We’re counting on you to be the eyes and ears on Newton on election day. Go vote then come back here and tell us what you saw, who you saw, how turnout is in your ward/precinct and what you overheard.
It takes a Village 14 to monitor Newton’s election day
by Greg Reibman | Nov 5, 2012 | Newton | 32 comments
Lines are out the door at Zervas!
Ward 1,Precinct 3, Bigelow Middle School
I cast the 271st ballot, and there was a line down the hall.. I don’t think I have ever seen a line like that here.
Very busy at the Emerson School in Upper Falls
I was voter #277 at Ward 5 Precinct 2 at 8:40 a.m.. As busy as I can remember it and yet it only took a few minutes. (I fully appreciate that this very different from the several hours it will take voters in other states to vote.)
I also happily signed the charter commission petition on my way out.
I was #681 at 3/3 at 11:30. There was a lady handing out “No on 4” literature right at the door. That’s a no no.
precincy 3/1 checks in at 661 at 11:45a
Tricia – did you report it?
Voted at Hyde at 9:15 – lines weren’t too bad by then. Didn’t see anyone collecting signatures for the Charter Commission or I would have signed (they may have been there – caffeine hadn’t kicked in yet, so I might not have noticed).
Ward 5-3, Zervas School, #541 at 9:55 am. Not too crowded but when I went by the school 45 minutes earlier the streets were packed with cars and voters were all around the building. Good blonde brownies!
Voted ~7:30 am at Weeks House, didn’t get my #. Voting seemed crowded and somewhat disorganized vs. our prior polling location, Bowen Elementary school. Weeks House space is not well-suited to accommodate long(ish) lines. Fortunately people in good spirits alleviated the backup. Was in & out of there in maybe about 20-25 minutes.
Number 740 at 3/3 at noon
#808 at 8-3 (Countryside) at 12:05. No line, but we there was a busload of senior citizens coming in just as we left. My husband and I both signed the charter commission petition.
6/2 = 783 right after we voted @ about noon. Very impressive turnout.
Happy to vote for Tom Sheff for Gov Council. I continue to believe it’s in voters’ best interest to see a change in that office holder.
Read more at http://newton.patch.com/blog_posts/shapiro-tom-sheff-on-tuesday
Should add — walked to the YMCa this morning and the Fires station there was buzzing at 7:30 am and after 8 when I emerged to walk to Bigelow. Nothing more specific to report there.
Also, a couple ofm links of interest- for those who use foursquare, they have a map of location check-ins for people using the “#ivoted” hashtag
http://www.ivotedmap.com/
And… Facebook has a map of people who shared an “election day prompt” from Facebook with their friends.
Not exactly rigorous research, but may uncover some trends in voting and discussion nationwide (and locally) while we wait for real results later this evening.
Church of the Redeemer. Ward 7 Precinct 1.
50 people in line when the doors opened at 7 am. Lines until about 7:45 am. Steady flow since then. 700 voters at 1 pm.
Charter Commission signatures being collected for about an hour at noontime ….
Taking a short break and warming up at home. I’m the so-called “precinct captain” for Obama, Warren and Kennedy at Emerson Community Center. This is where Upper Falls votes. Held a sign from 7-10 this morning. Great turnout and loads and loads of thumbs up for the Democrats from those coming in to vote. I’ve been wearing my navy baseball cap with a diagram of the carrier Franklin D. Roosevelt that I served on in the mid -60’s. Attached to it is a Veterans for Obama pin.
I’ve been called a Communist on three occasions over the past three days while holding signs for Warren and Kennedy. It seems to come with the territory when angry white men see me holding a sign, particularly for Elizabeth Warren. I finally told one of these middle aged idiots driving a truck that I’m not a “pure Communist”, but an unreformed “Trotskyite” Of course this boob had absolutely no idea who Leon Trotsky was, so I asked him, not too nicely, how he could possibly call me a Communist when he knew absolutely nothing about one of the pioneering architects of 20th century communism in the Soviet Union.?? In fact, I told him that he obviously knew nothing about communism at all and that his ignorance was obvious by the fact that he even called me a Communist when I was wearing a navy hat that related to a time we were supposedly fighting Communist expansion. He directed the most vulgar profanities my way as he sped away. Sad really, how little these people know about anything, but how vocal they are about their ignorance.
Bob –
Your comment deserved a thumbs up!
@Bob-
Ran into a few of those Newton rednecks out for a spin, huh? 🙂
(Maybe they drove over from Needham)
It’s simple. ANYone who served/serves in the military deserve the respect and appreciation of the entire nation. Regardless of party affiliation. It’s about protecting ultimate liberty whether or not someone agrees with a specific mission/conflict/war.
Over 2,000 votes cast at Zervas so far. For what it’s worth, we have also collected over 200 signatures for the Waban Area Council
Voted at Zervas. There was a few people ahead of me. It seems the process could be streamlined if they had signage indicating which person had which streets. They have 2 tables of 2 people that are on opposite sides of the gym. The woman who had A-F was basically telling everyone where to go.
I had to tell you about the outstanding job, the Newton Republican City Committee did in welcoming Mitt and Ann to vote this morning. Tom Mountain and members of the Newton City Committee arrived at the Belmont Beech Street Poll early with dozens of signs, homemade and printed. They formed a perimeter around the polling place—galvanizing the crowd. Naturally, international media was there and because they were the chief Romney representatives on the ground, Polish, Japanese and Hispanic TV was there interviewing them! When Mitt and Ann arrived – they lead with resounding cheers!
When the Romney’s departed, Mitt gave a memorable nod and fist cheer to the Newton contingent and seemed genuinely moved by the grassroots swell around him.
mgwa: I was on my way out when I saw the “No on 4” lady – she wasn’t there when I went in. I was going to mention it to the police officer I had seen at the front of the building when I arrived, but he was gone. Went over to Burr after that (excellent bake sale!) for traffic duty and signed the charter commission petition.
8am today at the Burr School (Ward 4), Precinct 4’s line was out the door but my Precinct (#1) was no wait at all…strange
Yeah Fred, at Bigelow the line was for 1/3, but the other precinct at Bigelow (forget which) had little/no line.
Also, my wife voted at Bigelow in early afternoon and said there was no line. Before and after work make sense as the busier times. Thankful we don’t have the three hour waits here that some folks are having across the country
#1157 @ 3/1 4:22 pm.
At 4pm:
5/3 – #1325
5/4 – #1288
Chris –
You voted twice?
Nice.
Just trying to do my part. 🙂
Why stop now? Two-plus hours to go.
@Bob Burke, when my wife and I were first engaged, we went to visit with her grandparents. Her grandfather was an NRA member, Republican, and a native Vermonter, who had very little use for librul Dem-o-crats, nor for a lot of other people for that matter. When we arrived, he was sitting in his rocking chair, in front of his gun cabinet, with all of his rifles and shotguns freshly cleaned and oiled, and gave me the hairy eyeball. After we all said our hellos, he turned to me and said: “So, you’re from Massachusetts. What are you, some kind of Communist?” I very respectfully replied: “No sir. I am a pedestrian.” Well, he broke into a big grin and then he laughed out loud in spite of himself, and we got along just fine after that, he and I.
Ted – If the fleetingly available thumbs were still here, I’d give you a thumbs-up for that.
Thanks, mgwa. True story.
@Ted. Great story. I’ve found that humor is most often the only way I can respond to things like this. I am never effective if my anger gets out of control.