This is how much of my afternoon/evening/night was spent on Election Day
OK, all 11 of you that read this on as regular a basis as I update, listen up:
I wrote this. Comment on it. Tell me it sucks, tell me it's OK, tell me it makes you want to fall down a flight of stairs.
I'm real tired.
By Matt McNabb
STAFF WRITER
Trends seen at polling places throughout the nation - high turnout, long lines, many first-time voters - were seen at many of Miami County’s 19 polling places Tuesday, with some election workers saying this year’s turnout appeared to have been the highest they’d ever seen.
Polls were busy when they opened at 7 a.m., and many stayed that way for much of Election Day.
At 4:15 p.m. at the Mission Valley Hunt Club, where voters in Middle Creek Township’s west precinct cast ballots, several people were voting or waiting to vote.
Betty Morgan, one of the three election workers at the club, estimated that she had worked elections for at least 10 years. Tuesday’s turnout was the best she had seen, she said.
Polls opened across the county at 7 a.m., and election workers at many polls were greeted by lines when they opened doors.
Paola Township
At 4:45 p.m. on Election Day, 10 people were casting or waiting to cast ballots at the Paola National Guard Armory, the polling place for Paola Township.
Mary Windisch said turnout in the precinct was expected to be more than 50 percent. But presidential elections always see better turnout, she added.
The flow was steady all day, but the poll saw the heaviest traffic from 7 to 9 a.m., election worker Ann Asher said.
Many young people, including college students back from school to vote, passed through the armory doors Tuesday.
Karen Osborn of rural Paola was one of the precinct’s first-time voters. She became a U.S. citizen five years ago and could have voted in the 2000 election but didn’t. Four years later, she realizes just how close this year’s presidential race has been, and certain issues, such as individual rights, got her to the polls, she said.
“You should go and vote regardless,” Osborn said.
Just before 5 p.m., a man told Asher and Windisch, “I heard I was lucky.” He knew someone who voted during a lunch break at the American Legion in Paola and spent an hour there, he said.
Paola
He was lucky. Had he been a city resident, he might have waited nearly a half hour or more.
At 5:15 p.m., one line was well out the door of the Legion building just west of Wallace Park. Many people were coming in after work, including couples and parents with children. A count of voters would have been difficult, with lines constantly changing and people shuffling.
Long lines were the standard throughout the day, election worker Deb Weatherbie said.
“We’ve never had a time when there wasn’t someone here,” she said.
But voting is worth the wait, Gracie Ayilara, a self-described regular voter, said outside the Legion building shortly after sunset.
“I just chose to vote because I’m a Christian and want to vote for someone with the same morals and values as I have,” she said.
Ayilara voted in her first presidential election in 1976.
“I think it is one of the most important ones,” she said of this year’s contest. “It’s going to be a very close race, and I think every vote counts.”
Valley Township
Debbie and Loren Windler of rural Paola showed up in the pilot’s room at We B Smokin’ restaurant at the Miami County Airport shortly after 6 p.m., with less than an hour remaining to vote.
Debbie Windler said she isn’t a regular voter, although she usually votes in presidential elections. This was her husband’s first time to cast a ballot.
Why was that?
“She convinced me,” he said, looking in his wife’s direction. “She said it might make a difference.”
“You just never know,” Debbie Windler said.
She voted this year because she had strong feelings about one particular presidential candidate and the ballot question on renewing the quarter-cent sales tax, she said.
“I think we have to keep our roads up,” she said.
By shortly after 6 p.m., about 430 of 745 registered voters in Valley Township’s West Precinct had come by the airport to vote, Eleanor McKaig said. There were only a handful of 2- to 3-minute periods during which the room was empty, she said.
A line greeted election workers when they opened the doors at 7 a.m., and a line remained until about 9 a.m., McKaig said.
“It’s been pretty steady all day,” she said.
McKaig, like many election workers, brought something to occupy her attention during lulls. But her book went unopened through 12 hours of voting.
“We hardly had time to eat,” she said.
Osawatomie
The last half-hour of voting at Vintage Park in Osawatomie was much like that of the previous 23 half-hours - busy.
The morning was especially busy, and the initial line took a long time to thin out, Sharon Fisher said. Voter traffic stayed steady throughout the day.
“We had a few lulls but never a time when anyone wasn’t here,” she said. “We didn’t even have time to get hungry.”
The seven poll workers each got a short break, Fisher said.
When the polls closed at 7 p.m., one voter still was filling out his provisional ballot - one of at least 50 provisional ballots cast in Osawatomie, Carol Hanlin said.
Most provisionals had to be cast because a voter’s name was not in the poll workers’ book of registered voters, she said.
Of the 2,600 registered voters in the city of Osawatomie, just less than 1,300 cast ballots at the polls, Hanlin said. At times, workers were nervous about running out of ballots, but she called the county election office and officials dropped off 400 extra - 100 for each of the city’s four wards.
“If we’d been busy this afternoon like we were this morning, we would’ve run out,” Hanlin said.
After the last ballot was turned in, the counting began - about 13 hours after poll workers had arrived.
I wrote this. Comment on it. Tell me it sucks, tell me it's OK, tell me it makes you want to fall down a flight of stairs.
I'm real tired.
By Matt McNabb
STAFF WRITER
Trends seen at polling places throughout the nation - high turnout, long lines, many first-time voters - were seen at many of Miami County’s 19 polling places Tuesday, with some election workers saying this year’s turnout appeared to have been the highest they’d ever seen.
Polls were busy when they opened at 7 a.m., and many stayed that way for much of Election Day.
At 4:15 p.m. at the Mission Valley Hunt Club, where voters in Middle Creek Township’s west precinct cast ballots, several people were voting or waiting to vote.
Betty Morgan, one of the three election workers at the club, estimated that she had worked elections for at least 10 years. Tuesday’s turnout was the best she had seen, she said.
Polls opened across the county at 7 a.m., and election workers at many polls were greeted by lines when they opened doors.
Paola Township
At 4:45 p.m. on Election Day, 10 people were casting or waiting to cast ballots at the Paola National Guard Armory, the polling place for Paola Township.
Mary Windisch said turnout in the precinct was expected to be more than 50 percent. But presidential elections always see better turnout, she added.
The flow was steady all day, but the poll saw the heaviest traffic from 7 to 9 a.m., election worker Ann Asher said.
Many young people, including college students back from school to vote, passed through the armory doors Tuesday.
Karen Osborn of rural Paola was one of the precinct’s first-time voters. She became a U.S. citizen five years ago and could have voted in the 2000 election but didn’t. Four years later, she realizes just how close this year’s presidential race has been, and certain issues, such as individual rights, got her to the polls, she said.
“You should go and vote regardless,” Osborn said.
Just before 5 p.m., a man told Asher and Windisch, “I heard I was lucky.” He knew someone who voted during a lunch break at the American Legion in Paola and spent an hour there, he said.
Paola
He was lucky. Had he been a city resident, he might have waited nearly a half hour or more.
At 5:15 p.m., one line was well out the door of the Legion building just west of Wallace Park. Many people were coming in after work, including couples and parents with children. A count of voters would have been difficult, with lines constantly changing and people shuffling.
Long lines were the standard throughout the day, election worker Deb Weatherbie said.
“We’ve never had a time when there wasn’t someone here,” she said.
But voting is worth the wait, Gracie Ayilara, a self-described regular voter, said outside the Legion building shortly after sunset.
“I just chose to vote because I’m a Christian and want to vote for someone with the same morals and values as I have,” she said.
Ayilara voted in her first presidential election in 1976.
“I think it is one of the most important ones,” she said of this year’s contest. “It’s going to be a very close race, and I think every vote counts.”
Valley Township
Debbie and Loren Windler of rural Paola showed up in the pilot’s room at We B Smokin’ restaurant at the Miami County Airport shortly after 6 p.m., with less than an hour remaining to vote.
Debbie Windler said she isn’t a regular voter, although she usually votes in presidential elections. This was her husband’s first time to cast a ballot.
Why was that?
“She convinced me,” he said, looking in his wife’s direction. “She said it might make a difference.”
“You just never know,” Debbie Windler said.
She voted this year because she had strong feelings about one particular presidential candidate and the ballot question on renewing the quarter-cent sales tax, she said.
“I think we have to keep our roads up,” she said.
By shortly after 6 p.m., about 430 of 745 registered voters in Valley Township’s West Precinct had come by the airport to vote, Eleanor McKaig said. There were only a handful of 2- to 3-minute periods during which the room was empty, she said.
A line greeted election workers when they opened the doors at 7 a.m., and a line remained until about 9 a.m., McKaig said.
“It’s been pretty steady all day,” she said.
McKaig, like many election workers, brought something to occupy her attention during lulls. But her book went unopened through 12 hours of voting.
“We hardly had time to eat,” she said.
Osawatomie
The last half-hour of voting at Vintage Park in Osawatomie was much like that of the previous 23 half-hours - busy.
The morning was especially busy, and the initial line took a long time to thin out, Sharon Fisher said. Voter traffic stayed steady throughout the day.
“We had a few lulls but never a time when anyone wasn’t here,” she said. “We didn’t even have time to get hungry.”
The seven poll workers each got a short break, Fisher said.
When the polls closed at 7 p.m., one voter still was filling out his provisional ballot - one of at least 50 provisional ballots cast in Osawatomie, Carol Hanlin said.
Most provisionals had to be cast because a voter’s name was not in the poll workers’ book of registered voters, she said.
Of the 2,600 registered voters in the city of Osawatomie, just less than 1,300 cast ballots at the polls, Hanlin said. At times, workers were nervous about running out of ballots, but she called the county election office and officials dropped off 400 extra - 100 for each of the city’s four wards.
“If we’d been busy this afternoon like we were this morning, we would’ve run out,” Hanlin said.
After the last ballot was turned in, the counting began - about 13 hours after poll workers had arrived.