I was shocked yesterday and how many people were voting absentee. Approximately 1700 people voted absentee yesterday in St Louis County, and they estimate that they will have 2000 people a day go through. It's great to see that those who are eligible to vote absentee are making the effort to take advantage of absentee voting in person.
The crowd of people waiting around 2 hours to vote absentee at the St Louis County Board of Elections
Missouri does not have "early" voting. We have absentee voting, where you can come vote in person early for one of the following reasons:
" Absence on Election Day from St. Louis County, illness or physical disability, including caring for a person who is Incapacitated or confined due to illness or disability (notary not required for this reason), Religious belief or practice, Employment as an election authority or by an election authority at a location other than my polling place, Incarceration, although I have retained all of the necessary qualifications for voting, A member of the U.S. armed forces in active service or a dependent spouse, A civilian employee of the U.S. government working outside the United States, A registered voter in ____________ County, Missouri, and moved from that county to St. Louis County after the 4th Wednesday prior to this election, A former resident of Missouri and authorized to vote for federal offices by federal law"
Yesterday I went to vote absentee since I will be out of St Louis County on election day. I waited for about 50 minutes start to finish, with a good part of that line outside in a cold wind. There were quite a few elderly people voting, too. After I voted I thought how nice it would be to hand out a hot drink to the people waiting outside in line.
So I drove to the closest Obama office and asked the field organizer, Laura, what we could do. She made a few phone calls, rounded up some hot chocolate and some carafes from a local restaurant and back we went. My sister came to help and Laura mobilized a few more volunteers. We also signed up supporters to help out this Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. From idea to implementation was about 90 minutes, including drive time. This is the Obama ground operation and this is why we'll win. A couple of us stayed until the line closed at 4pm.
The St Louis County Board of Elections is single place where St Louis County residents can vote absentee in person. It's in a nondescript office park where there are usually lots of empty parking spaces. When I arrived yesterday, I could tell immediately that this was big - people were parking where there were no spots.
I went back this morning with more volunteer sign up sheets. The line was as long as ever, which is GREAT news! Like yesterday, the people in line seemed about 60% Obama supporters (hard to tell because I'm going only on how people responded to my buttons and my requests for volunteers). African-Americans seemed to be about 40% of the voters each day. We did not give out coffee or hot chocolate today because the campaign wanted to err on the safe side, even though it's legal.
The ballot is long - there are over 30 things to vote for including all offices, judges, propositions, and initiative. Hence the long line.
I made sure to stay about 100 feet or so from the front door, even though 25 feet is the law. Some (spiteful?) person still reported us yesterday but the officials came out and said we were fine. Today a woman brimming with hostility asked me if I wasn't a little too close (if you look at the last picture below, I was standing back by the tree on the right - a long way down the line). I just smiled and told her I was plenty of distance away, well within the law, etc., and she said "You couldn't get TOO FAR away" and just sneered. I just kept smiling and pretended that I didn't understand and reiterated that I was perfectly within my rights to be where I was doing what I was doing. HOWEVER. The little elderly lady in front of her who had I had been chatting with was ENRAGED. She whispered to me, "I'd like to punch her right in the kisser!" I just laughed it off but she was indignant, saying she was sick of the ugly discourse from the McCain campaign, saying LOUDLY that I was fine standing where I was, and that there was too much anger. The McCain-voting woman glared at me and said "Wait until you see the anger if "HE" wins...". The elderly lady's husband started to get in the fray, and then this tiny little lady, elegantly dressed, and head wrapped in a scarf to protect against the chill said "I am so SICK of these right-wing ASSHOLES!" I was just laughing and smiling and the rest of the crowd was chuckling along, too. Angry lady moved on and I signed up more volunteers!
People were waiting 2 hours to vote today - most of the crowd seemed happy and excited and were willing to wait. Here's the line: it wrapped out from the door, down the sidewalk....
....and up the next sidewalk:
The great thing was, I signed up volunteers for this weekend left and right. People are happy to help, want to help, and understand we have to push until the polls close. I'll be out there again tomorrow morning and, oh yeah, I wore my Blues hockey jersey, which caused quite a few "hockey mom" laughs.
Here's Secretary of State Robin Carnahan's statement about the huge turnout that is expected:
M
issouri Secretary of State Robin Carnahan announced today that 76 percent of Missouri’s registered voters are predicted to vote in the November 4, 2008 general election. This estimate is a compilation of local turnout estimates submitted to the Secretary of State’s office by the 116 election authorities around the state. If the 76 percent prediction is met, more than 3.2 million votes will be cast in the election.
n addition to the estimated turnout, Secretary Carnahan also released the statewide voter registration total for the upcoming election. There are a record-setting 4,205,774 Missourians currently registered to vote, which includes over 340,000 first time voters.
A large portion of the new voters are younger Missourians. Nearly 150,000 of the first time registrants are 18-24 years old, which is more than double any other age group. In both Kansas City and St. Louis City, 40 percent of the new registrants are 18-24 years old.
St Louis City and County and the KC Metro area can carry the state if the margins are high enough. Missouri will be a tough fight but it is entirely possible.
St Louis County Sample Ballot and Polling Place Information