Tuesday, November 6, 2012

The line to vote this morning


Here's the line to vote this morning around 8 at Theater for the New City on First Avenue ... as the photo by @spak shows, the 200-person line wrapped around East Ninth Street...

Also:

22 comments:

Anonymous said...

I saw this line on my way to work this morning, after voting at PS 63 on E. 3rd Street. I couldn't believe the difference- I only had about 10 people in front of me at my site! Glad to see people are getting out and voting though.

Anonymous said...

I got to Theater for the New City on First Avenue at about 6:15am. Waited about 10 minutes and voted. Just like anything in NYC....you got to get there early.

Anonymous said...

Also I've heard that some districts have changed. Make sure to check and save yourself time.

Spike said...

Took me an hour + to vote @ school on 4th St b/w 1st and 2nd. New polling spot for my block, but in past I was in and out in 10 mins. Good to see.

Marty Wombacher said...

Great to see a strong turn out to vote!

randall said...

Wow. And I thought that was the line for the new brunch spot.

Great to see such a turn out.

LvV said...

The line on 12th Street was pretty insane, but it was that way four years ago, too. I got there at 9:30 and was done a full hour later. Once inside it was very organized, though.

Anonymous said...

Inside the polling place was completely disorganized, worse than usual. I saw two ballots spoiled in front of me while I was waiting to sign in, and the election workers were yelling at each other the entire time. Hope it wasn't all for naught.

VH McKenzie said...

I stood in this same line at 9:45 this morning -- thought it was just because I didn't get there at my usual early-bird time! Took about an hour from start to finish.

They have GOT to get a better system inside TFNC. The poll workers do their best, everyone was cordial and helpful but there has to be a better way than to funnel us all into that back room and then splinter into separate district tables.

Isn't there another space in the community that would be gracious enough to host elections? I appreciate TFTNC doing their best every election, but it's just not the best place to rock the vote.

Laura Goggin Photography said...

Went to the same place as Spike, but had to wait 2 hours. The people filing affidavit ballots seemed to get in and out faster.

Richard D. James said...

I voted at 1st btw 9 & 10, at 11am the line took me about 1 hour and 45 min

Stupidly disorganized.

ahoy polloi said...

I voted at the Theatre for the New City. Took me more than 2 hours. And it was 100% due to worker incompetence. Shameful, this is no way to run an election.

This is a new polling place for me as I had voted on Ave B for years. Woman in front of me said she voted at the Theatre for 20 years and never waited more than 20 mins, she also said she didnt recognize a single poll worker. Just awful.

Shawn said...

Long lines nationwide = Obama wins

Jeremiah Moss said...

same story for me. they moved me from the JASA Center, where i used to be in and out in 20 minutes, to this new place that took nearly 2 hours.

what is up?

the 20-something girl behind me said, "maybe it's because so many people come to live in this neighborhood now."

Anonymous said...

Long line at 4th between B and C, but this may have been partly due to poll worker who had fallen on her face and had blood all over her face, obviously had a concussion and was making mistakes in people's names and numbers. They tried to pull her off (and get her to go to a doctor I hope!), but then poll inspectors started complaining, so don't know what happened then (had to get to work).

Anonymous said...

I voted at Theater for the New City for the first time today. Redistricting moved my poll site from Campos Plaza on 13th between B & C, where it used to take about 10 minutes to vote.

This morning I stood in line for 1 hour and 30 minutes, mostly outside in the cold. The people working seemed totally incompetent, befuddled and overwhelmed.

If the goal is to discourage voting they're doing a heckuva job. If it's not, there needs to be an investigation and some serious reform. I have no confidence in any aspect of this process. Absolutely disgraceful.

Anonymous said...

Also voted at PS 63 on E. 3rd Street, at around noon. Just a tiny bit crazy (affidavit ballots?) but I was in and out in probably about 20 minutes.

Gojira said...

Used to vote at Sirovich, then got switched to TNC. Waited over 2 hours, when I finally got to my table I found two poll workers sitting there; instead of both of them helping voters, one guy was asking for names, looking them up, waiting to be handed a ballot, waiting for the voter number, filling out the voter card, putting the ballot in the "Privacy Folder", and giving me instructions before handing it to me. The other guy's sole purpose was to read him the voter number and hand him empty balots. Why couldn't both of them be doing the same thing at the same time, and moving twice as many people twice as fast?

Jill said...

Took me an hour at around 8 this morning at TNC. There was only one scanner out of 6 or 8 operational, but the holdup was the mess at the tables where people sign in. Nobody was sure which table was which because the signs weren't visible due to the small crowded space. The workers were on edge. So many people at the tables were in the wrong place. Then the long line to sign in, get a card and the voting form that seemed difficult to properly rip from the pad, put in a folder, and then fight through the crowd to the voting table, then fight through the crowd to the scanning line. It was very bad. I miss the dirty curtains and the satisfying sound of the lever recording the vote.

My husband didn't vote, as after an hour he was still 100 people away (he said) and he gave up. I'll bet a lot of people couldn't stand to stand in line. Many people can't physically stand that long without a lot of back pain, myself included.

Anonymous said...

The workers at Theatre for New City were incompetent. I'm sure the new scanners contributed a bit but it was the workers that slowed everything down.

Bayou said...

I, too, used to vote at Campos - never more than 15 minutes. By night's end and after more than an hour in line at TFTNC, I voted while a fight broke out between poll workers that required police intervention.

In addition to over-crowding and taxed poll workers, the electronic voting system DOUBLES the length of time since you now have to stand on two lines.

I do, however, love the irony of voting in such a subversive location.

Matthew has 2 T's, dumbass said...

This was bullshit - I've always had the longest lines anywhere I've voted and they just moved my district to this bottleneck clusterfuck.....luckily after voting in the neighborhood for 20 years I was smart enough to know to cut to the front and go right to my districts table and vote.....in and out in 10 minutes ! This is the worst voting location I have ever seen !