Sunday, November 02, 2008
Five Hours Well Spent!
Today, I spent five hours waiting in line. I think the last time I came close to that much time in line was in college when I spent the better part of a morning waiting outside the stadium to get tickets to the Florida-Georgia game. This was for something more important (maybe not by much!), as I was at the library for the early voting.
If you are imagining an impatient, tired, dehydrated crowd of edgy people...well, you couldn't be more wrong. I think everyone knew before they left home that this would be a long affair, as the news had reported that on Saturday people waited four hours or more, and that Sunday the wait was expected to be even longer. When I arrived, I couldn't help but count how many people were in line. I can't give an exact number because I started at the door, and not everyone in line was there to vote -- there were children (who I obviously didn't count), but also teenagers who might or might not have been old enough to vote, people who had come to keep their friends and family company, and probably people who had come to give rides to other people. But excluding the obviously-too-young and the people in the lobby, I counted about 670 people ahead of me.
When I arrived at about 11:30, I was well prepared. I had my stool/toolbox to sit on and carry my belongings, a book, and some snacks, and a bottle of soda. I also stopped at KFC and picked up a box of chicken strips so I could eat lunch. It turned out that the folks running the show were prepared, too. There were volunteers handing out bottled water (for free!), people asked if anyone needed to use the restroom (I think they were escorting us to make sure nobody thought we were jumping the line and killed us), and they used blue tape to mark off the limits of where people could hand out campaign materials. Some of the pollworkers also used the long lines as an opportunity to explain how to use the new voting machines. Since the touchscreens are now banned in Florida, we now have "bubble ballots," much like the computerized tests we took in school, and they wanted to be sure everyone knew how to completely fill in the bubbles.
The folks in line were sociable and prepared, too -- probably about a third had brought something to sit on, some had reading material, and someone a few spots up had brought a boombox, so we had music. It would not have taken much more to create the atmosphere of a tailgate party.
The elections office now thinks that the lines won't be so bad on Tuesday, since so many people have voted early. Also, the early voting wasn't conducted at all regular polling locations, so the people who came early were concentrated into fewer locations.
Overall, it seemed well-managed -- sort of a self-endorsement for the Supervisor of Elections, who is also up for re-election. The biggest issue I've seen in Broward County to date is something that the SoE can't control. Seems that someone was making robocalls claiming to be from the Elections Office telling people that because of the heavy turnout, they could vote on Wednesday. Sneaky bastards....
If you are imagining an impatient, tired, dehydrated crowd of edgy people...well, you couldn't be more wrong. I think everyone knew before they left home that this would be a long affair, as the news had reported that on Saturday people waited four hours or more, and that Sunday the wait was expected to be even longer. When I arrived, I couldn't help but count how many people were in line. I can't give an exact number because I started at the door, and not everyone in line was there to vote -- there were children (who I obviously didn't count), but also teenagers who might or might not have been old enough to vote, people who had come to keep their friends and family company, and probably people who had come to give rides to other people. But excluding the obviously-too-young and the people in the lobby, I counted about 670 people ahead of me.
When I arrived at about 11:30, I was well prepared. I had my stool/toolbox to sit on and carry my belongings, a book, and some snacks, and a bottle of soda. I also stopped at KFC and picked up a box of chicken strips so I could eat lunch. It turned out that the folks running the show were prepared, too. There were volunteers handing out bottled water (for free!), people asked if anyone needed to use the restroom (I think they were escorting us to make sure nobody thought we were jumping the line and killed us), and they used blue tape to mark off the limits of where people could hand out campaign materials. Some of the pollworkers also used the long lines as an opportunity to explain how to use the new voting machines. Since the touchscreens are now banned in Florida, we now have "bubble ballots," much like the computerized tests we took in school, and they wanted to be sure everyone knew how to completely fill in the bubbles.
The folks in line were sociable and prepared, too -- probably about a third had brought something to sit on, some had reading material, and someone a few spots up had brought a boombox, so we had music. It would not have taken much more to create the atmosphere of a tailgate party.
The elections office now thinks that the lines won't be so bad on Tuesday, since so many people have voted early. Also, the early voting wasn't conducted at all regular polling locations, so the people who came early were concentrated into fewer locations.
Overall, it seemed well-managed -- sort of a self-endorsement for the Supervisor of Elections, who is also up for re-election. The biggest issue I've seen in Broward County to date is something that the SoE can't control. Seems that someone was making robocalls claiming to be from the Elections Office telling people that because of the heavy turnout, they could vote on Wednesday. Sneaky bastards....
Labels: politics election
