Election Day tip: Bring a black pen

Bob CollinsBob Collins Nov 4, 2008
21

Mrs. News Cut reported this morning that over 200 were in line at Lake Jr. High in Woodbury this morning when the polls opened. About 70 had lined up at 5:30 this morning. And, she says, six people showed up, saw the line and left.

voting_in_line_woodbury.jpg

But, the dispatch reports, the line moved quickly even though there were only 10 voting booths because people brought black pens and sat on the gym’s bleachers and filled out their ballot.

Meanwhile, senior Jefferson School in Uptown voting correspondent John Nicholson reports, “It took about an hour to vote. We were in line at 6:45. We were about 100th in line.”

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Via Twitter, these observations from various voters:

  • Lines on Selby and Lexington wrap around the block
  • First batch was just let into the room! Decent amount of confusion, almost no signs telling people where to be.
  • 100 people on line in saint Paul before polls open at 7am
  • OMG! I just went to try to vote: line SOO long. So, back home, kids to school then to the line to wait. Most cars in lot had Obama stickers!
  • (Mpls) Got my vote in. I was the 24th voter in our precinct. By the time I left, there were already several hundred people in line. Democracy!
  • At least 100 deep at Diamond Lake Lutheran

    An MPR colleague, Frank Hudson, reports that “by the time polls opened at 7:02 at Ward 8 in South Mpls there were around 80 in line, double what I counted at 6:50 AM. However the line moved fast. It would have moved faster, but they ran out of BIC pens to mark the ballots. I was out the door at 7:12 AM after voting.”

    Please describe your voting experience below. If you’d like to shoot a picture, use the “Contact Bob” link on the right. By the way, at the polling place in Woodbury, our intrepid reporter tells me, election judges were making sure peoples’ cellphones and cameras were off.

    For vicarious voting thrills, I recommend the Twitter #votereport page.