This morning, I stood in line outside the polls from 620-630 am when the polls opened in a precinct located a suburb of Charlotte, NC. My primary reason for voting was to vote against Rep. Sue Myrick (R-Amway) in the NC-09 Congressional race. Most folks probably won't even know that there is a contested race for this Congressional seat, as the attention has been focused on Kissell and Schuler in neighboring districts. The only sign I've seen for the Democratic candidate Bill Glass is the one that's been in my yard for a month - and the only reason we got that was because our son David has been working on Glass' campaign.
From what I've seen, Mecklenburg County looks like it will have a higher than predicted turnout. More below the flip...
According to the
Mecklenburg County Board of Elections, 30,849 people voted early or submitted absentee ballots. When I went to vote this morning (I was literally Voter 007 at my precinct!) there were perhaps 75 people lined up to vote before the polls opened. My precinct has a heavier concentration of "Unaffiliated" voters than Dems or Republicans. In speaking with a few people in line, the sentiment seemed to be voting against candidates, rather than for them. Lots of anti-incumbency sentiment.
We also had awesome new voting machines - there were touchscreens, but the machine also had a side window where choices were printed on a paper ballot.
My fingers are crossed for high turnout and change! I'm more optimistic today than I was yesterday.