Posted on 10/15/2008 9:28:19 PM PDT by Tennessee Nana
A crush of voters swarmed the polls Wednesday as Tennessee began its 15-day early voting period.
More than 4,200 people voted at three polling sites in Hamilton County, according to Hamilton County Election Commission workers at the sites.
Voters waited for as little as a few minutes up to an hour to cast their ballots, workers said.
Though there are a handful of races on some voters’ ballots, the huge turnout is due to the presidential race between Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Barack Obama, D-Ill., officials say.
“I just had to cast my vote for Barack Obama today,” said Elaine Manderville a few moments after completing her ballot form at the East Brainerd Recreation Complex. “I waited an hour in line ... but really I’ve been waiting my whole life for this.”
Lines moved quickly at the Hamilton County Election Commission offices, said Superintendent Bud Knowles, who sits just right of the commission’s front door during voting. He estimated wait times, when at their longest, were 15 minutes at that location.
In Hixson, at Northgate Mall, voters reported waiting between 5 and 10 minutes.
But in East Brainerd, around 4 p.m. when Ms. Manderville voted, lines snaked from the voting room around the corner and sometimes stretched down a wall in the recreation center’s gymnasium.
Mr. Knowles said he wasn’t sure why some polling places were moving slower than others. He sent an extra computer operator to Brainerd to help clear the bottleneck there. Otherwise, the commission has staffed each of the three sites with five computer operators and three other staffers to help move things quickly, he said.
Wait times had more to do with the excitement of a presidential campaign, suggested Charlotte Mullis-Morgan, deputy superintendent. One thousand people voted at headquarters by noon, and 174 had cast their ballots in the first hour of voting, she said.
“Things are going smoothly so far. We don’t know of any complications,” Ms. Mullis-Morgan said. “People should be ready to stand in line. They are going to have a line no matter where they go or when they vote or if they vote early or on Election Day.”
On Wednesday morning about 50 local Democrats rushed the doors at the election commission to vote early. About 20 of them had camped out on the lawn Tuesday night in advance of voting. The number of opening-door voters was far less than the several hundred that local Democrats had predicted.
“This is our chance to change the direction for the country,” said Justin Wilkins, local volunteer coordinator for the Obama campaign.
But there seemed to be plenty of Republicans voting Wednesday, as well. Across town at the election commission office was Don Alosi of Ooltewah, who said he cast his ballot for John McCain.
“This race is so important, so everyone needs to vote,” Mr. Alosi said.
Early in the morning, next to the Democratic voters, Teresa St. Clair also voted for Mr. McCain.
“We want a man with morals and integrity,” she said.
Early voting ends Oct. 30, and Election Day is Nov. 4. The new president will be inaugurated Jan. 20, 2009. Sens. McCain and Obama are in a tight race for the White House.
Local voters also will find the following races on the ballot: One U.S. Senate seat from Tennessee; the 3rd Congressional District; Tennessee State Senate District 10; Tennessee House of Representatives Districts 26, 27, 28, 29 and 30; the District 4 school board special election; and municipal elections in East Ridge, Lakesite, Red Bank, Signal Mountain, Soddy-Daisy and Walden.
Staff writer Matt Wilson contributed to this story.
Big turnout for the first day of early voting...
Tennessee PING
Oh, how I remember the dozens of stories in 2004 about how Kerry is crushing Bush in early voting..
Could probably fill the front page of FR with all of them,
Has there always been early in-person voting? This is the first election that I have ever heard of this.
The line was so long here in TN today I decided to wait a few days.
Long lines today. What is the point of having early voting then? Not convenience, I guess.
Why do we need this anyway? For centuries Americans managed to cast all their votes on election day. Only since the narrow Bush victories in 2000 and ‘04 did the powers that be decide something is wrong with the system for some reason. I have a feeling if Gore had won we would be hearing very little about irregularities.
“We want a man with morals and integrity,”
It should be the main reason we vote for anyone. All other issues will fall into place as far as I am concerned. A man or woman (Sarah!) who walks the walk of morality and talks the talk.
I went to the gun store today. I had to wait in line for nearly an hour, because so many people were trying to buy an "assault weapon" before BHO bans them.
Yes, we have had it in TN for years...
I got to vote for Duncan Hunter because of early voting here...
I voted on the first day, Wednesday...
Duncan dropped out on Saturday...
Here’s Nashville numbers, today...
“15,000 Early Voters Cast Ballot In Nashville”
http://www.wsmv.com/politics/17711670/detail.html?rss=nash&psp=news
Metro election officials said that about 49,000 new voters have registered, which is up about 53 percent from the 2004 election.
Welcome to FRee Republic...
Where in TN are you ????
Downtown Nashville reported 11K voted first day...that is lib country
Nice of “Adam Crisp” to mention Ms. Manderville’s race, just to be a really diligent reporter even though I guess we know the answer./s
“What is the point of having early voting then?”
I will be hauling NH3 in a few days. That goes 10 t0 12 hrs a day until the end of November.
I’ll be voting tomorrow since I can’t do it Nov 4.
And the cemetaries lined up around the block.............
I voted in Millington (suburb of Memphis) and it was busier than usual but I wouldn’t call it busy. At noon, there was maybe 20 voters in there. I had to wait all of 5 minutes. Usually when I vote there....I’m one of 2-3 voters in the room. LOL
To increase democrat turnout.
The more marginal a voter is, the more likely that voter is to be clueless and therefore more influenced by the msm, and hence more likely to vote rat.
In early voting, you can vote at any location. Lots of people who work downtown vote downtown.
Personally, I love early voting. Haven’t statistics shown it favors republicans just like absentee voting? It’s not like you can drop by your normal precinct and vote early. You have to make an effort to get to the 10 or so early voting sites. Making an effort to do anything tends to be a conservative trait.
Vote early and often if you are an ACORN tool.
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