Election Day in Kenmore

All poll greeters must stand outside the two flags at the polling place. I'm greeting voters at the Kenmore Community Center. It's a cold dismal not to mention rainy morning. I thought I had dressed with enough layers, but by 9 AM I was feeling the cold bite into my bones.

Greeting is a job I can handle well. I put on my cheery face and reach out with my positive vocal tones and brighten the lives of all the Democrats showing up to vote today. Greeters don't have to say anything other than "Please consider the Democrats when you vote today." Most people told me they were voting straight Democratic. One man responded that he was voting for two Democrats, one of which was Tom Sawyer. I had grabbed a Tom Sawyer for state school board sign at headquarters early this morning. It was laminated and thus would withstand the weather all day long. This turned out to be an excellent tactic. A number of voters either said they were voting for Tom or wanted to know what he was running for as they would like to vote for him.

It really is no surprise that people are voting straight Democratic. Akron is a Democratic stronghold with many union families. At my polling place (at right) this morning, I had to wait for a polling booth, it was that busy. In this county, we are using new optical scan equipment. This involves filling in ovals with black pens, just like the old standardized tests that we all took in college. Unlike the Diebold machines, these do have a paper trail and can be counted by hand should the memory cards in the scanners break down.

By the time I arrived at the community center, the crowds were thinning. For two hours, I paced and greeted in the rain. I'm home to warm up and put on a few extra layers of clothing! More later.