Local polls may be held open for those still in line
TACOMA, Wash. -- After a busy day at the polls throughout the day, officials say wait times to vote at some polling places in Pierce County are still up to two hours long. Long lines were also reported in King County.
State Elections Director Nick Handy said the counties plan to hold polls open long enough to allow anyone who was in line by 7:59 p.m. to vote.
"Both King and Pierce counties are committed to the following procedure at closing of polls at 8 p.m.," Handy said in a statement. "An election worker will go to the end of the line and stand there monitoring the line. That person will make sure no one else joins the line and will make sure that all those in line are properly processed through the polling sites."
At 7:30 p.m., a polling place at Holy Disciples Catholic Church in South Puyallup still had lines stretching out the door.
"All polling sites will stay open until all voters who were in line at 8 p.m. have voted," Handy said. "Both counties are committed to this process, so we can make a strong firm statement about this."
Officials have projected a record statewide voter turnout for the 2008 election.
Poll workers struggled throughout the day to keep up with the long lines at many voting places -- proof of just how much interest there is in the election this year. At one location in Puyallup, the line steadily was around 50 people long, with the wait time stretching to between 1-2 hours.
"I think this is a historic presidential race and I think a lot of people are excited to vote today," said voter Frank Linmorgan. "More than other times."
So far, KOMO News has learned of two polling places in King County where registered voters have experienced problems.
At Mount Baker Presbyterian Church in Seattle, poll workers accidentally handed out provisional ballots instead of the regular poll ballots voters were supposed to receive. That meant the ballots couldn't be read by the voting equipment on site.
However, county election spokeswoman Megan Coppersmith says those ballots will still count.
"They placed those ballots in a side compartment (of the voting machine) and they will be duplicated once they get back to our office onto ballots that can be read by the equipment and then they'll be fed through and counted," she said.
And in a polling place in Maple Valley, one man was given a provisional ballot because his name wasn't on the polling list, even though his name had been on the sheet there for many years.
"In the past, we've consolidated several polling places," Coppersmith said. "It's possible the voter's voting place had changed. It's important that voters visit the (county election) web site or look at their voter registration card to make sure they are going to the right location."
Coppersmith stressed that provisional ballots will be counted just like regular ballots. They just take a little longer to count on their end to verify the voter's information.
'One vote can still count'
In the meantime, many eyes are on the close race for governor.
"One vote can count, that's why I'm here," said Stefani Sellers as she was voting at her Puyallup polling site.
Nobody understands what a single vote can mean better than Dino Rossi and Christine Gregoire. Rossi lost the 2004 race to Christine Gregoire by 133 votes. He was campaigning early Tuesday morning in Yakima before heading back to Bellevue. He says that he thinks a victory for him is "in reach."
Gregoire, that razor-thin victory still fresh in her mind, was rallying her supporters in Seattle Tuesday morning. She says she's optimistic about the outcome of the hard-fought rematch between her and her Republican opponent.
But voters we talked to had already made up their minds.
"I hope that Dino Rossi wins, because I'm looking for change in the state of Washington," said Jodi Mowery. "I really don't think it's going to be close at all. That's my hope."
Chris Scaniffe thinks Gregoire will prevail.
"I don't think it will be as close this time," she says. "I think Chris Gregoire will pull it out a little more this year with the Republican brand is just so damaged after the past 8 years."
But the bitter campaign made it hard for some less enthusiastic voters to make a decision.
"(I) couldn't really get a true feeling what the candidates were about from the ads," Aisha Calhoun said. 'I didn't really go for that because, of course, they highlight the negative."
State election officials warn with so many counties voting by mail, and ballots postmarked as late as Tuesday will still be counted, it could be days to declare a winner in the governor's race if it's as close as the polls suggest.
"It'll be really frustrating," Scaniffe said. "Because you have all the results coming in from across the nation, and we don't know who our next governor will be? That would be frustrating."
State Elections Director Nick Handy said the counties plan to hold polls open long enough to allow anyone who was in line by 7:59 p.m. to vote.
"Both King and Pierce counties are committed to the following procedure at closing of polls at 8 p.m.," Handy said in a statement. "An election worker will go to the end of the line and stand there monitoring the line. That person will make sure no one else joins the line and will make sure that all those in line are properly processed through the polling sites."
At 7:30 p.m., a polling place at Holy Disciples Catholic Church in South Puyallup still had lines stretching out the door.
"All polling sites will stay open until all voters who were in line at 8 p.m. have voted," Handy said. "Both counties are committed to this process, so we can make a strong firm statement about this."
Officials have projected a record statewide voter turnout for the 2008 election.
Poll workers struggled throughout the day to keep up with the long lines at many voting places -- proof of just how much interest there is in the election this year. At one location in Puyallup, the line steadily was around 50 people long, with the wait time stretching to between 1-2 hours.
"I think this is a historic presidential race and I think a lot of people are excited to vote today," said voter Frank Linmorgan. "More than other times."
So far, KOMO News has learned of two polling places in King County where registered voters have experienced problems.
At Mount Baker Presbyterian Church in Seattle, poll workers accidentally handed out provisional ballots instead of the regular poll ballots voters were supposed to receive. That meant the ballots couldn't be read by the voting equipment on site.
However, county election spokeswoman Megan Coppersmith says those ballots will still count.
"They placed those ballots in a side compartment (of the voting machine) and they will be duplicated once they get back to our office onto ballots that can be read by the equipment and then they'll be fed through and counted," she said.
And in a polling place in Maple Valley, one man was given a provisional ballot because his name wasn't on the polling list, even though his name had been on the sheet there for many years.
"In the past, we've consolidated several polling places," Coppersmith said. "It's possible the voter's voting place had changed. It's important that voters visit the (county election) web site or look at their voter registration card to make sure they are going to the right location."
Coppersmith stressed that provisional ballots will be counted just like regular ballots. They just take a little longer to count on their end to verify the voter's information.
'One vote can still count'
In the meantime, many eyes are on the close race for governor.
"One vote can count, that's why I'm here," said Stefani Sellers as she was voting at her Puyallup polling site.
Nobody understands what a single vote can mean better than Dino Rossi and Christine Gregoire. Rossi lost the 2004 race to Christine Gregoire by 133 votes. He was campaigning early Tuesday morning in Yakima before heading back to Bellevue. He says that he thinks a victory for him is "in reach."
Gregoire, that razor-thin victory still fresh in her mind, was rallying her supporters in Seattle Tuesday morning. She says she's optimistic about the outcome of the hard-fought rematch between her and her Republican opponent.
But voters we talked to had already made up their minds.
"I hope that Dino Rossi wins, because I'm looking for change in the state of Washington," said Jodi Mowery. "I really don't think it's going to be close at all. That's my hope."
Chris Scaniffe thinks Gregoire will prevail.
"I don't think it will be as close this time," she says. "I think Chris Gregoire will pull it out a little more this year with the Republican brand is just so damaged after the past 8 years."
But the bitter campaign made it hard for some less enthusiastic voters to make a decision.
"(I) couldn't really get a true feeling what the candidates were about from the ads," Aisha Calhoun said. 'I didn't really go for that because, of course, they highlight the negative."
State election officials warn with so many counties voting by mail, and ballots postmarked as late as Tuesday will still be counted, it could be days to declare a winner in the governor's race if it's as close as the polls suggest.
"It'll be really frustrating," Scaniffe said. "Because you have all the results coming in from across the nation, and we don't know who our next governor will be? That would be frustrating."