The official 'Tell Us About Your 2008 Voting Experience' thread- Page 2

[Bluemoon]

Posted: 11/4/08 at 10:34am

Polls opened at 7:00am in Maryland. When I got to my polling place at 7:15am the lot was filled and closed off. Luckily it hadn't started to rain yet so the rest of us parked down the road at a local shopping center and walked back. The line snaked around the Moose Lodge three times. The wait in line was exactly 2 hours. Once inside the building it only took 5 minutes. When I left the line was even longer. No one seemed discouraged by the wait and I hope the impending rain doesn't change that.

[WithoutATrace]

Posted: 11/4/08 at 10:40am

Got to my voting location (87th and Riverside Drive) at 9am. Had an hour wait and got to work by 10:30am. It was annoying, but from reading some of the previous posts on this thread, it could have been much worse. Can't wait to watch the coverage tonight.

[WindyCityActor]

Posted: 11/4/08 at 10:44am

Polls opened in Chicago ay 6:00 AM. I got there about 6:18, and there was already a line outside.....took me about 50 minutes to finally vote. When I left for work a little after 8:00, the line was gone. Lotsa "vote before work" citizens in my neighborhood.

[Anakela]

Posted: 11/4/08 at 10:45am

I vote absentee so I have no stories, and I am now sitting at work refreshing this CNN page all morning:
Mistakes, breakdowns lead to long waits

[Calvin]

Posted: 11/4/08 at 10:53am

It took me only about 30 minutes. Obama has one more vote in NY (like he needed it!).

I have to say, the ballot confused me at first, even though I had already reviewed the sample ballot. Both Obama and McCain were listed twice, not only in their parties but in the Working Families and Conservative parties respectively.

And for one of the justice positions had two people listed both as Democrats and Republicans.

So I voted for Obama as a Democrat. Not as a Working Family. Ha.
Updated On: 11/4/08 at 10:53 AM

[blueroses]

Posted: 11/4/08 at 10:58am

Smooth and trouble-free. I got there at 7:15, had 10 people or so in front of me at the table for my district and that was it. The poll workers are mostly seniors and retirees...they were really friendly and helpful. They also had coffee and boxes of Dunkin' Donuts (with red, white and blue sprinkles) on hand for everyone.

[Calvin]

Posted: 11/4/08 at 10:59am

My place didn't even have "I voted" stickers.

[mauriposa]

Posted: 11/4/08 at 11:00am

Neither did mine, Calvin! I was very disappointed. I planned my whole outfit around that sticker.

[blueroses]

Posted: 11/4/08 at 11:00am

Funny...my place had food and beverages, but no stickers!

[tazber]

Posted: 11/4/08 at 11:04am

Well my place had food, beverage, AND stickers! And you could choose between 2 different types of stickers.

VA Rules!

[best12bars]

Posted: 11/4/08 at 11:05am

I voted by mail last week. Filled out an envelope, dropped it in a mailbox.

The end.

No lines, no horror stories, no drama.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 11/4/08 at 11:05am

I voted early on Saturday and it was a long ass two-hour wait. But it's good to see that many people were voting.

I reside in one of the swing counties in Central Florida and it'll be interesting to see who will actually take the state.

[NYadgal]

Posted: 11/4/08 at 11:09am

I voted this morning.
The line was around the block - an hour wait.

I want to give a shout out to the volunteers who were doing their best with the crowds - they had someone waiting at the entrance to steer us to the correct district table and the woman manning the polling booth was very clear in giving directions. It's going to be a long day for them, and they're going to have to deal with alot of questions and confused people, so I take my hat off to them and the job they do to make this process run smoothly.

I voted for the candidates, and also voted on the proposition. Thanks to the BWW article, with the link, I was able to read up on it last night so I could make an informed decision. Another round of thanks to Rob for the great links - and to the League of Women Voters who work tirelessly to make sure everyone who has the right to vote is able to do so, and is informed.

I'm proud to be an American.

[DottieD'Luscia]

Posted: 11/4/08 at 11:16am

I waited in line for over an hour (the longest I have ever had to wait to vote in DC).

[BudFrump23]

Posted: 11/4/08 at 12:53pm

I went in at about 8:20 this morning (voting takes place in the elementary school in my town - I had to be there even though the kids had no school for an in-service day. I'm a paraprofessional.) Anyway, I waited all but 2 seconds and got in and voted quickly and it was very easy. The process has been going steadily all day (I've been sneaking out of workshops to watch people come to vote) and there isn't much of a line at all. I'm wondering if it'll be worse once people get out of work and such.

[StockardFan]

Posted: 11/4/08 at 12:59pm

Calvin, that confused me too that they were listed twice. I voted for them under the Democratic listing too.

And I didn't get a sticker either.

[The Boy From Ohio]

Posted: 11/4/08 at 1:09pm

I early voted two weeks ago. I'm glad I did when I drove past my polling location, there was no parking and they were parking on the street blocking traffic. I didn't see any lines outside. I'm sure when I go by later there will be lines outside and hopefully a cop directing traffic.

[madbrian]

Posted: 11/4/08 at 1:10pm

Below is a link to a HuffPo article showing over 1,000 Penn State students lined up to vote at 7AM!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/11/04/over-1000-students-lined_n_140859.html

[mejusthavingfun]

Posted: 11/4/08 at 1:11pm

I got to vote for a brown man for President of the United States of America.


It feels sooooooooooooooooooo good. No sticker though

[artscallion]

Posted: 11/4/08 at 1:26pm

Hubby and I went at 11:15 and were the only people in the place besides the poll workers. We got our stickers, connected the arrow for down-the-line Democratic Party vote plus two questions on the back. Fed it into the reader which told us 460 people had voted before us, which seems low unless they periodically empty out the one machine they have. In any case, I'm from RI which is about as Democratic as they come. So I'm not worried about low turnout here.

[Marianne2]

Posted: 11/4/08 at 1:33pm

My polling place opened at 6am, but I did not go until 12:45pm. It was pretty empty, but I sort of expected that. Besides, this town hall center looks like a barn if that says something about where I live. Nothing interesting happened except I said hi to my dad because he is working there today.

[sweetestsiren]

Posted: 11/4/08 at 1:35pm

I cast my vote in rural Virginia this afternoon. I got the impression that most of the other people in line with me were McCain voters, but it was an odd hour to go and there were a disproportionate number of retirees. Here's hoping we go blue for the first time in 44 years!

[Mamie]

Posted: 11/4/08 at 1:56pm

It looked like mostly Republican voters in my line too. I hope it isn't reflective of the whole state.

[BNN]

Posted: 11/4/08 at 2:05pm

I voted at a local high school, right near my college and the wait was about an hour, but it wasn't too bad. It was an extremely diverse group of people at the school and I really had no problems. Plus, I talked about Gypsy with a woman who had seen every incarnation after she saw my iPod.

It was a good experience.

[wexy]

Posted: 11/4/08 at 2:08pm

Voted around 7:30 at PS 236 in Brooklyn. The man in front of me must've been a new citizen because he didn't know how to use the old fashioned lever voting machine and he wanted to vote for his mother who was in the hospital.

I was in and out pretty quickly. I'd spent the past two days calling Pennsylvania and Virginia from the Brooklyn Academy Of Music.