1st ever diary entry, and this is a long shot to be sure since diaries will come & go quickly today, but I just got back from voting in Dem bastion Montclair, NJ and the polling places here need a huge amount of help. If you live in Essex County and have some free time today, this could be your little GOTV operation.
The lines were long at 6:30 am at St Luke's Episcopal on South Fullerton (across the street from the library), out the door long, and potential voters were walking away. Problem is, they didn't have to -- there are four lines at St Luke's, two for each district, and two per district based on last name. And, most of the lines were moving quickly if people knew where to go. But there are no signs, and not enough people to stand at the door to tell them where to go.
After figuring the system out and voting, I went home and made signs directing people about where to go, but the volunteers said that they were under strict orders to not allow any signs other than the "official" polling signs, which are completely unreadable to people waiting on line. So instead, I stood near the door for half an hour and tried to direct people based on district and name. I will go back tonight after work but right now, things don't look good. There just aren't enough people helping the process move as smoothly as possible.
We [i]should[/i] win NJ, but in order to ensure that, we need to maximize turnout in Essex. If you've got the time, volunteer, even on an ad-hoc basis -- whether it's here in Montclair, or in your own district.
UPDATE 12:30 pm: We're in good shape, thanks to all of you & others who called Congressman Payne's office. They sent a pair of lawyers over to tell the poll workers to stop checking ID's, and they have volunteers at the door helping people determine where they should line up and vote. So let's let this drop off the Recommended list and get other stories up -- we're doing a great job so far.