I voted. It took 5 minutes.

November 04, 2008

Whitney McHugh

There’s a secret to voting at Doug Tew. Don’t wait in the outside line if your last name falls between G-Z.

As I settled in for a long wait outside the center about 10:30, a man stopped to talk to the woman in front of me. He was teasing her about his quick voting. I asked his secret.

His answer - last name not A-F.

I got out of line, walked inside the center and right up to the G-P table. There was no line. Poll workers took my ID, marked off my name and gave me a ballot. I was out of there in five minutes.

Only the A-F table had a line. There were no voters at the other tables, just poll workers

There may be a disproportionate number of people in my district with A-F names. But I suspect many of those waiting in the long line outside don’t realize the G-Z’s can go ahead and vote.

As I got my ‘I Voted’ sticker, the boxes showed 1,251 ballots had been cast.

Taking photos at the polls is a no-no

Debbie Ingram

The husband and I wanted to vote together this morning, as couples often do, especially when we are of the same political mind. At around 8:15 a.m., we arrived at our polling place at Westgate Park by separate vehicles – I rode my new Ridley motorcycle I got at Daytona – and found a line outside the door. People were parking as far away as Miracle Field. A lot of voters. So, the husband waves me on, saying he’ll come back later.

Once in line, someone came out and said the line was short for A-L, or something like that, so I got ushered right into the gymnasium. 

“Wow,” I thought. “There’s a lot of people here.”

So I took out my cell phone and snapped a picture of the line. The photo is of people’s backs.

Chief John Powell was across from the “I” line in the “P” line and promptly came over and told me I was not allowed to photograph in a polling place.

“They are watching you,” he said ominously with a grin.

We chatted for a minute or two about the news of the day when a poll worker named Jones approached me and asked if I took a picture, to which I replied yes, to which she – rather abruptly – demanded that I delete the picture, saying it was illegal to photograph inside a polling place.

I told her I didn’t know.

As I opened my cell phone to oblige, she broadcast an announcement that there are to be no pictures, no videos and no cell phones in the polling place. Then she was back at my side.

Wait. Didn’t I see Barack Obama on the news this morning in the polling place? Don’t I have the same rights as CNN?

Jones then noticed I had video on my camera. “You have video?” she demanded.

“Most camera phones have video,” I replied calmly.

She stared.

“I didn’t take any video,” I said.

After I erased the photo in front of her, and demonstrated that I did so, she walked away.

A couple of people around me stood wide-eyed.

“That was harsh,” said one. 

“I thought you were going to be handcuffed and carried away,” said the school teacher.

“There are no signs posted that you can’t take pictures,” said the man in the suit.

No. No signs. And didn’t I see Barack Obama photographed in the polling place this morning?

I felt harassed and chastised as a mother might scold her straying child. Publicly embarrassed for an inadvertent act. Singled out as a law-breaker – a criminal, mind you.  Not that I shun any of that, but isn’t that a form of voter harassment? Hey John White – do I have a case?

Why didn’t I vote absentee?

Whitney McHugh

On NPR this morning, many of the stories were about long lines at the polls. There were brief interviews with voters and poll workers in every time zone. And everyone said there were long lines at the poll.

I drove to my polling place - Doug Tew Community Center - while listening to stories about long wait times. I hoped that by some miracle voting at Doug Tew would be like it always is - in and out in about five minutes.

No luck.

The line at 8 a.m. this morning stretched across the building back to the swimming pool. The parking lot was full. Cars were parked on the streets. There was no fast voting this morning.

I rolled my window down, took a couple photos of the line and headed to work. No time to wait this morning.

My mother talked to a poll worker yesterday to find out the best times to vote. Generally 10-11:30 a.m. and 1:30-3 p.m. are slow at the poll. I’m keeping my fingers crossed, but with such high voter turnout there may not be any slow times.

Why didn’t I vote absentee?

Getting out to vote

Whitney McHugh

As I dropped my daughter off at elementary school this morning, one of the school’s staff members was encouraging parents to go vote.

She had already made one unsuccessful attempt to vote at Walton Park. The line was so long she was unable to cast a ballot before she had to be at work. She’s planning to try again at lunch. And if that doesn’t work, will head to the polls a third time once schools ends.

That says a lot about this election ... that someone would wait at the polls three times in order to vote.

Mr. and Mrs. Tim Rigsby

August 08, 2008

Debbie Ingram