On Sun, 2 Nov 2008, Bryon Daly wrote:
> I did the early voting thing on Friday down here in Orlando. Some of the
> locations were reporting 2+ hour waits, but it was about 45 minutes wait for
> me. I had the day off, so the wait wasn't bad, but I'm quite puzzled about
> the people waiting 2+ hours around here, or as long as 10+ hours in the
> Atlanta area, from the reports I've seen.
> Can there really be THAT many people unable to vote on election day, that
> they need to get on a line to wait 10 hours (or even 2+ hours) to vote?
> There's a ton more voting locations open on election day, and I've never
> had to wait more that 20 minutes or so to vote then. Even with the
> increased turnout this year, I can't imagine 10 hour lines on election day
> itself - particularly with the early vote being so popular this year.
> Anyone else do early voting? How long did you wait? Would you have waited
> 2+ hours to do it early?
I did not have that long of a wait. I got to my early voting place about
half an hour after it opened. I was apparently the 52nd or 53rd person to
vote there that day. I just had to wait for 2 other people to be
processed in the line; the procedure is different from what it has been.
The early voting location I drove my friend to had waits of around 30
minutes at times, but we got there at the tail end of a rush and she
didn't have to wait long at all. We were expecting the wait to be longer
and planned accordingly.
I vote early because if something comes up at the absolute last minute to
prevent me from voting on election day, I want to have voted by then. So
far, I've had morning sickness keep me in on an election day, but I had
voted early (I think that was the first time I voted early, and I had good
days and bad days, and took advantage of a good day to vote). My husband
had a really close call with not being able to vote on an election day; he
showed up at the polls with his hospital ID still on his wrist and in
house slippers.
> I was surprised by the lack of supporters or even signs at the voting
> location. I saw one small Obama sign and some local runners of either
> party along the road, and that's it. Maybe they save that stuff for
> election day.
>
> The local paper (Orlando Sentinel) reported last week that in early
> voting turnout, african-american turnout was up, as widely predicted,
> but the youth (under 35) turnout was actually quite a bit lower than
> expected - Obama's popularity among the younger crowd had been expected
> to drive up turnout. From what I saw, there weren't many under-35's at
> my location, either. (Sadly, I don't fall under the "youth" category,
> even with that broad definition.)
I don't know what's been going on with the voting in my area, as far as
who is voting. My own polling place, it was all people over 20 taking
advantage of the first day that early voting was available in that
particular spot. (Some of the early voting places in my county weren't
open every day of early voting, and the most convenient one for me wasn't
open until the 4th day of voting.)
Oh, and I'm not under 35, either. :) I have no idea how old I *look*
anymore, even.
Julia
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