On Tuesday, I voted- Not just once, but twice!
I decided to wake up early and vote. I had expected a long line, but there was none at all. The voting was done via pen and paper, which is what I prefer. (I don't think electronic voting without a paper trail can ever be implemented in a safe and secure way). After I finished filling out the ballot, there was an electronic box that I slid my ballot into. In my previous experience with voting, I had not seen such a device. The box had an electronic counter on it and when I fed it my ballot, the counter incremented from 44 to 45. I guess I was voter number 45 for the day!
In the evening, I decided to attend the caucus event. Seeing that the voting/caucus location was only 2 blocks from my house, I decided to walk, which turned out to be a good decision. Voting previously occurred at the elementary school directly across the street from my house, but after the community center was built, they moved voting there. As I approached the community center, I noticed people started parking at the school. Apparently, the community center parking lot was totally full, which I had never seen.
I arrived at the front of the community center right before 7:15pm, which is when the caucus was suppose to start. A huge crowd, which I estimate at 150-200 people, had gathered at the front and was just waiting to enter. Apparently, the caucus couldn't start until the last voter completed his paper ballot. Eventually, the line started moving, but it was slowwwww. One of the voting booth employee who was leaving mentioned that everyone had to sign in. The sign-in sheet is where you would indicate your vote for the caucus. She had also said that they only had one booth to sign in. I estimated signing in one person at a time would take around 4+ hours. Eventually, the workers wisened up and started multiple sign-in sheets. Around 7:45 I was told there was six sign-in sheets. At that point, the line was moving quicker, but still slowly. By the time I reached the front (around 8:15 pm), they had 12+ sign-in sheets and the line was moving rapidly.
Obviously you can see who everyone else voted for when you're signing in. On the particular sheet that I signed on, I was the 14th entry. You manually have to write the person's name who you're voting for. I think I saw three different spellings for Obama's first name (Barak, Barack, Barrack). Taking a quick glance at the other entries, Clinton only had 1 supporter and Obama had the rest! (Based on this, I figured Obama would win Texas and clinch his party nomination, but apparently I was wrong!!)
At this time, it was already past 8:15 and I was getting hungry. I could've stayed and watched the caucus, but I decided there was really no point, since the signup sheet was all that really mattered. The main reason for staying is if you want to be a delegate.
So I left and went home and that was my Caucus voting experience!
The caucus results will have to hand tallied which could take weeks! I can't believe they have such an archaic and inefficient system!
