Long voting lines in Miami(Warning to voters)

www.wbay.com ^ | 11/01/04 | wbay.com

[MiamiChef]

MIAMI People broke out lawn furniture and reading material as they got in very long lines on the last day of early voting in Miami.

About 500 people stood in the sweltering sun at the Miami-Dade County elections department, where the wait at midday was more than two hours to cast a ballot.

One person says Floridians are used to it -- saying it's like standing in line at Disney World. Others said they simply wanted their ballot to count, fearing a repeat of election problems four years ago.

Early voting ends at three p-m in Miami, but anyone on line at that time will be allowed to cast a ballot.

Elections officials say about one-third of the county's one (M) million voters will have voted early -- either by going to a polling place or voting by absentee ballot.

[Politicalmom]

Uh, no. Every Kerry voter that doesn't vote is good for us.

[Paleo Conservative]

I can't tell from the article what the last day of early voting was? Was if Friday, Saturday, or Sunday?

[DonnerT]

They've been doing it all along. Look for them to try the same tactic tomorrow at every polling place.

[Paleo Conservative]

I believe it is only certain places. We will not see lines like these tomorrow, when regular polling places are operating.

The Florida legislature should require more early voting sites, and they should require that some of them be located in areas with high Republican turnout. They also should separate out the restrictions on electioneering from the legislation enabling early voting. The restrictions on electioneering should apply to all elections (general, local, special district, etc.) regardless of when and where the voting takes place. Electioneering should be prohibited within 150 feet of the polling place or 150 feet from any portion of the line whichever measurement is longer.

[snooker]

I voted early they had 8 voting booth set up. Normally a polling place I go to has 20 or so on election day.

I wouldn't worry about the lines. It gives a very distorted view. A few hundred people in line is nothing when you consider in FL there were millions of voters last election. The line also moved painfully slow because of the low number of machines. Early voting makes no sense.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

Do they wait until "Election" day to talley the votes?

[Mister Baredog]

YES

[Optimus Prime]

One person says Floridians are used to it -- saying it's like standing in line at Disney World.

Not only was I there to vote, today, but I was a few places in the line ahead of the woman who made this joke, which caused everyone nearby to chuckle.

There were only two polling places open, today (Who the hell thought that was a good idea?), so it was INSANE, today! I got there shortly before 11am to vote, and didn't walk out until SIX PM! I spent SEVEN HOURS WAITING IN LINE! And SIX of those hours were spent on my feet. You want to see Broken Glass Republicans? I'm ONE of them!

Incidentally, the liberals are damn near berserk. They actually had a guy there going around singing a song with the following stanza:

"US troops smoking their tabacci,
While murdering and raping innocent Iraqis".

Fortunately a Republican in the line (A guy in his late-50's, whereas the "musician" was early-30's), there, got out of line and got in the punks face. Almost thought someone was going to throw a punch. Insane.

[Rome2000]

All of the people I saw leaving were Kerry people.

Who the hell would stand in line for 3 hours to vote for him?

My wifes girlfriend has 2 Kerry bumper stickers on her car and even she left after waiting for 3 hours, only to find that from that point the wait was another hour and a half.

I'd stand in line for 12 hours if I had to, but the wait tomorrow at any precinct shouldn't be more than an hour at most.

[RedMonqey]

My bad (comprehension)