We have many voting places in the city I live in. My district didn't have any lines at all. I do know that almost 1000 people had voted by the time I got there.
I arrived at my polling place at 6:30am. I completed the ballot and received my receipt by 6:43am. So, my polling place was not crowded this morning. I drove by it at 7:30am and there was a line. I'm glad I woke up early and voted.
Got there at 6:45, finished at 8:18. The line was almost a quarter of a mile long...all indoors, thankfully. I vote in a school and people entered the front door and were directed to a hallway where the line circled down and back before curling around the lobby, down another hallway and into the cafeteria/auditorium, where it curled around the room. The corner from the lobby to the long hallway we started calling the "Oh God" corner, because every time someone turned the corner and saw the length of the line, they invariably said "Oh my God", took a deep breath and joined the line. Of all the hundreds there, I oly saw five walk away, and four said they would come back. Only one muttered that it wasn't worth it.
In the cafeteria/auditorium, the pollworker's tables were set up in front of the stage with the voting booths to the right. Pollwatchers were standing at the end of the pollworkers' tables (hovering) and an election official was called (showed up with a Deputy Sheriff in tow) to caution them against approaching and talking to the voters because they were intimidating them. They were told that they had to stand back at least 30 feet from the voting booths and were directed to the rows of chairs in the middle of the room, to which they replied "we can't see what the pollworkers are doing". So they were allowed to stand at the end of one extra table (set up for those who would have to cast a provisional ballot) and watch the process from there. Things were rather tense there for a while; in part because my voting precinct is 96% black (as were the pollworkers, election official and deputy) and the pollwatchers were white. I don't know what idiot made the assignments, but sheesh! Aren't things tense enough already?
It was about 45 minute wait for me and by the time I got up to sign my name on the registry they were saying they had over 800 people and I got there at 6:45 AM. I think that is a record for that area.
Have faith - the system has to work. It is blacks who are often put through these intimidation tactics. Sadly, this is a piece of the racism that exists in our society. Voter intimidation is disgusting.
I got there just before 7:30 a.m. (the polls opened at 7 a.m.) and waited an hour and fifteen minutes. The line was out the door and down the sidewalk when I arrived. I was only the 155th voter (and the polls had been open almost two hours by that point), so I think it was more of an inefficiency problem than a record turnout. They only had six places for people to vote and the precint has over 1500 voters in it. I hate to see what the lines will look like for the folks who go after work instead.
There were four precincts voting at the location where I cast my ballot...a large elementary school gymnasium. I went around 1:00 this afternoon and it was a breeze.,,no lines whatsoever. I spent more time looking at the sample ballot than I did voting. I walked up to the table, reported my name, signed the registry and walked right into the voting booth. The entire process was completed in less than one minute and I was on my way.
There was maybe 20 or 30 people waiting in line when I got to the polls shortly after 8 AM. From the time I got in line to the time I walked out the door after voting maybe 20 minutes had passed. When I was walking out there was no waiting, only a few people in line.
i was in line for an hour!!! luckily, the line stretched to the gym where there was a dance team or cheerleading team practicing so we got some entertainment while we waited!
I was in and out within 10 minutes since I voted on the way to work. Most of the people I work with live in MO and had a wait of several hours to vote, espcially if they lived in St. Louis County
Paying it forward - congrats on being person of the day.
I was able to get right in, but I thought it would take a long time so I was really early. Oh well, I got to work early and left work early too so it all worked out for the best :-)
I was dreading the voting. Lines had been too long for early voting. The polling place is at a nearby school, and I have had to wait 2 hours in line before. The parking is usually across the parking lot from the school. This year there were reserved parking spots about 30 feet from the school. I walked in and even without my voter registration card I was back outside in my car in 15 minutes. My best voting experience yet.
I did early voting and the line was 2 hours long! Wish I could have gone on actual election day instead - I heard it was very quick then, but unfortunately that wouldn't have worked with my schedule. paying it forward for 12/11/08
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Comments: 46
Took about 15 minutes.
In the cafeteria/auditorium, the pollworker's tables were set up in front of the stage with the voting booths to the right. Pollwatchers were standing at the end of the pollworkers' tables (hovering) and an election official was called (showed up with a Deputy Sheriff in tow) to caution them against approaching and talking to the voters because they were intimidating them. They were told that they had to stand back at least 30 feet from the voting booths and were directed to the rows of chairs in the middle of the room, to which they replied "we can't see what the pollworkers are doing". So they were allowed to stand at the end of one extra table (set up for those who would have to cast a provisional ballot) and watch the process from there. Things were rather tense there for a while; in part because my voting precinct is 96% black (as were the pollworkers, election official and deputy) and the pollwatchers were white. I don't know what idiot made the assignments, but sheesh! Aren't things tense enough already?
Have faith - the system has to work. It is blacks who are often put through these intimidation tactics. Sadly, this is a piece of the racism that exists in our society. Voter intimidation is disgusting.
So, luckily, it hadn't got busy yet.
Paying it forward - congrats on being person of the day.
Paying it forward.
~~Paying it Forward!~~
paying it forward
This year there were reserved parking spots about 30 feet from the school. I walked in and even without my voter registration card I was back outside in my car in 15 minutes. My best voting experience yet.
paying it forward for 12/11/08
***Paying It Forward***