Stories of the voting lines...

[Duemellon]

Well, I already voted but decided to drive past the voting station nearby. There were about 30 ppl already in line (just at 6:30) & about 6-10 ppl walking up to get in line. No parking spaces available.

Yah, it's gonna be a mess for everyone who still has to vote.

[twentyshots]

http://woxy.com/boards/showthread.php?t=55625

[Duemellon]

http://woxy.com/boards/showthread.php?t=55625They were bragging about voting. I was talking about the lines today.

Meh. I thought it was different.

[Sushi]

Possibly, but right now everyone's trying to cram in before heading to work, stories of angry voters waiting in excruciatingly long lines haven't made the news cycle rotation and people are still pretty jazzed.

Give it 5 more hours and once people are at work, breathless news anchors tell us about election day "chaos", "waits over two hours....in some places" and the day takes its toll on people and the numbers will decline.
What he said. Besides that, an estimated 25% of Ohio voters have already voted (and something like 37% of Floridians have already voted--those are the only two stats I've heard). If you vote between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m., you will likely not have much of a delay.

[taylor]

that's a good point. when a thread gets derailed and completely off topic can you start another thread to restart that topic?


oh wait . . . sorry . . . nevermind. :o

[drougan]

I had about a 25 minute voting experience from showing up to getting out. But I live in a rather small voting precinct due to the geography. I should have done the paper ballot. It would have been faster than the line for the single electronic voting machine.

[classicgrrl]

didn't have much of a wait on the West side of Cincinnati - 15-20 min.

my voting experience was less than steller however. I had to do a provisional ballot because I had not registered here in Cincinnati.

I took a pay check stub with my new address and a bank statement, had my SS card and drivers license.

I was still told that I had to do a change of address form in 10 days which, according to the Secretary of State website, is incorrect.

the poll workers were giving out incorrect information and one was doing nothing but yapping on her cell the whole time.

most of the voters were black and this is a predominately black neighborhood. I am actually writing a letter to complain to the Secretary of State because of how mis-or uninformed the poll workers were....

[REMgirl]

I voted this morning and waited about an hour and a half in line. Then when I'm right at the point of signing in, some guy ahead of me asked the pollworker about why they had paper and electronic voting. She rolled her eyes and said, "Oh, a few people griped about the electronic machines and made a big fuss about it, so we HAVE to have them. It's a waste of time, if you ask me." I promptly gave my name and driver's license and sweetly said, "I'll take a paper ballot, please."

When I voted in the Primaries, I used their electronic machine. My paper record jammed and the printer just printed over and over, so the whole paper was black. I couldn't check to make sure my vote tallied. I was pissed, and called over a pollworker and asked if my vote had indeed been counted. He assured me that it had, and then I told him he either needed to fix the machine or shut it down. Of course, he did neither.

So that's why I wanted a paper ballot. That pollworker can kiss my ass.:p

[the_birds]

What he said. Besides that, an estimated 25% of Ohio voters have already voted (and something like 37% of Floridians have already voted--those are the only two stats I've heard).

And yet these numbers are really low for early voting this time. Maybe its a regional thing? Everyone tries like hell to vote early here.

Fully 50% of this Harris County (Houston) has voted early. Something like 700K Early votes and 50K absentee. Another 750K to 800K expected today...

[Predot listener]

I voted this morning at around 7:45 a.m. in NW Indiana. It took about 15 minutes, and my precinct was actually the only one with any kind of line and heavy vote totals (don't know if that was just coincidence, or if my precinct has grown larger than the others at the same voting place and they simply haven't redrawn the districts). I was expecting more of a wait.

[shivvy]

Granted, I live in Northern Kentucky...but I went to vote around 9:15 and there was no line at all. I walked right in, voted, and was out the door within 5 minutes.

[silentpaul]

I voted, Beverly Massachusetts, no wait to fill in a paper ballot at any one of 12 booths.

The pollworkers were very nice. Someone sneezed and all six of them said "God bless you." :)

[Angel30]

I was in line right at 6:30 at the library, downtown. Took about an hour and twenty minutes. Right when I was getting to the front part of the line, they decided to break the lines up into precincts (mine was of course the biggest). They just didn't seem very organized. Seems like they could have walked the lines, checked IDs (broken up by precincts) and gave people a ballot so all they had to do was walk up and vote when a booth became empty. Anyway, I brought a book so that helped my wait time go by and I voted and that is the most important thing. :)

[Smoker29]

George Marshall High School
Falls Church Virginia

In and out in 15 minutes.

Sweet!

[berzerker]

When I voted in the Primaries, I used their electronic machine. My paper record jammed and the printer just printed over and over, so the whole paper was black. I couldn't check to make sure my vote tallied. I was pissed, and called over a pollworker and asked if my vote had indeed been counted. He assured me that it had, and then I told him he either needed to fix the machine or shut it down. Of course, he did neither.



Happened to me this AM. Noticed the view window was all garbled and the paper was wrinkled. Of course, i noticed after i finished, before I printed. Called someone over, she asked "did you hit print?" then hit print. Didn't work, of course. So she opened it up, fixed the paper, closed it and printed pages 2 3 and 4 no problem. She said my ballot was cast, but in the event of a "problem" (unlikely, I'm sure :rolleyes:) and they need to refer to the paper backup, page one of my ballot is FUBAR. The one where I voted for President...

[akip]

zero line---not ONE person in front of me at any point between the sidewalk and the voting booth. signed in and went right behind the curtain.

they are predicting a pretty smooth process here---we have old, but reliable voting machines with levers. there are repairmen on standby and extra machines ready to be rolled in, if necessary. paper ballots are a fall back. polls are open till 9 p.m.

[the happy prole]

I think I was in and out in just under 3 hours.

[drougan]

My favorite part about voting this AM was all the people who brought their little kids in with them to show them the voting process, let them help fill out the ballot, get a sticker, and everything. It was pretty damn cute.

"Grandma'll let you push the button for Obama, he's the most important one"

[Hotel Detective]

I was in line right at 6:30 at the library, downtown. Took about an hour and twenty minutes. Right when I was getting to the front part of the line, they decided to break the lines up into precincts (mine was of course the biggest). They just didn't seem very organized. Seems like they could have walked the lines, checked IDs (broken up by precincts) and gave people a ballot so all they had to do was walk up and vote when a booth became empty. Anyway, I brought a book so that helped my wait time go by and I voted and that is the most important thing. :)


Same exact thing happened to me this morning! I had no idea what precinct I was in but I found out later I was in the largest one=long line. Boo! long voting line

[taylor]

no line, but i have been in lines in previous elections up to 5 people long! :p

[Artpunchehorse]

None. Not one person. Had a longer line at Subway

[juggles]

In Lexington, got to the polling place at about 8:30 and waited half an hour. Polls close relatively early at 6 pm tonight but then the bars and liquor stores can reopen.

[Buzzstein]

My favorite part about voting this AM was all the people who brought their little kids in with them to show them the voting process, let them help fill out the ballot, get a sticker, and everything. It was pretty damn cute.

"Grandma'll let you push the button for Obama, he's the most important one"

That's kinda scary. What if the little bastard (I mean that in the nicest way possible) pushed the wrong button? ;)

[drougan]

That's kinda scary. What if the little bastard (I mean that in the nicest way possible) pushed the wrong button? ;)

There's a ballot review screen ;)

[C. Doves]

Lohrey Rec Center, Belmont, about an hour for the whole thing, not bad really.

[epeolatry]

no worries in st. paul, minnesota! polls opened at 7am and we were in line already. got in & out in about an hour.

[Restless Sinner]

Voting took a whole 20 minutes for me, from the time I walked in to the time I got my sticker. The place I voted was super organized and got everyone through fast.

I would like to thank Krispy Kreme for my free donut afterwards!

[Duemellon]

Well, here's some Fair & Balanced updates regarding voting lines...
Size & spacing format set to what the page had when it was published. That's right, they published it with varying font sizes & odd spacing in their hurry. The colors & bolding were added by me. Really, the only thing worth reading was the part I highlighted. The rest was just to maintain their bizarre kidnap ransom note-like formatting.

Broken Machines, Shortages Plague Voters Around the Country (http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/11/04/broken-machines-shortages-plague-voters-country/)
Expected record turnout is making typical Election Day glitches keep voters in line for hours.
FOXNews.com
Tuesday, November 04, 2008

DEVELOPING STORY -- Voters descending on polling stations in the early hours of Election Day are reporting long lines, mistakes, missing ballots and faulty machinery as the nation chooses between Barack Obama and John McCain.

FOX News' Rick Leventhal was on the scene in Philadelphia where voters are reporting that two Black Panthers are blocking the doors to a precinct, one holding a night stick.

Leventhal found one Black Panther who said he was a certified observer, and police asked him and the FOX News crew to leave the polling station.

As of noon, FOXNews.com had received complaints from voters around the country that polling stations were not prepared, that voting lists were inaccurate and some voters were worried when they were asked to cast paper ballots instead of using voting machines.

Gregory Holden reported that the voting list his polling station in Lugoff, S.C., had problems. "Many people who have always voted in this precinct are all of a sudden not on the roll," he said. "They only have five machines and there are about 300 people in line. People are so discouraged some are leaving," he wrote.

Francesca Lourdes, in Maryland, said that she voted with three others, and the polling station where their official voter registration cards told them to vote didn't have them on the registers. She said they had to cast provisional ballots.

Watchdog groups and government officials are telling FOXNews.com that voters are reporting a range of problems and that some polling places aren't able to handle the expected record turnout.

The Pennsylvania Department of State has learned that in four of the 1,681 Philadelphia precincts either poll watchers or election officers were turned away. They are unclear if they were watchers or election officers. Poll watchers are required to have watcher certificates issued by the county board of elections. Election officers have a credential that is from either the board of elections or the court of common pleas. The issue is before the Court of Common Pleas in Philadelphia. Also, as is typical protocol, this has been referred to the Philadelphia district attorney's office.Voter disruption in Philadelphia -- Per Foster and Levanthal: They are en route to what could be quite a scene - republicans say 2 black panthers are blocking the doorway of a polling place trying to intimidate voters and may have threatened a republican poll watcher. Cops there. We have a witness willing to go on cam. Will call when we get there.

According to Wendy Weisner, of the Brennan Center for Justice and non-partisan watchdog group Election Protection Center, the group has been receiving calls from voters experiencing problems with machine breakdowns around the country.

In Virginia, there are reports from more than 40 polling stations where the election officials don't have paper ballots to distribute when electronic machines break down.

In Pittsburgh and Philadelphia there are reports from voters of machines breaking down and no emergency paper ballots are being distributed.

Voters in Palm Beach County, Fla., are reporting that optical scan machines are breaking down.

An increasing number of problems are being reported with voting machines in Dayton, Ohio.

In New York City, voters began lining up as early as 4 a.m. ET even though polls didn't open until 6 a.m., said Valerie Vazquez-Rivera, a spokeswoman for the city's Board of Elections.

"We have a system that is traditionally set up for low turnout," said Tova Wang of the government watchdog group Common Cause. "We're going to have all these new voters, but not a lot of new resources. The election directors just have very little to work with."

Polls along the East Coast opened at 6 a.m. and by 8 a.m. one polling station in Atlanta had already run out of paper ballots, according to Clare Schexnyder, media spokeswoman for Georgia Election Protection, a non-partisan watchdog group.

She said the group had fielded more than 500 calls by 9 a.m.

"We had one location [in Atlanta] where all of the machines went down this morning and they didn't come back up until 8:08 a.m. They had problems with cards kicking out and a voter not getting a chance to vote," Schexnyder said.

About 2 million of Georgia's 5 million voters had cast ballots in early voting, she said, but that still leaves 3 million potential voters hitting the polls on Election Day.

An election protection volunteer helped that voter cast her ballot, she said, but there were up to 100 voters in line at one point, waiting while the six machines were down. "They were voting with paper ballots during the time they were down and they ran out of paper ballots and had to switch to provisional ballots. They are provisional ballots that will be counted, but there was craziness at that one polling place."

Virginia has also had its share of election mishaps, although the state is not yet reporting any incidences of fraud or voter intimidation.

Voters are turning out to the polls in record numbers in spite of the weather, according to Susan Pollard, a spokeswoman for the State Board of Elections. "Although a light rain is falling across the state, it does not seem to have dampened turn-out. Lines have been reported at some polling places; however, voting is proceeding quickly at many others."

The rain is causing an unexpected problem -- wet ballots don't feed properly into optical scan machines.

"Poll workers are setting the wet ballots aside and drying them out and asking voters to dry off before they handle the ballots.To make sure you don't have any problem with your ballot going through the optical scanner, be sure to dry your hands before completing your ballot," Pollard said. "All votes will be counted."

Three of the state's 2,349 polling stations opened late, two due to human error. One, at a library in Richmond, opened 25 minutes late because the librarian with the keys to the building overslept.

While the North Virginia suburb of Arlington has had one wet ballot issue, so far county registrar Linda Lindberg describes voting as "smooth sailing."

To assure that every voter gets a chance to cast a ballot, the Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division has sent more than 800 monitors to 59 jurisdictions in 23 states.

Several have had problems in the past with minority voters or with providing personnel at polling stations where Spanish or Native American languages are spoken.

In Cuyahoga County, Ohio, where the Feds have sent election monitors, voters reported 58 problems voting to OurVoteLive.org.

In Ohio's Franklin County, Board of Elections spokesman Ben Piscitelli said officials again were dealing with typical glitches. "We're taking care of things like that," Piscitelli said. "But there's nothing major or systemic."

Schexnyder, from Georgia Election Protection, said she doesn't expect the problems voters are reporting to keep them from casting their ballots, although many will wait.

"We'll probably see problems all day as we see long lines, and any times you have computers connected to the equation, I think that every computer glitch we have is going to create longer lines," Schexnyder said.

[Duemellon]

Yah, it makes sense to me the Black Panthers are going to block a polling place to disenfranchise Black voters. - sheesh - f'n morons.

Why isn't anyone else carrying this "news"?

[DaHood]

None. Not one person. Had a longer line at SubwayI thought they pissed you off too much to vote. Oh well.

The polls were empty as hell in Big Whiteyville. But I voted at around 1:00 p.m. so I didn't expect much anyway.

[Yale Delay]

In Lexington, got to the polling place at about 8:30 and waited half an hour. Polls close relatively early at 6 pm tonight but then the bars and liquor stores can reopen.


wait, wait did I just read this correctly? you can't drink and vote??? Speaking as someone from Milwaukee this is the most UN-AMERICAN THING I HAVE EVER HEARD!

[markalot]

With the media coverage as it is every single problem will be reported without confirmation of accuracy.


Due, in the meantime, will choose to believe only some of the reports (guess which ones). :p

Developing story means they are throwing it together as they get it.

[shivvy]

wait, wait did I just read this correctly? you can't drink and vote??? Speaking as someone from Milwaukee this is the most UN-AMERICAN THING I HAVE EVER HEARD!

Yes, in Kentucky there are no liquor sales while the polls are open. I remember that antiquated old law from the Primaries. Has probably been on the books forever. It'll be ok at 6pm when the polls close across the state.

[Macpherson]

there are reports of electronic voting machine problems all over the place. even if half of them are true, it's a clusterfuck. especially for the ones without backup paper ballots.

[the_birds]

wait, wait did I just read this correctly? you can't drink and vote??? Speaking as someone from Milwaukee this is the most UN-AMERICAN THING I HAVE EVER HEARD!

In Texas, if you are visibly intoxicated, they will not let you vote.

[Yale Delay]

Yes, in Kentucky there are no liquor sales while the polls are open. I remember that antiquated old law from the Primaries. Has probably been on the books forever. It'll be ok at 6pm when the polls close across the state.

I guess in Milwaukee the polls are open until 8, and Liquor stores have to close at 9, one thing being in a touring band has taught me, man the liquor laws in this nation are messed up... In my neighborhood many bars will give you free beer just for walking in with a "I voted" sticker on, for the primarys I saw alot of college student (I live in an artsy/student neighborhood) in line 40oz in hand...

[Yale Delay]

In Texas, if you are visibly intoxicated, they will not let you vote.They won't let you do that here also, but I have a feeling in Milwaukee "visibly intoxicated" means a different thing than in Texas, I have never seen anyone turned away from the polls and I lived right by the park where we vote for about 5 years.

[guamie]

Walked right in and out. The part that took the longest was the ladies chatting with me - they mentioned that my husband was just in and admired my two last name full name.

Then I went to Starbucks and received a free cup of coffee :)

[markalot]

http://elections.foxnews.com/img/story/black_panther_finger.jpg
FOX News' Rick Leventhal speaks to a reported Black Panther at a Philadelphia polling station.

[velouria]

zero line---not ONE person in front of me at any point between the sidewalk and the voting booth. signed in and went right behind the curtain.

they are predicting a pretty smooth process here---we have old, but reliable voting machines with levers. there are repairmen on standby and extra machines ready to be rolled in, if necessary. paper ballots are a fall back. polls are open till 9 p.m.

Yeah, I've never waited longer than 10 minutes to vote in any election. I'm leaving work a little early to beat the after-work rush, just in case.

[Duemellon]

Due, in the meantime, will choose to believe only some of the reports (guess which ones). :p

Developing story means they are throwing it together as they get it.Believe? What am I to believe from Fox? That they type in English?

I'll tell ya what. When you have such a "rumor" or whatever & it's printed right away before you have "facts", it's pretty craptacular. It's like McCain condemning Russia when the 1st memo that came across his desk without knowing the facts.

[markalot]

Believe? What am I to believe from Fox? That they type in English?

I'll tell ya what. When you have such a "rumor" or whatever & it's printed right away before you have "facts", it's pretty craptacular. It's like McCain condemning Russia when the 1st memo that came across his desk without knowing the facts.

The report of the black panthers has been confirmed, with video and a reporter eyewitness. So what, it's meaningless.

The nice thing about this election is the disenfranchisement should be equal. You can't get perfection, machines will break down and people will be stupid, so there will be a percentage of votes not counted. It would be insane to think otherwise.

Each problem is a potential viewer, so we will SEE a lot of problems.

[mizary]

I voted at the main library downtown at 2:30pm I waited in line for about 2min behind some homeless guy.

--mizary

[Hogarth]

No line at all at Rosa Parks Elementary in Middletown. Smooth sailing.

[patio]

No line in Arlington, VA. Twas easy as pie... mmmm, pie

[OldManIndieKid]

I waited in line for about 2min behind some homeless guy.

Ssshhhh. The republicans will hear you.... ;)

[juggles]

Yes, in Kentucky there are no liquor sales while the polls are open. I remember that antiquated old law from the Primaries. Has probably been on the books forever. It'll be ok at 6pm when the polls close across the state.

Yeah, we're old school. And the polls close at six pm so no one has to ride their horse home after dark.

Just to be safe, I bought my bottle of Woodford Reserve last night.

[Unrequited]

Just to be safe, I bought my bottle of Woodford Reserve last night.

I'm hitting the bourbon as soon as I get home.

[mizary]

Yeah, we're old school. And the polls close at six pm so no one has to ride their horse home after dark.

Just to be safe, I bought my bottle of Woodford Reserve last night.

I just bought a 1.75 of woodford. that's alot of good bourbon.

I just might have some tonight...

--mizary

[markalot]

Blogging complaints live:

http://www.ourvotelive.org/home.php

[drougan]

By contrast to what I seem to be hearing from the media/blogs/etc. The vast majority of the folks I know from NoVA at least seem to have had no problems voting. Worst I heard of was approx. 1 hr wait. There's hope for VA yet. ;)

[donato]

No lie. As strange as it seems, my polling place is in someone's basement. There was a long line of people waiting to vote and only 4 voting booths. To speed things up, they put up those privacy blinders around the pool table and gave people clipboards.

From the time I arrived to the time I left, I was probably there for about an hour.

Good to see in this day and age we can get some modern facilities to vote in.

Oh yea, around 7:30 a.m. when I was in line, I heard one of the election volunteers say that there are 300 people who vote at that location and 50 have already voted.

[markalot]

By contrast to what I seem to be hearing from the media/blogs/etc. The vast majority of the folks I know from NoVA at least seem to have had no problems voting. Worst I heard of was approx. 1 hr wait. There's hope for VA yet. ;)

The complaints are there, but look at the numbers. 15 people here, 20 there. A tiny minuscule compared to the number of voters voting. Many of these complaints are also opinions, not really complaints. Like the baskets filling up in Florida.

How about this one:

"To the Mason Community:

Please note that election day has been moved to November 5th. We apologies for any inconvenience this may cause you.

Peter N. Stearns, Provost"

Several hours later, the real Provost sent a correction email blaming the hoax on a compromised email system. According to The Washington Post, GMU spokesman Daniel Walsch said, "This is upsetting and embarrassing and has caused a lot of confusion and concern among people."

Yea, so someone hacked the email system. People that believed election day was moved probably should not be voting. This is students we're talking about here, our future.

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/securityfix/2008/11/election_hoax_e-mail_sent_via.html?hpid=topnews

[drougan]

No lie. As strange as it seems, my polling place is in someone's basement. There was a long line of people waiting to vote and only 4 voting booths. To speed things up, they put up those privacy blinders around the pool table and gave people clipboards.

From the time I arrived to the time I left, I was probably there for about an hour.

Good to see in this day and age we can get some modern facilities to vote in.

Oh yea, around 7:30 a.m. when I was in line, I heard one of the election volunteers say that there are 300 people who vote at that location and 50 have already voted.

Nice...

I know an older guy in Southgate, KY who used to have a polling location in his basement and took a lot of pride in that fact. So much so that he would remove the concrete elephant from his front porch so as not too seem biased on Election Day. They took it away from him because his driveway to the basement was too steep for ADA access (even though it was never needed). Go figure.

[Yale Delay]

I was in and out really quickly they had my name down wrong on the register but I just filled out a form and was on my way...

[dannyboy]

We voted after work right at about 5pm. No wait at all.

[juggles]

Not exactly from the voting lines but a few days, ago I had voice mail from somebody who said he was with the local Democratic office asking me to vote today, offering a ride to the polls and reminding me that my polling place was . . . somewhere other than my actual polling place. I intended to call the county clerk about it and but I didn't get around to it.

[Stoock]

None. Not one person. Had a longer line at Subway

Is that because it's $4 footlong day?

[Artpunchehorse]

Is that because it's $4 footlong day?

No, but I got a free cookie for having my sticker on!

[Shlep]

Yah, it makes sense to me the Black Panthers are going to block a polling place to disenfranchise Black voters. - sheesh - f'n morons.

Why isn't anyone else carrying this "news"?

Obviously, because it's a big, fat lie by those bastards at FOX News. Every other respectable media outlet is too smart to be lulled into thinking that the Black Panthers would ever do something like go off half-cocked and pull some obnoxious and pointless stunt that could be construed as a deliberate attempt to aggravate people and draw attention to themselves within the context of events that actually matter while otherwise serving no sane, reasonable, or useful purpose.

No way!

That said: where in the story did it say the Black Panthers were disenfranchising black people? They were apparently intimidating a Republican poll observer; I may be too quick to assume the man was white, if only because a black man readily identifiable as a Republican observing a polling station in Philly would be news all by itself.

[Stine]

Evening is the way to go. Got to my poll at 6:50pm, was in and out by 7pm.

[jcarwash31]

No, but I got a free cookie for having my sticker on!
Pfft...free cookie. :rolleyes: I got a free beer for my sticker. :cool:

I didn't time how long it took me to vote, but since the ratio of booths to voters at the time I was there was about 2:1, it only took me as long as it takes to fill in all of those ovals.