Virginia's Voting Nightmare

Guest Column by Greg Galligan

Fellow Virginians,

I was outraged yesterday to learn that Virginia - unlike Maryland - decided to not extend voting hours during the worst traffic event in Northern Virginia since the September 11th terrorist attacks. I left Crystal City, VA at 5:45PM for the normal 20 minute commute home to Fairfax County and instead got a THREE HOUR commute - erasing my opportunity to vote in this historic presidential primary.  For the first time in my life I missed an election that I was eligible to vote in and I'm sick about it.

The closing of 395 South at the mixing bowl for three hours was by definition an extraordinary event that required an extension of the polling hours.  I call on our elected leaders in Richmond to investigate this incident and create a better system for dealing with massive shocks to our transportation system in Northern Virginia.

Thank you.

Comments

Can the SBE or Gov. Kaine extend voting hours on a locality-by-locality or county-by-county basis? If not, then forcing the rest of Virginia to keep poll workers at precincts until the late night hours is ridiculously unfair.

[Not Larry Sabato]

This is a COMMONwealth. That means other regions can handle spending an extra hour or two with polls open when a crisis happens in another region.

I'm sorry to see Governor Kaine forgot that yesterday.

Its definitely easier in MD though, since most of that area is suburban and urban, meaning they were directly effected by the beltway closings.

[Sam]

It IS outrageous that they didn't extend polls, I agree. Obama's margin suffered as a result... :-)

[A Voter]

I was going to vote for Hilary yesterday, (no joke) and didn't get to vote at all because it took me so long to get home.

[Sam]

In all seriousness though, I think any Northern Virginian who knows what can happen with bad weather there, regardless of what side you're on in the race, should be angry that they didn't extend voting.

Many federal employees (including my parents before they retired) leave for work well before the polls open, and similarly can't exactly leave work early to vote. The Mixing Bowl closing is a huge hit to people coming home from Virginia, and I have no doubt that this hit voter turnout hard.

[Tatum]

I'm with you man. This is not the first time Tim Kaine has exercised poor judgment.

His poor judgment won't matter when he's a in the Obama Administration, though. We'll be too giddy with inspiration to notice.

Way to take a page out of Rove's playbook there Greg.

You have more class than that and I just lost a lot of respect for you.

While it was horrible yesterday it was not the worst traffic event since 2001.

Someone is not being nice to Jeannemarie.

http://www.politico.com/blogs/jonathanmartin/0208/More_on_that_McCain_backdrop.html#comments

[Fan of Integrity]

I looked at pics online of the traffic at the mixing bowl at MIDNIGHT - and it was still bumper to bumper

If there has been a worse traffic nightmare since 9/11 - provide the evidence. I don't believe it - and Kaine royally blew it. He probably didn't care since Obama was clearly ahead in exit polls.

[CarolineProgressive]

Won't the mixing bowl situation have an effect on future delegate allocation? For instance, the 8th district got 7 delegates to the 1st district’s 4 delegates due in part to more voters in the previous Democratic primary. This year, the 8th district, home to many traffic issues on Tuesday, saw the lowest percentage increase in primary voters from 2004. Could this effect future presidential contests? I have a table below:

District - 2004 Total - 2008 Total - % Increase
1st - 34,490 - 90,352 - 161.97%
2nd - 30,580 - 74,239 - 142.77%
3rd - 38,808 - 111,902 - 188.35%
4th - 30,181 - 87,049 - 188.42%
5th - 33,792 - 75,419 - 123.19%
6th - 28,013 - 60,859 - 117.25%
7th - 35,430 - 90,619 - 155.77%
8th - 62,620 - 127,415 - 103.47%
9th - 25,639 - 52,486 - 104.71%
10th - 34,744 - 98,504 - 183.51%
11th - 41,926 - 104,127 - 148.36%
Virginia Total - 396,223 - 973,917 - 145.80%

Is that why you (Greg Galligan) lost in '03 and '07...the weather?

[Brandon Bell]

I'm not sure the Governor has the authority to extend voting hours particularily for one region and not another. I believe the extention in Maryland was by judicial decree.

I remember that the Flood of 1985 (Roanoke Valley) was on election day November 4th. No provision to extend. Also wasn't Sept. 11, 2001 an election day in New York City and the election proceeded anyway?

I don't think you want to give a Governor the authority to extend voting hours no matter what the weather happens to be.

Thank you for the clarification, Senator Bell!

[Brian]

I agree - Virginia made a terrible mistake in not extending the poll hours. I work for the federal government, and left work 1 hour early to ensure that I would get there on time. I managed to arrive at 6:56 PM, and was able to vote. Many of my colleagues with longer commutes, however, did not get to vote. Although in fairness, many of my colleagues did not return home until 11 pm or later, so a 1.5 hour poll extension would have done little good for them.

My union contract permits me to leave work up to 3 hours before the polls close if my regularly scheduled work hours end after 4 pm (only for VA, 5 pm for DC and MD). But this provision requires that I notify my manager the day prior to voting. Since the traffic disaster was not foreseeable, many federal employees were not able to leave early, and even if they did, 3 hours was not enough time to get to the polls in many cases.

[Sam]

I believe it's the state board of election that has the authority, not the governor.

Brandon, there was a primary in New York on September 11th which did get delayed to September 25th.

[Anon E. Mouse]

Boo-hoo. Listen to the weather reports, and vote BEFORE work. No wonder you people are democrats, and no wonder both of your remaining candidates are the LEAST qualified of all that started.

What is your candidate going to run on against McCain, experience?

[Fan of Integrity]

MousyAnon- try reading the paper or online news today.

The weather predicted no frozen precip in the NOVA area. Only north and west of here. It was a *surprise* ice storm.

Typical judgmental Republican with no basis for criticism - yet self righteously proclaims to be speaking the truth. lol

[Fan of Integrity]

Oh - and my 2nd grader could run against McCain based on his stance on Iraq alone.
Maybe you should work to assuage the members of the GOP who get "chills down their spine" at the thought of McCain as President. The dude's got major issues.

[Sam]

Anon - I'm glad you're not a federal employee who has to leave for work before the polls even opened, but not everyone in Northern Virginia has that luxury. Get your head out of your ass for a second and actually pay attention what's going on around you.

[not michael brown]

Before you all get all excited about what the Guv did not do...check the code. He has no authority to do what you are discussing. No one does. There is a bill in the Republican House that was not voted on that may have helped.

[John Smith]

Ever heard of an absentee ballot?

[Sam]

John,

And how exactly does that help? We were supposed to know last week that the weather would be terrible and the Mixing Bowl would be shut down? Huh? The total commute and work day is normally not 11 hours (which is the requirement to get an absentee ballot), so most fed. employees would be committing a federal crime if they'd applied for an absentee ballot on those grounds.

[Doug Mataconis]

Worst traffic event since 9/11 ?

Being a little overdramatic arent we ?

Thanks for the rhetoric, Gilligan. Anybody watching the Clemens hearing? Boy, is Tom Davis sucking Clemens' dick, or what?