The Great Gambier Voting Line by Joe Murphy
In 2004, Gambier, Ohio, had the longest voting line in the nation. Students at nearby Kenyon College showed up to vote in unprecedented numbers, and at 9:30 AM, one of the two voting machines for the village broke.
At 10:30, I went to vote for the first time. The line was already all the way down the hall and into the gym. And I, Dumbass for Freedom, said "Oh, I am not wasting my whole day standing in this line.”
I went back to work, and told my shocked colleagues I'd just knock off a little early and go in the afternoon once the line dies down.
Boy am I smart.
At 3 PM, I went back, expecting to see the crowd thinned out. Instead I saw that the line had filled the gym, exited the building, and snaked outside and back to the front door. And it had started to rain.
Locals came around to offer umbrellas and plastic bags to stay out of the rain. Around 4:15 they broke out the chips and water bottles and the end of the Halloween candy. A couple of folks got spoken to sternly about wearing their John Kerry buttons too close to the polling place... we wouldn't want any votes swayed by Democratic Doritos.
The line was really self-organizing. People were kind about holding one another’s spot in line for bathroom breaks, or runs home for reading, or general visiting with the rest of the line. The rain picked up. The sun went down, and eventually I made it inside. The line clumped and stretched as it made its way through halls, the gym, the library, the meeting rooms. The line didn't always feel like it was moving, and time seemed to stop.
Just before polls closed at 7:30, the election judges handed out paper "authorization to vote" slips to everyone in line and try to herd voters inside so they can close the doors. Rumors started to fly and morale started to slip. 9 PM and we started hearing about paper ballots. 10 PM and the ballots arrived. 10:30 and they announced that anyone who wants a paper ballot could join a new line. I jumped at the chance, and heard a little bit about it from people who knew me as "the tech guy". But as far as I know it's a judge's order and both party chairs have said they'll comply, and at some point we have to trust each other if democracy's going to work.
At 11:45, I filled out a "provisional ballot." They told me all the local races were already decided, but I'd come too far to not be heard on every issue.
At midnight, I made it to the Gambier Grill, and maybe once in my life have I been so glad to see the door to a bar open. There's small group, watching results and drowning our sorrows, a speck of blue in a deep red county.
Image Credit: The Kenyon Collegian