Slog - Comments on The Lines to Vote in Atlanta

Comment by Georgia Guy

Georgia Guy — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 13:56:23 -0800

FINALLY! A positive post about my state on Slog. My life is now complete.

Comment by Ben London

Ben London — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 14:08:09 -0800

This is truly inspiring!

Comment by John

John — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 14:14:32 -0800

Amazing to see, but also quite saddening. How long do the repubs in the suburbs have to wait? 6, 7 minutes? When will polling places be distributed according to population density?

Comment by Original Monique

Original Monique — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 14:18:30 -0800

Holy fuck.

Comment by Sweeney Agonistes

Sweeney Agonistes — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 14:19:22 -0800

@3: It depends on the polling place and the part of the county. The more populous parts of Cherokee County were up to 4.5 hours on Monday. My mother gave up on the Woodstock Public Library, drove up to Canton (less populous), and voted after waiting 45 minutes. I've had friends wait 30 minutes and friends wait five hours. They're all in the northern suburbs, and they all voted Obama.

Comment by daniel

daniel — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 14:36:33 -0800

Does anyone know what technology they are using?

This is fucking criminal. People who make "voting machines" should be shot. I mean seriously, I will do it.

The only "voting machine" necessary is a pen or a pencil. Let's break down the story: voting by scantron hundreds of people can sit and dawdle and fill out their ballots and they only have to use a special machine for 30 seconds or so.

Expensive machines that people have to use for many (arbitrary) minutes to fill out a ballot? Should be a capitol offense to produce.

Oh well, democracy sucks. I hate this but absentee / mail will make this all go away (and presumably produce bigger problems later.)

Comment by Sweeney Agonistes

Sweeney Agonistes — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 14:41:33 -0800

@6: Georgia's been using the Diebold electronic machines since 2003.

Comment by Will in Seattle

Will in Seattle — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 14:47:09 -0800

Why aren't there MORE POLLING STATIONS if the lines are that long?

Comment by DOUG.

DOUG. — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 14:47:53 -0800

This isn't "inspiring", it's utter bullshit that someone would have to wait this long to vote. There were lines like this in 2004 in downtown Cleveland and Columbus. I guarantee you this isn't happening in the wealthy parts of Atlanta. If Obama somehow pulls out Georgia, we should bow down to these patient souls.

Comment by keshmeshi

keshmeshi — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 15:09:48 -0800

I don't want to think about what it's going to be like on election day.

Comment by ams

ams — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 15:23:20 -0800

This is really a disgrace. This polling station has one message and one message only: don't vote. Thank god these people are so patient and determined.

Comment by Julie in Chicago

Julie in Chicago — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 15:26:20 -0800

Well... at least here in Chicago, there are far, far fewer locations to vote early than there are actually polling places. Since so many people wanted to vote early, the lines were long (2 hours at one location I visited). Significantly longer than what I am guessing they will be in my polling place. So, I'm just going to vote on the 4th.

Comment by Nicole

Nicole — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 16:15:19 -0800

While there are several people voting, and it's great remember these lines are only for early voting. In my county (Cobb) only 5 early voting stations existed. On election day there are 3 within a one mile ratio of my home.

Comment by kasa

kasa — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 16:15:58 -0800

Um, to be fair folks, this is EARLY VOTING, and I'm sure the turnout caught them completely unprepared - just like most every other city in the country. This is what happens when a country with a piss poor voting rate turns itself around. It's DAMN inspiring.

Comment by Christin

Christin — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 00:11:30 -0800

I live in north Atlanta, in a suburb called Norcross, and it took me two and a half hours. Chik-Fil-A was selling sandwiches in line. Voting itself took probably six minutes at the machine, even though I knew how I was voting on everybody, because there were a fuckton of judges up for election.

@9, the comment about it not happening in wealthy parts of Atlanta: In Georgia, each county had 5 - 8 early voting locations last week, and Atlanta has 4-6ish metro counties, depending on how far out you want to count as "metro," but the two with the most affluent neighborhoods (Fulton and Dekalb, also the only two counties to go Democratic in '04) also encompass some of the poorest parts. ALL the early voting locations were swamped.

Comment by J. Hoffman

J. Hoffman — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 06:28:59 -0800

Sit on the floor to vote, if you have to. No law says you have to sit at a table to fill out a paper ballot. Last election, instead of waiting forever in a very long line after receiving my paper ballot, I walked over and sat down on the floor and began filling out my ballot. Next thing I knew, there were people sitting all over the floor filling out ballots, and the line diminished considerably.