Long Lines as Pa. Voters Show Up to Polling Places on Election Day Morning

[TomCADem]

Source: NBC

Voters, lined up to cast their votes before polling places even opened in Philadelphia and the suburbs Tuesday morning. The long lines continued at some polling places for hours while thinning out in others.

The critical 2020 election is like none other in history due to a large influx of mail-in ballots already cast amid coronavirus. Voters who did flock to the polls were encouraged to remain 6 feet apart as they waited in line.

Before polls opened at 7 a.m. there were lines of people outside the Kimmel Center in Center City Philadelphia and Whitemarsh Elementary School in Montgomery County. One voter in Whitemarsh was in line for more than an hour before getting inside to cast a vote. The line at the Kimmel Center had calmed down before 9 a.m. after a before-work rush.

There were people lined up at other spots throughout the city, suburbs and Lehigh Valley. Lines were also reported in the Pittsburgh area. Pennsylvania wasn't exclusive in lines. There was also a line outside at least one New Castle County, Delaware, church.

Read more: https://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/politics/decision-2020/election-day-polling-places-lines-philadelphia-pennsylvania/2582064/

[oswaldactedalone]

1. #VoteBluePennsylvania

and vote blue America!!

[BComplex]

2. Yes!

Vote Blue indeed!!!

[BumRushDaShow]

3. One of my sisters who lives in Delaware County, PA texted that she stood in line for 2 hours

this morning for "in person" voting and her polling location had to replace 3 scanning machines while she waited (they use a hand-marked ballots/scan system), but she said she waited to make sure her ballot went into a scanner to get counted!

I don't think my other sis has gone to her polling place yet for "in person" voting (Montgomery County, PA) but I turned in my "no excuse absentee" ballot to a Philly satellite elections office on Oct. 14 and got an acknowledgement email on Oct. 16 that the ballot had been "timely received and recorded" on Oct. 15.

[diva77]

7. I hope she reports the scanning machine failures to 1-866-OUR-VOTE / 1-866-687-8683

machine "failures" are part of a strategy

Also, with these BMDs, it's VERY important to check to see if ALL of the races appear on the printed version of the "ballot" and that your vote selections are correct before the ballot disappears into the machine when you are done voting. That is another one of the strategic "failures" baked into the system.

[BumRushDaShow]

8. Well she mentioned that they were "replaced" and I gather that in her county

the election staff handle that reporting (her town is blue). They are using the Hart Verity 2.3.4 System there - https://www.votespa.com/readytovote/Pages/Delaware-County-Voting-System.aspx

They had a "dry run" of those during the PA primary in June.

For me, I refused to use the INSANE ES&S ExpressVote XL machines they bought and did mine as mail-in. Philly is live-streaming their mail-in canvassing at the PA Convention Center downtown.

They are going to go 24/7 (3, 8 hour shifts).

[honest.abe]

4. I think this is all good news.

The more votes, the more likely we win!

[kwolf68]

5. Mt Lebanon, (Pittsburgh) PA

Had long lines, longest I ever saw, but it was also earlier than I normally vote. Daughter got her first taste of Democracy.

Unfortunately, the I would guess 6 or 7 people in front of us all were Trump supporters. One guy with a shirt, one lady with a "I heart Trump" mask in rhinestones. I didn't see a single Dem wearing their "sports team" shirt, though one lady had a Conner Lamb sticker on her cap.

I did notice a few young people and women also were strong. We do not have a large AA community here, but a few were there, though one was a Trump fan. Go figure.

[SomewhereInTheMiddle]

6. From Cumberland County ...

I got to my polling place at 0615 this morning. It was a fire station on the edge of a cornfield in semi-rural central PA. I was probably the 10th in line.

By the time the polls opened at 0700 the line extended around the parking lot and into a neighbor’s field.100-200 people were waiting, about half wearing masks. It only took me 10 minutes to vote. There were no issues and I was out of there by 0711.

Interestingly I saw no electioneering at all. No signs, hats, or anything. Just people waiting in the pre-dawn cold to make their voices heard.

While I hope that most of the people were there to vote blue. In 2018, I voted Dem party line in the same place and not a single person I voted for won. Central PA is pretty conservative. I just hope all the in-persona AND all the mail-in votes are counted. If they are I think Biden will take the state.

Go Vote!

[SallyHemmings]

9. Voting Blue PA

My daughter lives in Columbia (Lancaster County)-She waited 50 min at 7:30

My Niece lives in Bellefonte (Outside of State College)- She zipped right in at 8:00 am

A daughter-in-law who lives in Morton (Delaware County) 90 min wait at 9:30 am- drama with the machines

An adopted daughter who live in Phoenixville (Chester County)- 7:15 sm 50 min wait.

Waiting to hear from contacts in Berks, Allegheny & Philly.

[orangecrush]

10. Longest line I've ever seen

In my small NW Pa. town

[DeminPennswoods]

11. Drove around to check out a few local polls

There were lines out the door at 2 of them this morning, but when I did a dinner drive by, no lines but still some voters. IMHO, most of the votes were cast this morning through lunch and it's been a quiet late afternoon/evening.

[BumRushDaShow]

12. I asked my other sister in Montco what it was like

and since her hubby was working the polls today, she said that he had alerted her to a break in the action at their polling place when there was no line at ~1:30 pm so she blew over there and did the deed (she can work at home so easier to do).