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Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Seattle Voter Open Thread: South of Ship Canal

posted by on November 4 at 11:19 AM

Same as above: Tell us what you’re seeing, feeling, and experiencing, and where it all went down, in the comments. This thread is for those who voted south of the Ship Canal in Seattle, and it will move upward on Slog throughout the day.

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1

Why did you divide these in two? Are you trying to own the front of Slog today?

Posted by Mr. Poe | November 4, 2008 8:49 AM
2

Got to Zion Baptist church on 19th and Madison at 6:50 this morning. Was about 20th in line. Had my ballot filled out and in the black box by 7:15. Smooth as butter. I did notice a fair amount of people having to do provisional ballots though. That looked not a smooth.

Posted by Matthew | November 4, 2008 8:51 AM
3

wheee. 7 am @ Sanislo Elementary. Maybe 30-40 people in line.

Posted by beef | November 4, 2008 8:51 AM
4

My boyfriend and I arrived at our polling place, Lowell Elementary
School, at 6:25am this morning and were the first ones there. By 6:40
there was already an impressive line and by 7:00 there were a hell of
a lot of people. Once they let us in the gym it looked like a wave. We
both managed to get out by 7:15 and catch our usual bus up to the U
District. I have no idea how long it took the folks behind
us to vote.

I witnessed some election line flirting. It was adorable.

Posted by zephsright | November 4, 2008 8:51 AM
5

I voted at 9th and Stewart. Got in line about 6:40 am, was done voting by 7:20. It was crowded and not an ideal room set-up but the volunteers were doing a great job making the best of it.

Posted by Fauna Doyle | November 4, 2008 8:52 AM
6

Alki Elementary is cake! Easy. Precinct 1419 is ready for voters! Make some history!

Posted by freeburg | November 4, 2008 8:57 AM
7

Got to Madrona School about a quarter to seven and there was quite the line. Everyone was very cheerful and having a fun time despite being damp.
It was good and crowded but everyone was helpful and the poll workers were incredibly nice.
It was a total coca-cola commercial of ideal diversity.

Posted by gfrancie | November 4, 2008 8:58 AM
8

Voted at Seattle Central. Everyone was half-awake and getting in the same line, even though you could queue into multiple precinct sub-lines. Once I realized this, my line was only three people long. Big shout out to Equal Rights Washington for their very comprehensive voters guide. Got me in and out of there much faster.

Posted by John At Work | November 4, 2008 8:58 AM
9

Voted at Denny Terrace (Denny and Melrose).

Short wait, nice folks, rickety shaky poll stations, but oh well...

Took about 20 minutes or so. There was one eVoting machine. wasn't too popular, but there were about 5 people waiting for it.

Posted by Jeremy from Seattle | November 4, 2008 9:00 AM
10

When I went to the very sleepy voting location near SPU in August for the primary, it was absolutely dead. I went after work.

This morning, I went at the normally sleepy 7:15am, and there was a line. It was small, and I got in and out quickly, but it was the first line I ever saw at the SPU voting location EVER. (I moved here in early 2001.)

It's probably a combo of the governor's race and the 36th district race (and oh yeah, that presidential race too.)

Posted by mackro mackro | November 4, 2008 9:01 AM
11

Madrona School was packed at 7:45 AM. Felt so much excitement and positive energy on this dreariest of days. See y'all at the Showbox later!

Posted by Deacon Seattle | November 4, 2008 9:08 AM
12

Big line at Leschi School, as well. Probably 75 people, just before 7am, everyone commenting how last time there wasn't a line at all.

One problem: The poll worker lady forgot to take the detachable stub off of my ballot, something I noticed just as the ballot was sliding into that little slidey box you put it into when you're done.

Hope my vote will still count (fingers crossed).

Posted by Seth | November 4, 2008 9:08 AM
13

arrived at hawthorne school at 8:00 sharp, waited maybe 5-10 minutes in a line of a dozen or so... volunteers were very organized and friendly. i was in and out in 20 minutes.

Posted by jameyb | November 4, 2008 9:11 AM
14

I guess numbers would help, I'd say 30-40 people in Denny Terrace in the time I was there. The line was about 10 deep when I got there with 10 "booths" filled, about 10 people in line for their ballots and 5 or so waiting for the eVoting machine.

Posted by Jeremy from Seattle | November 4, 2008 9:14 AM
15

I went to the polls at 7am this morning. I walked down to St. George's Rectory ( separation of church and state? ). There were 5 of those little tables for coloring in your ballot. People were just milling around in the basement ..no rhyme or reason. There was also an electronic voting machine there. As I walked in I heard one of the retirees that was helping out say " the electronic machine is broken". I looked at the big name of the maker on the top..

DIEBOLD.


Needless to say people weren't shy about just asking for pens and sitting down at whatever table or chair they could find and filling thier ballots out right in the open. I just wish I had known about the pen shortage, I would have brought a dozen for them to use just to make sure people didnt leave because of the long line..


I voted.

Posted by angst | November 4, 2008 9:14 AM
16

Voted this morning at Denny and Melrose. We were in line at 6:45 with about 20 people ahead of us. When they opened the doors at 7, there were 30 behind us and more coming in. This was the last time to vote in person so it was nice to see the little old ladies who man the voter rolls. And I have an awesome sticker. Yeah voting!

Posted by Juli | November 4, 2008 9:15 AM
17

9 am, Gatewood Elementary. In and out, no problem. The kids peeking into the gyn were cute. Sigh...it's kinda anti-climatic.

Posted by Gato22 | November 4, 2008 9:16 AM
18

Voted at 5th and W Howe in Upper Queen Anne. No line outside but people were waiting for a seat once inside. Took about 20 minutes!

Posted by A Morgan | November 4, 2008 9:16 AM
19

Zion Church, 19th and Madison - damn cold this morning. Arrived at 7:40am, voted by 8:10am. Photographed my ballot to mark the occasion. Steady business, tables full, happy people with kids, seniors with smiling faces, a couple of teenagers volunteering at the front desk, full of energy and enthusiasm. Left happier despite the rain. Almost hit by car, but it's all good - driver apologized, they were in a hurry to vote.

Posted by yelahneb | November 4, 2008 9:16 AM
20

At the New School in COlumbia City at 7:10 - line was into and down the hallway - waited about 15 minutes. People were voting with ballots up against the wall, on the floor, in official "voting booths," even one person on her daughter's back! The only thing that seemed to be going wrong was the polling place - they didn't have enough pens!

Posted by kate | November 4, 2008 9:16 AM
21

St. George Parish on South Beacon Hill.

(also know as Georgetown Heights : )

8:15 AM no line, but most crowded time ever. People voting on chairs and tables, as booths overwhelmed.

Heard that people were lining up before 7 AM.

Great vibes! Man with small kid saying:

"see, this is how it's done!"

Posted by Bonita | November 4, 2008 9:16 AM
22

At the New School in COlumbia City at 7:10 - line was into and down the hallway - waited about 15 minutes. People were voting with ballots up against the wall, on the floor, in official "voting booths," even one person on her daughter's back! The only thing that seemed to be going wrong was the polling place - they didn't have enough pens!

Posted by kate | November 4, 2008 9:17 AM
23

also at Zion around 7:40am. longest wait was for my ballot. used the Stranger Election Cheat Sheet on my phone to help fill out the bubbles. went home, got baked and the celebration begins!!!!

Posted by voter9049484783 | November 4, 2008 9:20 AM
24

Voted at International Terrace in the I.D. at 8AM. There was one person in line in front of me. Five others filling out their ballots. The whole thing took me less then 25 minutes. Simple as a snake

Posted by soxforgoats | November 4, 2008 9:27 AM
25

At Montlake Elementary School at 8 am, there was a very short wait. Our long-time poll workers were there--along with a couple of college-age women (about 50 years younger than the median pollworker age) manning one of the precinct desks. Voting was the usual efficient experience. My neighborhood has a lot of Microsoftees and Amazonians and UW staff, and I expect many have voted absentee for years to avoid missing a vote through commuting problems.

Posted by Glenn Fleishman | November 4, 2008 9:28 AM
26

Got in to the First Covenant Church at around 8:20. I got all of my voting materials and in a booth within 5 minutes. Moost of the time I took savoring the fact that tomorrow will be a better day than the last 2,922.

I was a bit disturbed (and I think I must be the only one) by the fact that I was voting for City, County, State, and Federal Government officials in a church. Proposition Fuck Our Constitution and It's Rules must have been approved many many years ago, and I must have been very oblivious.

Posted by Devin | November 4, 2008 9:35 AM
27

People of color overwhelmingly preferred voting electronically at the Gethsemane Lutheran Church, WTF?

Arrived a little after 7 and had to wait about 45 minutes. This is my third time voting and there's never been a line before. They "ran out of pens" before 8am. The guy running the 36th district had no line but the 43rd was crazy and snaking. KONG had a TV crew there, apparently people had been in line since 5:30am.

Posted by Westlake, son! | November 4, 2008 9:42 AM
28

36-1798, Magnolia. 40+ people at 7 am, people filing in, palpable sense of excitement. They give you choice of paper or electronic. Man who went with electronic option had problems right out of the gate. Machine had to be serviced and his vote removed, and then re-entered. I asked him if he was sure his vote counted, and he said "Are we ever really 100 percent sure?" Salty dog! Volunteer monitoring paper drop box was in tears from excitement…

Posted by Miss Stereo | November 4, 2008 9:43 AM
29

I went to Denny Terrace to drop off my absentee ballot, expecting to walk right up to the box and drop it in despite any lines to use the machines. There was maybe 30 people waiting in a line that was being funneled into a tiny doorway and a poll worker was directing people from there into a tiny room. I didn't want to wait in the line and I didn't want to squeeze through the front of the line either, so my ballot is still with me now and I'm looking for the polling place closest to 3rd and Pike.

Posted by w7ngman | November 4, 2008 9:53 AM
30

Also: They give you the option of not having to wait for the privacy booth, so people were sitting on the floors, at desks, window ledges, counters--pretty much everywhere--filling out their sheets. Something I thought I would never hear: "Do you mind if I sit here and vote with you?"

Posted by Miss Stereo | November 4, 2008 9:55 AM
31

We vote absentee, but I always drop our ballots off at our polling place (T.T. Minor Elementary School) on election day. There's never anyone around when I drop them off. But today, I stopped by at 9:30 and about thirty people were there to vote. More people kept coming in. I'm amazed and heartened. Eager voters lining up at 7 a.m. is one thing - but lines mid-morning? Wow.

Posted by brie | November 4, 2008 9:58 AM
32

Voted at 8:00am at Gatzert Elementary in the CD. There was a 15 person or so line for 37-1879, but the 1827 and 1880 precincts only had 1-2 person wait. I was kind of expecting huge lines....

Posted by boxofbirds | November 4, 2008 10:02 AM
33

I'm on Beacon Hill, wearing my Obama shirt under my sweater.

Posted by Greg | November 4, 2008 10:22 AM
34

I voted at Madrona Elementary. I have never seen that many people in there before. It was completely packed, but no waiting. You couldn't get to the voting kiosks, most people were sitting at the little-kid tables to fill out their ballots. It was very exciting and festive.

Posted by Gillian Anderson | November 4, 2008 10:38 AM
35

Denny Terrace for me as well, shuffling in at around 7:15 in the rain. I'm bad with times and bad with amounts, so I have no idea on either, but I was excited to be there.

Posted by Abby | November 4, 2008 10:42 AM
36

Voted at Meany Middle School. They had fresh-baked cookies and kids between bells yelling "Vote for the O" down the halls.
Where my mom votes and I grew up, in Pickett Wisconsin, they always have pies, fried chicken and coffee for the voters. I've always been jealous of that scene. But I think voting at Meany Middle School beats Pickett this time.

Posted by Tim Keck | November 4, 2008 10:49 AM
37

10:30, Seattle Central Community College. Brief wait, and it would've been longer if they hadn't had a bunch of tables set up in addition to the booths.
My ballot was #341 when I slid it into the machine. In eight years of voting at the same precinct, usually in late afternoon, I've never gotten a higher number than #36. Turnout, at least in this district, rocks.
They were "temporarily out" of "I Voted" stickers.

Posted by alight | November 4, 2008 10:51 AM
38

i hope there are cookies left when i go to vote...

Posted by infrequent | November 4, 2008 10:54 AM
39

I just dropped off my ballot at the Josephinum at 2nd and Stewart. There was no line at all.

Posted by w7ngman | November 4, 2008 10:54 AM
40

Dropped of my ballot at 7:45AM at Fauntleroy Church. People were coming in pretty steadily but no real wait to vote. Ann the pollworker told me there were a bunch of people waiting when the polls opened at 7AM, but once those voters were taken care off things leveled off to a more manageable steady stream of voters.

Posted by microveldt | November 4, 2008 11:04 AM
41

First-timed it at TT Minor. About 80 people in line, 25 at the precinct tables, and another 50 voting at 10AM. It was sprawling, but was organized and smooth - took about a half an hour total.

The people who had voted and were exiting past the line I was moving up in were almost all smiling. It was pretty moving. I didn't realize until someone smiled back at me when I was leaving after voting that I was smiling too.

Posted by Lloyd Clydesdale | November 4, 2008 11:10 AM
42

The husband went to drop his absentee ballot at St. Joseph's at 19th and Roy at 6:55 am and there was already quite a line, so he dropped it in a mailbox. I dropped my absentee off in the Issaquah Post Office amongst cranky-looking people in McCain SUVs.

My co-workers and I are cautiously excited, it's their first time voting and my third. When we talk about the election, everyone around us stops what they're doing to see if there's any new news. Fingers crossed!

Posted by Jessica | November 4, 2008 11:55 AM
43

I got to Tops Seward elementary at about 8am, there was a short line of about 5ish people. For some reason I wasn't on their book (I just moved to Eastlake recently which may have something to do with it) so I was given a provisional ballot. Most of the people working the polls were younger, early 20s I'd guess. No cookies but they did have stickers.

Posted by Little Red Ryan Hood | November 4, 2008 11:59 AM
44

just got back from my polling site at 1st & Blanchard. No wait but it was busy there with all stations filled at any given time, but the workers there are doing a great job of keeping things moving and are well organized.

I was actually nervous filling out my ballot, sweating even, and even with the memory problems I have from a head injury (I had to use a palm pilot to remind me of the issues and candidates I decided on), I know I'll never forget filling out that mark next to Obama.

While some really drunk guy came in and yelled "Obama!" and when he was shushed by the workers there he started complaining about not being able to talk about politics on election day.

He left around the same time I did... but he never did vote... guess he needed a few more drinks before he would give it a shot. Still, on my way out I told him that we'll all make history today, Barack Obama will win, and so will we.

Posted by unwelcomed | November 4, 2008 12:08 PM
45

Easy-peasy! I've never seen Mount St. Virgin Church (37-1838) so full of voters -- at 11:15 a.m., no less -- but there was no wait.
The voting worker told of a first-time voter who came in and said, "I'm scared! What do I do?" She replied, "You don't have to be scared! You're an American!" I love first-time voters.
Here in the CD (exactly where I-90 cuts under the city) there's a buzz of excitement. People are out and about. Bowie's "Heroes" (on KEXP) was a moving soundtrack at our cute new neighborhood coffee shop, Mezzaluna. (Today I'm such a patriot, I'd rather pay my neighbors for coffee than get it free at Starbucks.) People are a little giddy.

Posted by Ssara | November 4, 2008 12:09 PM
46

Am I the only person on Capitol Hill who votes at Trinity Lutheran on 10th Ave E? No line at all, and more people working than voting at 10am.

I was so happy to vote for Obama that I filled in his circle first and took a photo. It's the first time in my adult political life that I've WANTED a candidate, rather than merely choosing the lesser of two evils.

re: the end of polls... Though I consider myself a staunch non-traditionalist, the one grade school civics lesson I really bought into was the notion that we are all made equal by the act of stepping into that voting booth once every four years. It's a visceral demonstration of democracy, and the pomp and circumstance of it provides relevance and immediacy. I, for one, will miss that great social leveler.

Posted by Ivan Cockrum | November 4, 2008 12:24 PM
47

I voted at a junior high school near Rainier Ave S and Graham in Hillman City around 11am. There were voters, but there were more staff and volunteers. I walked in, grabbed a ballot, voted, and left inside of 15 minutes. And I stayed home today (but only because I got a new puppy yesterday to offset election stress)!

Posted by jackie treehorn | November 4, 2008 12:33 PM
48

I voted this morning at 10:30 at Alki Elementary.

I was number 339 at my polling place. I usually vote in the evening, between 7:30 and 8pm, and the last few times I was right around voter number 360, or less.

This bodes very well indeed, I believe.

Posted by rlv | November 4, 2008 1:06 PM
49

11am, St. Patrick's Church on Broadway. No long lines, but not empty. Unfortunately, a lot of the volunteers there seemed ill-equipped and ill-informed to handle the few people that *were* there. I couldn't remember which district I was in, so I checked in at the district lookup table, got my district number, and went to get my ballot - to discover that my name was *not* listed there. "Yeah, that's been happening a lot today" was the poll worker's response. Not the sort of thing you want to hear when you're paranoid about the election being stolen a *third* time. I had to cast a provisional ballot. Fuck.

I know that, considering where I live, if by some gross misjustice, my vote was scrubbed, the results would be the same. But to have to vote provisionally in what is the most important election thus far in my life was disturbing and demoralizing.

Posted by John | November 4, 2008 1:13 PM
50

Voted at The New School in Columbia City, got there around 8:15a and left 20 minutes later. Easy as pie! I only saw one person use the electronic machine, people definitely preferred paper ballots at our polling station. All the suitcase booths were full and people were filling out their ballots everywhere, against the walls, in the hallways.

I have always voted in person and will sorely miss my polling station. Thank you to all the volunteers and workers!

Posted by a-nonny nonny | November 4, 2008 3:34 PM
51

Where you are going to meet new year?

Posted by Biggoga | November 9, 2008 4:20 AM

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