Comments on Seattle Voter Open Thread: North of Ship Canal

I think I'll head on down to All The King's Flags and get a flag to wave. I've never owned a flag before (aside from a colonial-era British Columbia one). I think I'm going to feel like waving one for the first time this evening.

Showed up at 7 a.m. at the Calvary on Roosevelt, where about 10 precincts vote.
The foyer was jammed like I've never seen it before. Lines snaked around each other but everyone was crazy excited and no one complained about waiting. A few people brought their kids.
It only took 10 mins or so to get a paper ballot, and there was a long line to get a little carrel. But most people just found the nearest window sill or patch of wall or floor and started marking their ballots, sharing pens and voter pamphlets.
I'll miss this camaraderie when we go to all-mail voting. And I'll remember this day forever.

I voted by mail but my friend voted at Roosevelt High School at 7ish and said the wait was 30 minutes. He also reported that you had to vote by registration # or something and that the signs for the tables with those #'s were hung way too low and people could not find the right table easily.

When are we going to 100% vote by mail? I swear to god...

Greenwood-80th & Fremont:

Lots of people at 7:15, approx 125-150. Every flat surface had a voter filling out paper ballots. Several photogs and a KOMO 4 live news van. It took me about 30 minutes to vote for change.

Arrived about 7:10am at Luther Memorial (130th & Greenwood). Lines about 3 deep for a ballot, about 6 deep for a booth. Once we all clued in to the fact that we just needed a dark pen and a place to write, we stopped waiting in the booth line and started pulling out metal folding chairs to write on. People shared pens, got stickers, and we were out by 7:25.

I voted at Greenlake Elementary first thing this morning. At 10 minutes to 7, a line already went down the hall, but once the doors opened it sped up a bit. We also had too many people with ballots, not enough booths; I ended up filling out my ballot atop a bookcase.

The "black box" vote-counting machine was already broken by 7:20 or so, and I had to put my vote in the side slot where provisional ballots go. I'm a little frustrated because seeing the ballot get scanned and the number increment by one on the machine usually makes me more confident that my ballot was counted. I'm not certain, but I thought I understood that provisional ballots go in a different pile and aren't counted as quickly as "real" ballots. Does anybody know?

Just back from voting at Cavalry Church at 69th and 9th. Only weirdness was some guy who double voted and the machine wouldn't take his ballot as a result. He didn't understand what he'd done wrong, and the poll worker (who's not supposed to look at anyone's completed ballot) couldn't point out his mistake. At its peak, though, the line was maybe 10 people.

I dropped off my and my partner's absentee ballots at the polling station at Greenwood and 110th at 7:10 this morning, and there were probably about 30-40 lined up snaking through the halls waiting to vote. I can't remember ever seeing a line to vote in any of the years I've voted (since 1988). Finally, this country feels like a real democracy!

Sorry for the long message, but this post on Talking Points Memo today was awesome. Read to the end.

I Didn't Vote For Obama Today
November 4, 2008, 9:37AM

I have a confession to make.

I did not vote for Barack Obama today.

I've openly supported Obama since March. But I didn't vote for him today.

I wanted to vote for Ronald Woods. He was my algebra teacher at Clark Junior High in East St. Louis, IL. He died 15 years ago when his truck skidded head-first into a utility pole. He spent many a day teaching us many things besides the Pythagorean Theorem. He taught us about Medgar Evers, Ralph Abernathy, John Lewis and many other civil rights figures who get lost in the shadow cast by Martin Luther King, Jr.

But I didn't vote for Mr. Woods.

I wanted to vote for Willie Mae Cross. She owned and operated Crossroads Preparatory Academy for almost 30 years, educating and empowering thousands of kids before her death in 2003. I was her first student. She gave me my first job, teaching chess and math concepts to kids in grades K-4 in her summer program. She was always there for advice, cheer and consolation. Ms. Cross, in her own way, taught me more about walking in faith than anyone else I ever knew.

But I didn't vote for Ms. Cross.

I wanted to vote for Arthur Mells Jackson, Sr. and Jr. Jackson Senior was a Latin professor. He has a gifted school named for him in my hometown. Jackson Junior was the pre-eminent physician in my hometown for over 30 years. He has a heliport named for him at a hospital in my hometown. They were my great-grandfather and great-uncle, respectively.

But I didn't vote for Prof. Jackson or Dr. Jackson.

I wanted to vote for A.B. Palmer. She was a leading civil rights figure in Shreveport, Louisiana, where my mother grew up and where I still have dozens of family members. She was a strong-willed woman who earned the grudging respect of the town's leaders because she never, ever backed down from anyone and always gave better than she got. She lived to the ripe old age of 99, and has a community center named for her in Shreveport.

But I didn't vote for Mrs. Palmer.

I wanted to vote for these people, who did not live to see a day where a Black man would appear on their ballots on a crisp November morning.

In the end, though, I realized that I could not vote for them any more than I could vote for Obama himself.

So who did I vote for?

No one.

I didn't vote. Not for President, anyway.

Oh, I went to the voting booth. I signed, was given my stub, and was walked over to a voting machine. I cast votes for statewide races and a state referendum on water and sewer improvements.

I stood there, and I thought about all of these people, who influenced my life so greatly. But I didn't vote for who would be the 44th President of the United States.

When my ballot was complete, except for the top line, I finally decided who I was going to vote for - and then decided to let him vote for me. I reached down, picked him up, and told him to find Obama's name on the screen and touch it.

And so it came to pass that Alexander Reed, age 5, read the voting screen, found the right candidate, touched his name, and actually cast a vote for Barack Obama and Joe Biden.

Oh, the vote will be recorded as mine. But I didn't cast it.

Then again, the person who actually pressed the Obama box and the red "vote" button was the person I was really voting for all along.

It made the months of donating, phonebanking, canvassing, door hanger distributing, sign posting, blogging, arguing and persuading so much sweeter.

So, no, I didn't vote for Barack Obama. I voted for a boy who now has every reason to believe he, too, can grow up to be anything he wants...even President.

we got in my car & drove downtown. 2 girls had gregoire signs at lake city & 80th. there were people on the 45th overpass waving signs. the express lanes were crowded north of the ship canal, then not crowded south of it.

absentee voters don't have good stories.

Gift of Grace Church in Wallingford was packed at 7:30, with people voting in every nook and cranny. It was pretty empty 20 minutes later.

Just went to the weird little church in wallingford. No line, maybe thirty people in the whole place. As always, no sandwich board sign out front, just little letter sized ones in the back garden. Appearently everyone in wallingford is supposed to just know where that place is.

HL, that story was silly, so why am I crying?

Got to Greenwood Christian Church (81st and Fremont Avenue) at 6:40 AM and was about tenth in line. By the time the polls opened at 7:00 AM, there was about fifty people in line behind me. Met Donald, an African-American man who was voting or the first time since 1976. Lots of confusion about lines and getting the ballot, and eventually people stopped waiting for the little booths and filled out their ballots anywhere they could. A packed house. Lots of positive energy, but some expressed concern about Gregoire-Rossi. Someone lamented that this may be the last time we ever go to a polling place, with mail-in voting catching on so quickly.

8:15 at St. Benedict's in Wallingford. First time I've even seen a line there (I've been voting there for 5 years). As with other places there was a line for the voting booths so people were filling out ballots everywhere.

Yahoo!

Gift of Grace in Wallingford *really* needs some better signage. There's like a single 8 1/2 x 11 piece of typing paper with "vote here" in 10 pt Comic Sans stapled to a solitary fencepost behind a hydrangea bush three feet off the sidewalk. They also have two doors, one of which is the wrong door but it was open anyhow and we went through into some dark kitchen, had to go back out and reenter using the correct door. Craziness.

It was pretty quick at about 715, prolly 'cause nobody could find the place. I must say, though, it's super nice to be able to walk to one's polling place.

Arrived at Lictonwood (90th and Greenwood) prior to 7. Line of at least 30 people greeted me and the wife. Seemed that most people hadn't voted at the polls before and were mystified by the precinct numbers. Luckily, hyper-excitement carried everyone through to ballots covering every surface. Good energy and happy pollsters.

Green Lake Community Center. Got there a few minutes past 9:00am and there was no wait. Got my ballot, filled in the ovals, slipped it into the ballot gulper (which really does look like a giant paper shredder), and was out of there by 9:15. I heard someone say that it was quite crowded earlier, but slowed down at 9:00.

I voted ages ago in my living room with my wife, my cousin, the Stranger, and my iTunes music collection, just like God intended. We shoehorned those ballots into the outgoing mail drop and went on with our week. Since then, I've been "cautiously optimistic," although today I'm jittery and anxious. I want it to be the evening so I can go and watch the returns come in.

As I was driving to work down I-5, I saw four or five students holding big banners at the 45th ST overpass. They said "YES ON PROP 1; NO ON I-985," "TES ON I-1000," and there were also big Obama and Gregoire signs. People stuck in traffic were waving and honking.

Voted at Calvary on Roosevelt at about 8:30 am. It was very busy and festive - no real lines, but lots of excitement.

Another one at the Greenwood Christian Church. Was about 40th on line when I arrived about 6:55 and was out by 7:20. Interestingly, the line for my specific precinct inside was again slow while the other precincts had no lines, yet I was still the 29th person to put my ballot through the machine. Did I just vote that much faster than everyone else, or was there another machine for ballots to go into? Don't know.

Voted at the VFW near the locks in Ballard. No wait, except for the line of people who apparently were all in the same precinct and had to sign the same book. I wrote up my choices last night after reading the Voters' Pamphlet, reading the Times endorsements, reading the P-I endorsements, and finishing up with The Stranger's. I felt pretty dang informed (although those judicial races always drive me loony).

Anyway, took maybe 10 minutes, got my "I voted" sticker. Nothing of interest I fear.

Just voted at Lincoln High School in Wallingford. My wife went early this morning, and had to wait forever because they ran out of pens.

Bring your own dark, ballpoint pen!

Laurelhurst School Cafeteria at 7:10 AM, there was a snaking line longer than I'd ever seen it there, voting booths were all full so people were filling out their ballots on the folded out cafeteria tables, and they were running out of pens. I'll miss the excitement when things change to all mail voting.

My husband and I just moved to Ballard in February, so this is only the second time we've voted at the Ballard Free Methodist Church on NW 73rd and Mary. The first time, the primary election, there was nobody there expect poll workers. This morning, we pulled up on our bikes at about 7:15 and I could see through the open door a line to put ballots in the big, black box--wow! Inside there was more energy than I remember even from four years ago: a long line for the booths, people crowded around small cafe tables with their ballots, poll workers running around trouble-shooting instead of just standing around. After wading through all those King County Charter Ammendments (ugh, why so many?) I finally got to fill in that circle for Obama and I did it with so much pride and hope.

My ballot was #69 (I think) which is amazing considering it was 7:30 in the morning! Now, if only my husband would stop jinxing it with his premature talk of victory--he's super-psyched that Dixfield Notch, New Hampshire went for Obama over McCain 15 to 6--first time since Hubert Humphry they've voted for a democrat for president!

The only sad part is the "farewell to polls" above the "I voted" on my sticker. I will miss poll voting. It's something I look forward to always.

I also voted weeks ago by absentee ballot, but I work at the King County Courthouse downtown. I was crossing the street to the Administration building where you can drop your ballot off or vote in person. A man saw my "I voted!" sticker and asked if I could help him find the polling place. I walked him into the building and showed him where to go. On our walk he said he's voting for Obama "because he's going to help my kids be able to pay for college." I smiled and said, "He sure is."

Ballard - I voted absentee, but dropped off our ballots at our polling place instead of mailing them. It was at the Evangelical church on 80th near 15th Ave NW. I parked right out front around 9AM, and there didn't appear to be anyone inside voting.

Given that we live in liberal Seattle, and this is an Evangelical church, it has crossed my mind before that it would probably be in the church's political interest to just dump the entire ballot box in Puget Sound at the end of the day. But, I assume someone at the King County Elections Board would notice this?

I voted at Calvary Church in the Roosevelt District at around 9:30, and it was as crowded as I've ever seen it. I had a short wait to get my ballot and then a short wait to vote - maybe 15 minutes longer than usual all up - but the place had such a good vibe with chatty neighbors, etc. that it felt fine. Pretty exciting to see so many people out doing their thing.

trying to vote in mapleleaf... They asked if I wanted to vote with paper or electronically. I chose: electronic. A half hour later, waiting on the one machine available... it was the wrong decision; all the paper voters are coming and going plenty fast.

drove up to the third place books in lake forest park. dropped the absentee ballot in the elections drop box ... then climbed up on to the box, took off my shirt and screamed "whoopee for obama!" then i quietly went on with my day. that was sometime last week.

I voted at Bethany Lutheran at 110th and Greenwood at little after 7:00 am. Normally I vote after work but I was given a late start to vote and engage in morning rush hour sign waving. When I vote at 4:30 or 5:00 there is never a line. The line was about an hour for the whole process and was already shorter by the time I left. After I voted I sign-waved until 9:00 with the group that always has a big hand painted sign on Aurora at the zoo every Tuesday. When they left I was off to work and down Aurora I saw a solitary sign waver and joined her for about half an hour. By the time I had to leave to go to work three more people joined us. Most people did not respond. Of those who showed a response the supporters were the vast majority. I got the finger or thumbs down about one in thirty.

I voted at 8:30 this morning at the Calvary Baptist Church in Roosevelt. I live closer to the polling places at both Eckstein Community Center and Roosevelt HS, which I walked passed as I headed towards *my* polling place. Regardless, the wait wasn't long at all, but every carrel was full. People were filling out ballots on just about any surface.

It was beautiful.

From the Meridian neighborhood, AKA "Tangletown": We've been here for 34 years, and this may have been our last walk over to the Good Shepherd Center to vote at the polling place, if King County goes to mail-in next year. At ten-ish A.M., there were plenty of people voting, and the usual grumpy Republican-looking lady checking us in. Over the decades there have been squads of elderly volunteers manning the tables, all gone now. I'm worried for Gregoire, and angry that this state could be so full of idiots who would vote for her sleazy grifter of an opponent.
Anyway, onward into the enormous clean up necessary after another criminal Republican crew has trashed the country...

Did all the polls have the "paper or electronic" choice? I heard myself say "paper" louder than I needed to. I suppose I've heard too many horror stories about electronic voting in other states

I voted at Nathan Hale High School at about 10:30AM and....hardly anyone was there. Could be that they had an early rush, but it felt a little lonely compared to the caucus I attended in Ballard earlier in the year. Anyways, felt a rush voting for Obama, took a minute to stare at the sheet and drink in the fact that I was actually able to vote for a candidate that I was genuinely excited about!

I voted at Blakely Manor near U-Village around 8am. Short line and high spirits all around. I'll miss voting in person.

University Lutheran Church in the University District was hopping, but no lines at 8am.

I don't understand how other parts of the country can fuck it up so bad.

I voted by mail, but as we quaffed bloody maries (what's the plural of bloody mary?) our waitress from Des Moines informed us she had not voted yet. Long story short, we did some research and learned all King County voters can vote at any polling place by using a provisional ballot. So if you can't make it home in time, just go to the closest place and vote provisional.

You do need state issued ID though.

My partner and I went to get a cup of coffee with our 4 month-old daughter at Fresh Flours on Phinney before taking her with us to vote. A woman approached us to tell us how cute our baby is, and we told her we were headed to the polls. "Will you vote for me?" the woman asked my daughter. "I'm Barbara Mack and I'm running for KC Superior Court."

On top of everything else happening on this great day, I literally had my baby kissed by a candidate!

I walked in around 10 am. Went to the usual far left side of the registered voter table, signed the papers, got the ballot and the iVoted sticker, took forever to color in the circles, put the ballot in the ballot eating box and went to Starbucks to get my free coffee. The Bell Tower in Belltown has never had a waiting line in all the 6 years I've been going there.
Happy Obama Day, Slog!

@9, that made me cry, thanks.

My boss said she got to the polls on View Ridge when they opened, and by the time she got to vote she was 134th in her precinct.

Normally, that takes all day before it gets that high.

I just voted. It was a little like walking into an old folks home. I'm in my mid-40s, and I was one of the youngest people in the room.

"Paper ballot or electronic voting machine?" asked a poll worker in her 70s.

"Paper," I said. Diebold can go fuck themselves.

I've been voting in the same church for over 15 years. I'm self employed and a night owl, so I tend to go vote mid day. There is usually almost nobody there during the middle of a workday. There was no line today, but inside it was pretty full, only one or two voting stations empty when I walked in. That is the busiest I've ever seen it. Although certainly not unmanageable, the turnout is obviously higher than ever before.

I had never asked for a sticker before, but I did this year. I'm going to proudly wear my sticker until it falls off my shirt.

My partner and I (Uplake, Kenmore, northwest corner of the lake) went to vote at around 11:15am; polling place was busier than I've ever seen it before, but despite that there were only two people queued up ahead of us. No problems with the balloting. All the paper balloting places were full, I only saw one person who wanted to use the single touchscreen.

I voted at 8:30 am at a Lutheran church at 50th and 16th in the U District. It was busy, but no lines. College students sleep in, I guess.

I printed out The Stranger's Election Guide yesterday and took notes, comparing it with Fuse's Progressive Voter's Guide. (I voted with The Stranger about 90%) I felt smug and super-prepared with my little sheet in the voting booth as others around me leafed through their pamphlets or stared uncomprehendingly at the amendments, initiatives, propositions, and local races. GO DEMOCRACY!

one of the baristas at Bulldog News hasn't voted yet - she's biking north to Snohomish to cast her absentee ballot at the polling location - but she says she voted No on Prop 1 (ST).