Well, I successfully participated in the peaceful overthrow of my government.
Only a 20 minute wait! Yeah!
Okay. Just got back from voting.
As referenced in post 28 above, I left to vote at around 5:50 this morning. I got to my polling place, the township public library, at 5:55. The line outside was hopping, and the parking lot was full. I was mildly surprised as there were at least 100 people already on the line.
At 6:00 the doors opened. I got to the sign-in desk at 7:07 (yep, waited over an hour). The library only had two voting booths. Once signed in I had to stand in another line of about 15 people queued up for the booths. I finally made it into the booth around 7:20. The voting apparatus was a big white board with square buttons next to the choices and instructions below. When you press the button corresponding to your choice a green backlit X appears next to it. So, I voted and walked out at 7:25.
When I got outside the line had swelled to, I would estimate, around 200 people. On the one hand I’m excited so many folks are coming out, on the other hand, I’m concerned about capacity. The line was well into the next block when I left, and will probably continue to lengthen throughout the day. I wonder if there will be enough time to get everyone in before the polls are scheduled to close.
I’m in New Jersey, so a few hundred (few thousand?) disenfranchised voters are not going to make much of a difference in the outcome of the state, but it seems they should have made plans for this type of turnout.
Are you me? 'Cause…this, well except for the Manhattan part. Our wait was a little over an hour, about 90 minutes including a stop at the school’s bake sale. Not bad, considering the line was halfway down the block when we got to it, and twice as long by the time they started letting people in, but it did seem much shorter when we left, so they’re moving pretty quickly. Lots of smiling, tired, excited people.
Now I’m going to see if I can sleep for an hour before I have to get ready for work. Bleah.
I hath voted.
I tried to vote at about 6:15. I strolled into the polling place and it was just about empty. Just election workers. The all looked at me like I was supposed to do something. I just stood there with my grin full of civic duty plastered on my face.
- Uh … are the polls open yet?
- Oh. No. Not until 7:00.
- CNN would like to have a word with you.
I swear it said Maine polls open at 6:00.
Anyhoo, one croissant, one large cup of coffee and a crossword puzzle later, and I have voted.
And I know everyone is waiting with bated breath to know which way my vote went. You’ll be surprised to know that as soon as I entered my booth, my opinions started to sway. I swore up and down that I would vote a certain way, but when the rubber hit the road, for some reason, my mind just switched. I voted opposite of the way I said I would.
Yes, that’s right. I voted “No” on #2.
??
Polls opened at 6am, but we usually vote as a family, so we waited until everyone was up and arrived at 7:15. There were about 100 people in line ahead of me, and I curse not having a last name S-Z. We waited in the rain for about 15 minutes, but when we got inside, it was smooth sailing. My first paper ballot-- I’ve only used electronic ballots in the past. Filled in the oval for Obama and my Congressfolk.
Virginia doesn’t have any statewide ballot initiatives this time around, so I think that might speed the lines up. No one took more than 15 seconds in the booth to mark their sheet, then we lined up to feed them into the box. Only one box in the polling place to deposit vote sheets, and I noticed at 7:35 the count was 758 votes. This precinct had about 2,100 votes cast in the 2004 General. The local news did a poll last night and found something like 65% said they planned to vote between 6 and 9 am, so we may exceed turnout from last time.
Only one thing struck me as :dubious:. There were several little booths set up outside for various organizations selling donuts and whatnot, and a guy handing out sample ballots. We took one to orient the first timers in my family, and I noticed that he was passing out sample ballots that already had a straight Republican ticket chosen. Is that normal/allowed? This is my first time voting in this precinct, and I honestly can’t remember encountering something so partisan so close to the polling place in years past.
Not a bad experience, though, and I’m happy to spend some time in the rain to help tip the scales for Obama in Virginia.
I walked in at 7:20am (polls open at 7am) and was the only person there besides poll workers. I was #36, so 35 people voted in the first 20 minutes.
You bastard. 
Had me going there.
I got to my polling station at 7:15 AM on the way to work and there was a line of about 7 people, which doesn’t sound like much, but I’ve been voting at this polling station since 2002 and I have NEVER had a line of any kind at 7:15 AM. By the time I left (straight ticket Dem), the line was around 20 people.
Seriously, I have NEVER seen a line of any fashion at this time of day at that polling station. Never.
I was 33rd in line when I arrived at about 6:30 (polls open at 7 here). By the time the doors opened, there were at least 100 people in line. Why this is amazing is that I have never waited more than 5 minutes or seen more than approx. 20 people there before. I took my mother with me who never was really into an election before. She has actually donated money to a campaign for the first time in her life. I thought she was going to cry afterwards she was so moved by the poeple talking excitedly around us about Obama. So, 2 more for Obama here in a “swing” state.
By the way, got to see a lovely huge “NO SOCIALISM NOBAMA” banner on 83 on the way into work. Way to bring down the joy morons.
Interesting. Large cup of coffee and a crossword puzzle usually has the opposite effect on me.
Hall County, Georgia. Got to my polling place at 6:30am, I was 33rd in line, but by 7:00 the line had probably quadrupled. Cheerful social atmosphere, typical for us. Same poll workers as the last several general elections, so when we opened up everything moved smoothly. Well placed tables, lines and equipment.
Quick check against registration rolls, on to one of the nine voting stations. Diebold machines. Good ballot layout, smooth touchscreen response, no vote flipping or strange behavior. Concise and accurate ballot summary.
I selected Obama/Biden, Jim Martin for Senate, Jeff Scott for GA-9… “NO” on all three constitutional amendments (GA government tends to pretty up tax exemptions as specific “public good” initiatives and then sneak 'em in as permanent constitutional guarantees… Crazy.)
General observations: Lines were a bit longer than normal for my polling place at 7:30, people seemed maybe a bit more enthusiastic than they normally are (could be confirmation bias). The ethnic mix in line did not reflect the registered voter mix in the county, with Hispanics greatly underrepresented (as measured by my unscientific visual poll). However, I think this is the normal “morning” mix…
All in all, probably the best voting experience I’ve had in Georgia over the last 20 years. I was done by 7:30 and my coffee was still warm in the cupholder of my car.
I just want to thank all those who are sharing their voting stories here. My husband is Air Force, and we’re stationed in Okinawa right now, so we voted absentee and missed all this ruckus, but it’s awesome to hear all these stories about how it’s going back home. It’s 10:30 pm here, and I have a feeling it’s going to be difficult to sleep tonight.
In lieu of a fun story on my part, I’d like to share my mother’s voting experience, from Little Rock, Arkansas.
She voted early, and said she waited in line for about an hour and a half. (As far as I know, this is the first election she’s ever voted for a Dem in.) She said the whole time, she chatted with the couple behind her and the lady in front of her. The were all obviously voting for Obama, but didn’t explicitly state that. It was talk of change and hope and optimism.
She said the guy in front of their group was an elderly gentleman who was obviously seething that they were buying into the Obama message, and clearly wanted to give them a piece of his mind, but he managed to hold his tongue. She kept saying "You could just tell this guy was about to go off on an ‘he’s a muslim terrorist!’ rampage, but he was out numbered. She said she talked to all these people for an hour and a half, and left the polls feeling great.
Thank you to all the Obama volunteers for making this happen, and for all who have voted in this historic election.
Go America! Go Obama!
Bathrooms looked that bad, eh?
Haven’t voted yet, just came back from the Caribbean. San Juan was full of campaign rallies for their own election (their party symbols are much cooler than ours in the states), basically rolling parades of honking cars and flatbeds carrying candidates. Several cars worth of people would spot us obvious norteamericanos on the sidewalk and start grinning and chanting “Obama!”
Of course, there was the cabbie who teased us by singing “Obama es musulman!” until he conceded “McCain es loco.”
Most likely not, but that won’t disenfranchise them. By law, anyone who’s already IN the line (or ON line, for you East Coasters), at the time the polls close, have to be allowed to vote, no matter how long it takes.
There was a bit of a line for me, but not bad; SpouseO and I were behind 30ish people. But it just kept growing - I’ve never seen that before. There were tons by the time I finished voting. They’ll have a wait, but I didn’t - I was done by 7:15.
My 'burb certainly had more turnout than I’ve seen - wow.
I got to my polling place, a local church, at about 7:15 or so. The parking lot was packed. The last two times I voted here, there was hardly anyone there. The lines inside were long, too. I wound up chatting with the people in front of and behind me, and we were all remarking on how amazing the turnout was and how exciting it was that people wanted to vote, were enthused about it. There was an older lady with a cane behind us; she obviously had a hip problem or something of the sort. So everyone in line near here was trying to find a chair or something for her so she wouldn’t have to stand the whole time she was waiting. It was nice to see that concern. She wound up on a chair near the registers, with an agreement that she’d get back into line when the people who’d been around her got to that point.
Then I discovered they actually did have separate lines for last names. No signs anywhere, no one directing traffic, no little rope guides, nothin’. That part, at least, could have been handled better. My last name starts with ‘S’, so I got to move to a different line that only had a couple people in front of me. The lady with the hip problem found out right about then about the 3 different lines, and she was in my line again, just behind me. Not a long wait for her, after all.
In and out of the voting booth. Did NOT get an “I Voted” sticker, which peeves me slightly but oh, well. Total time, maybe 30 minutes, including the time spent in the wrong line.
This has to have been the most amazing voting experience I’ve ever had, including the first time I ever got to vote. Everyone was so excited and enthused about the whole thing. I really hope this presages an increased involvement by everyone.
Wow.
Did anyone else’s ballot say “Barack Obama , Democratic Party, Black”???
Of course I’m kidding 
I was at the poll at 6:55 this morning and there were more people than I’ve seen in 20 years of voting there. I’ve never had to wait outside much less in long line nearly 2/3 the way around an elementary school. Maybe more AA’s than usual too although I can’t say I really pay much attention to the race of the people around me.
My boss who lives North of Baltimore in an almost all white very conservative county said there were no more people at the poll than usual.
My office is a bastion of Christian conservatism and they’re a little grim today.
My wait was minimal. Like I said I arrived early and there were people milling about outside, maybe 10 or so. By the time I got back and stood in line I was there maybe 15 minutes tops.
I live in the largest city in Maine, which isn’t really saying that much, but still, with all the horror stories I was anticipating, it was relatively pain-free voting.
I pity the voters in the really big cities.
And for those keeping score, I mean if it’s really driving you crazy, Referendum #2 in Maine was regarding allowing a casino to open up near the ski resorts. I voted No … but if it passes, I’ll still go play poker there.