Voter Turnout: Hours Extended At One NC Polling Place

The Raleigh News & Observer reports:

Earlier today, voters encountered lines at some Triangle precincts, but the waits abated by the afternoon. Early voting helped ease the Election Day crunch, Poucher said; statewide, 42 percent of registered voters cast ballots during the early voting period, which ended Saturday.

"I don't think the rain is going to stop ANYBODY from voting in this election," said Kim Snow, a poll worker at Hodge Road Elementary School in Knightdale.

Most polls close at 7:30 p.m., though anyone standing in line at that time will be allowed to vote.

Voters at the Barwell Road Community Center in Raleigh will get an extra hour to vote -- until 8:30 p.m. -- because of a delay in balloting this morning. An election official who was dropped off there this morning left the ballots in her grandson's truck, and she had to track him down, Poucher said. That delayed voting by just over half an hour and kept about 300 people waiting.

Comments

[JBS]

I voted at 7:00 am this morning in Raleigh, took less than 10 minutes - no lines that early.

There were at least 3 different reminders that you have to vote for President separately from a "straight ticket" here in NC in addition to the reminders printed on the ballot, so there's just no excuse for anyone who wanted to vote for Obama not getting their vote counted.

Listening to the local NPR station at about 10:20 pm they're saying it's neck and neck in NC; both Obama and McCain have 50%.

NPR just called Virginia for Obama at 10:44 pm.

Democrats picked up one senate seat & at least one congressional seat.

[ObamaRocks13]

check out this awesome Sarah Palin video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1exiyBYnJ00

[noir]

From this day forward Carolina Blue has another connotation!!!!!

[ThinkForYourself2]

The following video below is of a computer programmer, speaking under oath, about how he helped to rig the Florida election in 2000. He confesses that he was asked to write this program by Florida Republican, Speaker of the House, Tom Feeney.

If you have the choice, DO NOT use the electronic voting machines. They may be rigged.

Add this to the list of important stories that our criminal mainstream media has completely ignored and/or helped to cover-up.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mq9WVuKGwOM&feature=related

[Palemoon]

Thank you for posting that video. I am considering forwarding that to our Republican Secretary of State here in Georgia that refuses to use anything other than Diebold machines.

[assassinave]

What I don't understand is the number of hours that polls are open. The law should be that the polls are open for a tentative amount of hours and if people are still in line they shouldn't close at all. What is this false time contraint on the democratic process? Is this an episode of The Pickup Artist?

I personally would be willing to work for free to help reform the election process. Starting with developing a uniform registration process and database of voters. Then moving on to ballot design(which as a designer would be excellent)and pushing for paper ballots to be used universally as touch machines are purely unreliable vs. pen and paper. And finally accurately canvassing communities to establish where inconsistencies are in relation to the number of potential voters at precincts and how to streamline and improve the voting process.

Boom!

[sasidechick]

This is what I am concerned about the most. People who wait hours and hours and then are denied the right to vote??

It's bad enough I don't actually TRUST the machine I vote on, but to DENY me the opportunity to vote so you can steal my vote LATER is the lowest!!

[JBS]

Here in NC, IF YOU ARE IN LINE BEFORE THE POLL CLOSES, you get to vote no matter how long it takes.

But you have to be in line before the scheduled closing ... unless there's some reason for them to hold a specific location open.

No one who was already in line will be denied the right to vote.

The one location reported being held open beyond the scheduled closing time STARTED LATE, because the lady who brought the ballots left them in her grandson's truck when he dropped her off. Because it opened late, they extended the hours to accommodate voters who might have had to leave and come back after work.

At 11:00 pm NPR is calling the election for Obama.

[611Juniper]

If you are in line when the polls close, you are allowed to vote. The extension here relates (I'm certain) to moved back the poll closing time. So if the initial closing time was 7:30 p.m. and the time is pushed back to 8:30 p.m., that means that anyone in-line at 8:30 p.m. gets to vote - even if it takes hours. As long as you are in-line and ready to vote, you get to vote.

However, you can't show up at 7:31 p.m. and get to vote even if voting continues for hours to handle those in line.

If you don't like the system, write your state legislators and get your state's laws changed. In Oregon, they've gone completely to a mail ballot election (and Washington is close behind them). In Texas, we have a 12 day Early Voting period with multiple locations in each city/county (e.g., over 30 for Travis County). Our county clerk set up a couple of supersites that were even open until 9 p.m. on the last 3 days of Early Voting.

Long lines and disenfranchised voters are the product of too constrictive state laws and insufficient resources for election administration. Before the 2010 general elections, we all need to demand change - for everyone in America. We all are harmed when people walk away because they can't wait 8 hours to vote!

[justoverit333]

PT6 you nailed it.
that's why we can't relax.

FIRED UP AND READY TO GO!!
OBAMA/BIDEN 08

[AlexeiJ]

Here's some inspiring, feel-good Obama for everyone anxious about the tonight's outcome:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yf19H_sHMro&fmt=6

[jdwoman]

Do not leave the polling place until you vote. Please. Do not give up! We CAN take our country back.

[kace]

"We contend that for a nation to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle". - Winston Churchill

[shengirl]

I'd think those paper ballots should be kept closely watched at all times. And she just left them in her grandson's pickup truck? Imagine if they got into the wrong hands!

[frantaylor]

Leaving election materials unattended is a crime in many states.

[Mildmannered]

The vote in NC is going to be razor close. PLEASE VOTE.

[bbridges1962]

My wife and I voted in Kernersville, North Carolina this morning. We got there an hour early (5:30am), and we were number 3 and 4 in line. They opened at 6:30am and we were out of there by 6:45am.
That's two more for OBAMA ! As a matter of fact, we voted straight DEMOCRATIC­...we can and we will get through this!

[CTtransplant]

Great! Isn't it NC where if you vote straight Democratic, you still have to check off a vote for President or your Presidential vote does not count?

[kace]

"A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on. "-- Winston Churchill

[kace]

"You have enemies? Good. That means you’ve stood up for something, sometime in your life. " --Winston Churchill

[PT6]

At least one precinct is TRYING!

We call ourselves the "GREATEST DEMOCRACY IN THE WORLD" then why:

1. Corruption in Military Contracts
2. Corruption on Wall Street
3. Corruption in Mortgage Lending
4. Corruption in Healthcare Costs
5. Corruption in "Staging a Fake" War

and Corruption in OUR DEMOCRATIC VOTING SYSTEM!

[1803]

it is our national shame that there is no uniform ballot and standards to voting in the USA and even worse that the ballots are slogged around in a truck on election morning! by the way I am a native NCian and think this is pure stupidity.­.there should be a law- do not pass go, do not collect $200, go directly to jail.

[seattledemocrat]

The answer - REPUBLICANS