A Sea Of Red

Great turnout so far at the H.E.S site when they opened this morning...with the line perhaps 40% Liberty students. I was in line about 540...and got out by 625. I expect the line to be at least an hour long, by now (640). In short, it was GREAT to see the number of students already up and at the poll.

What has it looked like in your area?

Went this morning to Leesville Road. Got there about 5 min. before 6 and the line wrapped all the way around the building. I waited for about an hour. There were a lot of young people in line, though I am not sure how many were LU students.

The LNA is blogging on the election this morning...

7:45 a.m. - Big crowds keep on coming

At Heritage Elementary School, 539 people have voted.

Election officials, expecting a large crowd, had set up two electronic machines instead of the usual one.

The machines were seldom used, however.

“With the Liberty students, I’d figure everybody would want to do these,” said poll worker Janice Overman. “But everybody wants a paper ballot.”

It’s been a busy morning for the volunteers, with hour-long waits for voters, but Overman said everything was running smoothly.

“I haven’t seen any hitches,” she said.

Ward III Lynchburg City Councilman Jeff Helgeson said he plans to spend his day volunteering for the John McCain-Sarah Palin campaign.

Helgeson started his day at the elementary school, where the LU alum said he was proud to see so many of his alma mater’s students.

“They just keep on coming,” he said. “It’s great. They’re serious, and they want to vote for positive change.”

http://www.newsadvance.com/lna/news/loc ... way/10147/

I bet this article will make the news outside of Lynchburg:

Liberty University buses today are scheduled to make more than 120 trips to the voting precinct at Heritage Elementary School as part of the college’s plans for Election Day...The buses will make their first stop at Heritage Elementary at about 7:30 a.m., starting out with a bus every five to 10 minutes, said Richard Martin, director of financial analysis at LU.

By 8:45 a.m. and lasting through 5 p.m., 12 buses an hour are scheduled to arrive at the precinct — one every five minutes. Between 5 and 8 p.m., only three to five buses an hour will stop at the precinct.

“We’ll wrap up and wrap down based on what we see,” Martin said. He hopes the schedule will help prevent too many students from arriving before and after the usual workday, when the precinct may be busiest.

He estimates that about 2,000 to 3,000 students may take the buses, but the operation is planned to handle full capacity.

http://www.newsadvance.com/lna/news/loc ... nct/10133/

On a personal note, I left the house shortly after 6:00 and drove down the road to the Moose Lodge on Lakeside to vote. I was in line by 6:20 and saw 2 other faculty members, several college-age adults wearing LU hoodies, and even my next door neighbor. The line wrapped around the Moose Lodge on the sidewalk, but after being in line only about 5 or 10 minutes, an official come outside and said anyone with the last name beginning with G-Z could come inside now to vote. Thank God my parents' last name started with an "N".

After voting, I went to Country Kitchen for a one egg western omelet, a single pancake with apples, and black coffee. And I was back home by 7:30.

I got to our polling place at about 7...pretty slow process...of course, I guess that can be expected in WV. We had over 17 pages of candidates and issues to surf through--so took about 45 minutes for me to get through the line.

I'm pretty sure I was the youngest person there by 40 years.

i heard that mid morning and mid afternoon are the times most likely to have the shortest lines...

Got to Timberlake Christian Church on 460 at 6:00 this morning. Pretty long line. The Watson dude running for the school board spot was there asking for votes, and my wife said that Tom Periello was there a little after that. All-in-all it took about 45 minutes. That location definitely lacks the necessary parking, most people had to park along the highway. And of the five touch-voting machines they had, one had already broken down by 6:30. It's going to be a long day for the election officials.

I'm going to vote after work at Leesville Elem. Any update there?

fan00 wrote:Went this morning to Leesville Road. Got there about 5 min. before 6 and the line wrapped all the way around the building. I waited for about an hour. There were a lot of young people in line, though I am not sure how many were LU students.

and the officials there told me they only anticipate the lines getting longer as the day goes on. When I left around 7am the line was still wrapped around the building, but it was moving quickly. They had 5 touch screen machines and all of them were operating properly when I left!

According to the latest blog entry...the Heritage Elementary precinct is reporting short, brisk lines...and that busses have slowed down.

I drove past the place I'm supposed to vote at on Campbell Avenue and there was maybe four or five cars in the parking lot. Maybe I'll get lucky this afternoon when I go vote.

Woke up at 5, on the road at 6, got in line at 7, out by 7:05 AM...I was voter #70 out in my precint. There were problems with Congressional candidates showing up on the machines at my precint.

Voted at Sandusky Middle School. Took me five minutes from the time I parked to the time I got back in my car. Did the electronic one. Spent more time at Starbucks getting my free cup of coffee than I did at the poll. Plus, I didn't have to get up as some ungodly hour to get there early.

Just voted at the Moose Lodge on lakeside. Waited about 5 minutes. Was pretty happy with that

I just returned from voting. It took me 20 minutes less this time than it did when I voted at 8:30. But it was the worst when I voted as soon as they opened, because that line was rediculous. It is a good thing I sent in my absentee ballot for my summer home in Norh Carolina. I'm ordering Chicken Chow Main and an Egg Roll for lunch today. Take care!

SuperJon wrote:Maybe I'll get lucky this afternoon

Yay...new signature

In SC, the polls open at 7 am...I got in line at 6:35 and was done at 7:35. Was about the same wait I had in 2004 (but I arrived at 7:00 back then). Everything was running smoothly.

went on my way home from work this AM

lotsa Obama/Biden signs- roughly 400. On both sides of the entrance all the way from the street up to the doors. 4 deep on either side.

Voted in Bowie, MD on my way home form work today. Got to the polls about 5 minutes after 12 noon and had no line and was out the door within 15 minutes. Thanks for all the updates form Lynchburg...keep 'em coming

thepostman wrote:Just voted at the Moose Lodge on lakeside. Waited about 5 minutes. Was pretty happy with that

I got there about 10:45. Nobody in any of the lines except for about 20 in the G-L line. And of course that's my line. Took about 15 minutes.

Line out the door, but inside, the lines for H-O and P-Z were open. An election worker came outside, brought in those with those last names (score!) and I was in and out in 20 minutes. I was talking to a woman on my way out, and she was in the A-G line for 2 1/2 hours.

Took me 5 minutes at Memorial Christian Church on Perrymont.

http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/11/04 ... s-country/

Does this become an issue for either candidate?

lyn-dan fire dept only had 1 other voter when Bryson and I went in there around noon. i was number 390 on the list they were checking off

JDUB wrote:lyn-dan fire dept only had 1 other voter when Bryson and I went in there around noon. i was number 390 on the list they were checking off

I must have just missed you...I was there right at 12:00 and only one of the three voting booths was being used. Walked right in and out in no time.