Posted on 02/05/2008 4:36:37 PM PST by SandRat
SIERRA VISTA — Long lines and not enough poll workers at one presidential preference polling place in Cochise County are leading officials to find more help, County Elections Officer Tom Schelling said.
Precinct 13 at the Sierra Vista United Methodist Church was experiencing problems in processing people who are showing up to vote, Schelling said late Tuesday morning.
Only one person was available to check if people are authorized to vote at the polling place at 3225 S. St. Andrews Drive, he said.
“We’re trying to find more people to help,” he said.
One man left the church’s area claiming he was in line for more than 20 minutes waiting to have his identification check, and the people inside the place, including the polling staff were more interested in socializing instead of processing people.
“I’ve got to get to work,” he said, as he angrily walked away.
Others went into the polling place, only to almost leave immediately because the lines were too long.
Republican and Democratic ballots have more than the nationally known candidates because some Arizonans wanted their names on the presidential preference ballots, Schelling said. As an example, the Democratic ballot has 24 names, including some national candidates who have dropped out — Bill Richardson and Dennis Kucinich — as well as the two remaining, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, and other people like Tish Haymer, Karl Krueger and others.
Schelling said another holdup is that some people showing up to cast votes forget they need to have a photo identification, or are at the wrong precinct, have forgotten to update their addresses or are not Republicans or Democrats.
Only Republicans or Democrats can cast ballots in the presidential preference in Arizona.
Another precinct, No. 14, at First Christian Church located at Highway 90 and Kings Way in Sierra Vista also expressed some backup in processing voters and that is being checked out too, he said.
Look for more on this story in Wednesday’s Herald/Review.
Herald/Review senior reporter Bill Hess can be reached at 515-4615 or bill.hess@svherald.com.
POLLING PLACES
If someone has questions about the location or their polling place, they can call the elections office at 432-8970 during normal office hours, or visit the county election Web site to find your polling precinct on an interactive Google map at www.co.cochise.az.us/elections.
The polling locations are:
• Region 1 — Cochise County Senior Center, 450 S. Haskell, Willcox
• Region 2 — San Pedro United Methodist Church, 636 S. Highway 80, Benson
• Region 3 — American Legion, 225 E. Allen St., Tombstone
• Region 4 — Sunsites Community Center, 1216 E. Treasure Road, Sunsites
• Region 5 — St. Luke’s Parish Hall, 1211 15th St., Douglas
• Region 6 — First Baptist Church of Douglas, 740 10th St., Douglas
• Region 7 — Trinity United Methodist Church, 216 Arizona St., Bisbee
• Region 8 — Bisbee Senior Center, 300 Collins Road, Bisbee
• Region 9 — First Assembly Church of God of Palominas, Highway 92 and Palominas Road, Palominas
• Region 10 — Coronado Elementary School, 5148 S. Coronado School Drive, Hereford
• Region 11 — Fry Fire Station, 4817 Apache Drive, Sierra Vista
• Region 12 — Pueblo Del Sol Elementary School library, 5130 Paseo las Palmas, Sierra Vista
• Region 13 — Sierra Vista United Methodist Church, 3225 S. St. Andrews Drive, Sierra Vista
• Region 14 — First Christian Church, Highway 90 and Kings Way, Sierra Vista
• Region 15 — First Church of the Nazarene, 1215 El Camino Real, Sierra Vista
• Region 16 — Sierra Lutheran Church, 101 N. Lenzner Drive, Sierra Vista
• Region 17 — St. Andrew Catholic Church, 800 Taylor Drive, Sierra Vista
• Region 18 — Huachuca City Community Building, 101 Yuma St., Huachuca City
All presidential preference election locations will be open until 7 p.m. on Tuesday.
Thailand?
Region 12 was nearly empty at 1:30 or 2:00.
My Wife was on the rolls but for some amazing reason, I was not.
Had to do some cockamamie form with my ballot.
Oh! And yew posted this sucker in Broken News anaways!!! (snort!)
What we get with Gabby Giffords running CD-8.
Bisbee: Where aging hippies go to die.
Sierra Vista: Ft. Huachuca and proud of it.
I understand from WMAL that the Virginia state authorities had to turn on their election phone bank tonight to take all the calls complaining about the polling places being locked or unmanned.
Virginia’s primary is February 12.
LOL
The Dead and Illegals Demand to be counted for Hitlery, Hussein, and McInsane!
it has NEVER taken me more than 10 minutes to vote... EVER!!!
In Arizona, where voting activists feared a controversial photo ID rule could cause confusion, things were apparently fine. "People are walking up to the polls with their drivers' licenses in their hands," said Mindy Moretti, who was monitoring voting in the Phoenix and Scottsdale areas for the watchdog group Electiononline.org. "People seem ready for it. No one seems to be upset."
So all the screaming about having to have ID is shown to be exactly what we all thought: a desperate attempt by the illegals apologists to try and stop the train that was bearing down on them.
In Arizona it looks like that train done did flatten them.
or me but then I go at 0600.
Yep, in, vote, out … 10 minutes max! Took me more time to explain to the “helper” that I knew how to use the voting machine then it did to vote. ;-)
i heard that...
people were lining up to vote today at 0630.
trouble is, our primary is the 19th.
similar districts, I would suspect.
At least she kept the west gate on post open.......
Region 15, at lunchtime (11:45) had about 15 voters in line. No shortage of workers, the line ran smoothly, and there was ample signage indicating all poll locations and the ID rules.
They would not accept my military ID as a valid form of ID because it does not list my address - I suppose that’s a legitimate reason. AZ Drivers’ License filled the bill.
Hay! Now, I know thet 9000' ain't noways no respectable kinda mountain where y'all come from, but gol' durnit anyways, they's about the tallest mountains round 'bout these here parts.
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