Here we go again... (OH voters face delays, give up)

[regnaD kciN]

Dana Zoladz and four friends thought they would cast ballots Sunday in Columbus, Ohio. Then they learned how long they'd need to stand in line.

Zoladz, 27, and her friends gave up after realizing there was a six-hour wait at the Franklin County early-voting center at the Veterans Memorial. She decided to try again on Election Day.

More here.

You think the lines will be any shorter on Election Day?

I thought Mr. Blackwell was no longer running Ohio elections... :shrug:

[lligrd]

1. Actually, She's Probably Right

There are usually many fewer polling places available before election day. The one time I voted early, I waited much longer than I ever had on election day.

[regnaD kciN]

2. Hopefully, she's right...

Maybe it's because, here in WA, so much "early voting" is done by absentee ballot (they plan to run the entire election by mail next time around), but in-person early voting here has had no lines at all, even with only a handful of sites.

[Tiggeroshii]

6. Sweeet!

First Oregon, now Washington. My state will be the only Pacific ocean state not to have it. Hopefully we get in line soon!

[Left Is Write]

10. I agree. For early voting here, I would have to go in person to the county sheriff's department.

That's the only place in the county to vote early (other than with absentee ballot, and it's too late for that), no matter what precinct you live in. Tomorrow, all the individual polling places will be open.

[MercutioATC]

3. I live in Ohio. I'm waiting for the 4th to vote BECAUSE of the lines...

If I want to vote early, I have to go to a single location...my county's Board of Elections. It's in downtown Cleveland and it's only ne location, so there's always a line.

If I wait until the 4th, I vote at my precinct location...and there are scores of them (if not hundreds) in my county.


Yes, the lines will be shorter on election day.

[creature of habit]

4. that bug is freaking me out

[MercutioATC]

5. When Obama wins on Tuesday, the bug is history.

Only a day and a half or so...

[mtnester]

7. It won't be shorter for many

Franklin county will not be shorter...and it won't be just this state. I heard this AM the machine count per person, and in Virginia, it is one machine per 750 voters registered. Many other states were 400 to 700 machines per registered voter. Early voting will be helpful, but will not alleviate 3+ hour waits or LONGER in certain areas.

In the usual areas, like Linden and South high School and the Gender Road Church - hours worth of wait can be expected. HOURS.

[MercutioATC]

8. This is actually one time that the inequities in the system work in my favor.

I live in a wealthy Cleveland suburb. We have plenty of machines...

[DanaZ]

9. I think I am right too

CNN called and interviewed me last night after an hour wait at Vets Memorial and no line movement at all. When I questioned voter volunteers, they estimated a wait time of 5-6 hours. With only one open voting location in Franklin County for early voting, I know my chances will be better on Election Day with the number of early voter turnout (50,000 cast their votes since early voting began) plus, absentee by mail, was sent out to 650,000 registered voters in our county. In Franklin County alone there is over 855 separate voter precincts, all whom filtered into Vets Memorial for early voting therefore with 854 more polling locations open tomorrow, Ill take my chances on Election Day! Get out and vote.

[renate]

13. welcome to DU!

:hi:

Dang... five to six hours? That's just ridiculous.

Have a good time--and I hope a much shorter line--on Election Day!

[ellie]

20. Yes! Welcome!

Here in Toledo, the line to early vote was also very long. My mother-in-law said that she was just going to wait until this morning to vote. I am going to call her after this post and make sure she was able to do it.

[magdalena]

11. The lines might be shorter on election day depending where you are.

I tried to vote early today in my smallish (pop. 60k) city in Wisconsin and the wait was over 4 hours. Early voting is only done in one polling place here. Since my mom couldn't wait that long we decided to vote tomorrow at our usual polling place. The wait there is NEVER more 10 minutes since our district has less than 2000 people.

[Doremus]

12. We had only ONE early voting location in all of Cuyahoga County.

The lines tomorrow at the individual precincts will be much shorter, particularly late-morning and mid-day (off-peak hours).

[VenusRising]

14. There was a major turnout at Vet's Memorial after the Obama rally yesterday.

It's just down the street from each other, so it's not surprising that the lines were so long.

I went to Line Manager training last night in Franklin County and there are plans for keeping people in line. I'm even planning on printing out some crosswords or word finds for people to do in line to keep from getting too bored.

[Doctor_J]

15. I want those responsible put in prison next year

We have a right to vote. Anyone who impedes that right is guilty of a federal crime.

[Overseas]

16. Wish they could go vote in Republican areas on voting day. They seem to have often been allocated

more machines per capita, than Democratic-leaning areas.

Coincidence,
or based on a bygone era, before Republicans had taken 80% of Americans on what they declared to be "the wrong track,"
or deliberate distribution designed to depress Democratic turnout ?

At any rate, I look forward to the day when there will be much more efficient and accountable and equitable systems, not based on partisan advantage, but more like Census data perhaps. With national regulatory norms to be met in the interim, on the way to larger reform-- most notably the bottom line requirement of paper trails subjected to random audits, and certainly non-secret software.

Yes Rachel Maddow is right -- the long lines are like a poll tax. Citizens are required to be willing to give up a day's wages and hours of standing time on the muscles, just to be able to exercise their basic right to vote.

Many thanks to all our fellow citizens who worked so hard to get the word out about election integrity. There are thousands more people paying attention this time. Let's hope that has been enough to prevent wholesale theft again. Let's hope we've disrupted enough of the scams to allow President Obama enough seats in the House and Senate to support our efforts to repair and rebuild the economy and ecology.

[justiceischeap]

17. I'm not trying to give anyone a break here but think of it this way

This election has a higher turnout than anyone ever expected. There are more people on the earth each election cycle pushing the amount of people voting up and there is a tendency for those who work at the polls on election day to be elderly (we all know as you get older you lose some pep in your step). There are a lot of reasons for long lines and not all of it has to do with purposeful voter suppression.

Another issue is the machines that magnetize the cards. Most polling places have enough actual voting machines but it's the machine that magnetizes the voting cards (or whatever it does to them) that seem to be lacking at this point. When I voted in the primaries in VA, there were something like 10 voting machines but only one machine to magnetize the cards--that certainly slows things down.

[Overseas]

18. K&R for the voter suppression file. We knew millions would be wanting to vote.

We knew hundreds more machines would be required.

But whoops, gee golly, we goofed. Machines were allocated according to old (and perhaps with predecessors' partisan objectives) models-- lots to Republican areas. Leftovers elsewhere.

If I were working full time right now, I don't know if I could bear to stand in line for SIX HOURS just to vote. I really admire those citizens who brave those awful conditions just in order to exercise their right to vote.

[DanaZ]

19. Final Verdict ... and I was right...

I was right, only a half an hour wait for me at the polls this morning!

Happy Voting!

Dana Z

[LisaL]

21. Many more polling locations on election day=less wait.