A great morning

November 04, 2008

Regina Rose

My wife and I arrived at the Houston-Love Memorial Library at 6:30 a.m., and about 20 people were ahead of us.  The line quickly lengthened to about 250+ plus before the doors were opened at 7:00.  We entered, voted and were out in 12 minutes.  Very good!  As we left I took the attached pictures for my file but thought you might have some use.

It was a great morning to be in such a “colorful” line with good Dothan folk of all ages who were exercising their right to vote.  I sincerely hope that line continues throughout the day as people vote to elect the next President and Vice President of the U.S.A.  What a memorable day!

John Deal

Voting at the Houston County Farm Center

Ken Tuck

I voted around 10:45 this morning at the Farm Center. There were only four people in front of me. However, that wasn’t the case earlier in the morning. One of the poll workers told me the line stretched out the door to the Cottonwood Highway. “It was terrible,“ he said. I replied, “No, that’s actually great. People are getting out and voting.“ I knew he didn’t mean it was terrible that many people were voting, it was just a terribly long line. We laughed about it.

Everyone’s ID was being checked and everything went smoothly. I was No. 408 in the P-Z line. It was great seeing people getting out to vote today, including a fellow Eagle employee.

BTW, I hear Starbucks is giving away free coffee to people who vote today. We’re gathering a group from the Eagle to go get our java fix. We’ll need it for tonight.

Lines, lines, lines – today, they’ll do ya good

Ebony Horton

Ozark had its share of long voting lines at the Civic Center this morning. What appeared greater than the lines, however, was the enthusiasm from many of the voters.

There were wheelchairs, crutches, pajamas, coffee cups, lawn chairs - anything to help sustain voters while they stood in the lines. My 80-year-old grandfather only asked for his cane (though I took a lawn chair just in case) as we waited for about 30 minutes.

He was too excited for this time in history. I’m sure he could have passed out twice and still gotten up to vote while we were there.

There were also others, like my 24-year-old high school friend Namon Flowers, who had never voted before but came to the civic center with his young son to exercise his right.

Please go vote today, despite how long the lines may be. And if you haven’t registered, go ahead TODAY to your county registrar’s office to register for the next elections to include the governor, which I think are in 2010.

The truth is our forefathers, black, white, English and even before “Taxation without Representation” have paved the way for this opportunity. Even if you feel your vote doesn’t count, not voting is almost like giving up $1 million in my opinion - it’s just that despicable to me to not exercise your right to vote.

Take care and happy voting!

I voted. It took 5 minutes.

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?