Turnout Report, 7 am Arlington Precinct 31

I live in the precinct adjacent to teacherken in Arlington, VA.  I got up very early (for me) this morning to get voting out of the way.  In 2006, I got in line to vote at 7:15 a.m. but did not vote until 8:00 a.m. and I was in the 300-350 range of voters.

This morning, I went to vote at 6:50 a.m. (just about 25 minutes earlier).  Turnout on the flip.

I was the 101st person to vote in the Democratic primary.  I didn't see a Republican sheet tally because, well, this is a very heavily democratic precinct (85-15 Kerry, I believe).

The line was not very long - I voted by 7:05.  The real holdup was that there was only one table checking in names, whereas in general elections, they have two tables (A-K and L-Z).  There was only one page of voting - Presidential - so it took literally 10 seconds to vote via touchscreen (yuck).  You had all 6 machines to yourself, but you were assigned to a particular voting booth.

Note: one election worker was an Elizabeth Kucinich look-alike.

I made my mark for Obama and headed out (to look for my turnout report from 2006).

Posting this as an FYI.  Looks like turnout is a fair bit lighter in my precinct than 2006.  My precinct is fairly older (not many younger couples with children, no student population to speak of), and probably 80-85% white.  I think I was one of only 2-3 people in a line of 20-25 or so under 40 years old.

•  Tip Jar

  For the heck of it.

  Gobama.

  by VaAntirepublican on Tue Feb 12, 2008 at 04:40:12 AM PDT

  •  And how cold was it there?

    Here in upstate blue county NY (the one that went for Obama) it is 2 deg.

    by riverlover on Tue Feb 12, 2008 at 05:15:04 AM PDT

•  Well....

  Stands to reason that older voters would be more likely to be there at 7AM, right?

  I had trouble getting to my poll before noon when I voted in Chicago, and it was literally a couple of blocks away!

  by chicago DEM on Tue Feb 12, 2008 at 04:42:51 AM PDT

  •  This is a generalization

    but my anecdotal experience is that older people do tend to get up earlier than younger folks.  Then there's middle-aged people like me who've worked flex-time for the past six years and usually get up sometime around noon on a busy day so we end up voting later for that reason as well :)

    by Lipo on Tue Feb 12, 2008 at 05:19:51 AM PDT

•  There's an Elizabeth Kucinich lookalike...

  ...working the polls in Arlington?

  I'll be there in 20 minutes.  To volunteer.

  by mistersite on Tue Feb 12, 2008 at 05:32:57 AM PDT

•  I'm not sure which area is Precinct 31

  My precinct is Shirlington, Cong 08, Sen 30, Hse 045. Sadly, I have to look at my card to know that.

  I was there at 06:45 fearing long lines like 2006, when I had arrived at 07:30.  This time there was no line, I was the 47th person to vote.  However, as I was leaving, I saw 7 people coming in, and many more pulling into the area.  I think it was just too early for some.  Definitely too early for me!

  by oortdust on Tue Feb 12, 2008 at 06:01:02 AM PDT

  •  You go!

    All of you wonderful, patriotic voters, and kudos for the local, on the ground feedback.

    by Clio2 on Tue Feb 12, 2008 at 06:15:24 AM PDT