Election Day Open Thread

By on November 4, 2008 8:22 am in Brooklyn Heights
Flickr photo via WNYC

Flickr photo via WNYC

How are the lines at your polling place? Any last thoughts about this election?  Let it all out in this special Election Day Open Thread. (Don’t know where to vote? The NYS Board of Elections site will tell you! If you have trouble accessing that site try NYC.gov’s page.)

Comment away!

Cobble Hill Blog’s EJ reports on turnout there.

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  • Hello Brooklyn

    PS 8 around 7am. Knew our election district (122), so we skipped the first check in and went straight to our voting line (which was shorter than most). 15 minutes line to lever. Wife spotted neighb’ celebrity John Adams and his wife on the way out. Wonder if he was voting the Federalist ticket.

  • Matt

    I voted at 360 Adams, District 104. Got there at 8am and it took 3.5 hours to get through the line and be done. There has to be a better way to do this.

    And to not be completely negative: Everyone from the 104 was in great spirits, so the atmosphere was nice, if a bit chilly (weather). Everyone was miserable together.

  • anon

    I was in and out of the muni building lobby in 20 minutes.
    district 106 was the slowest. 108 was the fastest.
    But it was all going pretty well.
    I have learned not to go early. They don’t get their acts together until after noon.

  • AEB

    Posted this question elsewhere, but, as one who chose to use a paper ballot when the voting booth for the 123rd District failed, I’m wondering if paper is counted later than machine results.

    Anyone know?

    PS, the space is inadequate for the number of people it can contain when things get even moderately heavy. There must be a bigger space at the school, no?

  • paul

    was in and out in 10 minutes, 119th district baby. must be either the smallest or laziest district ever.

  • RWB

    I also voted at 360 Adams, District 104. It was a disaster. It took me 3 and a half hours. The line for 104 was 3 or 4 times longer than 107, yet we had the same amount of voting machines–2. One of the problems was the two men checking names at the booth. One man was pretty old and took a very long time to check names and write out the card, and the other man did not speak english very well and had to ask the older man for explanation on a few things while I was standing there. Add to this the lack of signage when I got there (I was unknowingly standing in the 107 line for 20 minutes) and then the people from the longer lines jumping to the shorter lines and claiming ignorance when they got to the front of the line. It was all incredibly frustrating.

  • http://clarkdarlene@yahoo.com nazimova

    PS 8 @ about 6:30 AM .. excellent turnout.. I don’t recall ever seeing one like it (Dist 122 always busy) as long as you know your Dist. you are in and out!!

  • Heights Neighbor

    No wait at all at Cadman Plaza at 12:15.

  • Andrew

    Is there any place to find out the number of voters registered in each election district or the bounds of each district? How often are these districts redistricted? (Just trying to figure out the discrepancy in lines between the various districts at PS8).

  • Jo

    Another lucky 119’er. Very quick (shockingly actually) at around 7:30 AM. Sorry I missed John Adams though.

  • No One Of Consequence

    119 is a one building district. I wasn’t aware of that until today, either.

  • Andrew

    Answering my own question, here’s the tally of registrations by district.

    In that document they’re listed as 52118 et seq. (For the 52nd Assembly District, 118th Voting District)
    118th has 828 registered voters (785 active)
    119th has 828 registered voters (792 active)
    120th has 756 registered voters (700 active)
    121st has 424 registered voters (379 active)
    122nd has 639 registered voters (569 active)
    123rd has 812 registered voters (730 active)
    124th has 861 registered voters (815 active)
    125th has 199 registered voters (193 active)

  • http://www.valeriefrankel.com val

    We voted at 210 Joralemon. District 108 was wide open. We zipped in and out in under 15 minutes. The people in 106 had a much longer wait, but no one was complaining or impatient. The line went to the corner of Court and Joralemon. In my 20 years in Brooklyn Heights, I’ve never seen a line that long to vote.

  • since47

    Got to P.S. 8 at 10:00 AM and voted at 10:50. The 124th District appeared to be the longest and after a while, it was broken up into two lines (A-L, M-Z). Although it seemed a little confusing, with more people than I’d ever seen, the lines moved. I didn’t have a problem with the food tables or coffee, etc., (thought that was really nice) and one woman was actually going around asking if anyone would like water. Peoples’ moods seemed good and I heard no complaints. I do wish, however, that our method of voting could be updated, instead of having to vote behind a shower curtain, which is what we’ve all been doing there since time began…

  • Anonymous

    Voted at 55 Pierrepont. Got in line at 5:50 AM, was done by 6:10 AM. Had never voted before and had to look at the instructions how to work that monster. Time change was the reason for being up that early. The election workers were great and kept it moving.

  • Clarkeye

    At 101 Clark Street, I waited for about 50 minutes starting around 8:30a.m.
    At first there appeared to be only one line, trailing outside the building, but actually it was for just one district, and there were separate lines for the other two districts (117 and 114) inside. An election official eventually came outside and cleared up the confusion, and he looked up which district people were in. The machine I voted on had a problem with the main lever; it had to be yanked down HARD or else the little voting levers wouldn’t work. I like these old machines but maybe it’s time to come up with something that requires less physical strength….there was one lady with a walker who had a very hard time even standing.

  • Adam G

    360 Adams is a mess – I waited for over two hours outside to cast my vote!

  • ABC

    And what was the Veterans Administration amendment thing? I had to read through that 3x before I knew how to vote.

    I feel like they’re always springing these things on us! I almost missed it.

  • since47

    The polls are open until 9:00 PM. If you have to go back three or four times, please stay until you cast your vote. I know NY isn’t a swing state, but this is too important to just throw up your hands and leave in frustration.

  • me

    Im in dist. 106 and voted at the Muni Building on Joralemon. 108, 109, 110 all moved much faster. I saw 3 issues accounting for this; 1) There did seem to be a bit more people coming in for 106, but not enough to warrent the disparity, and all districts only had 1 machine. 2) the ladies checking people in were very slow. I witnessed a “shift change” and when 2 new volunteers sat down it got noticeably faster. 3) Sorry to sound ageist but the elderly people voting seemed to be in the booth 10x longer then others. I know it can be confusing and I think they should have had a volunteer explaining to people in line ahead of time what to expect and do.
    All in all I waited about an hour and the mood was positive.

  • bornhere

    I left work at 4:00 to contend with what I thought would be a significant wait at Joralemon, 106th ED. Amazing — the longest wait was for an R train; I got to the Muni at 4:40, there was one person ahead of me (no one in the booth), and one young woman explaining that she had been assured she could fill out a provisional ballot as a voter registered in Albany County. That won’t happen. The poll workers were organized and capable, and I was out at 4:45. The disorganization of the ballot is somewhat problematic — it took me a bit of time to figure out where the lever was for the amendment; and if you go in there not knowing about the amendment, you would probably miss it.
    All in all, this is so profoundly exciting.

  • E G

    Voted at the Adams St location at a little past 4.105, In and out! No wait at all. As I was leaving I stuck my tongue out at all of those district 104 suckers em I mean folks on a line about a mile long! I love to gloat, it is one of the supreme pleasures in life. I think I’ll go back and gloat some more.

  • TK Small

    Bornhere,

    You and I were at the polling site at approximately the same time. I would agree with you that the lines are moving very quickly and, for the most part, the workers were doing a good job. However, I am the individual that was trying to use the supposedly accessible ballot marking device/electronic voting system. After more than 45 minutes of the workers trying to figure the system out, we collectively gave up. Then I went back to the Board of Elections and spoke with a Supreme Court Judge for the second time today. Eventually I was given an absentee ballot.

    All in all it took me nearly 6 hours to vote.

  • bornhere

    TK- That is an awful story, and I can only guess how stressful it was for you. Rachel Maddow was talking (last night) about the hours people have been spending in their efforts to vote as a kind of new-century poll tax; I agree that this, of maybe all recent elections, is worth the “extra” effort — but I think your experience and those of so many others argues for some reassessment of how things are done. But I am so glad you stayed with it.

  • David on Middagh

    Bornhere – I respectfully disagree that this, of all recent elections, is worth the extra effort to vote. This is shaping up as an electoral-college landslide. But either candidate would do, I think, although I believe one would probably do better. Of all recent elections, 2000 would have been worth the extra effort. Oh, boy. If I had known how my countrymen would embrace an intellectually-dishonest incompetent, and how my representatives would bend to his will…

  • Cranky on Clark Street

    After a miserable day at the polling places, I thought that my feelings about this election day couldn’t possibly get any more sour.

    But then 11:00 came, and the dorm on Clark St–which has signs posted everywher about not gathering after 10:00 pm–emptied out, and kids screamed, and stopped traffic, and incited horn blowing. I walked down there and the folks in charge were completely unresponsive. I’ve been awakened twice through closed windows.

    Work will be great tomorrow, as there are no signs of this abating any time soon.

  • http://mopostal.com mopostal

    Oh come on, it’s the beginning of a new era in American history. Let the people have a little fun :)

  • cait

    agreed, mopostal — the best part of experiencing this election in the city was the whooping on the streets, the beeping cabs and city buses, and the elated parades. this was all in williamsburg – i was disappointed to see the heights so sleepy when i came home.

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