Election Day Open Thread
Decatur Metro | November 6, 2012It’s a cold and wet Election Day in the State o’ Georgia. (Insert other token obvious observations)
Use this open thread to report issues at your polling precincts (I’m already hearing about voter ID machines down in Oakhurst), wait times to vote, or just to complain about the weather.
If you still don’t know where you need to vote, you can access the State’s voter webpage to pull up the address of your assigned precinct. Happy voting Decatur!
Latest from Decaturish
Given the lovely weather today, I’m kinda glad I voted last week (30 min. line)!
Me, too!
Went at 8:10a at the Christian Church across from the post office … no wait! They said there was a rush after the polls opened at 7a (167 voters by the time I finished), but it took generally the same amount of time today as it did in July.
Registration computers were down in Oakhurst around 8:00, but they got both back in working order around 8:30. I was about 15th in line when they went down so it took me a little over an hour to vote. Glad they got it back going again when they did because there was starting to be a little tension regarding the “no cell phones in the voting room” policy.
love voting at holy trinity parish – in 10 years i’ve NEVER had to wait. great job!
Renfroe precinct voters, please stop by the fundraiser that 6th graders are holding to raise money for clean water supplies in Africa. These “life straws” are $6.50 each. Thanks!
Dear husband waited for an hour in the rain at the church at medlock and north Decatur at 7:30.
11 minutes at the church on Sycamore. (used to be at the Lutheran church on Clairmont)
No wait at Winnona Park, happy to see my neighbors and the familiar poll workers. Now my boys vote where they went to elementary school! (sniff!)
I was a victim of voter intimidation. In the parking lot of the First Christian Church polling place, I was hit in head by an ACORN.
Which party is that?
It’s clearly the socialists over at ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now) engaging in MORE criminal activity. Where are the hidden cameras when we REALLY need them??
The Squirrel Party, I think.
Were you enlightened?
Did you change your vote?
Tried to cast my wasted ballot for Gary Johnson but they said I wasn’t allowed to vote drunk. Who makes these rules?
LOL!
At Avondale HS, one of the machines that scans your ID was down from the time they opened until around 8AM. They got it working while I was standing in line. 40 minutes to vote. Not too bad, I thought, given the circumstances.
Your ID was scanned?
If you have a Driver’s License issued in the past few years, it can be scanned.
My point is why are some polling places scanning and others not?
Are you sure you were at a legitimate polling place? I think you just had your identity stolen.
I voted a couple of weeks ago at the Memorial Drive facility. It was a five minute process that evening and I’m glad I did it. When I drove past the McNair Elementary School on Second Avenue in Bizarro Decatur at 7:45 this morning, there were no traffic or parking lot issues. It was pouring at that time, which may have held some folks back.
East Lake/Candler precincts had about 100 in line this morning with smiles, coffee and loads of smartphones…
voted about 30 minutes ago at the church across from the post office. no line, no wait, no problems. yay, voting!
I wrote in Geoff Koski for all races that lacked a challenger. Here’s to Geoff on the Stone Mountain Superior Court!
Voting took 5 minutes around an hour ago in Oakhurst, good to see the steady and diverse crowd exercising their voting rights…
Free fries at Farm Burger today with an “I’m a Georgia Voter” sticker.
http://www.farmburger.net/constructionblog/2012/11/6/free-fries-for-every-voter-at-farm-burger-today.html
Thanks to Eli for the heads up!
Doc Chey’s is giving out free apps with sticker.
Free 12 ounce cup of coffee at Revolution Doughnuts when you flash your “I voted” sticker and say “give me my free cup please.”
Android or iPhone?
Up in Cobb, voting will get you a free rifle. Down in these parts? Fries. Not sure what that says, but I like it!
The fries are more likely to kill you than the rifle.
Thank God I’m in Cobb today!
Yogurt Tap is giving a discount too!
Someone should do a Super Size Me style trip around Decatur eating all the free offerings until they hurl! Visit Decatur GA!!
We woke up to 28 degree temp; you guys are so (relatively) balmy. Free stuff & discounts incentive on election day… now that’s patriotic!
Showed up at the Baptist Church at Oakhurst about 8:13 and saw a gigantic line (I guess because of the computer problems mentioned above) and bailed because I had to get to class by 9:30. I’ll return later today and hope that the lines are shorter.
No computer problems, just slow volunteers and poor line management. Only 5 booths at a time were used cause the bottle neck was at the point of license verification. They only had two folks working when they needed 10 to keep the line moving. I was there at about 6:45 and didn’t get out till 7:30!
Oops misread…I’m referring to first Baptist off Clairemont…not in Oakhurst…
I got there about 7:40 and was out in 15 minutes, and there was no line at all when I left. I agree they were short a couple of ID scanners. Either there aren’t enough machines available, or they didn’t request enough. But, I was happy to see the octogenarians keeping the line moving as quickly as it was given the apparent equipment shortage.
Back at 4:00, 1 person in front of me–30 second wait, easy-peasy.
As mentioned above, the polls that used to be at the Lutheran church are now at 735 Sycamore place, near Dekalb medical.
Only a few minute diversion at this hour, but it might make a difference at 6:45
Is there a sign at the Lutheran Church letting folks know where the new location is?
I voted at the Avondale Patillo United Methodist Church. Got in line at 6:40, out of there at 7:25.
No wait at all at the Christian Church (on W. Ponce across from Post Office). at 10:00a.m. Very efficient. In and out in five minutes.
Took the kids and voted at First Christian about 10:30. No line, but most of the voting machines were in use. The two people in front of me both were turned away because they showed up at the wrong polling place.
No wait at Renfroe. No wait and great coffee at Revolution Doughnuts.
The first two times I voted today I had no problems, the third and fourth times I had over an hour wait…
no waiting at Oakhurst Baptist.
did early voting a week ago Monday (five minute wait) – which allowed the fam time to go out for breakfast, drop off a car for an oil change and flu shots. all before 10 am this morning
In and out in less than 10 minutes. One person ahead of me, but they waved me past because she stopped to chat with a poll worker she knew.
Have spoken personally with one person so far today, who was prevented from registering to vote by the newly byzantine identification requirements. (Moved here from another state, was not able to muster the required multiple documents before the deadline. But also could not vote absentee in his previous state.) We should be encouraging young people to participate in the political system, not throwing up obstacles and tempting them to disengage.
But since the young tend to vote democratic, that would give the democrats an unfair advantage.
Very little wait at First Baptist at 10:30am. I had a giant bag full of books and puzzles just in case. Everyone was really nice. My daughter was disappointed that Curious George wasn’t there since we voted in the same room they used for Curious Day.
At noon, took me all of 8 mins from car and back at First Christian, including time to chat with a neighbor. My housecleaner just said she waited 2 1/2 hours in Gwinnett. Another ITP plus!
Absentee voted a month ago so I could be sitting on this Costa Rican beach today! Best election day ever!
There seems to be a lot variability across polling places about whether or not you can use a cell phone in line, have coffee or water in line, and whether refreshments can be sold or provided in the vicinity of the voters. Some polling officials are are prohibiting all or some of the above. Meanwhile, the media are highlighting how nice certain polling places are because volunteers are bringing coffee and food.
Meanwhile, I still have never gotten a good explanation for why the Clairemont East polling district is located west of Clairemont West, other than it’s always been that way. I ask the question every election but have never gotten a good answer. I’ve even mapped out the borders and cannot see where anyone could conceivably consider any part of Clairemont East to be east of Clairemont West. Could this have been just a typo decades and decades ago that wasn’t noticed until it was too embarrassing to change the names after years of never noticing the mistake?
And it’s worse now that the Clairemont West polling location was moved a few blocks farther east!
Aaaargh!
I was in and out at the church in Oakhurst today around 11:30. I even had the 3 year old and 6 year old in tow. We all received our stickers and left happy. The 6 year old was very impressed by the process. The 3 year old really liked her sticker.
My husband also went in and out with no wait this afternoon around 3.
There was nobody in line when my wife and I arrived at First Baptist at 4pm, and only 2 people occupying machines. I love early voting – it lets me vote at my neighborhood precinct on election day with no wait.
I get off earlier than most folks but was in and out in a flash. More people were starting to show up at 4:30. Heard they were very busy this morning when Avondale High School polling place opened.
So I know there was debate about the wording of amendment 1, but didn’t follow it too closely, so it kinda blindsided me when I read it today. Wow, I don’t know how that could survive a legal challenge. That was not objective at all.
….but evidently the strategy worked. Enough said.
There is a lawsuit pending to bar enforcement of the law for that very reason.
And it will be a waste of time and money because there is zero chance that either the Georgia Court of Appeals or Supreme Court, at least as currently constituted, will do the right thing. With all deference and credit to the inimitable Georgia appellate scholar Charlie Cork:
In Donaldson v. Dep’t of Transp., 262 Ga. 49 (Ga. 1992), Justice Weltner’s dissent points out how affirmatively deceptive the ballot was. In his typical concise prose:
(b) It is difficult to imagine a plainer case of affirmative misstatement than this case. Consider:
(i) The voters were asked whether they wanted the right to sue the state.
(ii) The voters answered “yes.”
(iii) Because they answered “yes,” their existing rights to sue the state have been terminated!
The majority did not disagree; they stated the rule for framing amendment ballots thus:
The only limitation on the General Assembly in drafting ballot language is that the language be adequate to enable the voters to ascertain which amendment they are voting on.
So, as long as the voters can determine that they are voting on something having to do with competition, and not with highways or public office, it doesn’t matter what the Yes-No question says. A concurring Justice put the matter very clearly:
The proper focus of this court’s inquiry is whether the ballot language, even if deceptive as to the purpose of the amendment, prevented the voter from knowing which amendment he was voting for or against.
There it is. If the legislature wants to commit fraud on the public, this is how they can do it. Legally.
I think Romney lost because voters got confused when the kept seeing all these OMNEY/RYAN signs. I can never figure out how folks choose sign design. Besides being able to woo voters, they have to be readible and clear. I guess the isolated decorative R was supposed to represent Republican, Right, and righteous but I never got past the “Who’s Omney?” stage.
Ditto for the No on Amendment 1 signs–1) you’d already driven past the sign before you finished reading the first line and 2) the No in red was not easily visible. The Yes signs were overly wordy too but the YES was easy to read. (And of course there was also that thing about massive infusion of campaign funds from outside the state. But that’s not something I can affect. I know how to change font size, color, and style in basic software programs.)