The Umpty-Millionth Voting Blog
Because I'm sure that I'm the only one who's going to write about this today.
May I say for the record that either Arlington County, Virginia, or the State Board of Elections in Richmond, are a total bunch of idiots? My vote is for Richmond, because the People's Republic of Arlington is actually very efficient.
I remembered from the last Presidential election that the lines are longer. I was a resident of Arlington then (a different precinct), and it took about an hour to get through. A bit long, but acceptable. So, since I needed to be at a 9 am meeting, I figured if I went downstairs to my polling place at 6:15, I'd be out by 7:45 at the latest -- no problem.
So I get on line. My friend/carpool-mate shows up about five minutes later, so I move back about 20 places to stay with her. Well, they then come around and pull out all the L-Z types to put them on the other line, which is shorter. (Note to self -- must marry someone with a name in the last half of the alphabet. Encourage George to change name) So I've moved back about 20 spaces for nought. I had been a bit suspicious when I heard that she was going to be coming to this voting station, as there are about 15-20 high-rise apartment buildings between us (and that's only in one direction), and this is a teeny polling station. So I gamely continue to stand on line. There are two very nice girls behind me, and we monitor our progress by clocking how long it takes for the people ahead of us with unusual, shall we say, sartorial choices to pass key markers. I'm sure that's why that lady was wearing bold purple velour pants with red high heels and a brown suede jacket with a faux fox-fur collar -- to make my life easier.
To make a long story shorter, I don't get inside the door of the building until 7:50, and I don't get to the little registration desk until 8:15. The man tells me to hang on, so he can continue to insert little stickies with the alphabet into the polling book so he doesn't forget which letter comes ahead of which one. Then they take my ID and make me recite my name and address back to them. (Hmm, I sense a polling test). They call out which number I am -- I'm the 175th A-K to vote. (Two and a half hours to process 175 people?) I finally get my little yellow card to go stand on line for the polling machines. After about another 10 minutes I finally get to our brand spanking new electronic touch screen voting machines. In all of 30 seconds, I'm done and out of there. Time: 8:35.
Outside, there's a little nervous guy at a table, who's our election "observer" who asks "Did it go okay?'. Yup. (Turns out, they were allowing some of these yahoos into the polling station themselves the next county over, slowing down the process even more). Thankfully my friend is sitting there with a nice cup of Starbucks -- her line had been about half an hour shorter. As we walk back across the street to get my car, I look at the line. From the point where I had gotten on (the 2.5 hour mark), the line was at LEAST triple that. Those people were looking at four to five hours to get inside. As we drove into work, we passed several other polling places, which also had long-ish lines.
However, this evening, every single other one of those polling places had no line. Mine? The line was still out until the 3 hour mark.
Common sense, people. Don't put all of the high-rise buildings in one area into one polling place. Especially when they've built at least five of them in the last four years. If you do, make it a big one and split the registration into three, four or five parts. Understand your demographic -- younger people with JOBS, who are all going to show up either before or after work. Talking to some of the people who lived near my friend, they had all been redistricted into this polling station from another one where they had only had the same hour wait that I had had four years ago.
All this to vote in a county where the House seat is a lock one way, and in a state whose electoral votes are a lock the other way.
However, it still beats all the other systems out there.
Because I'm sure that I'm the only one who's going to write about this today.
May I say for the record that either Arlington County, Virginia, or the State Board of Elections in Richmond, are a total bunch of idiots? My vote is for Richmond, because the People's Republic of Arlington is actually very efficient.
I remembered from the last Presidential election that the lines are longer. I was a resident of Arlington then (a different precinct), and it took about an hour to get through. A bit long, but acceptable. So, since I needed to be at a 9 am meeting, I figured if I went downstairs to my polling place at 6:15, I'd be out by 7:45 at the latest -- no problem.
So I get on line. My friend/carpool-mate shows up about five minutes later, so I move back about 20 places to stay with her. Well, they then come around and pull out all the L-Z types to put them on the other line, which is shorter. (Note to self -- must marry someone with a name in the last half of the alphabet. Encourage George to change name) So I've moved back about 20 spaces for nought. I had been a bit suspicious when I heard that she was going to be coming to this voting station, as there are about 15-20 high-rise apartment buildings between us (and that's only in one direction), and this is a teeny polling station. So I gamely continue to stand on line. There are two very nice girls behind me, and we monitor our progress by clocking how long it takes for the people ahead of us with unusual, shall we say, sartorial choices to pass key markers. I'm sure that's why that lady was wearing bold purple velour pants with red high heels and a brown suede jacket with a faux fox-fur collar -- to make my life easier.
To make a long story shorter, I don't get inside the door of the building until 7:50, and I don't get to the little registration desk until 8:15. The man tells me to hang on, so he can continue to insert little stickies with the alphabet into the polling book so he doesn't forget which letter comes ahead of which one. Then they take my ID and make me recite my name and address back to them. (Hmm, I sense a polling test). They call out which number I am -- I'm the 175th A-K to vote. (Two and a half hours to process 175 people?) I finally get my little yellow card to go stand on line for the polling machines. After about another 10 minutes I finally get to our brand spanking new electronic touch screen voting machines. In all of 30 seconds, I'm done and out of there. Time: 8:35.
Outside, there's a little nervous guy at a table, who's our election "observer" who asks "Did it go okay?'. Yup. (Turns out, they were allowing some of these yahoos into the polling station themselves the next county over, slowing down the process even more). Thankfully my friend is sitting there with a nice cup of Starbucks -- her line had been about half an hour shorter. As we walk back across the street to get my car, I look at the line. From the point where I had gotten on (the 2.5 hour mark), the line was at LEAST triple that. Those people were looking at four to five hours to get inside. As we drove into work, we passed several other polling places, which also had long-ish lines.
However, this evening, every single other one of those polling places had no line. Mine? The line was still out until the 3 hour mark.
Common sense, people. Don't put all of the high-rise buildings in one area into one polling place. Especially when they've built at least five of them in the last four years. If you do, make it a big one and split the registration into three, four or five parts. Understand your demographic -- younger people with JOBS, who are all going to show up either before or after work. Talking to some of the people who lived near my friend, they had all been redistricted into this polling station from another one where they had only had the same hour wait that I had had four years ago.
All this to vote in a county where the House seat is a lock one way, and in a state whose electoral votes are a lock the other way.
However, it still beats all the other systems out there.
posted by Lily @ Tuesday, November 02, 2004
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