My supervisor voted Monday morning here in the metro-Atlanta area and waited in line for almost three hours. The longest lines were in Alpharetta, where some people waited in line for eight hours. In Clayton County, "some voters waited to vote until after midnight at the Frank Bailey Senior Center in Riverdale" (Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Oct. 28, 2008). And this is early voting!
More:
One polling place north of Atlanta had problems with the computer system crashing on Monday, causing extremely long waits in line. However, those poll workers who left at 11 p.m. Monday night returned Tuesday to encounter voters who "had begun lining up at 4 a.m.," according to a news story on Atlanta's 11alive.com website. The spirit of those people lining up to wait in today's cold weather is truly inspiring. One woman interviewed on the news this evening described how one waiting voter asked his wife to get refreshments for those in line. My supervisor's husband delivered donuts to voters at another polling place. Health officials at yet another polling place were offering flu shots to those waiting in line to vote. One man interviewed on one of the local news channels described how he had waited all day. "But what's one day in the light of the next four years?" he asked the news reporter. He was glad to give up that one day.
5 comments:
Wow. I voted Saturday afternoon and it took me all of five minutes. The voting booths seemed to remain full, but the line was never more than a couple people long.
Of course, I didn't know the polling place was open on a Saturday until I happened to pass by (it was in the grocery store nearest my apartment, and I had originally showed up to pick up some food). Maybe other people were under the same impression.
Imagine Texas being a progressive state. Oh, wait a minute, you're talking about the city of Austin here. We know what you folks are like! Sarah Palin would probably say Austin is too weird to be pro-America, right?
Here in Georgia, our Secretary of State is remaining firm in her resolve not to open up the polls on Saturday or to extend the hours of voting on weekdays--even though some people in metro-Atlanta have waited in line over eight hours (I've heard up to twelve hours). Now that's pro-America, right!?
Ummm.... are are you sure you voted at a real polling place?
That will be the next scam, setting up false polling places: "We create the experience of voting without the substance."
I'm as sure it was a real polling place as anyone can reasonably be. It was listed as one of the early voting places on the secretary of state website; I knew it was there, just not that it would be open. I don't know what the penalty is for setting up a fake polling location, but one hopes it's a federal felony with significant jail time.
Also, looking at the website again, I see that not only was it open from 7 to 7 on Saturday, but also from noon to six on Sunday.
"what's one day in the light of the next four years?" This really puts things in perspective, huh.
Wow! Now I AM impressed. People in Texas can vote and buy wine at the same time! Isn't it still the law in Texas that one can buy wine after noon on Sundays?
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