Turnout

Some people are facing long waits, many are reporting no lines. The obvious difference seems to be that the long lines are mainly in districts with large populations of people of color. Stories picked up from comment sections:

I voted in the center of central Brooklyn, around the corner from Church and Flatbush Avenues. About 90% African- or Caribbean-American, 5% White, 5% other. The line at 7:30 a.m. was, I think, about a quarter-mile long to get into the school gym where 8-10 precincts voted. Took a little more than two hours, and when I finished, the line was still quarter-mile long. All good-humored under the circumstances, but the weather was good and the crowd almost universally for Obama. (Thank God it didn't rain.)

**********************************************************

A colleague told me yesterday that her mother, who is in her 70s, had been working her tail off the last month as an Obama volunteer. She's been working phones, going door-to-door, stuffing envelopes, all of it.She said her mom had never been politically active before and that she was incredibly fired up, even hoping to make it to a victory party tonight for the volunteers.

When her dad died years ago, she said, her mother just lost her verve. She seemed to have lost her way and lacked purpose. She hasn't seen her like this in a long time and was amazed at her energy and passion for life. That's what hope can do.

***********************************************************

A friend told me he has three elderly voters in the deep South who are voting for Obama. One of them hasn't voted for over 40 years.


[More posts daily at The Newshoggers and The Detroit News.]