ChasElection08

Goose Creek craziness

UPDATE: Voters for Goose Creek District 2 were still in line at 9 p.m. at Goose Creek High School.

We've got some wild reports coming out of Goose Creek. Photographer Brad Nettles and reporter Jessica Johnson (who is there trying to vote: 3 hours and counting) say the line at Goose Creek High School one hour after the polls closed still has hundreds of people in it.

Yep, you read that right, hundreds, maybe upwards of 1,000. Jessica says kind souls are doling out crackers and water. Some people are throwing out radical numbers like 5 hours of waiting time.

We would love to hear from some of you Creekers. Post a comment here or send us an email at elections@postandcourier.com. if you swear a little, we understand. We'll edit it out for you.

--Janet

Mo' reports

Keep'em coming, folks. This is great stuff!

From Luke Reasoner, sports copy editor/designer: From James Island Precinct 15 at James Island Middle.

It wasn't too bad. Took about an hour for me to stand in line (this was 10 a.m.). However, it was a disappointing for some who stood with me, as several people - I didn’t catch anyone's name - who were voting in James Island Precinct 9 were actually at the wrong polling location. According to several others, in the past both precincts (9 and 15) voted here at James Island Middle. And it wasn’t until we got to the front of the line that those in 9 were told they had to vote at Fort Johnson Middle. Of course a few choice words where heard as many just wanted to get this process over with.

The only complaint I have is with the voters. A lot of people seemed to have a lack of patience during this historic election. But at the same time, I am glad that many people came out to vote this year.

All-in-all, I know the people running this have to be overwhelmed and they should all be commended for doing the best they can.

On a lighter note, the longest line I waited in today was the line for the free Chick-fil-A sandwich. What a mistake that was trying to go at noon. I guess I learned my lesson on that one.

--Janet

Location, location, location

   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

Unhappy from A to Z

There have been numerous complaints about the inequitable alphabetical divisions of voter names. By that we mean that, for example, all voters whose names begin with A-K in one line and L-Z in another.

P&C reporter Robert Behre reports that at his precinct Charleston 9, voters signed in in alphabetized lines, but then all joined the same line for the voting machines. This seems to be the exception. At Fort Johnson Middle School, James Island Precinct 8B, voter Katherine W. says she was finished long before her husband, Richard G. At my own downtown Precinct 18 at Rivers Middle School , A-Ks were waiting a lot longer than the rest of the alphabet. We've heard this repeated in precincts throughout the Lowcountry. Apparently, this has been reported in cities such as Rock Hill and Sumter as well.

Summerville High School, Tupperway Precinct

Wow! Voted in about 30 minutes, not counting my drive there and back and hunting a parking spot. In at 4:45, out at 5:10. 

Tupperway is evidently one of the smaller precincts. Other voters in the larger precincts, Flowertown and Greenwave, told me the wait was a great deal longer for them. One young lady had been there for four hours.

Everyone in the Tupperway line was amiable and chatty. Some dour faces in the other lines though ...

Jane

E-mail Roundup 2

More from election@postandcourier.com:

From Julie Downs: Just got back from voting at Ft. Johnson Middle on James Island. The wait was about 1.5 hours, 11:15-12:45. If you were lucky enough to be in precinct 8A you probably got out in a half-hour. The poll workers were constantly calling for 8A, to the irritation of us non-8A people. The table sat almost completely empty with a waiting pollworker while I was in line inside. The lines for 8B and 9 ran around the building. The joke in line was we were all going to move to 8A before the next election. Seems like they could have consolidated somehow as we all went to the same machines. Still not a bad wait.

From Myron Pstrak: Precinct 20 at Joseph Floyd Manor. Got in line at 0820 and walked out at 1250.....4.5 hours in line....3 machines total for two precincts!!!!

Floyd Manor is generating a lot of frustration based on our Twitter comments and e-mails. Running close to Mt. Pleasant Hibben Methodist Church Mount Pleasant Precinct 6 and 7 as worst places to vote so far.

--Janet

Passing Time

Well, the reading list was pretty esoteric at Ashborough West in the Oakbrook community outside Summerville. Normally a staid, relatively in-and-out voting precinct, Old Fort Baptist Church had a line of waiting voters stretched down the hallway corridor halfway around its sanctuary and circling back again to the door. The line lasted throughout the morning and began to ebb, weirdly enough, at lunch time.
 People know each other in the adjacent neighborhoods that make up the precinct and the word got out pretty quickly the wait was more than an hour. So they showed up with an assortment of paperbacks and hardcovers - a Patricia Cornwell suspense novel, The Diplomats, Puppy Chow is Better than Prozac and, ironically enough, 23 Minutes in Hell.
 Cell phones and ipods came out. People joked with their friends about how only a chance to vote for the Sunday alcohol sales referendum could get them in a line like this.
 Nobody seemed to mind the dealy. The  number of younger people in line to vote was striking compared to other elections. Michael Coutu stood still and said nothing, his eyes taking everything in and his fingers nervously snapping his driver's license and a voter registration card still attached to the paper it came on. He had never been to a poll before. He turned 18 in March.  After he voted he turned and quietly walked out.
  "My first time and the wait is an hour and a half," he said smiling wryly. "But it was definitely worth it. I know my voice is heard. I know what I did is for my country."

                                                                                                              -- Bo 

E-mail Roundup 2

More reports from the field:

From sports copy editor Cindy Cloutier: Just sharing my experience voting at Goose Creek High School. I arrived at 7:55 a.m. and the first order of business was finding a place to park - surely that was an indicator of the turnout. Yet I was excited to see the turnout and was prepared for 2 hours of democracy in action.

After finding the end of the line outside the building, I was encouraged to realize it was moving briskly and we moved in side by 8:30. Where tired voters with knowing looks told us to enjoy the wait. We snaked through the corridors of the high school before finding the end of the line. Hard to estimate the number of people in line, but this one wasn't moving.

Felt bad for some elderly people. Saw one extremely pregnant lady whose husband parked her in a lawnchair for her to wait while he stood. She said she was due this week and hoped to vote before giving birth. We all chuckled ... nervously. Overall people were patient and friendly. I guess we all realized this was possible and that it represented something exciting about the voter turnout. One young woman said she'd taken the day off and was going to work a Saturday instead because she was prepared to wait all day to vote.

One nervous woman finally went looking for a poll worker to explain she had an afternoon plane to catch - could she help her? They did, as they did handicapped voters without offending any of us in line. I never heard one complaint. Finally voted at 11:35 a.m. - 3 hours, 40 minutes of democracy in action. How exciting. But am now a fan of looking into early voting.

From Tim: The lines at Greater Goodwill AME were very long, but well-managed. As of 10
a.m., the wait was around 90 minutes.

--Janet

A more than 4-hour wait in West Ashley

The wait to vote in St. Andrews precincts 3 and 9 is perhaps the worst in the Charleston area today, with voters who finished at noon saying they had been waiting in line since 7:30 a.m. The polling place is the W.L. Stephens Aquatic Center on West Oak Forest Drive.

The wait there is so long that each time a person emerges from the cramped building with an "I voted" sticker, the crowd at the front of the line applauds. Despite the wait, the people in line appear patient and determined, and quite pleased that it hasn't started raining.

"It's the best pain you will ever feel, because this is a historic moment," said Heather Jackson, who had been standing for four hours and was near the front of the line.

--David Slade

E-mail Roundup 1

Okay, I voted at Rivers Middle School this morning. I got there around 8 a.m. voted at 11:15. Here's a look at what voters have sent to The Post and Courier/Charleston.net email.

From Wayne Glenn: Voting at Midland Park Elementary the line is significantly shorter than 27. If you only knew your voting location and not precinct you would have to wait longer. 2 hours 20 mins to vote in Precinct 29 at midland park. Polling place disorganized.

Katharine Eastvold in North Charleston: I'm in Deer Park 1B precinct, and I voted earlier this morning. I arrived at Ladson Elementary around 6:40, and at around 7:30, poll workers called on Deer Park voters to form a separate line, because Ladson Elementary serves as the polling place for both Deer Park and Ladson precincts. We formed a separate - and MUCH shorter - line, and I still didn't get out of there until 8:40. I estimate that if I had been a Ladson voter instead of a Deer Park voter, I would have been around 150 places back in line, and it would have taken me at least another hour or hour-and-a-half to vote. These two precincts ought to have separate polling locations! The poll workers were great, though - very professional and very friendly.

From Paul Crawford: Wait at Cario Elementary started at 2.5 hours, when to about an hour, now back to more than two hours. (11:15 a.m.)

From Ben Morgan: Just got a call from one of my Zone Managers who says there are a lot of folks at Brentwood being turned away, nobody telling them where they should go, and tempers are getting short.

From Jeff King: At Fort Dorchester High School wait to vote is approx. 4-5 hours!