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Reader Reports

Reader Reports

I am going to regret doing this.

You can send me reports and photos, and I will selectively post them. If things get overwhelming, as on National Empty Chair Day, I may have to call it off!

If you have reports without photos, do not email me, post in the comments.

[added] Remember, some states prohibit taking photos of ballots or inside polling places, so check this guide (also, easy guide here whether can photograph your own ballot).

Via reader Joe:

A trick parked in the lot at the high school where I vote. (Goshen, in the Cincinnati exurbs).

The lines are definitely longer than in 08 – we’ll see how the day turns out!

A reader in Miami writes:

Looks like it will be a very long day of voting in Miami. I got to voting site at 6 am, polls opened at 7, and I left at 8. Picture is of part of line when I left – you can’t see in photo, but the line wrapped all the way onto a main street sidewalk. I’d guess the wait is now easily about 4-5 hours, and that’s for people who came fairly early!

From a reader in Massachusetts:

There are big crowds voting on the north shore of MA. Nobody said a word about who they supported – so no idea of feeling.

But lines are pretty long (compared TO MANY PRIOR ELECTION) This was the first time i have had to wait on line to check in to vote, to get in to the voting booth or to hand ion my ballot.

Took about 30 minutes. Last elections it took 5 minutes

From Dave in Florida:

I’ve occasionally submitted photos before from my previous abode (Arlington, VA) and thought I would pass along a report from my new home in Palm Beach County, Florida (yes, home of the hanging chad & endless recount).

This pic of approximately 50 people waiting in line at a small neighborhood polling station was taken at 6:45am, 15 minutes before the polls opened. A supervisor came out and briefly chatted with folks standing in line, and mentioned that he had volunteered on every Election Day since 1962 and that this BY FAR was the most engaged he had ever seen the voting public.

It took about 40 minutes from the time that I entered the building to navigate the line, vote, and exit. Wait times will SUBSTANTIALLY increase as the day goes on because the ballot is ludicrously long due to proposed state constitutional amendments.

I already knew how I would vote, but if anyone waits to read the amendments until they are in the polling station, they easily could take 45 minutes or longer just to read the ballot. Twice last week I drove to the SINGLE early voting station in the county and gave up before I even parked my car because the line was so long.

The wait this morning was already causing some frayed nerves, as there was a line to get the ballot, two separate lines to wait for a station in which you could fill out the ballot, and a fourth line to feed your ballot into the reading machine once you had completed the ballot. The four lines quickly became intertwined as the room set up for voting really isn’t large enough (they need to restrict the number of people allowed into the room, rather than letting the line surge in). For the most part, however, most everyone was well-intentioned and good natured.

As I left, I noticed a single person holding a sign & waving to voters and passers by. She was holding a ROMNEY! sign, and bubbled over with enthusiasm when I waved. There were no Obama advocates. All in all, I’ve been pleasantly surprised by the amount of Romney support I’ve seen here (in a majority Democrat county), and even had a couple of LAWYERS tell me they were voting for Romney (which, in D.C., is absolutely unthinkable outside of GOP headquarters).

From Lee in Maple Grove, MN:

First, thanks for all that you do! You were invaluable this cycle.

I vote at the same time each election, so I feel like the # of votes cast has some relevance. I live in Maple Grove, MN (pretty red for MN – we voted 59/41 for Bush in ’04.) In 2008, I was voter #394. In 2004, I was voter #342. Today I was voter #565.

I know a guy in CT. Die hard liberal. We debate politics back and forth all of the time. He is a very devoted Lutheran. Got a text from him this morning with a photo of his CT ballot – all Dem except Romney/Ryan. Caption was “Can you believe it?” I couldn’t.

From a reader in Missouri:

I know you are busy, but wanted to share what I saw this morning at the poll. Polls here opened at 6am. I was there right at 8am. Less than 15 minutes from walking in the door to walking back out. I was voter 180 at my Ward (we have 4, I think). The poll worker (an old man) said he had never seen this many people come in this fast before so expected it would be a high turnout. Went to pay my utility bill, which is at another voting precinct and it was super busy. I could barely get to the drive through window for all the people walking all over the place. I have no idea what it all means, but thought I would let you know.

From reader Cory:

My daughter, Savannah Grace, is 4 weeks old and ready to do her civic duty!

Please run the photo. It would make our day.

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Comments

southcentralpa | November 6, 2012 at 9:44 am

Polls open for less than two hours when I was there, and 120 votes cast in my very corner of a very red county in PA. HUGE. Lookin’ good so far …

There was a relatively long line at my polling place (NY-8) at 6 am. Shorter than 2008, longer than 2010. That could be related to the messed up “new” voting machine system, in which four old fashioned mechanical machines have been replace by a single sheet-fed scanner. There were two machines on site, but one was broken.

My district is very, very blue, probably D+150 or so.

The polls open at 7:00 here in Iowa. When I drove past at 6:55 on my way to a meeting at my church, there were already voters waiting inside. I walked back over to vote shortly after 8:00 am. There were only two or three people in front of me to get ballots, but there were five or six voting. It looks like there’s going to be quite a steady stream. I think that there’s only one polling place here for a town of 10,000.

Local officials have to accept a big chunk of blame for long lines at polling places. I have voted in lower Westchester County in NY for 20 years since I graduated college, and have never waited in line. There are two polling places within 1/2 mile of my home, neither of which has more than two machines. Just about every public school, and some private ones, are polling centers around Westchester.

2nd Ammendment Mother | November 6, 2012 at 10:21 am

The Hubster and I were at our precinct when it opened. We were probably #75 in line, but the lines were moving quickly and we were out the door in under 30 minutes – easily 200 people in line behind us. Not many poll sitters were on site yet (unusual for my precinct).

The newspaper says that our early voter turn out is way down which could be good for a county with a heavy straight ticket Dem voter turn out. It could be the result of a number of major Democrat Party Office Holders and Operatives are serving time in Federal Prison. These were the guys that would “deliver” a certain number of early votes for the candidate that hired them.

    2nd Ammendment Mother in reply to 2nd Ammendment Mother. | November 6, 2012 at 11:53 am

    Watching for good “Omens”…. Our business traffic has been deathly slow for the last 2 months…. already filled a dozen orders this morning.

      2nd Ammendment Mother in reply to 2nd Ammendment Mother. | November 6, 2012 at 1:16 pm

      Omen #2 – Lots of Branson commercials running today – Declaring it the most wonderful time of the year…

      (I figure this is a better hobby than taking up drinking this early in the day!)

        That is a better hobbey but I went with taking up drinking. Hey if you were looking at the possibility of having Tammy Baldwin being your senator you would drink too. And well if Tommy Thompson wins well, that’s only that requires drink as well since there are issues with him too.

I live amongst the liberal vermin on the northside of Chicago and the line was quite long so I will go back a little later today when it won’t take so long. My guess is that our liberal betters are coming out to show their support for BO. Not entirely surprising considering it is Chicago. And for the record, these folks by race are overwhelming white, something I think that conservatives tend to forget.

60 (court appointed) republican poll workers forced out of their polling stations, replaced with democrats and Black Panthers?

WHAAAAAAT?

(Twitchy)

    New Black Panthers also in Ohio; Reports of Navy SEALs heading to Ohio, Pa. to guard against voter intimidation

    twitchy

    I’m predicting a Romney win with around 320+ electoral votes. My wife is predicting a squeaker with Obama openly cheating in three states, with no repercussions. Sadly, this supports my wife’s prediction.

I just voted in as Republican a town as Massachusetts has. The Democrat signs were out in force of course, but there were several Republican sign holders for the State Rep, US Rep and of course the Senate race. Conspicuous by their absence, any signs for Mitt Romney. Just pretending as if he’s not on the ballot.

In Michigan, I’ve always voted around 6 p.m., and average ballot no. 110., and takes 5 minutes.

I voted just after 7 this morning, ballot no. 98, it took over an hour.

I live directly across the street from the polling station in a very leftie part of Boston — so sinistral that we got 2 extra non-binding referendum questions, i.e. “tell Congress corporations aren’t people” and “let’s fund all these social service programs by closing corporate loopholes and cutting the military”.
When I looked out the window before 7 AM there was a line out the door and up a side street. There is NEVER a line here. It stayed that way til about 9:30. Since then it has remained steady, though no more line.
Since an Obama win in Mass. would seem to be a given, I suspect the lines (it’s cold out) have to do with the Senate race.
IF you live in Mass. and have been hesitant about Brown, please please consider what a Warren win will do: Harry Reid will stay in power and continue to obstruct the passage of bills and a budget, and more horrors could be ensconced on the Supreme Court. If you’re not going to vote Warren, please get out there and vote for Brown, even if you have to hold your nose to do so.
Thanks.

FROM FREEVILLE NY: DROVE BY MY POLLING PLACE AT 10AM THE DRYDEN FIRE HALL , PARKING LOT PACKED. I WILL VOTE TONIGHT WITH MY WIFE, IF IT WAS ANYTHING LIKE 2010 , IT WILL BE PACKED.

Chesterfield County, Virginia (just outside of Richmond). Got in line at 8:05 (parking was unbelievable), walked out the exit at 9:05. The line went the length of the school hallway and doubled back on itself. There were 8 voting booths. Besides President, Congressman, and Senator, we were also voting on 2 state Constitutional amendments. Everybody polite and cheerful (though I’d hate to be there at 6:45 tonight!).

Super liberal foncy part of LR, AR had only about 250 votes counted around 10 this morning.

There was no line and only 5 people marking ballots at my tiny polling place in San Diego, CA. I hand-carried the mail-in ballot and put it in the box, myself. It was in a house, with a cheerful group, and a US flag hung upside down duct-taped above the voting machine.

I didn’t ask. I figured it could just as well mean that the Obama voters are scared, as anything else.

There tax measures and school bonds on the ballot, as well as a state-wide measure to deprive unions and corporations of the right to make automatic payroll deductions for political purposes. It’s not a right-to-work law, but it could be a step in the right direction.

I was the first in line to vote at my precinct as the polls opened at 0700MST here, about five miles west of Rapid City. As I was waiting, I struck up a pleasant conversation with a lady who happened to be the wife of one of the (Republican) candidates for Statehouse Representative of our district. Hmmm. Good sign, I thought. (He got my vote.) As I left, the line of voters was out the front doors and available parking spaces were few. I saw a few of my neighbors in line. Later, as I was walking my dog in our neighborhood, I took it as another good sign that a B-1B flew low, directly overhead (literally), southbound; maybe the flight crew wanted an inspiration from an early-morning view of Mt Rushmore en route to a training mission. (Ellsworth AFB is 20mi east of my house.) Certainly the sight (and sound) of those aircraft (the loudest in the AF inventory) inspires me. Let’s all continue to think positively. Go Romney/Ryan!!!

Two votes for R/R here in the SE Penn! More voters in my polling place than 2008 and passed another polling place that was very busy as well. Fingers crossed for a Pennsylvania surprise in spite of the shenanigans in Philly.

I R A Darth Aggie | November 6, 2012 at 11:35 am

I heard this conversation while waiting in line for the polls to open. A 30 something soccer mom and her 8 or 9 year old daughter were behind me. Mom handed her daughter her voter card and her photo ID to give her something to do.

Daughter: Mom, this says DEM. Are you a democrat?
Mom: Yes.
Daughter: But you have to vote for Romney!
Me: *smiles into smart phone while checking twitter*

    I R A Darth Aggie in reply to I R A Darth Aggie. | November 6, 2012 at 11:36 am

    I forgot to mention that this took place in Tallahassee, FL. Lot of government & university types, mostly libs.

    A relative lack of Obama yard signs.
    A relative increase in Romney yard signs.

I voted at 9:30 this morning in Coopers Plains, NY, and my vote was #109. When I left, there were about 6 others voting.

I’m in Mid-Michigan. I got to the polls around 9:40 thinking it would be a 10 minute wait max. Nope. There were about 80 people in front of me, maybe more, but it was moving relatively fast and I got out in about 45 minutes. My vote was #292.

I took less than 2 minutes to fill out my ballot because I knew how I was voting on all of the proposals, judges, etc. before I went in. Bam bam bam! It felt so good to fill in that line for Romney and the next one for Hoekstra.

The elderly woman at the “check id” table (you have to show photo id here) said this was definitely the most people she’s ever seen.

What the heck is up with Miami? Do they not have enough polling places? While I don’t think one has a right to walk in and walk out with no wait, having a 5-hour wait is pretty ridiculous.

JimMtnViewCaUSA | November 6, 2012 at 12:02 pm

Love, love, love the photo of the truck!
Good luck today, America….

Viewed this: “America Rising . . .” http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=662R2awSwPQ

Viewed this: “Conservatism Is Calling” http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=gsa4uLmTw0M

Listened to this: Ray Charles singing (actually, it’s more like a sung prayer)
“America, The Beautiful” http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=8xk1P1913y0#!

Now, by golly, I’m going to go and vote for love of country!!!

I didn’t vote in ’08, but it felt good to pull the lev-erm, push the button for Romney today. During lunch hour of a very blue, very densely populated NJ suburb, there were 10 voters present, two of which old friends who I know as Romney supporters. Mitt won’t win NJ, but turnout in my precinct is down.

I work in northern VA, for a power company, IBEW unionized labor. Four years ago, most of the linemen either voted O or didn’t vote. This time, the only ones voting O are voting their race. The rest are for Romney. I helped a few get registered to vote – some had never voted before in their lives but are determined to vote this time. A few of them have even left the union (we’re a right to work state) after being shown proof of what their union was spending on Democrat politicians.

I had a 2 hour wait, got there about an hour after the polls opened. It was about 1/2 hour in ’08. For the midterms two years ago, there was no wait at all.

Voted this morning in San Diego, CA. No line; two minute wait.

I live in St. Paul, MN so this isn’t swing state news but I wrote about my exeperience at my blog and I wanted to share this bit (http://wp.me/p2P9yI-dp)

“When I got into my voting booth I notice a woman voting next to me. She was clearly a first time voter as I had seen her bumble about with the ballot and she wasn’t sure where to go or what to do. It turns out, she either could not speak english or could not read the language well. She was very confused by the ballot. She called a poll worker over and I heard him say, “No, you can only choose one per office. This section you can choose one, this is a different section, and this is a different section. One choice per section.” All I heard her say, in very broken english, was “Which Obama?” I heard the poll worker say something about how he can’t tell her how to vote but after that he got closer to the woman and I could not hear. I would have missed it anyway because by this time I had completed my ballot and was leaving the booth.”

This is what we’re up against. Blind allegence to Dear Leader.

SoCA Conservative Mom | November 6, 2012 at 1:47 pm

Seems voting is more exciting in other parts of the country. There was absolutely no wait and no drama. Our polling place is always the fire station. I took my 5 year old son, who was more interested in the fire trucks than the voting process. He wasn’t even interested in an “I voted” sticker. And you know how little kids are with stickers.

The new Halo game came out at midnight so I won’t be watching any returns. I don’t think I can pry the controller out of his hands.

Voted at about 9:45am and was #584, which shocked me because in 2008 I was like #200 something and it was later in the day. Maybe my state will truly swing for Romney. All I can say is that I am thankful that I will not have to see any political ads for a while.

Sorry but in WI it has been non-stop for over 2 years now because of the liberals not understanding that Scott Walker did what he said he was going to do and had to through a hissy fit for 2 years.

Henry Hawkins | November 6, 2012 at 3:32 pm

I voted in Rocky Mount (eastern NC) and it was pretty steady at 9 am, nothing impressive, but…. then I went over to Nashville NC about ten miles west and folks were lined up out in the street when I voted there. On my way to vote in Lizard Lick now. Will report.

Voted here in New Orleans in a red part of the city – not crowded and one of the poll workers told me that it was much quieter than it had been four years ago.

Meant blue not red.

I feel like I’m missing all the poll excitement today because I voted early. I live in NC and at the early voting location a Tea Party guy is always outside with a list of the most conservative candidates. He is a Veteran and he meets with all candidates, including judges, before he endorses them. While I do my homework and go to the poll with my own list, I compare mine with his. They usually match but he has more extensive info on the judges which I appreciate.
NC will go BIG for R&R!

My polling place is Ft. Garrison Elementary School. It is in Pikesville which is a predominantly Jewish area, probably 95% Jewish. I rode past the polling place to vote at 7:30 AM and noticed that there were no parking places within two blocks. I drove past again around 8:30 AM, same thing. Again at 9:30 AM and there were still no parking nearby. Determined to vote, I went at 10:30 AM. The line at that time had probably 200 or more people waiting to vote. It took me from 10:30 AM until 11:50 AM to finally get to the front of the line and vote. As I was leaving, the line to vote was as long as it was at 10:30 AM. In my 23 years of voting in this precinct, I have never seen anything like this. Other people who I know and who have voted in this precinct for more than 23 years have said the same thing. I don’t know how these people were voting, but the turnout was unbelievable. Maryland, being a solid “Blue” state will go for Obama. I was voting to be counted among the popular vote. As a side note, I only saw one Obama lawn sign and no Romney lawn signs.

Voted in Nantucket, around 9:30 or 10 — no line for my letter, but lines at several other letters. The parking lot was crowded — I had to wait for someone else to pull out before I could park.

Romney/Brown/Sheldon sign holders outnumbers Obama/Warren/Keating sign holders 5 to 3 at one end of the street. And the 3 were clustered together, while the 5 were spread out over 4 corners of two intersections. At the other end of the street they were 2 to 2, but with a 4′ x 8′ Romney-Ryan yard sign behind ours.

The bumper stickers in the parking lot that I noticed were about 3:2 Brown to Warren.

We certainly have more enthusiasm — but who knows if it will be enough in Massachusetts.

BannedbytheGuardian | November 6, 2012 at 4:45 pm

of course No vote for me but Ihave adopted PA as my surrogate state.

just saw that there were thousands of tiny faces on thetopstory of the airport parking station .Mitt is waving across to them through the tarmac wire,

Pittsburgha go go !

MaggotAtBroadAndWall | November 6, 2012 at 4:53 pm

I voted around 11:00. I was in and out of my polling place in about 20 minutes. Only two people were standing in line to receive a ballot at my section of the alphabet (A-H). In all, there were only about 20 people either in the voting booths or waiting to get a ballot. While I live at the same address today as in 2008, this is a different polling place from where I voted in 2008. In 2008, I voted during the noon lunch hour and the wait was MUCH longer.

The only thing to note is that the 20 or so people voting or waiting to get a ballot were overwhelmingly women. Excluding the poll workers, I was one of only three men voting or waiting to vote. Not sure what to make of that. Probably just a random fluke.