The View From Your Election: Columbus, Ohio

A reader writes:

My wife and I went to vote at Vets Memorial in Columbus on Saturday. I took some pictures of this historic occasion with my cell phone.  I've never seen such a huge crowd show up to vote. Great feeling. It took us 5 hours from when we parked to when we dropped the ballot in the box. I thought that the one hour wait in 2004 was extraordinary. No more.

The crowd was made up of mostly college-aged young people, or African-Americans. I mentioned to my wife that the line looked like it was for Obama voters only.

The lines were orderly and well-disciplined.  Everybody seemed to be good-natured and united in purpose, so were willing to endure the wait. Nobody around us got upset if someone left the line to grab lunch from the concession area or to use the restrooms. Although seemingly not required for security, there was a very light presence by the Sheriff's office.

To say that the poll workers looked frazzled would be an incredible understatement, however, the lady who helped me was still chipper and ready to help.

Wherever they could, volunteers were marching up and down the lines with free refreshments. Outside, there were several volunteers from the Obama campaign handing out literature and refreshments but strangely, no presence from the McCain campaign that I could see.  I saw one McCain/Palin t-shirt and one yard-sign in a car window, but that was all the visible McCain support that I found.