The polls opened this morning at 6 o'clock. I got there at 6:17. I was out the door by 6:37. 20 minutes in an election like this is a dream come true! How long did you wait?
In and out in less than 5 mintues, and I went around 7:40 this morning. And there were more people there than I usually see.
I live in a small town (around 5000 people) that has 4 voting precints, and normally relatively low turnout. The roll books aren't all that big either.
In line at 6:35, polls opened at 7:00, the dashboard clock read 7:07 as I started the car to leave.
We were about 20th in line; by the time the doors opened, there were about 150-200 waiting. Our polling place is in a semi-rural area where a lot of the country folk vote early in the day, but this was still a bit heavier than normal.
I marked my ballot last night with a beer in hand and the initiative materials spread out in front of me. Serious thinking takes serious beer. Mine was a stout.
Took about an hour of heavy thinking and a little Internet research. LOML will deliver the ballots this morning.
I will vote mid-morning. In theory between the rush from the folks on their way to work and the rush at lunch. Either way I will go expecting a long wait.
David
The chief cause of failure in this life is giving up what you want most for what you want at the moment.
Got to the polls this morning at 5:45. There were over a hundred people ahead of us. Polls opened at 6:00. By then, we were in the front 1/3 of the line. It was 6:48 when I got back to my car, so about a 45 minute wait after the polls opened.
Glad I got there early. My district's pretty rural too, although most people there probably commute into Charlottesville, and can't vote during the day.
Bryan
Last edited by bthorne; 11-04-2008, 07:53 AM.
Reason: Formatting
Half an hour here... Much of that was spent waiting at the sign-in table, then waiting to get my ballots, then waiting for an open booth, then waiting to turn in my completed ballot... Sigh...
In at 8:00am. Plenty of helpful volunteers on hand and a steady stream of people coming in to vote. No lines though. Signed in, got checked off, filled out the ballot and put it in the box. Out by 8:08am.
Small town of about 3000. They were expecting a record turnout.
2 hours 45 minutes before I got to the machine. 2 minutes at the machine. I was NOT expecting the lines we got. I have never seen that many people wanting to vote ever...
Something which I will never get used to hearing - we have federal legislation which forces all employers to provide at least 3 consecutive hours to vote, at the employers expense if necessary.
Oops. Turns out we have to deliver ballots in person. It's three blocks to the polling place, where the room was EMPTY. Apparently a lot of the folks in our neighborhood sent for mail-in ballots and either mailed them in or dropped them off as we did.
Busy polling places are a good sign, even if the long lines are inconvenient for some.
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