33 Responses to “get out and vote, folks!”

1. posted by john_m at November 4, 2008 7:35 am [#]:
   

   Video the Vote is a nonpartisan effort to record the conditions at polling locations and to hopefully prevent voting problems.

   • Here are the videos from Virginia.
   • Here is the line from Fourth Baptist Church on P Street from before the polls opened
   • Here is the line around the corner on the way out an hour later…
2. posted by Nathalie at November 4, 2008 7:35 am [#]:
   

   My husband just got back from voting at the 31st Baptist Church… Arrived at 5:45 and was done at 7:30… Bring an umbrella!!

3. posted by Bill Conkle at November 4, 2008 7:54 am [#]:
   

   At the East District Center I arrived at 5:30am and finished right at 7am. The line was totally around the block when I walked away. Dress warmly and enjoy the spirit of the crowd.

4. posted by john_m at November 4, 2008 8:42 am [#]:
   

   >>Here is the 3-block-long line at EDI @ 25th and M Streets.

5. posted by kelly justice at November 4, 2008 8:42 am [#]:
   

   Judging from the lines that wrapped solidly around a city block at The East District Initiative, I sure hope there are some resignations tendered at the Board of Elections on Wednesday! To have planned for business as usual for this election is inexcusable.

6. posted by Jennifer C. at November 4, 2008 9:10 am [#]:
   

   I’m not sure there’s any way to plan for the people who were lined up before the polls even opened – our line was about three blocks long before six o’clock. We got through fairly quickly after that. I’ll be interested to see how many people have waits of more than a couple hours.

7. posted by jc at November 4, 2008 9:15 am [#]:
   

   big line is in hidden inside 31st Street Baptist Church. Tricksies.

8. posted by ronni at November 4, 2008 9:22 am [#]:
   

   I was in and out in just under an hour at 28th and P. Spirits are high, you could feel the excitement. That was a line I didn’t mind waiting in!

9. posted by Kathleen at November 4, 2008 9:58 am [#]:
   

   Just back from 31st Baptist Church. It took me just over 2 hours but the line is much shorter. Very well run precinct.

10. posted by Jessica at November 4, 2008 10:01 am [#]:
    

    Arrived at 31st Street Baptist Church at 6:10 a.m. and waited two hours to vote.

11. posted by Queen of Church Hill at November 4, 2008 10:30 am [#]:
    

    Although I waited at EDI for about 2 hours, I was pleased with how efficient voting was. There are usually about 4 voting booths, but this morning there were about 15 booths. With an election of this magnitude, I don’t think it’s unreasonable to expect a wait.

12. posted by Ry at November 4, 2008 10:50 am [#]:
    

    Just voted…
    Got in line at EDI about 9:40am and was out by 10:45.

13. posted by Shannon at November 4, 2008 12:12 pm [#]:
    

    Went around 10:30 to the Powhatan Rec Center, and it only took us about a half an hour.

14. posted by DK at November 4, 2008 12:56 pm [#]:
    

    EDI wait was at 1 hour when I got there at 10:45. The line was half as long when I left.

    Good luck dealing with the Elections people inside, who were yelling at pushing people into voting booths.

15. posted by Jaime at November 4, 2008 12:57 pm [#]:
    

    My first Presidential voting experience in Church Hill, Richmond VA, was a disaster. Polling place – EDI at 25th and M street.

    First of all, the lines are crazy long and that room is tiny and stuffed with 12 machines. People cannot move around each other, you can totally see how people next to you are voting, the people manning the books are very, very slow, and there doesn’t seem to be anyone there who has had any training.

    I watched an elderly woman flounder with how to use the machine for over 10 minutes before FINALLY someone came over and attempted to help her.

    The machine would only let me vote for President and they had no idea how to fix it. They told me I could not vote for anything else bc the vote went through. I stood my ground and forced them to make another decision. They made me wait and then they finally decided I could vote for everything BUT President on a provisional ballot. I said, NO, I want as paper ballot. They fought me, I fought back. I filled out a paper ballot, sans President, bc they informed me that my vote for President “definitely went through” on the machine. I finished the paper ballot, and they told me thanks. I said, don’t you want me to fill out the envelope with my information? They said, oh yeah. Then, they took it away from me and told me I was not allowed to sign the back of the envelope. I immediately went and found someone else and she brought me back to the table and pulled my envelope out of a small stack of OTHER unsigned envelopes.

    I am very discouraged, and I really think this experience could have been a lot better with some small changes.

16. posted by Crystal at November 4, 2008 12:58 pm [#]:
    

    I got there at 6am on the dot, and I didn’t leave until 8:25!!!

17. posted by Nate at November 4, 2008 1:14 pm [#]:
    

    Voted at 31st Street Baptist Church at 12:15pm and there was no line. Walked in voted and was done within 5 minutes. Best of all there was no rain. I feel sorry for everyone that woke up extra early this morning.

18. posted by anonymous at November 4, 2008 1:17 pm [#]:
    

    Kelly,
    Don’t jump to conclusions – they did not plan for “business as usual”. There were three times as many voting booths as usual and there the names were divided into four alphabetically sections rather than two. There were simply way more than usual number of voters at 6:00 am. In general, I really think the workers at the EDI center did a great job making this process simple and as painless as possible.

19. posted by elaine odell at November 4, 2008 1:44 pm [#]:
    

    …just voted at EDI, took a total of 8 minutes. the only lines were the short ones in front of the folks with the roll books. go now, if you’ve waited. it’s a breeze.

20. posted by hchaniski at November 4, 2008 2:00 pm [#]:
    

    By the time I arrived after class let out @1215, there was little to no line to vote (depending on your last name). I waited maybe 8 min. total, mostly due to the fact that the poll workers were trying to obtain some kind of “count” in the voting room when i got there.

21. posted by Daniel at November 4, 2008 2:26 pm [#]:
    

    I noticed a number of people had issues where the DMV didn’t send in their voter registration or their change of address. That seemed to be the only issue I noticed at EDI when we voted at 11:20-12 today.

22. posted by Whodat! at November 4, 2008 2:34 pm [#]:
    

    Voted at 1:30 @ EDI on 25th St. In and Out in 5-10min. Can someone tell me why there was a crock pot plugged in next to the machines? NO JOKE!Its on the back wall with the first bank of machines. Next time I’ll cast my vote for swedish meatballs! Heh. They probably do a better job than most of the candidates on the ticket…

23. posted by Jon at November 4, 2008 3:38 pm [#]:
    

    I was in line at 4:15 this morning, Polls opened right at 6, I was out by 6:15. When I arrived there were about 10 people already in line, by the time I had voted and was on my way to work the line was easily 4 blocks long.

    GREAT voter turnout Richmond!

24. posted by john_m at November 4, 2008 4:07 pm [#]:
    
    • Another video from 25th Street.
    • @ Woodville Elementary.
25. posted by K at November 4, 2008 4:07 pm [#]:
    

    I arrived at 6am at EDI- Waited for about 2 hours, but enjoyed the good company and excitement of the crowd! I came prepared with my headphones & reading materials which I didn’t need due to the conversations that were struck up with neighbors I now know! I thought the folks working the polls were fantastic. Sorry I missed the meatballs though!:)

26. posted by SEW at November 4, 2008 5:25 pm [#]:
    

    Got to EDI around 6:45 and was there until about 9:35. It wouldn’t have been so bad had it not been raining and so chilly this morning. Inside seems quite disorganized though. There was a line for A-D, E-something, something through P, then P-Z. I was in the last line (P-Z) and it took another 30-45 minutes inside the building if you were in that line. I’m just glad its over!

27. posted by Shannon at November 4, 2008 6:41 pm [#]:
    

    By the way, Don Coleman was there shaking hands. Introduced himself to me, etc., working that that familiarity-vote angle.

    I successfully resisted the urge to pull the video cam out of my bag and turn it on, asking him what he plans to do about Armstrong. (Not ALWAYS such an ankle biter, see?)

    Truthfully, I kind of regret that now, though. Great opportunity to have the kid, who was with me, pose some questions about his neighborhood High School.

28. posted by hillkid at November 4, 2008 8:35 pm [#]:
    

    Went to EDI to vote around 2:30pm and there was no wait. In and out in 5 minutes. Whoopee!

29. posted by SEW at November 5, 2008 9:55 am [#]:
    

    I actually heard Coleman behind me yesterday talking with someone in line about Armstrong. Coleman said his #1 priority if he got elected would be to clean up the mess at Armstrong. We’ll see what happens. While he sounded sincere, many political candidates so while they are campaigning…hopefully he will have follow through on this.

30. posted by LB at November 5, 2008 11:35 am [#]:
    

    I knew I should have waited! In line at EDI at 5, out by 6:20. Mom’s machine was not even set to take votes yet, so that was a problem. The line seemed to move very quickly because they had a better split in the alphabet, and plenty of machines.

31. posted by eclk at November 6, 2008 8:52 am [#]:
    

    Thanks for the coverage, comments, and photos! The videos were expecially fun to watch. Great job!

32. posted by Church Hill People’s News » share your snow photos! - Richmond, Virginia at March 1, 2009 5:38 pm [#]:
    

    [...] photos to Flickr and tag ‘em with “RVAsnow”. Something similar on election day was kind of cool, lets see what we can all do with this nice weather. Posted by john_m at 5:38PM under [...]

33. posted by River District News » share your snow photos! - Richmond, Virginia at March 2, 2009 8:27 am [#]:
    

    [...] and tag em’ with “RVASnow”. [...]

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