Looks like huge turnout in Ward 8-7

[dreamshark]

Either that, or everybody wanted to get there early for some reason. I got to my polling place (Kingfied Park Building) around 11:30 and the line was way out the door and snaked a few times. The system was very efficient, however, so the wait was only a half-hour. I was voter 1121. One of the poll workers saw me looking at the number on the machine and announced with great excitement that this was about 1/3 of the registered voters in the precinct, apparently more than they usually see before noon.

Another poll worker said they had "a lot" of people registering at the polls. Here's hoping that all those people voted against the voter id proposal, which seems likely. If that monstrosity goes through this may be the last time anybody gets to register on election day in Minnesota.

I voted predictably - DFL straight down the line, No and No on the amendments. I voted for incumbent Carla Bates for the school board, based on my general feeling that anyone that is willing to do such a thankless job for two terms in a row deserves the opportunity to do so. As usual, I got tripped up by the Soil and Water Conservation Board. I voted for Jeremy Haefs (sp?) based on the forcefulness of his statement in the Strib Voter Guide (paraphrasing here, but it was along the lines of "C'mon, people, this is important!  We're talking about WATER here.")  Unfortunately, there were two other contested races for the SWCB about which I remembered nothing.


Interesting story in the Southwest Patch.  Apparently even the local Republican operatives think it will fail. That's encouraging. 

http://southwestminneapolis.patch.com/articles/minnesota-republicans-predict-marriage-amendment-will-fail-in-tuesday-election?ncid=newsltuspatc00000001

Comments

[huladavid.livejournal.com]

I got to my polling place (Little Earth in East Phillips) about 7:30, registered, voted, was out in about 10 minutes, and was the 69th voter.

Had to stop by the polling place just now and found out that 600 people (which is a good number for this area) had voted.

[pameladean]

I voted in the same place you did, but at around 3:30, because there is often a hiatus between the lunch crowd and the after-work crowd. There was a short line inside. I don't know which voter I was because the scanning machine had apparently broken and they were just having you put your ballot in a large box.

P.

[dreamshark.livejournal.com]

You're in a different precinct from me, of course (8-6?)
I hope they got the counting machine working again. But that's the great thing about our semi-automated system: even if the machine is broken it's just a paper ballot anyway and can be counted later.

[dd-b.livejournal.com]

It was broken when I was there, around 2pm.

I'm happier if it's working, because then I know it's not going to reject my ballot for coloring outside the lines, or whatever. This way, I'm anonymously in the bin, and if the machine doesn't like my ballot, they can't bounce it back to me to fix.

[pameladean]

Yep, 8-6, but it's the same park building, just a different room.

I am myself much comforted that we have paper ballots.

P.

[barondave.livejournal.com]

I was #31 at 7:30 am. Ahead of me were, among others, Laramie, Jerry C, and Carole. There was a long line, but everyone was in good spirits.

[dreamshark.livejournal.com]

Voting day is very jolly in my neighborhood. I like voting, even if I have to stand in line, because I get to see my neighbors. I think election day should be a national holiday.

[skylarker.livejournal.com]

I agree about the national holiday. And not just because there are probably people who don't vote because of problems getting to the polls outside of working hours.

[skylarker.livejournal.com]

I was #24 and Jerry #21 or #22. He got ahead of me while I filled out another form after he vouched for me so I could register. (I didn't have the $18 to get an updated driver's license with my current address.) We actually got there a few minutes before 7:00 and there was already a line of maybe twenty people.