At first, I thought it was maybe a sign of lack of specifically Republican interest that so few voters were at the polling places I mentioned previously in Lexington County.
For a comparison, since I had to go into town anyway, I ran by several over in heavily Democratic Richland. Most were places I used to drop by each Election Day when I was at the paper:
- A.C. Moore Elementary
- Rosewood Elementary
- Sims Park
- Dreher High School
The first two I just drove by, and confirmed that there no visible lines stretching out the doors. At Sims, I went in, and found one or two people waiting to vote — just like at my own precinct back near Lexington Medical Center.
Finally, at Dreher, I went in and engaged the workers — who weren’t what you’d call busy — in conversation. And maybe I got my answer, although it’s an answer I brought up and immediately dismissed in my last post.
One of those signing people in (occasionally) told me not to be “fooled” by the light trickle of voters. He said 600 people from Ward 16 had voted early. That didn’t impress me until he explained that was half the registered voters (as least I assumed he was talking registered and not voting age population, because he would have had those data at hand — but I neglected to ask) in that ward. And, he said, while it might not look like much at any given moment, 300 had already voted there today. He said that at about 1:15. Conceivably, that left open the possibility that the remaining 300 could vote by the end of the day.
I don’t know, but the same could be true at the other places thus far mentioned, and at the Saluda River precinct I drove back by on my way home.
Huh. Those lines for early voting hadn’t looked very long, particularly when you consider these were people from precincts all over that part of the county. But when you stretch that out over a couple of weeks…
So, maybe folks are voting after all. I may not like the way they vote on this or that race, but I suppose I can’t accuse them of slacking off. Or maybe I can. We’ll see. Dreher was the only place where I went in and got some numbers, and maybe it was different at the other places…
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Your headline amused me because it reminded me of this: Today I read this post from an acquaintane in Virginia which she posted along with a picture of the line in which she had been standing.
“In line to vote. Weirdest thing happening, people are going in the building but very few are coming out. They let like ten people in every 10 minutes but been here about 40 minutes and only like 5 people have come out of the building. There is only one entrance/exit. ”
And then after voting: “I don’t know guys, the building was pretty empty inside. I asked the volunteer where they were hiding the bodies and she looked scared of me after that. It remains a mystery “
My wife did vote. She said there was no one there when she went outside of a few people.
She said the workers there were on edge. When she took her ballot over to have it scanned in, the worker told her to keep it turned over so she (the worker) couldn’t see it 3 different times in less than a few seconds.
She said the worker looked very stressed.
She also noticed one man she recognized walking around the precinct doing nothing. He was saying “hello” to people in line but otherwise just walking around keeping to himself. He’s a big Trump supporter. I know the guy a bit. He’s prone to conspiracy theories but is a nice man when you talk to him. I told her I was sure he had volunteered as a precinct monitor with the Trump campaign.
I just got some turnout numbers from a Lexington County precinct not previously mentioned, out at Emmanuel Lutheran Church.
There are 2,284 registered. As of 4:26 today, 576 had voted. There were 833 who voted early or absentee. So, respectable turnout.
A worker there told me, “We had about a 20-minute line this morning until 8ish, no line since then. It’s been steady, but nothing crazy.”