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Post by htmb on Nov 4, 2012 4:13:31 GMT
Today, in North Central Florida, it was the last day to vote early in the presidential election. I had tried to vote both yesterday afternoon and this morning, but could not get a place to park either time. Both days I was on my way somewhere else and didn't wish to take the time to park a mile down the road and hike up to the poling place. I decided to give it one more shot this evening on my way home and, if I circled the parking lot and wasn't able to park, then I would just go home and wait until election day. This early voting poling place, one of three in the county, was not my local site. My local poling place is only a fifteen minute walk from my home, but I thought it might be nice to get voting over with and out of the way so I didn't have to worry about it on a work day. It will be interesting to hear if there are long lines on election day. As I pulled into the parking lot there was a police officer sort of directing traffic, and I could see the parking situation had not improved.  There was also a very long line of people waiting to get into the building.  I didn't know whether or not to be happy when it appeared a car in front of me was exiting a parking place. So, OK, I decided to give it a try and joined the line.  After what seemed like only a few minutes even more people had gotten in line behind me.   And more cars were still entering the parking lot.  This young woman was from a local television station and was acting as her own cameraman and crew, along with reporting about the early voting turnout.  And this young man was handing out information regarding one of the amendments on the ballot.  Such a patient little girl!  As the line moved closer and closer I passed the time by taking photos until my camera battery died, and then talking with the nice people in front and behind me.  I finally got to vote after standing in line for forty-five minutes. Once inside, it took about fifteen minutes to get my ballots, find an empty polling booth, and vote. We had two long pages to fill out, back and front, as there were several different local and state elections to vote on, besides voting for president. We also had a slew of state amendments on the ballot, but I had already made my decision on those and had my list of of "yay or nah" with me so I didn't have to reread each amendment. So, I'm done. All I can do now is wait. Note: In my photos there are several political signs for local candidates. Some I voted for; some I didn't. |
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Post by bixaorellana on Nov 4, 2012 5:42:20 GMT
You know, this process never ceases to be exciting. Thanks for sharing your execution of your duty and privilege with us, Htmb.
Are the signs as close to the polling place as they seem, or is that an effect of the photos. There is a limit on how close campaign materials can be to the polling place, isn't there.
You do of course realize there's a guy with an alligator hood in one of your pictures, don't you?
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Post by htmb on Nov 4, 2012 6:00:52 GMT
Yes, there's a minimum distance for solicitation, including signs. I'm not sure what it is exactly, but if you look at the last photo there is a "No solicitation beyond this point" sign. All the political signs, etc were before that sign.
Alligator hood? What alligator hood? ;D
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Post by patricklondon on Nov 4, 2012 11:12:09 GMT
Fascinating. It wouldn't have occurred to me that such queues could build up (and this is for early voting!). You'd have thought they'd have a reasonably good idea of how to staff the stations so that queues wouldn't build up. Our voters can only go to the specific polling station for where their vote is registered, each one covers no more than a couple of thousand voters, and in urban areas is within a reasonably close walking distance (mine happens to be the school over the road). Going to vote is usually a quick in-and-out (especially if I go early in the day, as I usually do).
But I suppose running several different ballots at the same time must complicate things. Last time here, we had three ballot papers for different things, and (perhaps because I must have been one of the early ones) the clerk was so punctilious about explaining exactly what each one was for and which box it should go into, it seemed to take an age (but in reality didn't particularly). There was a bit of a fuss in our last general election that in one or two places, people left it really late and found a queue that meant they were unable to get in before the station closed (at 10pm): but the point was that this was really exceptional, and taken to be bad planning by the officials.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 4, 2012 12:09:30 GMT
I can't remember ever having to vote for more than two things at once in France, and even that is very rare, so it is really a very quick process. Paris must be overequipped with polling stations, because I have never had to wait for more than 5 minutes to vote, but friends and colleagues have told me of waiting more than half an hour sometimes.
Having lived with both the American and the French systems of electoral democracy, I have to admit that I am rather dubious about the qualifications of the "common man" to vote for things like sheriff or judge and probably a lot of the propositions. On rare occasions, we have referendums in France, and I think the same thing about them -- for example, we voted on the Maastricht treaty, which must have run two or three hundred pages (at least!). Who among us was qualified to have an opinion about that? Certainly not me. And since there were major splits even within political parties, it wasn't a case of just validating party line. We also had a referendum about autodetermination in New Caledonia. Most of the French can't even find New Caledonia on a map, much less understanding a single thing about politics there.
On very rare occasions, a relatively simple question has been asked -- for example, reducing the presidential term from 7 years to 5 years. I think that is just about as complicated a question as should be asked of voters with little political, economical or social education. But the Maastricht treaty? Give me a break!
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Post by Deleted on Nov 4, 2012 13:38:26 GMT
Wow. I had no idea either that so many people were getting out early to vote and there would be such long lines!! Those campaign signs look awfully close to the polling place. Here, I believe it's 100 feet minimum and it's violated all the time. One of my jobs when I worked as poll commissioner here in NOLA for a few years was to have to patrol the immediate area and take the signs down or in some cases run off people who were electioneering. Oh, was that ever fun!!!   I am so glad I am not working the election this Tuesday. Thanks for taking the time to post this HTMB, what a trooper!!! |
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Post by htmb on Nov 4, 2012 14:24:04 GMT
I saw nothing out of the ordinary regarding signs and solicitors. One thing not obvious in my photos, due to my dead camera battery, is the actual distance to the building entry. It was on the opposite side from what you see in my photos making the line even longer than it appears. The minimal distance area started at the door, not the building. You also cannot see how crowded the room was inside. Wall to wall people lined up in front of privacy booths set on tables.
I felt true admiration for the poll workers inside. They worked very long hours and handled huge crowds while appearing to work very efficiently during the time I was inside. When I asked the gentleman at the door what would happen if there were still people in line at 8:00 PM when the polls closed, he told me he would move to the end of the line at 8. Anyone in front of him, already in line, would get to vote. This meant workers would spend at least another hour making sure everyone was able to participate.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 4, 2012 15:02:50 GMT
It is a fairly thankless job, long hours, rude people, ignorance, ill equipped polling places( I used to have to bring a roll of duct tape from home to tape down all the electrical cords that ran to the various voting machines and lack of electrical outlets) and on and on and on.
I will say however, that one of my most gratifying moments was showing up at the polling place in 2008 for the US Presidential election, pulling into the parking lot at 4:45 a.m., still dark out, and seeing a line of people wrapped around 2 blocks. I was greeted with a resounding chorus of Good Morning!!
It was a good morning albeit a very long day.
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Post by htmb on Nov 4, 2012 15:25:23 GMT
I can only imagine, casimira! But you know, yesterday I never heard one grumpy person while I was standing in line. Everyone appeared to be waiting patiently and making the best of it. I am sure the workers inside caught the brunt of any frustration from the folks who came ill-prepared, or who were caught by surprise when confronted with some technical matter, only allowing them to cast a provisional vote.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 5, 2012 14:38:04 GMT
I heard on the news this a.m. that there was sheer chaos over the weekend with long lines, in Palm Beach until 2:30 a.m.!!!
They are extending the hours and allowing in person absentee voting, is that correct?
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Post by htmb on Nov 5, 2012 14:44:31 GMT
I haven't heard anything about it. I don't get around to reading the newspaper until the evenings, and Palm Beach County is a long way away from me. I did hear that a huge number of voters completed their ballots in Alachua County, and there were no major issues to my knowledge. Early voting ended Saturday evening at 8:00 PM, so I would imagine in-person absentee voting would be the only other early voting they could allow (requests for absentee ballots had a deadline of Oct. 31).
There is a 70% chance of rain for North Central Florida on Tuesday, so now I am really double-glad I voted early.
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Post by htmb on Nov 5, 2012 15:04:29 GMT
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Post by bixaorellana on Nov 5, 2012 16:10:23 GMT
There is a 70% chance of rain for North Central Florida on Tuesday, so now I am really double-glad I voted early. Do North Central Floridians get out to vote in the rain? Would their failing to vote have an impact on the chances of either of the presidential candidates? one of my most gratifying moments was showing up at the polling place in 2008 for the US Presidential election, pulling into the parking lot at 4:45 a.m., still dark out, and seeing a line of people wrapped around 2 blocks. I was greeted with a resounding chorus of Good Morning!! It was a good morning albeit a very long day. A beautiful memory, Casimira and every fiber of my being yearns for that happiness again when the results are in for this election. |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 5, 2012 17:20:37 GMT
I sure hope so. I cannot help but think that some kind of 2004like shenanigans are going to repeat themselves particularly with all the confusion, divisiveness etc. in just Florida alone. It's going to be a real nail biter......  |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 6, 2012 15:15:16 GMT
I just keep thinking thank goodness that Hurricane Sandy did not hit any important swing states where a lot of polling places are going to have to use paper ballots due to no electricity. I can imagine the controversy that would have caused.
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