Unbelievably, atypical bizarro experience voting in central VA

[rvablue]

I just went and voted for Barack Obama.

There was not ONE SINGLE PERSON IN LINE!

I walked right in, checked in and voted. One person came in while I was there.

In 2004, I voted at the exact same time, late morning, and waited in line for almost an hour....WTH?

The precint does straddle red and blue. Sounds weird, but on one side of the freeway closer to the city, is blue, and on the other side, with the bigger yards and houses, is red.

So, maybe folks aren't turning out for McCain....nonetheless the complete lack of wait has sent me into a tizzy.....can't figure it out.

[Metta]

1. Sometimes, no news is good news.

... just saying.

[DrToast]

2. Did you go at the same time both years?

The size of the lines fluctuate throughout the day.

[rvablue]

5. More or less, yes, at the same time

I have the flexibility in my schedule and so I go to vote in the late morning so I don't clog the line up for people that have to go before 9 or after 5.

That is what made it so weird.....but I'm going to drive by later tonight to check it out.

[Midlodemocrat]

3. Where? I didn't wait in line, but there were a lot of people voting.

[rvablue]

8. Richmond....west end....did you go in the early morning? n/t

[Midlodemocrat]

11. 9:30. There were lines at 5:20 apparently as people lined up to

vote before work. I went when the rush was over, but the election board had tons and tons of help there. About 15 people in orange safety vests directing people where to go to sign in, get their ballot, if they needed help with the ballot, etc.

I feel great about this.

[rvablue]

13. The set up/organization was great at my precint too

It was very well staffed, about 10 voting machines and a cop directing traffic outside....so, yes, I'll chill and just have faith that they are ready for the huge numbers later in the day!

[nygrl224]

4. I heard that on CNN

they said the same thing for some areas in Florida, and Ohio. Don't know if that's a good or bad thing.

[onenote]

6. I'm hearing that lines in my northern virginia area precincts are short as well

There are three elementary schools near me that serve as voting places for a number of local precincts. Reports are that lines are short or non-existant as of 10:00 am (there were lines earlier, but only 15 to 30 minutes).

A lot of folks here voted early.

[Virginia Dare]

7. In Central VA, no lines is good news for us!......n/t

[rvablue]

9. Uhhh, don't know where you are at VD, but it's not necessary good here

Richmond city has pulled huge numbers for the Democratic ticket in recent decades....

[Virginia Dare]

14. That's true, we do need Richmond,

never mind, I saw you posted west end, isn't Chesterfield and Henrico pretty red? I assumed you were talking about a rural area.

[codjh9]

10. ... and maybe there was a lot of early voting in the area. ???

[rvablue]

12. Well there was record breaking early absentee voting, more than 500,000 but

there are 5 million registered voters in Virginia. I am sure things will pick up, of course, after work.....but it's just the difference that I saw from 4 years ago that was strange....