Tuesday, November 07, 2006

Back Of The Line

There were long lines at the polls. No real surprise there. What surprised me was one poll worker. They had two lines at my polling place, one for A-K and one for L-Z. There were two little handwritten signs hidden behind the lines of people and a young college student at the door mousily alerting people about the lines. I couldn’t hear her, but I knew what to do anyway.

My line was pretty short. At the front of the line was an elderly lady, with a walker. She was in the wrong line. The poll worker was telling her that she would have to walk her way to the end of the long A-K line. The line curved to the door. He explained that her name just was not listed in his book. It was in the book sitting next to him, but that was someone else’s line.

He was bound and determined to see her shuffle and stand for another 30 minutes, which she clearly was unable to do. The man in the other line sweetly offered her to cut in line, which she did.

The signs were poor and people were confused. The elderly surely were confused about the lines and I’m wondering how important it is to force a senior citizen with a walker to the end of the line. Thank God for good Samaritans who don’t mind line cuts.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I went to visit my 95 year old mother this afternoon at her assisted living home - there she was at the door waiting for someone to take her to the polls to vote. Pretty amazing, considering that she can barely get from the bed to the bathroom this week. She hadn't called me, but had aranged for a ride from a stranger willing to take a Democrat to vote. I ended up taking her, and two election judges were happy (even though they were very busy) to come out to the car to let her vote without getting out the wheelchair and the oxygen bottle. I helped her mark her ballot - a straight ticket, and she knew what she wanted to do about the constitutional amendments. She made me proud.

Nick

admin said...

That's good to hear. They should come to the car to do that. It also happens to be the law.