<p>I waited about 1 1/2 hours at my local library. Fortunately, it is a beautiful day in the Philly burbs. The crowd was congenial and volunteers walked up and down the line (of those still outside of the building) to ask if anyone wanted coffee, bottled water, a cookie or needed a chair. They also offered literature but did not push. It warmed my old US History/Poli Sci major heart.</p>
<p>Our voting method is still the punch card type. (Watch out for hanging chads!) There was a delightful older gentleman giving a demonstration for those like my daughter, who was voting for the first time.</p>
<p>Less than 10 minutes. I went at 8 a.m. and live 2 blocks from my polling place and it was like old home week as I saw some of my neighbors who I haven’t seen since the last time we voted</p>
<p>no water, no cookies no chairs, polls are monitored by retirees who were very friendly.</p>
<p>Daughter went to vote for the first time this morning and called me once she voted. Said that school is running free buses/vans to hanover high every 5 minutes to take students to the polls. She said when she got there she saw a lot of Kerry/Edwards signs.</p>
<p>I went to our polling place at 6:40 AM and there were 30-40 people there already. By the time the polls opened at 7:00, there were hundreds. I was out of there by 7:10. It was great seeing all our neighbors, listening to various discussions, etc. Our place was staffed by neighborhood volunteers, retirees, and some local high school students!</p>
<p>I walked 2 blocks over to vote at 2pm and there was no wait…we have 2 booths (the electronic kind) and one was occupied when I entered the room…I went right into the second after signing in. We have 420 registered voters in my ward and I was number 208 to vote. There was nobody outside giving out any literature. Someone knocked on my door around noon to remind me and I received 2 reminder calls earlier today. And, of course, the SUVs with the loud speakers on top are riding around blaring the reminders. </p>
<p>I like what a voter is quoted as having said on Yahoo news…“We HAVE to vote…it’s the only way to make the ads stop!” </p>
<p>I’ll be sitting in front of the TV tonight watching the results and am excited about this election. I’m curious to see how many of the newly registered voters turn out.</p>
<p>Our polling place is also worked by retirees who know everyone and greet you by name when you enter the room…and tell you, without checking the book, who in your family has and hasn’t voted yet (though these people live at different addresses).</p>
<p>about 25 minutes to vote in my town…and yes I want the ads/rhetoric to stop. I am so sick of them that I am beginning to think that reality TV shows pale in comparison.</p>
<p>Less than five minutes. I went early. According to my neighbor, 167 people had voted by 9:30 a.m. which considering there are probably fewer than 500 eligible voters in my town that is quite amazing. There was a lot of early voting as well.</p>
<p>I went down with my son–also a first-time voter. No line at all. We use the voting machines with levers–they seem so reliable, I don’t know why everyone doesn’t use them.</p>
<p>Ah! You swing staters! We have had very, very few ads, mostly related to local elections, or aimed at our swing state neighbors 60 miles away. There is one local commercial though, that is REALLLLYYYY annoying - a miniature poodle as a lapdog - it was slightly clever the first time, but now at rerun #548, it is maddening.
Long lines here in the deep South as well.</p>
<p>We are not a swing state but the line (about 30 or 40 in line, a first for our little neighborhood) took about 45 minutes. We have touch screen voting and our ballot was long with state propositions. People looked pretty serious in line: I think because everyone believes that this election is so very important no matter what their political leanings. Lots of very young folks in line. Went at 9 a.m. Picking up son this evening to take him too, as he didn’t request an absentee ballot. It will be the most time I’ve spent with him since he left for school in September, so I’m looking forward to that!</p>
<p>Five minutes for me. But H, who went to vote before heading off to work, reported half-hour wait. And we definitely are not in a swing state! The school where the voting takes place decided to hold a bakesale. It’s probably made tons of money out of voters.</p>
<p>5 minutes and I’d created the necessary Chad. But as I explained to my younger one, our ancestors fought long and hard for the right not to vote, and there is a long, continuing tradition. </p>
<p>I wish the political ads would stay on at least another 3 months - they are far more interesting than the normal set of commercials for purple pills (where we aren’t even allowed to know what the thing is supposed to treat.)</p>
<p>I went early and it took about a half hour but by the time I got out, the line had grown into the hundreds. I don’t ever remember seeing a crowd like that. Most, from what I could see, had Kerry/Edwards buttons on. A very lively and upbeat crowd, of all ages. D1 and D2 are both voting for the first time in a presidential election and both voted a few weeks ago by absentee ballot. Both have spent time every week in the past six months volunteering for the Kerry campaign in various ways. They’ve both got the political bug this year! I’m looking forward to watching the results as they come in tonight.</p>
<p>About 15 minutes but only because someone in front of me was provisional (a frustrated guy, I could tell). Garland, we had electronic touch-pad voting this time and in 2000 as well and I live in NJ too.</p>
<p>I took the day off for some other errands. Got a call in the afternoon from Democratic HQ in NJ to go out and vote. When I said I voted already, they asked me who I voted for. I answered Kerry and the line went dead. I’m glad they have a ‘get out the vote last minute phone campaign’ since I know the Republicans are very good at that.</p>
<p>Wow! That must be the FLA effect: the importance of the state, and recollection of last time. I salute all those who are willing to stand in line for 3 hours to cast their vote.</p>
<p>Walked 20 minutes to the poll, uphill both ways. (Well portions of the walk, both ways, are uphill.) Lots of people had scribbled messages or drawn cartoons and posted them on their gates, anticipating people might walk past. This is Berkeley, so I’ll let you guess what some of the messages said. Stood in line about 15 minutes in a precinct that always has a good turnout. Touchscreen voting, though a few people were using paper ballots and there was debate among polling officials over what they were required to fill out on the envelope to have the paper votes count.</p>
<p>California feels superfluous as usual. Haven’t seen a single campaign ad except on the news or Nightline, where the ad was the topic of discussion. I don’t think my son got his absentee ballot. My daughter who missed the last Presidential election while on a junior year in Italy, is definitely voting in this one. I still remember the phone calls from Bologna demanding that I explain what in the world was happening here, because none of her Italian friends understood. Although her Italian got very good, I’m not sure it was ever quite up to explaining the electoral college system and hanging chads.</p>