Voting Update from Maryland.

[madinmaryland]

Spoke with the election official at the precinct when I voted. They told me they had had a very heavy turnout this morning and they were running higher than average. No problems indicated with the electronic voting machines.

No hitches for me voting just before noon.

On edit, This was in Howard County.

[CBHagman]

1. Got to the polls around 8:15 a.m. in Montgomery County.

For the first time that I can remember (And I voted in person in every election and primary here since 1992, except by absentee ballot in 2004), I had a lengthy wait. It took me about 35 minutes or thereabouts to work my way through the line and through the touch-screen voting.

By the time I left the building, the line of people extended halfway across a small parking lot.

I hope it's a sign of high turnout. I understand we have set a new record for absentee ballot requests, too.

[madinmaryland]

2. The higher the turnout the better!

:thumbsup:

There were few people in the polls when I went, though I went on off hours before the lunch crowd hits.

[CBHagman]

3. Some of us were the pre-work crowd.

At least that's what I assume -- that we were getting our voting done before going to the office. I also saw people who were most likely retired, on disability, or stay-at-home parents. But most of us were in the average working years -- 20s through 60s, I would guess.

[madinmaryland]

4. I live and work within a couple miles of the polling place,

so I am able to vote on off hours, freeing it up for the folks who have less flexibility.

[lizerdbits]

5. In Germantown it took me about 20 min at 7:45 this morning

In 2004 I think I voted at lunch time so I can't make a fair comparison about turnout.
All machines were working, and I didn't see anyone having problems. The poll workers seemed to be pretty effective and keeping everything moving.