I got to the polling place at around 7:30am and didn't get my voting sheet until 25 minutes later. I thought that was a pretty decent wait, considering that normally I walk right in, hand them my card and ID, get my sheet and we are done.

Then I get to work and half the lot is empty. My boss waited 90 minutes. The lady across from us waited 4 hours .

This is her story. She lives not quite a half mile from her voting area and the line was already to her HOUSE at 7am!.

She decided to wait and about an hour later it was only down a block from her house. At that point she bit the bullet and just walked down the block and got in line.

James

How about 0. (Oregon ) I voted last weekend via a ballot drop box.

According the the local newspaper, more than 60% of eligible voters had cast their ballot before today.

Why is Oregon the only state that has stepped up and elliminated the "long line for voting" problem?

Bob

Absentee.

Mailed it to my mom, priority mail, so that I could be sure it arrived on time. She then dropped it off for me last week.

Here in Chi-town, however, it's taken 2 hours or more for everyone I've talked to so far.

As another person who is in Oregon, I dropped off my ballot this morning in a vote drop box. No wait required.

Well let's see...

I read this thread (last one i read was Bethy at 1:35) Decided to go then to vote. Drove there voted and drove back and it is now 1:53. So not even 20 minutes. (and I left after 1:35.)

I got in line at about 7:05am and was out of there by 7:45am.

Not a bad wait at all considering some of the stories I have heard so far. I didn't seem so bad since I chatted with some people in line.

DH went to vote at 6 this morning and there were about 50 people in line so he left for work - couldn't wait. Keep in mind our polling place is a fire station surrounded on three sides by farms in the middle of nowhere [but right next to an Assembly of God church...]. Two years ago there were about 500 people who voted in our precinct. He went back about 1130 and walked right in as voter 651.

I'm taking the kids about 4 with my neighbors and hoping no or very little line pre-post-work crowd. I know several places in Springfield were 1.5 hours or longer...

Word of warning to everyone though... Don't listen to the exit polls/predictions...

Vote anyway...

Carol

Dang straight. It ain't over till it is over!
James

Counting transit time, wait time and actual voting time, 10 minutes. I had my little pamphlet already marked up so I wouldn't need to take much time. There were two people ahead of me, but one women stepped out of line, saying she wasn't sure she was even at the right place so I should go ahead.

This was a major improvement over the primaries, though. When I got there then, the only people there were the people working there.

Tara

I waited till after the morning rush and went to vote at 10:00 a.m. They had rearranged the precincts, so I had to leave my familiar voting place (with no line) and go to another location (with a long line). It took about 30 minutes. It was nice and polite. But then, I live in a rural area.

But, I've heard some disturbing stories about Republicans being threatened in Pa. I'm sure there is a link by now...

I've heard the same stories [along with the really big New Black Panthers guy with a billy club outside a polling place in PA].

The town we vote in officially has 347 people in it, but it was incorporated into our town of 12K or so a few years ago but is still semi-separate.

And especially in your area, James. It's going to be pretty close in the state and even a few votes either way [in any area, but particularly votes opposite the local stronghold party] are potentially huge...

We're going in twenty minutes...

Carol

Absentee voted, but a number of Georgia residents said they waited for hours today! So I have to admit, it was kind of nice to be not a resident here for a change...

JD

We walked in - one person in front of me in my check in line - my neighbors were the only ones in their line. I parked the stroller next to me and the three of us each took one of my DDs. They got stickers .

No waiting for a place at the table but it was crowded.

One line had one person in it when we left [A-K] and the other [L-Z] had about 6-7. We waited for people pulling out when we got there and had people waiting for us when we left. Parking lot only holds about 20-25 but still...

Two years ago my neighbors went about 5 and were numbers 350ish. I was 960ish at 430. Our area has grown but they're also expecting 75-80% turnout in our county - we had a visit by Palin a week and a half ago and Obama Sat [he spent the night] so they expect us to be close... Or our state is in a dead heat so every vote counts...

Carol

It took about 40 minutes which was the longest I've ever waited to vote. Definitely as Carol and James both said, get out there and vote!

Mona

We did early voting on Saturday in Florida. We were first in line and voted within 20 minutes.

Heard later the wait was over 3 hours at that branch of the public library.

Where I live the polls opened at 7:00 am. I was in line at 6:45 am. I was in the first 50 that voted. Was out and back in my car by 7:15. It was raining pretty hard. I live in a beach resort town so I guess the winter residency is only about 8,000 maybe.

I went in at 8:00 and was out by 8:15.

I did early voting two weeks ago at the mall. It was busy, but there wasn't really a wait.

I waited an hour to get to the actual voting booths. I got to the church at 6:35, 5 minutes after they opened, and the line was well outside the door. I had my book with me, so the time went fairly quickly. I was the only one in my S-Z line, but once I was through that, I had to wait in yet another line that snaked through rows of seats to get the booths. I ended up (after a quick stop for breakfast) only a half hour late to work.

You know... all of this waiting, and I still don't know which color NC is!

Less than 5 minutes here.

I'm curious to know if anyone has heard what percentage of eligible voters cast a ballot. Prior to the election, they were expecting numbers to be high. So I'm wondering if anyone has heard.

ML

ML, they are still counting and receiving absentee ballots right now in many states so that info won’t be available for a few weeks.

I did get an email from Rock The Vote letting us know that the largest turn out for voters from the age of 18-29 occurred. At least 24 million, but that number could rise once all the votes are counted.

I’ll be interested to see what the final numbers are as well.

I read that while the number of voters was higher than 2004, the actual percentage compared to registered voters was still low.

Ah, here\'s where I found it.

Interesting - his reasons why that is. This poll says nearly 70% of Republicans thought Palin helped, not hurt, McCain. That echos a poll that came out on election day. I don't know any Republicans personally that stayed home because of Palin or whatever. I wonder where he got that info or if that's just his perception or what...

I know that poll says 'voters', but given it's the same as pre-election... *shrug*. And I didn't see a definition of voters - those who actually voted or registered or what.

Carol

<thread drift> Palin definitely helped. I went to see her speak November 1st -- there were thousands of very enthusiastic Republicans there. She's a terrific speaker. I showed up at 12:30, met a friend who had already been in line, waited outdoors til 3:30 when they opened the doors (at that point I couldn't even see the end of the line)(thank God the weather was beautiful), then went and stood in a tight-packed crowd (no chairs; I felt sick for a while with the heat and having skipped lunch) until the show started around 6:30. Bob Dole was there, which was kinda cool. Palin didn't arrive until 7:30. So, eight hours of my life, for a 20-minute speech, but I'm really glad I went. Anyway, I'm pretty sure she was drawing bigger and more fired-up crowds than McCain. Anyone who says she hurt him is sour-grapesing. </thread drift>

On election day, I walked in, got my ballot, walked right to an empty booth, voted, & left within 15 minutes. No waiting. North Carolina had early voting, and about 40% of the eligible voters went early. The average wait time for the early-voting sites was an hour to ninety minutes. On election day, with tons more polling places open, it was pretty quiet.

PJ

<Pam's Thread Drift>
I saw both Palin and Obama within a week and a half of the election.

Both crowds were enthusiastic though the Obama crowd had more 'if I can just see him my life will be complete' folks in it.

We *are* a Republican part of the state so that may have played a role.

Many of the Dems I spoke with were from out of state.

The crowds were *about* the same size. The official fire dept count for Palin was 15-18K. The only numbers I've seen for Obama were 30-35K but those are not anywhere near correct [given by very partisan school officials]. I would guess no more than 20K at the Obama rally, probably closer to the 15-18K at the Palin rally.

So why is that significant?

Both had about 48-72 hours or so notice that there would be a rally. Palin was announced Wed AM with the location changed Thursday AM to allow for more people. Obama was announced Thursday AM, with the location not determined until Thursday noon to a venue with less capacity but easier security.

Palin's total capacity was less than Obama but completely full. Obama had greater capacity [estimated 20K - 5800 in the stands, rest on the football field] and not full.

Palin's rally was at noon on a Friday.

Obama's rally was at 9 on a Saturday night.

Palin's rally was held on the coldest day of the year to date. High of 45, cloudy, drizzly. When she spoke it was about 40*.

Obama's rally was held on one of the nicest Nov. 1's in recent history. High of about 75* making waiting outside fairly nice. When he spoke it was still nearly 70*.

Palin's rally had restroom facilities for those in line while Obama's had one port-a-potty for everyone in line [or the yucky bathrooms at the park across the street]. [Yeah, that has nothing to do with anything except poor planning - 2 more showed up at 430 or so and the ones on the field were inaccessible].

Obama's rally did have concessions but was held at a football field with that set up. Palin's was held in a parking lot.

My sister forwarded me an email she got:

Some say Obama is the Messiah of the Democratic Party, but [my sister] fed 30,000 people with one grill and 4 George Foremans.



It still wasn't 30,000 people, but pretty impressive.

So what does all that mean? Based on my own personal experience, Palin didn't hurt McCain at all in most areas of the country and that would hold with that survey I posted.

<end Pam's thread drift>

They were estimating 75-80% turnout here but I haven't heard. Last I heard we were still a toss-up state with 7xxx provisional ballots to be looked through and only 5xxx votes separating the candidates.

I did hear there was a county in Colorado where they TIED!

Carol

Edit:

Missouri looks to have gone McCain by about 6000 votes according to CNN. That's only the 2nd time since 1900 that we haven't picked the president. My county went 57% McCain, 41% Obama [not sure where that other 2% went... ] Not sure if that's official or not though...

This is the story I heard. I'd guess the 330 provisional ballots will break the 11223-11223 tie.