By C.J. JANOVY
By the time I left my neighborhood at 7:50 a.m., a TV crew was already setting up outside Immanuel Lutheran Church at Westport Road and Bell, where poll workers still didn't have correct books.
Reportedly, four out of the five polling places in Kansas City's 5th Ward didn't have the right books, so election judges had to call the downtown election board to verify voters' names in a process that took about 10 minutes per person.
From All Souls Unitarian Universalist Church at 45th Street and Walnut, Pitch writer Alan Scherstuhl texted us to report his experience: He was 40th in line when the polls opened at 6 a.m. Fifteen minutes after the polls opened, only one person had voted. Scherstuhl didn't get finished voting until 7:49. Election workers came to pick up the incorrect registration books around 6:40, but didn't return with the right books for about an hour. "It was a total cluster fuck," he said. "Most liberal precinct in a swing state shut down for an hour."
"That is the stuff of urban legend," said Kevin Hennosy, who was volunteering for the Westport Landing Democratic Club outside my polling place at 41st and Bell. He wasn't saying the screw-ups were intentional. But, he said, "This is the type of thing that, for a voter standing in line early in the morning, does raise questions." Hennosy and I could see the line growing three blocks north at Immanuel Lutheran.
I'd arrived at my own polling place, Epworth Roanoke United Methodist church, around 6:20. By then the line snaked out the door, alongside the church, made a U in the parking lot, and continued back along a row of parked cars. People were sleepy and a little cold, but in good spirits as the sun rose.
When they finally got inside, people said to hell with the usual private voting booths and grabbed the nearest chair and pencil.
Back outside, Hennosy nodded toward the line and asked a question that didn't need answering: "Is this an election or a rebellion?"
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"Four out of the five polling places in Kansas City's 5th Ward didn't have the right books"
This is huge news -- Missouri has books?!
thanks couragerqd. That was cool.
I voted in a school gym where the only African American was a mom and her kid. mom kept whispering to her kid "shhh" when he (he was 8 or so) kept getting excited and singing "O-Bam-a!" It probably swayed some votes right there.
I vote at a catholic church that smells like my grandma's house. No lattes, no newspapers, just the memories of cornbread that you can only get in the south and a bit of wait. I would have gladly waited hours. I love to vote and vote every chance I get. I felt many emotions when I voted in the primaries however today I held back the tears and the urge to hug everyone there. The enthusiaism was intense, the nostalgia for the older voters was apparent. I heard words in my polling place that I have never heard before. Words like history, record numbers, JFK and hope. Wow, today I really loved voting.
In and out in fifteen in Olathe, where my vote for Obama matters about as much as my vote for the green M&M years ago!
hey platte city, you sure you didn't accidently donate plasma instead? they give you $15 afterwards?
Just move out here I had people waiting on me hand and foot. had fresh coffee, fruits and donuts. Hell I wish I could vote everyday for the free grub.
took me 2 and a half hours all together but there didn't seem to be problems in the north land.
I was at Immanuel Lutheran at 5:30am and because of the whole Books Mix Up we had to wait until about 8:20 to start voting. If you had to stand in line that long, you, too, would be thinking things were pretty sketchy.
Hurmm. In JoCo, where our tax rate is about the same, we had nary a problem. In fact, my biggest complaint is that the barista was out of mocha and someone had already snagged the sports section out of the newspaper they handed me as I waited (for 15 minutes) in line.
Maybe you could go to Leawood and hide a roster for 2 hours to compensate? Then again, if you did that, you would probably be tazed and arrested before you even got in line what with your MO tags and all.
Seriously, though, I hope you folks investigate this and expose if was indeed a simple incompetence error or a legitimate election fraud claim.
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