Wait to vote early lasts hours

Some people stood in line for six hours yesterday to cast absentee ballots at Richmond City Hall.

In eastern Henrico County, the line was so long that just before 2 p.m. voting officials delivered three additional voting machines to the Eastern Government Center. That brought the number of machines to six.

Outside City Hall, lawyers for the Advancement Project took affidavits from people who told of the long wait. The Washington-based group is allied with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People in a lawsuit against the state asking for paper ballots and extended voting hours Tuesday in Richmond, Norfolk and Virginia Beach.

The suit is to be heard tomorrow in U.S. District Court in Richmond.

Yesterday was the last day to cast an absentee ballot in person in Virginia. To be eligible, a voter had to meet one of 17 criteria, such as having a disability, having plans to be away Tuesday on business or vacation, or having to work at least 11 hours on Election Day.

Former Richmond Commonwealth's Attorney David M. Hicks, waiting in line at City Hall with hundreds of other voters, marveled at the scene of people snaking through the corridors on the first floor.

"It's surreal," he said. "It reminds me of one of those countries that just got the right to vote."

Fellow voters moved up and down the line, taking orders for lunch-time snacks.

Election officials said only a few people got impatient and left before the had a chance to vote. Many in the crowd inched chairs along the floor as the line moved slowly forward. Most appeared to be good-natured about the long wait.

"I ain't got nothing else to do," said Swithern Lloyd, who arrived just before the doors were shut at 5 p.m. He was the last in line. At least 300 people were ahead of him, and all were allowed to vote. Lloyd cast his ballot at 6:37 p.m.

In western Henrico, where the lines were long but the wait was only about 90 minutes, Robert Kay and his wife, Joyce, came prepared. They brought folding lawn chairs, pillows and a book appropriately titled "What In the World Is Going On?"

At the registrar's site on Nine Mile Road in eastern Henrico, Andrew McWilliams dropped off his wife, Barbara, to vote at 8:30 a.m., "a half-hour before they opened the door."

Four hours later, she still hadn't cast her ballot.

Registrar Mark J. Coakley said he felt like Bruce Springsteen.

"People were camping out in lawn chairs waiting for the doors to open so they could vote," he said.

Poll workers said the first voter showed up at 6:20 a.m., more than 2½ hours before the doors opened.

By 1:30 p.m., at least 200 people were in line. Many were physically disabled or in wheelchairs, concerned that they would be unable to wait in long lines Tuesday.

At City Hall in Richmond, Alma Avery said it took her four hours to vote.

"At first, they weren't going to make any compensation for the disabled," she said. Then, "they gave me a chair."

Heavy turnout also was reported in neighboring localities.

Goochland County Registrar Frances Ragland said about 10 percent of the county's 15,000 registered voters cast absentee ballots. In Hanover County, registrar Robert M. Ostergren said about 2,600 voted absentee in the 2004 presidential election. He expects 5,000 will have voted early this year. Earlier in the campaign, he had predicted 3,500.

In Petersburg, Registrar Dawn Williams said her office finished processing the last voter's absentee ballot at about 5:35 p.m.

The oldest person to vote there yesterday was a 96-year-old woman, Williams said. Voting officials went out to her car so she wouldn't have to wait in line.

"I've been here 25 years and never seen anything like it, or even close to it," Williams said.

Chesterfield County registrar Lawrence C. Haake III said 1,500 people voted absentee Friday and more than that yesterday.

"Everybody is in good spirits," Haake said. "It's a pretty day. They're excited to vote, and I'm excited, too."
Contact Tyler Whitley at (804) 649-6780 or .

Staff writer Olympia Meola and deputy news editors Mary Anne Pikrone and Ed Kelleher contributed to this report.