Back from the Polling Place 2
When I can, I like to go in mid-morning and avoid the rush of persons trying to go before or after work or school.
A rather officious, scruffy-looking young man was blocking my way as I went in, stepping from side to side in front of me as I tried to manuever aournd him. Turns out he was inspecting my button. I pointed out to him that it does not refer to a candidate and he let me pass.
His life would be easier if he told people what he was doing.
Three people were ahead of me in line and three voting machines were set up. All three machines were in constant use.
I was there a total of ten minutes and spent five of those minutes jawboning with one of the poll judges, a neighbor I haven’t seen in a couple of years.
He told me that, when they opened the doors at seven, the line went from the door of the polling room almost out the door of the school (approximately 200 feet) and that traffic had been steady all day.
Now for the long wait until the evening.
November 4, 2008 at 10:01 am
You didn’t have the option of early voting? We loved it. Ours were in & counted on the 18th of last month! The State even set up a site where you could put in your DOB & street number & you’d get the status of your ballot. They wanted to stop the influx of calls to see if a ballot was received, I’m sure.
November 4, 2008 at 8:29 pm
Delaware does not have “early voting” other than the traditional absentee ballot (which my son used because he is in college in West Virginie).
I did not vote until around 5:30. Normally, you walk in, deal with the poll workers, get your little card, then turn and hand it to one of the machine operators and step into a vacant machine and vote. Not tonight. After checking in and getting the card, we walked to the end of a line with about 75 – 100 folks ahead of us. The process took a total of about 40 minutes instead of the normal 5 minutes.
People were complaining about having to wait – I thought it was great. Given the number of Americans who have fought and died over the years protecting our right to vote, standing in line for a few minutes is no big deal.