Gov. Kaine and his son, Nat, vote at Main Street Station
Staff Reports
February 12, 2008 9:27 AM
Virginia Governor Timothy M. Kaine (left) watches as his son, Nat Kaine, presents a photo ID to voting officer Barbara Miller at the Main Street Station polling place in Richmond, shortly after 7 am. Nat Kaine, 18, was voting for the first time in the presidential primary. (KEVIN MORLEY PHOTO)
Voting backups not just in Henrico
Staff Reports
February 12, 2008 8:30 AM
Voting backups weren’t just in Henrico this morning.
One voter reported that it took her 90 minutes to cast her vote at Marguerite Christian Elementary School in Chesterfield County. She arrived at 6:45 a.m. and there were about 50 people ahead of her. She left at 8:15.
Dems voting early in Church Hill
Staff Reports
February 12, 2008 7:50 AM
The polls had been open for an hour before the second person voted in the Republican primary at Richmond’s East End Government Center in Church Hill.
By that time, 90 people had voted in the Democratic primary.
“Sounds about right, at least for Church Hill,” said Mort Casson, a 79-year-old Libby Terrace resident who sported a blue beret at a jaunty angle.
Casson was surprised at the line of voters who began arriving at 6 a.m. at the government center on North 25th Street. “I haven’t seen a wait this long in 15 years,” he said.
He planned to vote for Sen. Barack Obama, the son of a white American and black Kenyan. “I like the idea of what he represents,” said Casson, who is white. “I’d like to see if this country can do it.”
Kiara Green, 18, cast the first vote of her life for Obama today.
“It’s not just because of his race,” said Green, a freshman at Virginia Commonwealth University and a Church Hill native, who is black. “It’s because of his message. I am able to connect with it.”
Green voted early because she has an English class at 9 a.m. As she walked out the door, she stopped and went back. “I didn’t get a sticker!” she said, before picking up a sticker that proclaimed “I voted.”
Politicking leads to complaints in Charlottesville
Staff Reports
February 12, 2008 7:45 AM
In Charlottesville, competition between Republican and Democrats has been intense enough this morning to lead to complaints about politicking at the polls.
Sheri Iachetta, the voter registrar for Charlottesville, said she has received complaints from voters in three of the city’s 28 precincts who felt harassed with questions about their voting preferences.
“They’d ask if you’re a Democrat or a Republican and try to shove paper in your hands...It’s the competition. This is unusual,’’ Iachetta said.
But the politicking has taken place 40 feet from the entrance to the polls, as required by state law, she said.
“There’s nothing we can do.”
Heavy voter turnout at Varina and Henrico high schools
Staff Reports
February 12, 2008 7:22 AM
Henrico is reporting heavy voter turnout, especially at Varina and Henrico high schools. Registrar Brad Coakley said his office is checking into reports of long, stalled lines at Varina.
“We are looking at that,” Coakley said. “We are trying to call.”
Coakley said almost every precinct in Henrico had someone waiting to vote when the polls opened at 6 a.m.
Voter watches others drive away at Deep Run High School
Staff Reports
February 12, 2008 7:20 AM
The wait to vote at Deep Run High School in western Henrico County was about 40 minutes, said a voter who arrived at 7:35 and was just leaving at 8:20 a.m.
All voters were being were being funneled through one check-in table and voting at four machines, with a poll worker having to reset the machine to Republican or Democrat for each voter.
One voter saw about a dozen people leave without voting, frustrated with the wait.
“Their eyes got big when they saw the line,” he said.
Poll traffic steady at Tuckahoe Elementary
Staff Reports
February 12, 2008 7:15 AM
At 7 a.m., about a dozen people stood in line to vote at Tuckahoe Elementary School in western Henrico County. A poll worker said traffic had been steady in the hour since the polls opened.
The majority of voters, he said, were getting blue tickets to vote in the Democratic primary.
“Kind of surprising,” he said, since the area generally is considered conservative.
35 minute wait to vote at Varina High School
Staff Reports
February 12, 2008 7:10 AM
Karen Underwood, a Henrico voter, reported that as of 8 a.m., she had already waited 35 minutes to cast her vote at Varina High School - and she still had more than 100 people in front of her.
She said she saw empty voting booths, but only two poll workers available to check voters in, so the line was moving slowly.
Polls open in Virginia
Staff Reports
February 12, 2008 6:10 AM
Polls opened across the state at 6 a.m. for the Democratic and Republican primaries.
Brave new world
Vivian Medina
January 10, 2008 12:49 PM
Setting foot for the first time in the General Assembly felt like the first day of school. I felt a sense of confusion and I did not know exactly what to expect.
The air was filled with chaos: lots of well-dressed people rushing to enter the newly renovated Virginia State Capitol, the state police checking for dubious dangerous items, and many unfamiliar faces all around.
“Where do you begin when your first assignment is getting familiar with the process?” I thought. As a newcomer to Richmond and the Virginia area, the idea of getting a glimpse of this distinct political process seemed exciting and overwhelming at the same time.
Walking by the life-size sculpture of President George Washington, who looks so imposing and determined, and getting a sneak peak of the First Legislature in the New World painting made me want to catch my breath. Coming from Miami, this is all new to me.
Armed with a small digital camera and a mini-audio recorder, I walked around looking for something-- that something special that I was supposed to discover.
Lesson number one: ask the right question and you’ll get to the right place. All those seasoned reporters who have covered the General Assembly over and over throughout the years, seemed familiar with the place and the people. I, on the other hand, had to ask “Barbara” on the information desk how to find my way around a few times.
Lesson number two: get familiar with the protocol. I learned that the hard way since I (sort of) got kicked out of a few places where I was not supposed to be sitting as member of the media or on the floor interviewing senators.
Lesson number three: Don’t be caught off guard by senators who know more about the process or try to play a few tricks on you. I got my little dosage of political humor when Sen. Henry L. Marsh III, D-Richmond, came up to talk to me. When I asked his name, he pretended to be “Governor Kaine with a tan.” (Which, he said, he had gotten at the beach.)
Although I didn’t recognize he had been Richmond’s first African-American mayor and is a longtime senator and Democratic leader, I knew that he was definitely not the Governor. Joining in the joke (on me, of course) was Donald A. McEachin, the senator from Henrico, who came over from the floor to vouch for Marsh being the governor. I had to think, “Is this really happening to me on my first day at the General Assembly?”
For a new member of the media covering the General Assembly, this was a memorable moment.
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