Notes on votes.

There is just enough snow to cover the ground here, and it's still coming down. It seems a light snowfall for rate, but it could go on a while. That seems not to have affected voter turnout. I got to the polling place between 7:30 and 8:00 AM, a bit later than desired due to a school bus - something I normally don't have to deal with on my morning drives. Unlike most years, especially non-presidential election years, it seemed crowded. At the station I needed (Ward 1, Precinct 2) the booths were fully occupied when I walked in.

As I moved earlier this year, I had to fill out a new registration form showing where I was now, where I had been, and confirming the move was sufficiently far back in time. When this was done and found to be in order I was given the ballots. Yes, ballots. One regular big sheet with races on two sides and a fill in the oval system for machine readability, and a small supplemental ballot to vote [X] for the U.S. Senate candidate. When I had the ballots there was an open booth, which I promptly used.

After voting, the supplemental ballot was dropped into the collection box at the precinct table - much as things have been here in other years. But the main ballot (which had the senate race crossed out with a yellow highlighter) was not collected at the precinct table. Instead it was taken (by me) to a central machine for deposit. There was no indication of counting the vote there, though it may have. There was a line, and it took a bit longer than expected as the machine rejected one of the ballots ahead of me - apparently somebody voted for more candidates in a race than was permissible and the machine caught it.

Another difference from earlier years is that this time I was not given a little red 'I VOTED' sticker.

[ADDENDUM: They are doing that bit this year after all. Just saw someone with such a sticker. Guess I was still early or the folks for my precinct were too busy or something.]

Considering the early time of day and the weather, the number of folks voting was unusually high - likely due to the senate race. The crowd I saw was mainly middle aged and elderly. It made for slow going getting out of the building, and there was sufficient parking lot traffic to make getting in and out a bit frustrating. I should have parked far from the building and walked across the lot, but I took an open space in front of the building when I arrived.

I expect most results will be known tonight, with the exception being the senate race in which the supplemental ballots must all be hand counted.