Wednesday, November 05, 2008
Throughout Election Day, voters streamed to the polls in the Roanoke Valley
There was a wide range of emotions, from frustration to excitement to a chilly glance.
Kyle Green | The Roanoke Times
With a climbing wall as a background, a woman votes at the Peters Creek polling place at William Ruffner Middle School in Roanoke.
Related
roanoke.com/politics
Multimedia
Voters
- Virginia takes another step leftward
- Throughout Election Day, voters streamed to the polls
- First-time voters revel in democratic process
- Shuttles help get Tech students to polls
- Voters report sporadic problems
Individual races
- Presidential race: Jim Crow to Obama in one lifetime
- 5th District, U.S. House: 5th District race remains too close to call
- 6th District, U.S. House: Goodlatte cruises to win in contested House bid
- U.S. Senate: Warner enjoys overwhelming win
The breakfast vote came out hard around the Roanoke Valley.
The poll workers all repeated the same lines: They never saw a morning rush like it. The line was out the door. Hours of waiting at dawn.
That translated into big turnout numbers in the region. "Overwhelming," "horrendous" and "rip-roaring," declared the election officials who gave up snack and bathroom breaks.
So began Tuesday, when a record number of voters spent 13 hours casting their ballots.
7:04 a.m., Eureka Park
"If I could just keep this many people in line when I'm running next year, I'll be in hog heaven," said state Del. Onzlee Ware, D-Roanoke, the morning's greeter, entertainer and general problem solver.
A line of 100 voters snaked outside this largely black, traditionally Democratic precinct in Northwest Roanoke. In a nearby field, a deer stopped and studied the crowd.
"Obama brought out the animals," Ware joked to the crowd.
Despite the wait in a steady drizzle, voters remained enthusiastic for Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., and -- they repeated it up and down the line -- "this historic election."
"I'm just glad to be able to see the day," said Junius Gaither, who has voted at the precinct for more than 50 years. He was joined by his wife, Lenora, who pushed a walker down the sidewalk. The two had arrived at 5:45 a.m.
But the wait wore down a woman named Quita, who came storming out of the polls. She had come to the wrong precinct, she said, and now decided to pass on Election Day.
"Go home and get a cup of coffee," Ware advised, and jotted down her phone number. His Election Day "flushers" would give her a ride to the right precinct that afternoon, he said. Quita walked home in the rain.
"You think I was going to let a vote go?" Ware asked.
9:33 a.m., South Roanoke No. 2
The rain and the crowds had dispersed by the time Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Roanoke County, stopped for his voting day meet and greet. Some 600 people had come and gone in the first three hours. Now, the wait was less than 10 minutes.
Supporters called, "Hey, Bob," as Goodlatte traded hugs and handshakes with the traffic through this Southwest Roanoke precinct, where President Bush took more than six of every 10 votes in 2004.
"It's just a tough environment this year," said Goodlatte, who was facing a young Democratic challenger, Sam Rasoul, for control of Virginia's 6th District. That said, the congressman was favored to keep his seat. And he said that he had comfortably slept his usual six hours the night before.
Then Goodlatte offered his hand and his introduction -- "Hi, I'm Bob Goodlatte" -- to a woman on her way in. She gave him a chilly glance and moved on.
"See, you don't know," Goodlatte said.
12:39 p.m., North Salem No. 1
A tale of two Kathys
"I've never voted before, so I'm going to need some help," announced Kathy Chapman, 58, as she entered here, one of three precincts at the Salem Civic Center. A poll worker led her through the process. When she was done, the two hugged.
Why vote now after passing on nine other presidential elections?
"Because I think we really need a change and Obama could do it," Chapman said as she left. "You can't just sit there and see what's on TV. You've got to get up and get with it."
Exactly 40 feet outside the civic center doors, Kathy Habeeb led a group of supporters for Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., as they passed out stickers and sample ballots.
"I'm afraid to say I'm optimistic, but I am," the government teacher said when talk turned to her expectations for election night. Habeeb had joined a prayer group outside the civic center Monday night and left feeling good, she said. Among friends, she saw a steady confidence in the Republican candidates.
"We love our ticket," Habeeb said. "We love it."
5:30 p.m., Jefferson-Riverdale
The last big rush would come after work, the poll watchers predicted. But it was not coming to this Southeast Roanoke poll. Voters trickled in. Precisely half of the precinct's 2,103 registered voters had arrived with 90 minutes left.
"They kind of need to hurry up," said Jerrell Lark, a 19-year-old student, as he looked over the parking lot. The first-time voter had cast his ballot at 6 a.m., when cars had parked on the grass. Now he returned with his friend Nikki Smoot, also a first-time voter.
The two talked about their first time at the voting machine.
"I did kind of get that anxious feeling," Smoot said.
"I thought it was going to be more intricate," he said. But poking his finger in the air, he added: "It was like -- done!"
