At one polling place in America
No on Proposition 8 volunteer Stephanie Foley of South Pasadena stands on the sidewalk just over 100 feet south of my polling place today at the Linda Vista fire station. We know it was far enough to be legal -- poll worker Bill Denzel measured it off with a length of string provided by the registrar of voters. Or perhaps provided by his wife, Martha. There was another No on 8er on the sidewalk 100 feet north of the station. Going in late because I'll be working late tonight and wanting to avoid a wait at the booth, I gardened, ran with Charlie on the damp Arroyo Seco trails north of the golf course and did chores around the house. When the rain started at 4 I got up to turn off the sprinkler system and then was so election-day anticipatory that I couldn't really get back to sleep.
Big day in America.
No lines at noon for my precinct, the flats of Linda Vista, but there was a five-minute line for the Annandalers in the same room. Former Altadenan Dixon Ridgway of the Palms area near Venice reports a 90-minute line this morning in West L.A. Martha said that there was a couple who arrived at 6 o'clock this morning. Informed that the polling place didn't open till 7, they said that they knew, but wanted to make sure they didn't have to wait in line. So ... they waited for an hour in order to not have to wait.
It's electric around town today. May the best man win and most of the propositions lose.
More pictures, with Sharon Yamashiro and other neighborhood poll workers and the many languages of voting in California:
