Michigan Primary Today: We Voted! Report

[IdaBriggs]

Polls opened at 7:00 am and (despite being there nearly ten minutes early), I was Voter #6 with a solid dozen of us waiting for our friendly poll workers to let us VOTE! By the time I finished, there were at least ANOTHER dozen waiting, although when I returned with some Tim Bits for the poll workers (Tim Bits are little baby donut holes from a local Canadian franchise - please don't judge the Canadian part because they are yummy!) there were only six or so more waiting.

My husband went a little before 8:00 am and was Voter #64. I don't think I have ever seen this level of activity for a Presidential Primary EVER BEFORE - I think the last "not a Federal Election" I was #17 in the late afternoon!

Our area is pretty liberal in general (Brenda Lawrence took over as Representative when our previous Representative became Senator Gary Peters) but I saw two piles for the ballot tops and they looked even (keep in mind I was #6) so I think early morning passions were definitely engaged on both sides.

As usual, a very pleasant experience at our polling place and I was proud to be a participant.

Go, America! Vote! Vote! Vote! Yeah, Team!

[Agschmid]

1. VOTE!

[NurseJackie]

2. A big THANK YOU to all the poll workers and election judges who volunteer ...

... and do their best to keep things running smoothly.

[IdaBriggs]

3. ^=== THIS!!! 100% AGREE!!!

[Casandia]

4. I just voted in the Flint area at 8:30 am

I was number 34 in my precinct, and there was a young man in line behind me. It was his very first time voting!!!
Turnout was very light, only about 6-7 people when I was there.

[IdaBriggs]

5. First time voter - how exciting!

I am surprised Flint is having light turnout; do you think crisis fatigue is setting in?

[demmiblue]

6. Checking in!

#130, 5 people in line.



(I think it is wrong to have to request a D or an R ballot)

[IdaBriggs]

7. Yeah, you!!!

Which county are you in? (Or other easy local identity - representative, city, etc.?)

[corkhead]

8. I was there before 8am and there was no waiting

which is typical in Republican leaning gerrymandered voting district I live in.

This year they did something new. They made separate ballots for Democrats or Republicans and made you state your party preference in writing on the ballot application. After filling out that form, the next person checked it against the voter roster and highlighted my name with a color coded marker. Mine was blue presumably because of the ballot I requested. I couldn't stay long enough to see how the poll worker was choosing marker color for others but I did see one other voter who requested a Republican ballot get highlighted with a different color.

After that, a third person recorded my ballot number and party preference in a database, making me wonder if they were actually able to later look to see how I voted. They use fill in the dot scanners at this polling place.

One thing I found a little unsettling is that hey made absolutely no effort to hide your party preference from other voters (in fact they actually made it impossible to) which I think was a subtle way to intimidate the voter into conformity which I didn't appreciate.

[IdaBriggs]

9. Several people have been commenting on this on Facebook.

I am under the impression it was done because when they put BOTH PARTIES on the same paper, people weren't just sticking to ONE PARTY and were picking/choosing from both. Primaries are (in theory) supposed to be for the "party members only" to pick their team.

In theory, picking a party is something one should be okay with other people knowing, but in reality it could be as uncomfortable as being an Ohio State fan at a Michigan/Michigan State game -- lol!