Long Voting Lines Come to Massachusetts
It’s Election Day! And while the news of early voting focused on prohibitively long lines in states like Florida, (lines like this one) this is the land of equal opportunity, so Massachusetts voters are getting their chance to wait for hours to cast a vote, too. Why is this? Secretary of State William Galvin says he expects record turnout this year, and supposes that the high profile Senate race might be a cause. And so some early scenes from the voting precincts:
Mitt Romney voted for himself (we assume) in Belmont, Mass. this morning. He’s headed out to campaign some more in states where he’s actually, you know, competitive before returning here tonight for a victory or concession speech. From NPR reporter Ari Shapiro’s Instagram:
Elsewhere, the voting has been less star-studded. The Globe’s David Abel records the scene in Jamaica Plains:
A long line — more than an hour long — this morning at the JFK elementary school in JP. #mavotetwitter.com/davabel/status…
— David Abel (@davabel) November 6, 2012
Another Twitter user in South Boston reports a line as well:
@universalhub current line over hour & a half wait! #mavotetwitter.com/shanas621/stat… — Shana Sissel (@shanas621) November 6, 2012
Others are luckier.
Short wait to vote at Beebe School in Melrose #mavotetwitter.com/globepete/stat…
— Peter Schworm (@globepete) November 6, 2012
Could all this waiting in line at the expense of being remotely on time for work or school explain why we’re seeing Tweets like this one from The Atlantic’s Matt O’Brien:
Why isn’t election day a national holiday?
— Matt O’Brien (@ObsoleteDogma) November 5, 2012
Or why our search for the name of any holiday on Twitter returns results like this:
I’m confused why Election Day is not a federal holiday but Columbus Day is — Nathan Rothstein (@nrothstein) November 6, 2012
And this:
why in the hell are we working today? but not Columbus/MLK/presidents day? — Tony Parsons (@Tony_Parsons7) November 6, 2012
And this:
Ok so remind me why we celebrate Washington’s Birthday and not make Election Day a holiday? Wouldn’t more people vote?
— Ruth. (@baznet) November 6, 2012
Sigh.
