Surprise.
These are just reports from Palm Beach County (yes, home of the infamous hangin' chad). I voted October 28, and waited 2 hours that morning. Only 20 voting booths. Because why would pRick Scott (R-Criminal, FL) want to make it easier for Floridian's to vote after he tried to purge voter rolls here, or since he cut early voting dates from 14 to 8, or the fact that he then refused to extend hours or days when people were waiting on lines as long as 7 hours (one diarist here waited for 9 hours in Aventura which is in Miami-Dade County).
One of the problems that exists is that many people don't realize that their polling location was changed due to redistricting (including mine) and are being turned away from polling locations they've voted at for years (I paid attention to the new card I received from our Supervisor of Elections, unfortunately, many did not).
Then, there's this kind of absolutely inexcusable bullshit (from the first article linked above the orange squiggly):
DELRAY BEACH 8:20 a.m. No ballots? Voter Wally Bucklew said he’s been waiting for more than an hour at the First Baptist Church on Military Trial in Delray Beach to vote. “They don’t have a ballot for us to vote on. I’ve been inside for over an hour they keep telling us the ballots are going to be here any minute.”
Other voters reporting from the church:
“They said they were calling someone from 6 a.m., saying they’d be here momentarily,” said resident Blanca DeJesus.
DeJesus and her husband have been waiting in line for two and a half hours and are watching people step out of line, leaving out of frustration.
“We’re still waiting,” she said. “But nothing has been done.”
NO BALLOTS? What.the.fuck???
Who do we blame? Susan Bucher, our Supervisor of Elections?
I will update this diary as information is available and as time permits (I'm at work). Between Ohio and Florida, I wonder who will get the award for having the worst clusterfucking election day.
UPDATE: 11:36 am: From the Miami Herald, various problems reported in Miami-Dade and Broward counties, including rejection of ballots...
UPDATE: from Pinellas County, error in robocall message tells voters they have till WEDNESDAY at 7p to drop off ballots...
9:08 AM PT: H/T psnyder in the comments: Florida's OFA Hotline: 855-868-3214.
UPDATE: (12:21P) - Thank you for the rec list - I appreciate the recognition from my community. What's important to me now is that my fellow Floridians are not disenfranchised.
Good questions in the comments (such as, where are the Dems on the ground in FL because they HAD to know this shit was coming, especially given 2000, and the fact that pRick Scott tried to purge the rolls a few months ago). I don't have an answer. I wish I did, but I don't.
Time will not permit me to respond to the comments as I'd like but I appreciate the conversation going on and will respond as time permits (work is getting in my way, dammit)
9:34 AM PT: More Palm Beach County updates here: http://blogs.palmbeachpost.com/...
11:09 AM PT: 2:08p EST: From the Miami Herald: http://www.miamiherald.com/...
11:11 AM PT: 2:10p EST: Finally, the Florida Sun Sentinel is reporting problems (we already knew about): http://www.sun-sentinel.com/...
12:51 PM PT: 3:50pm: woman shows up to vote, told she's dead: http://blogs.palmbeachpost.com/...
And, about 200 absentee ballots rejected in Palm Beach County because they were not signed. Given that Rethugs vote in larger numbers via absentee ballots, that's whose ballots I'm hoping were tossed. If you can't read instructions...
12:57 PM PT: 3:57p EST: Gotta give this lady (in FL, who broke her leg in line, and STILL voted, cuz that's how we Florida Females roll) props: http://www.dailykos.com/...