Why There Were Long Lines in Columbus

[blue agave]

Topic originally posted by dogindia in another thread.

<http://www.mydd.com/story/2004/11/22/131412/66#readmore>

by Chris Bowers
Mon Nov 22nd, 2004 at 01:14:12 PM EST

...

"In Ohio in 2004, another pattern of minority disenfranchisement is emerging which also does not take a belief in conspiracies and detailed probability analysis of precincts with automatic vote counting machines. Specifically, in Franklin County, even though voter registration had dramatically increased from 2000, the number of voting machines did not. Further, in Franklin County, which includes the city of Columbus, while extra voting machines were dispatched to heavily white suburbs, the number of voting machines placed in many heavily minority precincts was actually decreased from 2000"
...

"This isn't a conspiracy of vote counting although there is more to be told on that front. This is, instead, a case of voter discouragement that remains all too typical in this country."

[seriousstan]

1. I worked the elections in Franklin county

and the reason we lost machines since 2000 was poor voter turnout. We had about 400 out of 1200 vote in 2000. In the 7 elections since, we have had a maximum of 325/1200 voters and a minimum of 150/1200. We then had nearly 780/1500 vote this last election.

Sadly, I expect the numbers to return to the 200-400 range during the next 4 years of elections.

[unpossibles]

2. really?

but why were the lines more than 3 times longer than I have ever seen them? Seriously, I have voted since 1988 in every presidential election (and many local and congressional also) and have never seen lines nearly so long at all. What used to be a 10-20 minute wait was over an hour at 6:30 am and three or more hours at non-peak times (and longer at peak times).

Personally I expected the turnout to be more than it was reported.

[seriousstan]

3. It's all in the math......

Franklin county had several levies...school(7 mil!!), zoo, etc., and then we also had the infamous Prop 1(saving marriage and whatnot). The average time each voter took in the booth was 6 minutes. Our poll opened with a 20 person line and never looked back. We were mathematically swamped.

(20 voters X 6 minutes)/3 machines = 40 minutes...FROM JUMP. The line never had a chance to wind down, it didn't mater how fast we put people in the machines....and we were blistering fast.


Compare that to another election when you never had a line of more than 2 people at a time (until after 5pm). When 150 people vote on 3 machines, they only need a total of 5 hours to run them through.

With 3 machines and 6 minutes a voter we could have handled 390 people in 13 hours and never made a line more than 2 deep. Remember I said in the last presidential election we had about 400 people vote and nothing near it since.

It's all in the math.