Well, I did my civic duty this morning at the Fiesta on Kirby, which is a couple of blocks from where I work. I arrived at about 6:50, and there were already 20 people lined up ahead of me. We had to wait until the doors opened at 7, but it didn't take me long after that. Early voting ends at 7 PM on Friday, so don't wait too long.
Just over 200,000 people in the Top 15 counties voted on Monday, including 42,000 in Harris County. That was the heaviest early-voting day so far. I think Harris County will break 20% turnout by the end of the week; of course, Collin, Williamson, and Travis Counties are at 20% already, with Denton close behind. Those guys ought to break 30%, which is truly astounding.
Posted by Charles Kuffner on October 27, 2004 to Election 2004 | TrackBackTim and I plan to go later today. Tuesdays are bad school days for me and I have this thing about us voting together.
Posted by: Sue on October 27, 2004 10:10 AMI live not too far from the Multiservices center on West Grey, and it's been packed every day since early voting began. A friend tried to vote there this morning before work, and he ended up having to leave because the lines were too long.
Posted by: 'stina on October 27, 2004 10:25 AMYeah, the West Grey center (which is closest to where I live) was packed on Monday afternoon. I'd have voted then but didn't have the time to wait on line.
Posted by: Charles Kuffner on October 27, 2004 11:14 AMThe Barbara Bush library (closest place for me) has had 1-2 hour lines since early voting started. I went to a fire station off FM 1960 instead and waited under 1/2 hour. Not bad. Glad to see so many people out voting.
Posted by: Anne on October 27, 2004 1:36 PMI voted at the very same Fiesta last Wednesday and stood on queue for twenty minutes. I have NEVER waited to vote there before.
The election judge I visited with briefly said those were the shortest lines of the week.
My wife voted there on Monday morning about 9 and had no wait at all.
Posted by: PDiddie on October 27, 2004 4:47 PMDespite my qualms about DRE voting machines, I voted last week during my lunch break, and my wife voted last Saturday. I figure no one will bother trying to rig the machines in Dallas County, since it's heavily Republican to begin with (though it has been becoming less so recently).
Had to wait about 20 minutes when I voted; my wife had to wait over an hour Sat.
My wife wanted me to wait in line with her, even though I'd already voted. I almost got in trouble for "assisting" her when she asked me a question about the touch-screen, but she finished without my help.
Posted by: Mathwiz on October 27, 2004 5:10 PMWell, we just went to the location on Westcenter (near Richmond and Beltway 8) this afternoon and waited about 30-40 minutes in a line that was probably about 60 deep when we got there. They had about 10 machines in there, if I recall correctly.
This will probably be my last experiment with early voting if this is what we can expect going forward.
This is a very heavy turnout year. Most times, I'm in and out in five minutes flat during early voting. I'm going to guess that Election Day is also busy, so you're probably just as well off this way.
Posted by: Charles Kuffner on October 27, 2004 9:31 PM