My mother has been working the polls in North Carolina for early voting and has alerted me to something that I think would be important for NC voters to know. If you circle in the choice for a straight Democratic ticket (or republican for that matter), you ARE NOT casting a vote for the presidential race - you MUST fill that in separately.
She says that in the last few days alone, she has personally seen at least 200 votes intended to go to Obama that were not being counted (in other words, people telling her how excited they are to see Obama elected, only to find out that by selecting the straight democratic line, they never even cast a vote for him). It's a damn shame the polls were designed this way, but the word needs to get out about this. There is already a sign at the polling station, and poll workers like my mother are working to educate voters, but it is not enough. If you or your readers know anyone in NC that has yet to cast their vote, please alert them to the fact that they need to cast an explicit vote for the presidential race.
I promised her that i would do what I could to help get the word out - please recommend this diary to help prevent a tragic undercount in such an important state.
UPDATE: from YucatanMan (for Texas Voters) - In Texas, you must vote Straight Party Ticket ONLY --- and not mark any other boxes on the ballot --- if you wish to vote a straight party ticket. The problem is that there is an Email going around saying that everyone voting a Straight Party Ticket must also check the Obama box.... that is TRUE in North Carolina, but not in TEXAS (which has a lot more electoral votes...)
UPDATE #2: Jon from VoterSuppression Wiki has set up an incident page for this at http://www.votersuppression.net/... for anyone who wants to put up any other press on this issue.