SOCIAL: Early voting in Ohio

[Kathi McCracken Dente]

I thought this politically engaged bunch might be interested in a phone call
I had with a good friend of mine in Columbus. She told me that she and her
husband went and voted on Friday at 9am and had to wait 2 hours to vote.
Friends of theirs went this morning a half an hour before it opened and had
to wait 3 hours. By noon the line for early voting was at least 2 hours long
inside the building and then went outside and most of the way around the
very large building. I was dumbfounded. Why would people stand in line for
hours to vote early when they can just vote on Tuesday? That was when I
realized how naïve I am about voting issues and how scarred some of the
voters are in Ohio.

I have never waited more than 15 min to vote, even when I lived in SF. My
polling place in Montclair always has more poll workers than voters and for
the last 4 years I have voted absentee. My friend said she wouldn¹t trust
her absentee ballot to be counted in Ohio. And most people will have to wait
hours on Tuesday to vote and would prefer to do it on a weekend when they
wouldn¹t miss work. Still the woman in front of her in line told her that
she was poor and took the day off to vote for Obama. Something very
interesting is happening in Ohio (Deep can probably speak to it much better
than me). My friend, who has never been very interested in politics, was
heading back to give out food and water to the people in line when she
called me. 

No matter what happens, people are engaged and willing to make sacrifices to
vote this election. It is pretty amazing.

Kathi

Kathi McCracken Dente
User Experience Strategy and Design

McCracken Design
http://www.mccrackendesign.com
415-225-5840

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