Bike the vote!

[Bilsko]

@creadinger 35238 wrote:

Seriously! We got to our place at 6:20 this morning and waited 1:45 in a long snaking line. Voting itself, whether by paper or machine was fast. By the time we left, the line was TWICE as long as it was when we arrived. We would have biked there, but it was faster to walk the 100 yards.

For some reason, reading the last sentence I got an image of you proceeding through the 1:45 line while on your bike. I was picturing a lot of track-standing. A lot.

[dasgeh]

These reports of lines are fascinating. I worked for the campaign 4 years ago, and our biggest problem on Election Day was that there were no lines — lots of volunteers, lots of supplies to hand out to people waiting, but no lines. So we had nothing for the volunteers to do, and no one to hand stuff out to. Weird.

[Amalitza]

I don’t particularly approve of either early mornings or sub-freezing temperatures, and I’ve moved since the last time I voted so I have no idea what kind of lines to expect or how much of them might be outside, (my old voting place always had lines, but inside unless they got **really** long) so after checking the forecast and seeing that it is supposed to be at least 10 degrees warmer this evening than it was this morning, I decided to wait. It does mean I’ll be taking off work early to be sure to get there in plenty of time. On the other hand, long lines this morning would have meant coming in late, so I guess that’s a wash. I also have no idea what the parking situation might be, but I anticipate rather sucky, so I will definitely be taking the bike. I was planning to take off an hour early, but maybe I should go for two– if I can beat a few of the other people also planning to go after work, perhaps the lines will be less long?

[creadinger]

@dasgeh 35247 wrote:

These reports of lines are fascinating. I worked for the campaign 4 years ago, and our biggest problem on Election Day was that there were no lines — lots of volunteers, lots of supplies to hand out to people waiting, but no lines. So we had nothing for the volunteers to do, and no one to hand stuff out to. Weird.

Two years ago there were no lines for us, but 4 years ago in Silver Spring there was a pretty long line. It went really fast though because they had about 20 machines set up in the library. Crystal City only has 4 machines and two people to check you in, which is the same thing they had for the mid-term elections.

[Riley Casey]

In NW DC my entire process was under half an hour including waiting in line for the touchscreen and then bailing out for the paper as it was moving faster. Of course nothing as momentous as gay marriage is in MD and not like an individual presidential vote counted in the way it could in swing state VA but still it was satisfying filling in the ovals with the number two pencil. The biggest local question on the DC ballot – should politicians convicted of felonies committed while in office be disqualified from holding office? Life’s full of tough questions.:confused:

Still my helmet’s off to the voters in FL waiting 4 – 8 hours to cast their multipage ballots.

[TwoWheelsDC]

@Riley Casey 35251 wrote:

Still my helmet’s off to the voters in FL waiting 4 – 8 hours to cast their multipage ballots.

75 and sunny in Orlando…I’d gladly wait 4-8 hours in that after this morning’s 29 degrees!

[Mark Blacknell]

@ShawnoftheDread 35218 wrote:

I rode to my polling place first thing this morning, but I forgot to Strava it. So basically I voted for nothing.

Winning.

Tim – we used to vote at Central Library. Lines snaking through the parking lot, in 2000. Now we’re fancy.

[5555624]

Since the polls don’t open early in Virginia, I couldn’t vote on the way to work. As usual, voting in the afternoon was pretty quick. I was out in under 20 minutes.

For the first time in 32 years, I was offered a Democratic Sample Ballot after I had voted and had gone back outside (and was unlocking my bike). Someone should probably have told her you get the “I voted in Arlington” stickers after you vote. On the other hand, she looked clueless when I said, “I already voted,” so maybe she was a politician and not a volunteer.

[mstone]

7 minutes start to finish this afternoon (line was about an hour at 6:15am; I waved off). I will never again waste my time trying to vote early.

[consularrider]

@Greenbelt 35237 wrote:

Save plenty of time to time to vote this afternoon, if possible — this line in Greenbelt MD took me 90 minutes this morning.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]2016[/ATTACH]

There’s a line in there somewhere?

[Certifried]

I took my son to vote for his first time tonight. We had no line

[Amalitza]

Arrived at 5:45, 90 minute long line. Poll workers said it had been roughly the same all day, so it didn’t much matter when. When I left at 7:15, the line was long enough the people at the end probably had an hour to go still. I rode Red Bike and was chatted up by a Republican volunteer as I was locking up. Wondering if I’d have drawn in the Dems instead if I’d taken Blue Bike. 😎

[PotomacCyclist]

Does my vote count if I didn’t ride my bike there?

[eminva]

Hello —

I left my house at 4:37 this morning for the polling place, Precinct 213 (Vienna #1) (see Strava), where I served as Special Assistant Election Chief. It was a really busy day. I can’t tell you how long the line was because I rarely saw the whole thing. We had 2739 people vote, however. I saw Charlie Strunk arriving by bicycle. I saw someone else we all know and love but don’t know if she arrived by bike. We finished counting and all our other paperwork and I left for home at 10:25 (see Strava).

The way you can thank your election officials is by volunteering to be an election official! I don’t know what precinct all of you vote at, but I guarantee they can use more poll workers. Especially those who are remotely comfortable using technology (if you are reading this, YOU ARE QUALIFIED). Short of that, why don’t you bring a few cups of coffee to your local polling place when you vote? Poll workers don’t get any breaks whatsoever and most work for at least 17 hours.

Thanks for voting, everyone!

Liz

[dasgeh]

As an Arlingtonian, I am continually surprised that Maryland can be seemingly progressive (YAY Question 6!!!) but then have such a poor record on smart growth. Am I missing something?

And yes, I realize that the rest of the Commonwealth is not progressive on, well, anything. I’m hoping to change from within…

[Author]

Posts