A late trek around several West Ashley voting spots revealed that it’s all about “location, location, location.” Depending on where you were registered, you might be able to walk straight into the polling place, show your registration card and immediately vote. Or, you might find yourself still standing in line.
If you are fortunate enough to vote at the Charleston Tennis Center (St. Andrews 06) on Farmfield Drive, you don’t have to wait at all; if you’re voting at the W.L. Stephens Aquatic Center on Playground Road you still may have a couple of hours to wait. One disgruntled voter was walking out of the latter spot around 6 p.m. after having spent 3 ½ hours in line. But there were a large number of people who didn’t seem to be phased at the lengthy wait they still faced.
With less than two hours left before polls closed, almost 800 of the 1,120 voters registered in St. Andrews 06 had cast votes.
I stopped by my voting center, at Stono Park Elementary, around 5 p.m. and there was at least a 2-hour wait for those in the back of the line. When I voted at 9:30 a.m., the wait was 2 ½ hours. But when I drove by an hour later, the line was considerably shorter. On the first visit, I was talking with some people in line and met one young man who had spent two hours waiting in line at Oakland Elementary before discovering he was at the long place. Rather than asking to be moved to the front of the line at Stono, he was facing another 2-hour wait.
St. Andrews Elementary School had a lengthy line much of the day, but around 5:30 the wait to vote was probably 15 minutes. Just before poll closing time, St. Andrews Middle School had no line.
-- Tommy Braswell, Post
and Courier sportswriter
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