A first hand account in the words of a young voter, Sarah Jamieson, in South Carolina:
Being a long-time resident and registered voter in South Carolina, I'm not suprised to hear that McCain won in our state.
I just returned home from 2 hours in line at the polls. I must say that my experience there left me very nervous. The long lines were the least of my worries after arriving. A half hour had passed before I could get an election official to direct me to the correct line to be in. I expected to show up, get in line, vote, and be on my way.
However, there were 4 lines to wait in: the first line was where you had to 'sign in,' the second, where you waited to receive a white square of paper that said something to the effect of 'verified registered voter,' and then the 3rd & 4th line, depending on your precinct where you then waited to vote. Finally, I got to the front of the 'sign in' line where I gave the election official my identification.
He quickly scrolled down a printed list of names to the letter 'J' and said that I wasn't on 'the list.' He handed my identification off to another election official who moved to a chair in the corner and was attempting to call someone I assume who could verify my voter registration. He made 3 frustrated attempts to make this phone call and returned 15 minutes later with a paper ballot. He had filled out section at the top that read, "voter not on the list, tried to call the local election headquarters but there was no answer." He instructed me on how to fill out the ballot properly and stuck me in a corner at a desk.
The majority of the state & local voting categories had one candidate running uncontested whose party affiliation was republican. Of course, there was an alloted space for a write-in candidate. I left those categories blank. The confusion, disorganization, and as disshelved if not more of a mess than this one. I'm optimistically hoping that this will not contribute to the election results but fear that such is unavoidable. I stuck my paper ballot into a plastic black box and left. My skepticism makes me worry that my paper ballot vote will not make it to the right place.
http://www.neurope.eu/articles/90419.php
Comments are closed for this post.
