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Athmar Recreation Center was having major problems during early voting. In
addition to general chaos and extraordinarily long lines, the voting
booths were out in the open, with no privacy, and you could actually
see how people were voting.
Also, there were no signs up letting people know they could not talk on
their cell phones, and so periodically someone would just come through
and yell out to everyone talking on their cell phones that they were
prohibited from using them.
Election day in Denver began with long lines, as computer problems appeared to make it difficult for workers at vote centers to check registrations against the master list.
By 8 a.m., lines stretched up to a city block at places like the Colorado Convention Center, Corona Presbyterian Church and Denver Botanic Gardens.
At the Convention Center, though 100 people stood in line, only 25 percent of the voting machines were in use at any given time, as poll workers tried to get verification of voter registration from computers that were frequently down.
Dejected downtown workers attempting to vote before work could be seen walking away from the polls as the line barely moved.
A precinct poll-watcher witnessed Kyle Fisk, the Republican candidate for HD-18, take an election official aside while in the polling place to complain that his opponent Mike Merrifield was within the 100 foot boundary of the poll.
An elections judge exited the building and placed a boundary sign next to Merrifield's car. Witnesses on the scene claim that Merrifield was not engaged in electioneering and was not talking to voters. He allegedly came to the precinct poll on a tip that Fisk was inside the building instructing and harrassing elections judges.
Merrifield left the scene without incident and has not returned.
Meanwhile, Fisk remains in the building. A formal complaint has been lodged with Election Protection about Fisk's behavior and to seek clarification about the legality of being in a precinct poll without the intent to cast a ballot. An EP lawyer is on the scene now.
Also, Kyle Fisk sucks on G.P.
<img src="http://www.coloradoconfidential.com/upload/Denver vote centers.jpg"></img>
<sup>click the image to see the updated list</sup>
The report did not identify the location but it appears to be the Denver Botanical Society.
I'll upload video of the line as soon as it becomes available.
IIRC, this is the vote center where there were the most problems in the primary as well, and a fix had been promised.
The only contested, non-statewide candidate race in that vicinity is the State Senate race which Chris Gates is likely to win over token opposition, although in theory anyone can vote at any location in Denver, but the more important impact is on downticket state races and ballot measures.
Denver is the most liberal county in the state and turnout in Denver is critical to statewide results. If the weather weren't so beautiful today, most of those waiting in light would probably be gone already.
Luckily, parking is plentiful around the Botanic Gardens, but be careful! It's street sweeping day for the right side of York Street, and a long line of cars parked there were ticketed. If you don't want to wait but don't have a ride elsewhere, there are several different groups giving rides to other locations. One woman, returning from a ride to Manuel High School, said she never would have found it on her own. Some vehicles waiting to give rides:<img src="http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r165/karebresh/election017.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting"></img>
Corona Presbyterian Church, 12:30: Poll workers estimate a1 1/2 to a 2-hour wait. The line wraps around the block, from Corona onto 8th Ave. <img src="http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r165/karebresh/election020.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting"></img>
Porter Place has lines over an hour and just got its computers back on line after they went down for an extended period.
There may be lines at certain locations, but almost half the expected voters had voted early. When voters are given the choice, most are opting for paper ballots. In Garfield County (Glenwood Springs/Rifle area) unscientific stats are 12 to 15 voting paper per one voting electronically.
The Denver Election Commission's computer system crashed at 1pm.
- Manuel High School, 1700 E. 28th Ave. NO LINE as of 12:05, but now people are being shuttled there
- LaAlma Rec Center, 1325 W. 11th Ave. NO LINE as of 11:55, but we've been sending people there and it started to get a line, don't know how much. (I also think it will be short again once that influx ends, because it had been no-waiting all morning.)
- Johnson Rec Center, 4809 N. Race, NO LINE as of 11:55 (via phone from Ritter people)
- 53rd & Chambers. NO LINE at 11:10 (according to two CU-Research volunteers who had just come from there.)
- (I have also been told that the convention center has been good all morning, though i have not been there or talked to anyone actually there. No one in voter lines want to go there anyway, though, because of parking.)
BAD (listed worst to less worse):
- Botanic Gardens has been awful all morning. Was 2.5 hours, down to about an hour, as of 12:15 (And it's only that short because vans are shuttling people away.) BUT ANOTHER OPTION FROM THERE: vans are now continually shuttling people from there to whichever site has the shortest lines. The Ritter campaign has a continues stream of vans parking right in front to shuttle people there and back. (They're currently going to Manual High.)
- Corona Presbyterian Church 1205 E 8th Ave. awful all morning. it was 2 hours last time i was there, which was 10:10, but phone reports say it continues to be awful and they keep sending people to alt locations.
- Cherry Creek Community Church., 2739 E. 4th Ave (at Garfield). medium-bad all morning. I was last there at 11:25, and it was 1 hour five minutes. (Earlier, it was a bit less.)
MEDIUM:
- Park Hill Methodist Church, 5209 Montview Blvd. was 40 minutes at 9:55. i have only been there once.
VARIABLE:
- New Covenant Christian Church 825 Ivanhoe St. (8th and Holly). It was almost no line (15 min total) at 9:40, but then we sent lots of people there and there computers crashed. at 11:10 it was about 1.5 hours. Since then I've heard from Ritter people that it's still bad, but that's unconfirmed. I will bet it will be good again once they work out there problems, and will check back there soon. (They had low traffic coming in until we sent people there, and a really efficient team. On my first trip, they were moving people through really fast.)
Citizens and organizations can fill out an Incident Report at ReportVotingProblems.org for all types of machine problems, registration errors, voter disenfranchisement, long waits, campaign violations, and ballot problems. Results will be compiled, analyzed and shared with qualified groups and the media.
First person accounts of election problems are the most valuable. Third person accounts and news stories are also accepted as long as enough information is provided so that the incident and those involved can be tracked down.
ReportVotingProblems.org is actively seeking databases that are already compiled to include in this repository in order to make this the most comprehensive collection of voting incidents. The major goal is to make an easily accessible and searchable online database to provide a more true picture of the state of electoral systems around the world.
Dave reports that there are approximately 100 very unhappy people in line currently.
The problem is with those verifying voters. There aren?t enough people.
I am also told that the convention center, which is a short distance from the Tivoli, is no better. It would appear that the majority of voting places in Northwest Denver have long wait times.
Support indy media.
Final link (before Google Books bends to gov't will and drops the title):
America Deceived (book)
(CK is running for state treasurer.)
For me, it took about 45 minutes from start to finish--a long wait for 2 o'clock in the afternoon.
But people were in a good mood. A man passed out Halloween candy. Another from FairVote helped an elderly woman to the front of the line. A reporter from KGNU interviewed me about how I felt about standing in line.
But the best sighting of all was a pregnant woman in labor near the front who was sitting in a chair waiting her turn. "I have to vote," she said, "and the doctors said they don't think he'll be born until tomorrow morning."
A poll worker named Jesus told me the wait was then the shortest it had been all day, that earlier it had been more than an hour. Right before I came, he said, the machines also went down for 20 minutes. But they were working well enough for me, as far as I could tell.
I did ask if I could vote for Mark, who is in Erie, PA visiting his sick dad, and one poll worker took me half-way seriously. But the answer was "no."
I did manage to score an "I voted" sticker for Leo.
The scene today:
<img src="http://www.muckrakingmom.com/upload/election06 002.jpg" width="400" height="300"></img>
[crossposted at Muckraking Mom
DEC workers just delivered an additional two poll books to help with voter verification to add to the four books currently on site.
A poll watcher at that location reported that the server containing the voter registration database that the vote centers workers were using to verify eligibility was not dedicated. City workers started using the server for other business and the increased election day traffic caused it to crash.
Corona Rec Center has similar backups.
La Alma Rec Center -- 100 people in line. 40 minute wait.
New Hope Baptist Church -- 30-40 min wait.
I went in to the vote center at Faith Evangelical Church at 3pm and left with my "I Voted" sticker at 3:05pm.
The Tattered Cover had 4 computers to check people in and three of them just crashed. The election commission is trying to get to more computers over there but nothing has yet showed up. The line is approximately 300 people.
20 voting machines stand unused.
The gym is packed and very hot. People are angry. The line has not moved in 20 minutes because poll workers can't verify voter eligibility therefore nobody can cast their ballots.
Frustrated voter Christina DeBarrows said, "I think a lot of people are going to bag it because they can't take off work that long. I've been voting here since 1974 and I've never ever encountered anything like this."
She tried to cast her ballot at 4 other polling places and couldn't because of long lines.
Sean Moore also expressed frustration. He said that he was directed to Johnson Rec Center after driving past four other polling locations. He said he was committed to voting and would stay for as long as took because somebody was watching his kids. Otherwise, he would have left long ago.
The GOP election judge at the Edgewater Plaza Senior Housing polling place tried to kick-out the Dem judge until the election's director intervened.
The Blue Herron location had no emergency or provisional ballots upon opening this morning.
Several polling places had inoperable voting machines. The clerk tech was not returning calls for assistance at the polls.
One poll watcher lawyer received a call on his cell phone from someone claiming to be from the DNC calling on behalf of Howard Dean to ask the lawyer to go to another polling location.
The election protection team has compiled approximately 90 complaints of voting irregularities in Jefferson County.
Among the first to respond to the call for support was the Gay Men?s Chorus who will spend the rest of the evening entertaining voters waiting in line at the Denver Botanic Gardens. Efforts are underway to find other ways of keeping Denver voters in line...