picked the economy as the most important issue facing the nation. None of four other issues on the list - energy, Iraq, terrorism and health care - was picked by more than one in 10. More state exit poll results are here, but beware not to put too much trust into horse race numbers.

* 4:46 PM - From the Cook County Clerk: Three suburban Cook County precincts that opened up to an hour late this morning will stay open until 8 p.m. Clerk David Orr asked the Cook County Circuit Court to allow the three precincts to stay open an extra hour and the Court agreed. The precincts are: Orland Township, Precinct 60, Parkview Christian Church o Cicero Township, Precinct 32, Woodbine School, 3003 50th Court, Cicero o Evanston Township, Ward 6, Precinct 2, Willard School, 2700 Hurd Ave., Evanston… In all three cases, the delay in opening was due to election judges not reporting for duty. Replacement judges from our suburban on-call pool — 175 were stationed around the suburbs — were dispatched to open the polls as quickly as possible.

* 4:41 PM - Gapers Block at Grank Park: The lines stretches from Congress Pwky and Michigan Avenue in three rows to Harrison.

* 4:34 PM - This is from much earlier today… Poll watchers in Madison County precincts say voter turnout is “very high,” as much as or more than 50 percent in some areas. Bob Hulme of Edwardsville is observing voter activity in several Collinsville precincts and said that on average voters are waiting between a half hour and an hour in line to vote. The precincts he is watching are known to be strong Democratic areas.

* 4:30 PM - Dave in Springfield writes…

I voted. And man, the new fill-in the circle ballots are sooooo much better than those expensive and time wasting electronic ballots we used in recent years. They’re even better then the old school punch cards we used to use. I was in and out in 10 minutes and it only took my something like two minutes to vote. Keep it simple, stupid. The only complaint I have now is the writing surface in the voting booths are too low now. I had to hunch over to fill out the ballot. But I’ll still take it over what we had before.

I agree.

* 4:27 PM - Sun-Times Twitter: At Obama rally coffee and hot chocolate $2

* 4:25 PM - Beacon News: Kane County State’s Attorney’s Office reports about 90 calls to election hotline. Nothing out of the ordinary among the calls.

* 4:24 PM - I talked to a Democratic state senator a little while ago who said: “I’m starting to think I should’ve been nicer to Barack.”

* 4:23 PM - Man, that’s a long line into Grant Park

* 4:21 PM - McCain campaign conference call audio

* 4:14 PM - I must’ve missed that Joe the Plumber quit his job: Joe the Plumber is short on cash and unemployed but that’s not stopping him from opening a new charitable foundation and penning a book on American values. “I got no financial offers. I am broke,” Joe Wurzelbacher said Monday…

* 4:07 PM - This is just ducky…

“I almost missed voting on the Con-Con referendum. After I thought I had completed my voting, I wondered where the Con-Con question was. I even thought it was missing. Then I found it at the very beginning of the ballot, right where I was instructed to ‘Start Voting Here.’

“It was shaded in blue, though, almost like a space for official use only or instructions. My guess is others will miss it too - and not go back looking for it.”
Cate Plys sends me this message:

“Bad news, you DID miss the con-con question. I, too, completed the question in blue at the very beginning - but that was just an example. I realized that when I got to the very bottom and found the real Con-Con question, which I almost didn’t see. Wonder if they did that on purpose? I checked with the election staff and they confirmed that the blue one was just an example. I checked with them because I was afraid filling out the sample one would ruin the ballot.”

* 3:10 pm - I’m gonna go vote. Discuss amongst yourselves.

* 2:39 pm - Via GapersBlock, more election night parties

* 2:20 pm - Official video of Mayor Daley talking about Obama

* 2:02 PM - My dad always said he regretted not checking out the scene during the 1968 Democratic convention. So, it didn’t surprise me when I got an e-mail informing me that he and the Obamalac are driving to Chicago for the rally. I can’t possibly imagine where he’s gonna park that beast.

* 1:54 PM - Grant Park eyewitness: “Have you ever seen a column of ants milling around their one entrance to their ant hole? That’s what it’s like,” David Penn said. “An absolutely incredible amount of people.”

* 1:52 PM - LakeForester: Lake County Clerk Willard Helander predicts voter turnout in the county could reach as high as 85 to 90 percent for Tuesday’s presidential election.

* 1:51 PM - Mark Blumenthal at Pollster.com: Ignore leaked exit polls tonight.

* 1:44 PM - Tribune video of Obama’s neighbors…

* 1:42 PM - From an “America’s Voice” press release : The Latino vote is expected to increase from 7.6 million in 2004 to 9.2 million this year and is growing not only in size, but in influence – especially in key battleground states. Efforts such as the We Are America Alliance have registered over 500,000 new citizen votersand mobilized one million to vote in 13 key battleground states.

* 1:40 PM - From a press release: Through last night, SEIU members and staff made 16,137,541 phone calls in battleground states and key races across the country

* 1:35 PM - From the AP: Chicago Board of Elections spokesman James Allen says voters are chatting patiently as they wait in long lines to vote…. He’s encouraging voters to take advantage of an expected lull between 11 a.m. and 3:30 p.m… Of the city’s more than 2,500 precincts, only seven got a late start _ though all were open by 6:50 a.m.

* Mayor Daley speaks: Daley said an Obama win today would boost Chicago’s 2016 Olympic bid. But asked what specifically Chicago would get from an Obama administration, Daley urged patience, given the economy. “I know everybody wants something, but we’d better have patience,” Daley said. “I’ve told even mayors, we have to have patience. He is taking over a very difficult, challenging budget.”

* State Rep. Dan Brady on working for McCain in Illinois: “Illinois is Illinois in this particular election,” he says. “I think Sen. McCain is going to do well here in Central Illinois and southern Illinois. But north of (Interstate) 80, we don’t anticipate that much.”

* AG’s office isn’t finding many problems: Natalie Bower, spokesperson for Attorney General Lisa Madigan, says the problems so far have been few and include late opening polls, supply problems and equipment malfunctions.

* Beacon News: Aurora police said they had several calls about electioneering, all of which have been unfounded

* PBS has an iPhone site for election night with live state-by-state results

* Tribune’s election day photos

* Chicagoist: Illinois Woman Uses Coin Flip to Determine Vote…

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