Tuesday, November 4, 2008

45 Minute Wait at the Polls

DH arrived at the polls at 5:45 am and exited at 6:38. Already the lines are long. He called to say that the idea of going at 6am for a quick vote may have been faulty. I said he shouldn’t judge too early because that could be the best all day. He told me that I better bring a coffee, juice boxes for the kids, and maybe pack a lunch when we go later.

Interestingly when he was there one voter walked out of the polls with one of the pens, so they turned around after being outside of the building, came back in and put the pen back in – a big no no! The moderator immediately came over. She then told the poll worker at the door not to let anyone back through that door. DH was just going by at that point so he chuckled and told the older woman, “That means you have her permission to give a full body tackle. Aim for the knees.” Both the moderator and the poll worker laughed. I can’t imagine. If things are this crazy in our small town, I can only guess what it is like everywhere else.

Last night I was mourning that I was not working the polls today. Frankly, we could really use the extra money. DH said, “You know, it may be better that you are not. It may not be worth the money.” Often we can be there for hours after the polls close reconciling votes checked in to votes cast. With the turn out today, this may mean hours and hours. Plus, we could be the 10% that are automatically called to audit our count to verify the new optical scan machines.

Let us know what is going on at your polling places. I will be heading out later today and will update you on the status of our small town.

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