h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I ought to get a T-shirt proclaiming 'I survived the 2004 Presidental Election'!

By the time I got to the polls at 6 am, there were already people queued to cast their votes and the polls don't open until 7!

Needless to say it was the busiest day ever in our polling place with 906 of 1100 eligible voters casting their ballot.

Thankfully, we only had a few problems with people trying to vote in our district when they were registered in another. And for the most part everyone was pretty civil and well-behaved.

I'm shocked and dismayed at the number of people who vote a straight party line (Republican) and are done voting second after the curtain draws closed behind them. But I reckon it's everyone's Constitutional right to be as dumb as they want to be...

We have early voting, so a lot of it was over by election day. As long as you don't try it first thing, during lunch or after work, it's pretty quick and painless.

If we were to expect people to think about their vote, then we'd have a direct democracy.

So that worked well then?

Did you go to the polls for early voting? And were there poll workers all that time?

I wouldn't stand in line that long unless it was a really good roller coaster.

For early voting, everyone in our county has to go to the registrar of voter's office. It's on a little tiny cut through road. There are maybe 50 parking spaces a long the whole road. I was sent over there to direct traffic. Basically, I stood in the parking lot and looked intimidating so that people wouldn't try and park in the registrar's overfull lot. We had parking at a courthouse nearby with a shuttle.

The line was over an hour long. It was especially fun when the poll closed, and I had to start turning people away. They were only open from 8am-5pm.

I chatted with one of the state representatives that was campaigning across the street. I asked him what he was going to do to fix this mess. He said that they'd probably have at least one alternate location in the future.

I figure it thinned out the lines so that it wouldn't be overwhelming on election day. It took me about twenty minutes. Some of that was showing the poll workers where my name was on the roster. Apparently, an alphabetical listing was too complicated for them.

In the future, I may just vote absentee. The registrar sent a letter over to the office about that. They have a public safety exception so we don't have to wade through all that mess.

My dad lives in Oregon, where they vote by mail. That sure sounds convenient.

I loved being able to vote absentee in college...

But there is a neat dynamic at the polls where I work since it is such a neighbourhood event. You really get to see all the neighbours and catch up.

Does that mean I'm turning into one of those old ladies I work with?

I usually tend to be first to the ballot box wheneer I vote here in the UK. But by the sounds of things it doesn't take as long, and there is more provision per voter than in the USA.