The line was only about 10 minutes long...maybe longer if your last name was in the H-J range. The demographic makeup of the voters was close to 50/50 African-American and white. There were also several young people present, though the age 40+ voters definitely outnumbered them.
I spoke to one young black woman who was voting for the first time. When asked what compelled her to come out and vote, she said, "Just want a different president."
After voting, I hung around Doris Williams, the lady in charge, for about an hour. She's been a poll-worker for at least 20 years. Ms. Williams was running the provisional ballot table, which was constantly busy while I was there. At any given time, there were at least four people standing at the table, waiting on her assistance. Provisional ballots are used when a person's name can't be found on the lists, or if they're registered somewhere else, but decided (for whatever reason) to vote at a different polling place. The young woman I spoke of above was one of these provisional ballot voters.
Ms. Williams told me that she was having to fill out more provisional ballots this year than she's ever seen. Her theory was that the new voters weren't checking where they're polling places were. The second most common reason for provisional ballot voters was that many of them had not gotten their absentee ballots in on time. Ms. Williams had to tell each one that there was a chance that their vote wouldn't be counted. If their names couldn't be found registered anywhere, the vote will get thrown out.
As of 1:30 p.m., the busiest time for the Skyland Oak Retirement Center polling place had been early morning. Ms. Williams said that everyone seemed to want to vote before work, and the place was full of people at that point. Approximately 1600-1700 Ward 46 voters had cast their ballots as of early afternoon.
More from the southern end of T-Town later.
-Rebecca
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