How did things go at YOUR polling place?

21 Replies

I didn’t think to take any pictures at my polling place, so I took this when I got home.

Well, I went and voted — and voted as I said I would — and it went pretty well.

In the past, I’ve posted pictures showing the long lines at my precinct, but there was none of that stuff today. My wife and I walked right up without waiting, and were done in moments — 1 or 2 in her case, and maybe 10 in mine. Because, you know, I obsess about it.

We were lucky, from what I hear, that our polling place was even open. A friend who works the polls had told me they couldn’t open several precincts in Lexington County because of a lack of poll workers. And when my wife took my mother to vote this morning, her precinct was open, but voters from one next door were using it, too.

(My wife says Micah was there working the site, which I’m sure was nice for my mother, since she knew his grandparents and great-grandparents in Bennettsville.)

No such problem at ours. The usual folks — my neighbors — who have run the Quail Hollow precinct were there and doing their duty, bless them.

And all went smoothly.

How did it go for y’all?

And if you haven’t voted yet, as I type this you have one hour left in which to do so…

21 thoughts on “How did things go at YOUR polling place?”

  3. Pat

    I didn’t hear of lack of poll workers in Spartanburg County. We walked right in too.
    I miss going in a curtain feeling like it was truly private, but I didn’t feel like anyone could see me working the computer. However, I did feel the paper receipt was less than private with someone over there showing me how to put it in the machine. There should be instructions on the computer at the end of voting and also printed out on the bottom of the receipt. And there really should be a sign on the receipt machine like “put it here ⬇️“, “face up”, “top first” or “this end first”.
    When we left, there were more people going in to vote , but still not much of a wait. I was #103 I think @ 11 a.m.

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    1. Brad Warthen Post author

      Oh, I miss the machines with the heavy curtain and the big lever you pull to register your votes and open the curtain back up…

      But it made me spend even MORE time obsessing over my votes. I’d stand there, in that privacy, and flip the switch for one candidate and stare at it to see how I felt about it, then flipped it for the other candidate… I did this over and over. And after awhile, one of the poll workers outside would say, “Are you all right in there, sir?”

      I’m not making this up.

      One advantage of the new way is at least they can see I’m OK, so they don’t have a good excuse to call my dithering to everyone’s attention…

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      1. Brad Warthen Post author

        OK, that happened once — I mean, someone asking if I was OK in there. But once was enough.

        I don’t mean it was enough to make me speed it up. I mean it was enough that I was just glad it didn’t happen the other times…

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    2. Scout

      I agree! I wasn’t sure how to put it in the machine and when I asked the person attending she seemed obsessed over not wanting to see my ballot – so she said – I’m not looking, I don’t want to see how you voted – just stick it in there. She didn’t seem to understand that I was asking which way should be up. I tried to say something like, I don’t care if you see, I just want to know I did it right. But I’m essentially a rule follower so I reflexively stuck it in when she commanded me too. I think I assumed that she must mean it doesn’t matter as long as you stick it in. I put it in face up and it disappeared. The lady who was still not looking – asked – did it take it and I said yes, so she said I was good. But I have been worried about it ever since. My husband says his machine made a symbol on a screen that was like a circle and then a check and then said something like thank you for your vote. I don’t remember mine doing this – but maybe it did and I was just too distracted to notice by my conversation with the non-looking lady. ugh! Did I do it right? – What did y’all do?

      My precinct wasn’t crowded – there was a steady stream of people but not so much that anybody had to wait. Of course, as soon as I told my husband this and he came immediately after me, he texted me that he was in a line. But it wasn’t long. My precinct was moved and combined with another precinct next door which is essentially just a different church a half mile away. No one said why, but guess poll workers could be the reason.

      The sign in was completely electronic on an ipad, which was new, so I couldn’t see what number I was by signing on an actual numbered line.

      So will there be a recount for Micah Caskey since he apparently won by only about 24 votes according to the election commission website, or does that just count that he won? I can’t see any reporting of how things have been called apparently because I don’t pay any money to The State or the Post and Courier. I do pay the Washington Post but they are only telling about Mace and Rice.

      Maybe Micah won by 25 votes if my ballot was upside down.

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      1. Brad Warthen Post author

        He won by 26 votes, I’ll have you know! Of course, there’s always the recount, but I talked to him on the phone a few minutes ago, and he seemed to feel OK about that. We’ll see.

        I think you did the voting thing right, from what I recall. I asked about it, and the poll worker at that station — a neighbor and friend — watched me do it and saw no problem. And what I did, I think, was put it in top first, face up.

        She wasn’t looking closely enough to read how I voted, but like you, I don’t care. She could have taken pictures of it and sent it to all her friends, for all I care. Or she could just send them the URL.

        You’re in Saluda River, right? That’s the precinct that was merged with my mother’s, for lack of workers.

        I actually don’t remember physically signing in, but I suppose I did. I was having a conversation with the poll worker, who was asking, “Are you BRAD Warthen, from the newspaper?” I have a lot of conversations like that. Y’all may not believe it, but it’s true. I’m not famous, but here in South Carolina, I’m sorta kinda ALMOST famous. Enough to have gotten a fill to the point I have no real desire to be TRULY famous. I think that would be awful. You could never have a normal, human interaction with anybody…

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        1. Scout

          Yes I am in Saluda River. We usually vote at the Lutheran church on 378 but today we were combined with Westover at the Presbyterian church on Hummingbird. I must have missed Micah though.

          I have since googled it and found an article that said both ways of inserting the ballot work, so phew! Hopefully that’s right.

          Yea me and math are just casual acquaintances. Subtracting in my head can go awry. 24 ~ 26 pretty close. 🙂

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  5. Barry

    The Trump campaign knows me so well. So well that this showed up today in my email

    …………………..

    I am so glad I was able to reach you.

    Father’s Day is right around the corner and I want to put together an EPIC surprise for my father, President Trump.

    I want to send him a HUGE Father’s Day Card from all of his FAVORITE AMERICA FIRST PATRIOTS.

    You’ve always been such a loyal supporter of my father, and I know he’ll be excited to see YOUR name and note on the card.

    HURRY – there’s not much time left. I’m saving a spot for you at the VERY TOP, but you need to act fast!

    Please add your name to my father’s ONLY Official Father’s Day Card and leave a short personalized note for him to read.

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  6. Barry

    The January 6th committee testimony yesterday was pretty incredible. The most interesting thing to me was the Republicans that were testifying, especially those that were there and witnessed the reactions and actions that day in the White House.

    Mike Pence was stashed away in a parking garage area by the Secret Service for quite awhile where he made numerous phone calls standing in the garage trying to get people close to Trump to get him to say something to calm his nutty mob down- unsuccessfully. The Secret Service was afraid that he and his wife would be physically harmed based on what they were hearing from rioters.

    Trump never called Pence or anyone close to him to check on him and his wife even though Trump knew he had been evacuated out of the building for his safety.

    Pence could hear and was about 40 feet away from people that were yelling that he was a traitor and trying to get to him. They played footage of rioters on the grounds and in the building yelling “Where is Pence” and “Let’s get him now” as they were searching the building.

    Conservative hero and former federal judge Michael Luttig directly accused Trump and his allies of “waging a war on Democracy.” Luttig is near God like status in Conservative legal and political world.

    Luttig testified that it was his opinion that if Trump ran in 2024 and lost, he would try to overturn the election just like he did in 2020.

    He, and others, referring to the fact that if someone different than Pence had been VP, the nation could have faced constitutional crises and as Luttig said “revolution”

    Luttig and others also described the history and law regarding what Trump was asking Pence to do was against everything the constitution and our nation’s history stood for.

    Quite a day.

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  7. Barry

    Interesting that Trump lawyer John Eastman requested to be put on a Pardon list after giving advice to The PRESIDENT that he knew was bogus, and could lead to violence in the country- but dismissed that reality by telling others that there “had been violence before”

    This tells you how big a fool Trump was. I wish there was a way to prosecute this man and put him under the jail.

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  8. bud

    Happy Juneteenth! This has now become the de facto anniversary date for the end of the Civil War. I never found Appomattox day particularly satisfying as a day to serve as the end date for that conflict. Juneteenth seems much more appropriate.

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    1. Brad Warthen Post author

      You’re confusing me. The war ended at Appomattox.

      And, by the way, slavery ended, for good, on Dec. 18, 1865. That’s when the 13th Amendment took effect. The Proclamation was a wartime measure that gave great moral force to the fight to preserve the union. It is a monumental document, but its lasting effect, standing by itself, was dubious. It said slaves would be “thenceforward, and forever free,” but it was talking about “persons held as slaves within any State or designated part of a State, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States.”

      And Texas was no longer in rebellion on June 19, 1865 — because, you know, Appomattox.

      Lincoln had good reason to doubt that the Proclamation would continue to have effect after the war, which is why he pushed for the 13th Amendment — which had passed on Jan. 31, but was still going through the ratification process on June 19. So it wasn’t in effect yet.

      Here’s a clip from the film “Lincoln,” dramatizing Abe’s reasoning on the need for the amendment:

      Juneteenth is a powerful emotional landmark that is a natural focus for celebration. It has grown over time, starting naturally in Texas, into a widely celebrated moment — although, of course, freed slaves in other states had their own, earlier moments of joyful celebration. But other dates are also “de facto,” and certainly more “de jure”…

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      1. James Edward Cross

        Sorry. the war ended on August 20, 1866 when President Andrew Johnson signed an official proclamation that “said insurrection is at an end and that peace, order, tranquility, and civil authority now exist in and throughout the whole United States of America.” How’s that for de jure! 🙂

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