The parking lot was completely full at Cornerstone Christian Church in Joplin when I arrived to vote this morning at about 6:20 and the line was already stretched far out into the parking lot.
Not all of this, it turns out, was caused by people waiting to vote. Though it was less than a half hour into the election process, the Cornerstone Christian Church precinct was already beset by mechanical difficulties...the machine was not accepting the ballots after they were filled out.
Most of the people stood patiently waiting for the machine to start working or for some sort of solution to be reached, though there were a few deep sighs, reminiscent of a failed Al Gore debating tactic, and a few people were loudly tapping their feet as if that would cause things to move faster.
Not everyone waited for a voting booth to open up to cast their ballots. Some were seated at round tables in an adjacent room completing what is supposed to be one of the most personal, private tasks of every American citizen.
Finally, a solution of sorts was reached. Some voters were putting their ballots in a black duffel bag to be sorted out later. A few were not going to have any part of that and waited for the machine to be fixed.
Voting was not an easy task this year, nor should it ever be. Long lines are the price we pay for more participation in our governmental system. Unfortunately, that was not the only challenge awaiting voters this time. Those who used the voting booths (and i was one of them) had to strain to see the names on the ballot since there was almost no light in the area.
Once I had filled out the ballot, I took it up front, where by this time ballots were being placed in the back of the machine by hand. This was still not the right solution as far as about a dozen people were concerned and they continued to wait in line for someone to arrive from Jasper County Clerk Bonnie Earl's office to fix the problem.
Something tells me it is going to be a long day at the polls in Jasper County and all across America.
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On MSNBC's Morning Joe today, it was stated by someone, I couldn't tell who since I was in another room at the time, that Missouri results should be available by shortly after 8 p.m. Eastern time. Like that's going to happen!
2 comments:
If Missouri is close I won't depend on exit polls.
For whatever reason (greater enthusiasm was posited), Obama did better in those than the actual counts for a lot of the primaries.
i can't help thinking it's awesome that there has been such long lines all over... people taking a greater interest in public issues is always a good thing
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