I went to the L.A County Early Voting Place at 9 AM this morning. (It opens at 8 AM). The line was unbelievably, ridiculously loooooonnngg, around the four walls of the building.
For those living in L.A, and you probably already know but if not, you can still goto the L.A County Registrar's Office before Nov 3 to early vote:
12400 Imperial Hwy
Norwalk, CA
Mon-Fri 8am - 5pm
Sat-Sun 8am - 4pm.
I had picked today to vote because I have to work double shift on Tuesday and won't have time to make it between 7 AM and 8PM and figured it might be less crowded today because people might be at Sunday Church. Someone said it would take 3 hours but the line seemed to be moving pretty fast and I like standing in the rain (quite rare in these parts), so I thought what the heck.
Some casual observations from the polling place thus far:
Every 8 of 10 people was African American. One person was Latino and the other one was White (most of whom had No on 8 stickers). In other words, I wouldn't be surprised if L.A county went 100% for Obama in early voting. I was surprised there were not many Asian-Americans, given the demographics of the area.
As I was standing in line, people around me were talking fervently to their families in Spanish. Being a curious person with certain journalistic tendancies, I wanted to casually strike up conversation with the african american people next to me, see what kind of news programs they watch, where they get their information from, have they read Daily Kos etc, but no such luck. They mostly ignored me and kept to themselves. For a minute, I felt left out, there was really no one like me there.
And then I thought about what if this were Alabama, Oklahoma or some safe Republican state instead? It would be have been a majority of white old men demographically and I wouldn't have fit in there either. That's the beauty of L.A: no one fits in here and the democratic party is really the 'catch-all' party of diversity. I plugged in my headphones, re-read the Ballot book for the nth time, talked to my friend on the phone etc.
As my patience began to dwindle, I would be lying if I said I hadn't thought about going home. After all, this is California, not a swing state. No controversies in my local house and state races, pretty comfortable Dem. Judging by the early votes and people around me, none of the local races and ballot measures I care about seemed to be in any danger. But I had wanted to be a part of it. It was really the first time I had been so involved in any campaign. I had waited so long to vote, followed every bit of news obssessively and pressurized friends and family to vote, send them various bits of email everyday about the election. It would be too ironical not to vote now. I kicked myself for not getting an absentee ballot and mailing it in.
I noticed none of the people around me weren't complaining. One woman remarked, it took her 4 and a half hours but "I've been in longer lines for much less. This is far too important."
The most heart-warming moment was when people distributed free candy, and Red Bull. Don't know who supplied them, perhaps a local store but there was no advertising, it may just have been someone who went and bought them and shared it with the rest of the tired people in line. ("Socialism!"). And a local reporter from ABC News filmed a short segment.
I tried to keep myself busy by checking out everybody's Obama gear. That's right, even though I had read here that you were not supposed to wear any partisan clothes, buttons or accessories 100 ft of voters, almost everybody had something or the other - I noticed earrings, shirts, buttons, car magnets etc.
The same goes for the No on Prop 8 folks. There was a lot of campaigning and passing of literature while in line. This was perceived negatively by many people in line. One woman called it harrassment. She said, she had heard enough about it all over the news, radio and papers and had already decided her mind - she was not going to change her mind just because someone said something 2 minutes before she voted.
Anyway, I finally entered the tent after 4 hours in line. They took my sample ballot and gave me a number and asked me to take a seat inside the tent. They said it would be another hour before we get called. An hour passed and I heard someone say it was going to be a little bit longer. Like maybe 2 more hours.
I appreciate the tremendous work done by all the volunteers at the polling place. I have to wonder why it is taking so long. They have anticipated the crowds, since they say it has been this way ever since early voting started. Why didn't the county add more booths, or additional tents or different polling places in the last few days? How many people went away seeing the lines?
I came outside to get lunch. It's 3:30 and I've spent my only day off waiting in line. I have to go back to vote today (since I already turned in my sample ballot, I can't vote on Tuesday). Will be back later.