I got in line at 6:58 right before they opened the doors and I walked out at 7:35.
The checkin process was really smooth and well-run, but people were taking foooooorreeeeevvvverrrr to actually vote. I blame our ridiculous number of ballot questions. There were 6 machines (touch screen. Worked well....but I'm not totally on board with not having an option of a paper ballot) and I lapped the other 5 people. (i.e. I got to my machine, voted, and walked out before any of the people who were already at machines finished) Helps to have read the things beforehand i guess.
They were even handing out sample ballots in line and still people had to read every single word with intense looks of concentration.
My 2 oldest have the day off from school so I'm going to drop the youngest at school and then come back and vote.
If the line is really long I might stick out my food gut and claim I'm pregnant because pg ladies get to automatically move to the front of the line :-)
We showed up a few minutes after the polls opened at 6am. We left around 6:25. Our polling location is a senior center, and 90% of the people there looked to be residents. The line to check in was very, very slow, considering we were the 11th and 12th people in the precinct to vote. Every single person had to wait in the A-L last name line, which has me convinced that M-Z'ers are lazy sleeper-inners. Oh, and apparently the only person on site who could deal with spoiled ballots was the one person running the A-L line. Poor woman behind the M-Z counter, she looked bored.
We brought in a little voting cheat sheet for some local races, but there weren't very many things on the ballot in our state so the filling in of bubbles (paper ballots) went relatively quickly.
And then we went home and sat around for two hours, because we assumed there would be huge lines and the only time we could vote was before work, since the polls close ridiculously early (6pm) here.
My 2 oldest have the day off from school so I'm going to drop the youngest at school and then come back and vote.
If the line is really long I might stick out my food gut and claim I'm pregnant because pg ladies get to automatically move to the front of the line :-)
nobody let me move to the front of the line! I stood out in the cold for 20 minutes. And there was a lady 3 up from me with an infant in a carseat carrier toughing it out in the cold too.
I voted at about 7:15 and done by 7:25. I brought my kids with me and my oldest was so embarrassed because it is pajama day at their daycare. "Mom, I can't VOTE in my pajamas." LOL. Oh and we have paper ballots with the scanner machine. The longest part of my wait was having my 6 year old chat up the poll worker as she also works that the school.
My 2 oldest have the day off from school so I'm going to drop the youngest at school and then come back and vote.
If the line is really long I might stick out my food gut and claim I'm pregnant because pg ladies get to automatically move to the front of the line :-)
nobody let me move to the front of the line! I stood out in the cold for 20 minutes. And there was a lady 3 up from me with an infant in a carseat carrier toughing it out in the cold too.
You need to lobby for a state statute..... pg ladies and elderly move to the front of the line.
My polls opened at 6 and I was there about 6:30. There was a line for people to check which election district they are but I checked that yesterday, so I went straight my table, signed in and received my paper ballot. I was out in less than 10 minutes.
I showed up at 7am and waiting in line for about 10 minutes.
They asked me for my ID, I said no, signed my name, and voted.
I went outside and told my H (who is volunteering for the Dems, and is a local official) that I didn't show my ID, and an R volunteer went off on me, telling me that I making trouble and that "you people" are making things difficult for the hard-working poll workers who trained 18 hours for this, and I should go talk to someone in power. At which point I looked over at my husband.
My husband looked at her and said "yes, my WIFE is a troublemaker". Then he gave me a big kiss and I went to work.
Post by krisandgrace on Nov 6, 2012 8:42:20 GMT -5
I got to the polling station at 6:45, 15 mintues before they opened. There were about 60-70 people in line. I left about 7:30 and the parking lot was a mob scene.
I'm in Maine- biggest issue localy is alowing gay marriage. It looks like the southern part of the state is for and northern part against so we will see how that turns out.
Also I think Angus King who is an independant will fill rebublican Susan Collins senate seat.
NC voter checking in. Got there about about 8:10 done by 8:25. Far cry from last presidential election where I had to wait for about 45 minutes to an hour with lines looping around. Only about 13 people in front of me..
I showed up at 7am and waiting in line for about 10 minutes.
They asked me for my ID, I said no, signed my name, and voted.
I went outside and told my H (who is volunteering for the Dems, and is a local official) that I didn't show my ID, and an R volunteer went off on me, telling me that I making trouble and that "you people" are making things difficult for the hard-working poll workers who trained 18 hours for this, and I should go talk to someone in power. At which point I looked over at my husband.
My husband looked at her and said "yes, my WIFE is a troublemaker". Then he gave me a big kiss and I went to work.
What a bitch.
Oh, and we have electronic machines.
If they trained for 18 hours and still didn't realize ID was NOT required then there was a training fail somewhere in there.
They took away the precious lever machines this year and went to paper ballots. *cries*
Mostly in and out except two old people must not have known their own names because they were holding up the line at the name-check table. I mean, I don't know why else they would have been holding up the line, although the line at the time was them two and then me and that was it. Other lines were longer.
Very jealous of all the I Voted stickers I'm seeing on FB. Remember folks, the only wasted vote is no vote.
I did early vote but when I was online some woman came up to me asking if I wanted literature on voting against question 6 (gay marriage-yes is for it, no is against it) and that we need to maintain the traditional definition of marriage. I told her I was voting for it since I am in favor of equal rights for everyone. She made me so mad-my heart was beating so fast for some reason. Probably way faster than it should be with the pregnancy.
If they trained for 18 hours and still didn't realize ID was NOT required then there was a training fail somewhere in there.
I had no problems inside. I said no, and that was that. There wasn't even a "well, it will be required later". I didn't feel like showing it, it wasn't required, I'm not going to do it.
It was the Republican volunteer outside! Way to look like a bitch yelling at voters.
Post by ChillyMcFreeze on Nov 6, 2012 9:06:30 GMT -5
I got in line at 7:45 and got out an hour later. I'll gladly catch pneumonia for you, Mr. President. It was wet and cold, but so worth it.
I was told I had to fill out a change of address form since my license is outdated. I assured the woman that I am registered at my current address. I assume she can see this on her screen. I filled out the form anyway and checked the box to volunteer as a poll worker next time.
That was the only glitch. Everyone around me was woefully ignorant of Amendment 1 (charter schools), but I might just be saying that because I don't agree with how they're voting.
My polling place is literally about 35 steps from me. I put Max in the carrier, walked over, waited behind 3 people, declined to show my ID and voted. I was suprised- I went at 8, 1.5 hours after they opened- and I was the 135th preson to vote. There are only (roughly) 600 people who are registered to vote at my precinct- that's a pretty damn good turnout for an hour and a half!
I live in a tiny town- the entire township only has 1800 people- and there are three polling places (hence the 600). Although I guess I shouldn't be surprised, because I mostly live around some olds, and they love getting up early, and voting.
I showed up at 7am and waiting in line for about 10 minutes.
They asked me for my ID, I said no, signed my name, and voted.
I went outside and told my H (who is volunteering for the Dems, and is a local official) that I didn't show my ID, and an R volunteer went off on me, telling me that I making trouble and that "you people" are making things difficult for the hard-working poll workers who trained 18 hours for this, and I should go talk to someone in power. At which point I looked over at my husband.
My husband looked at her and said "yes, my WIFE is a troublemaker". Then he gave me a big kiss and I went to work.
What a bitch.
Oh, and we have electronic machines.
Awesome story.
I think I might be the only person I know voting AFTER work tonight. I hope the lines aren't too long!
I waited about 30 minutes. Had my name started with M-Z, I wouldn't have had a wait at all.
We had paper only ballots.
One poor girl had just gotten married and went to her maiden name line by habit, so she waited in the A-E line for 30 minutes and then had to get into the equally as long F-L line. No one was nice enough to let her get in front of them (I was sitting down to vote at the time).
How long did you wait? Anything interesting happen? Electronic machines or paper?
Didn't wait long at all - 15 mins, tops. Electronic machines and they worked fine.
Everything was orderly except for when I tried to text DH to tell him which set of google directions to use (new polling place this year and google gets alllll kinds of confused about our area) I was yelled at like a child. I hadn't even gotten far enough in line to see the "no phones" sign. Oops.
In at 7:15, out by 7:30. No problems, although I did show my ID, if I had my voter ID, I think it would have sufficed but I couldn't find it this morning. We do paper ballots, and I prefer it that way.
Whole process took about 45 minutes. It was electronic and not very efficient - had to wait in two lines, they didnt have enough voter access cards so in the first line, people had to wait for others to finish voting so the cards could be reset and re-used (even 10 more cards would have made the process much more efficient.) there were only 4 voting "booths" which also slowed things down significantly. But overall it was relatively slow but smooth, so that is what matters!
How long did you wait? No wait at all Anything interesting happen? Many people smiled as I brought my daughter into the booth. We proudly hit the "vote" button together! Electronic machines or paper? electronic