Hey all! I thought it would be interesting to share our experiences/trials/tribulations at the polls today. So here’s mine:
I got to the polls at about 6:40 this morning, 20 minutes before they opened. There were already about 30 people in front of me. Once they opened at 7:00, things went very smoothly. The 30-40 minute wait wasn’t bad, but the air conditioning wasn’t on until after 7:00. Yes, it is hot in Miami this time of year, even in the morning. No signs of anything funny. ID’s were being checked and people were generally in a good mood and friendly. There was no discussion of who/what anyone was voting for, just small talk. Poll workers were friendly, efficient and competent. It was exactly one hour from the time I parked my car until I started it up again to leave. As I was leaving, I noted that the lines had gotten very long, and I was glad I got up a little early this morning; otherwise I’d probably still be there…
My fiancee and I voted in Arlington, VA this morning, and the lines were daunting. We showed up at approximately 6:20 AM (polls opened at 6 AM), and we left the building at quarter of 8. When we left, the line was a good bit longer than when we arrived. My fiancee was voter 126 (or so) on the A-K rolls and I was voter 158 (or so) on the L-Z rolls. I sacrificed my workout this morning, but I figure it’s OK given the frequency that this sort of thing comes up.
A couple of things I noted. We had to show picture IDs and voter cards, and they checked the address on the IDs against the address on their rolls. Of course, if you forgot your ID or voter card, you could sign a form and fill out the provisional ballot, but they were checking everyone’s ID. That’s a good thing.
Another thing, and one that I think exacerbated the line a lot: they only had 6 voting machines. Remind me to thank everyone who couldn’t figure out how to punch a chad out of his card in 2000 – now we have computers, but apparently they cannot afford enough stations to process the voters. Last time I voted at the polling place (in California in 1996), there were a lot more little stations in which one could punch his card, and the lines moved briskly.
Finally, I had a question for everyone: Do you think the long lines everyone is reporting this morning are an indicator of a very high turnout, or an indicator that a lot of people thought there would be a very high turnout and thus tried to avoid the end-of-the-day rush by voting in the morning?
got there at 7:30…got out an hour and half later…
good times.
My place to vote is right across the street from my house. It is a fire house. And in our town, Matter of fact almost the entire county. Is papaer ballots. Where you blacken the oval in with a pencil as to who you wanted to vote for. Still the olde fashioned way. And never had a ballot in dispute!
When I looked out the window, there were Bush and other Republican candidates signs posted. When I went over to vote, they were gone. All of them. Outside their were two Kerry supporters standing outside. They said to me, you voting for Kerry? I said absolutely not. ANd they went into this long Bush did this and Bush did that! I looked the guy in the eye and said, I am voting for someone who is a Winston CHurchill, not a Neville Chamberlain! And that is certainly not Mr. Kerry. And he shut up right away. He tried to hand me some sort of flyer, I said no thank you. You can keep your propaganda material. And walked in and voted. I was voter number 58.
ChucksmanJoe
My wife, sis, and I all voted for Bush last week (Thrusday night after work). I imagine there were a few hundred people run through in the 15 minutes it took us to run through. I was a little surprised at the amount of people that were voting early.
Anyway, very easy process with a manual (color in the circle) ballot.
I voted this morning. I live in a rural town so it only took me like 15 minutes to vote.
Got to the polls at about 8:15am. The line wasn’t too long when I got there. I hate lines (grocery stores, banks, etc.)!! And let me just say that people aren’t real big on acknowledging personal space here, but that’s another story.
Anyways, I noticed that the poll official was pulling people out of line and moving them ahead. I was already running late for work and getting a little annoyed that people where coming in and out, yet the line was barely moving. That is until I found out that the people that moved ahead had (M-Z) last names. Apparently there are a lot more A-L’s in my neighborhood than I thought-not a good day to have the last name Bell.
One of the “challengers” showed up right as I got my ballot. There was a little drama but nothing big.
Once I got to the booth, I felt really tense. I had been waiting for this moment for so long, and I just didn’t want to screw it up. After I was done, and got my little sticker it was like a ton of bricks had been lifted.
I was a half hour late for work, but it was soooooooo worth it. Can’t wait to get home and watch the results.
GO KERRY!!!
-jb