I just got home from my precinct here in Northern Virginia, where I was precinct captain. The turnout this morning was unbelievable. Staggering. 120 people waiting outside the door, where in 10 years of living here I'venever seen more than 5 people outside the door.
We had a total of 997 voters not including absentee ballots. My joy - Kerry kicked Bush's ass. My worry - there were 2% "undervotes".
Details/totals below the jump.
My precinct: (Willston, Fairfax County, 517)
**Not including approximately 120 absentee ballots for this precinct.**
609 Kerry
357 Bush
3 Peroutka
5 Badnarik
1 McCain (write-in)
1 Nader (write-in)
21 UNDERVOTES
So a big win for Kerry. But what worries me are the 2% undervotes. If Virginia is as close as it seems right now (HELLO, is anyone AMAZED that Virginia is still too close to call even though our polls closed at 7PM???) then that 2% undervote rate is really worrisome.
We vote on touch-screen machines with no voter-verified paper trail. Our election supervisor said those 21 undervotes were probably voter error - someone thought they pressed a vote for President, but didn't.
Considering the only thing on our ballot here was President, U.S. Congress, 2 state constitutional amendments, and 4 county bond issues, I don't think anyone planned to come to the polls to vote for something OTHER than President.
Worrisome.
Still, I have never been more proud to be part of American democracy than I was at the polls today. The turnout was remarkable, and I had 20 Democratic volunteers to 2 Republican ones...in VA, just 6 miles from BC04 national HQ! Ha ha ha ha ha.