Voters arrive at polling stations before they're open

[babylonsister]

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/election2008/story/35971.html

Voters arrive at polling stations before they're open

* Posted on Tuesday, May 6, 2008


North Carolina elections officials reported this morning that poll workers arrived at their polling places to find voters already waiting to cast ballots in what is expected to be a record turnout in the most consequential North Carolina presidential primary in decades.

At St. Mark's Episcopal Church on New Hope Road in Raleigh, for example, about 200 people voted by 7:30 a.m., Wake County Elections Director Cherie Poucher said. The polls opened at 6:30 a.m.

Elections officials were dealing with confusion on the part of some Republican voters who asked to vote in the Democratic primary, Poucher said.

Under state elections laws, only unaffiliated voters get to choose between a Democratic and Republican ballot on election day; other voters are supposed to vote in the primary of the party with which they are registered as of April 11. Republicans who insisted on having Democratic ballots were being allowed to vote provisionally, though by law their votes will not count.

In Durham County, Elections Director Mike Ashe was happy that all 56 polls opened on time with no hitches. "There were no reports of around-the-block or any craziness, but it has been busy and steady, and people are voting," Ashe said.

Reports from voting precincts across the Charlotte metro region area indicated dozens of people already in line when voting began at 6:30 a.m.

Polls remain open to 7:30 p.m. Until then, the campaigns of both Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are expected to push hard to bring out voters in the kind of effort that is rare for the state. Obama will be in Raleigh, and Clinton's husband, former President Bill Clinton, will make campaign appearances for his wife in Huntersville and Lexington this morning.

[Tippy]

1. Can I have a written guarantee??

"Republicans who insisted on having Democratic ballots were being allowed to vote provisionally, though by law their votes will not count."

[gateley]

2. Thank you for this!

I keep peering out my window at the polling place next door -- I see some cars coming and going, but not as many as I'd hoped. Of course it's work hours now. The last Presidential election cars were parked up and down the side streets and it was really exciting - I assumed it would be like that today.

I'm going to wander over in a bit and offer to help and/or go on lunch/water runs.

[babylonsister]

3. Have you voted yet? It's gonna be another nail biter! nt

[gateley]

5. Yeah, I voted early.

I was feeling as though I had to DO something, and I went to the NC/Obama site and there was this clip of him, before he went on stage at a rally, looking into the camera saying, North Carolina, I need you to vote early. So I said, "Okay, O, I'm on it!" :patriot:

Yeah, the past few have been nail biters and the level of tension keeps rising with each one!

[babylonsister]

6. "Okay, O, I'm on it!"

:rofl: :thumbsup:

[yellowcanine]

4. "Republican voters who asked to vote in the Democratic primary" - Dittoheads for Hillary?

Only Dittoheads would not realize that they couldn't vote in the Democratic Primary if they were registered as Republicans.

[Frances]

7. I'm curious too

Are the Republicans voting for Obama out of conviction the way some Republicans have done? Or are they spoilers, thinking that voting for Obama will ensure a Republican victory in North Carolina in the fall? (Jesse Helms defeated the very capable, popular Gant, who was black, with a racist ad a few years ago.)

And please don't insult Hillary supporters by calling them names. Obama will probably be our nominee, and we will need Hillary's supporters if he is going to win the general.

Besides, name calling is so pre-school--and so Republican.

[yellowcanine]

8. Dittoheads are Rush Limbaugh supporters. They are not Hillary supporters.

They are only trying to vote for Hillary because Rush Limbaugh told them to disrupt the Democratic Primary process. The name "dittohead" was coined by Rush Limbaugh for his supproters. I am only calling them what they want to be called. They are proud of the term.