Virginians ponder: to vote or not to vote

People had plenty of reasons for voting -- or not voting -- yesterday.

Sharon Nettles, a 21-year-old sales clerk, said she couldn't spare time from work -- and this election just wasn't that interesting to her.

"Nobody's really talking about it that much," said Nettles, who lives near the Shops at Willow Lawn in Henrico County.

Al Baskerville of Richmond voted because of orders from on high. "[President Barack] Obama told me to go out and vote," said Baskerville, 48, flashing the "I voted" sticker on his wallet. "He is the president."

Tyler Agin 24, of Norfolk said he would like to see more young people go to the polls and be responsible citizens, as he did.

"I tell all my friends to vote, but none of my friends vote," said Agin, a chef. "Everyone sleeps all day."

No major voting problems were reported yesterday, said Nancy Rodrigues, secretary of the State Board of Elections.

In an afternoon briefing, Rodrigues said a handful of the state's more than 2,300 precincts opened 20 to 30 minutes late for a variety of reasons, including trouble setting up equipment.

In one precinct in York County, the keys to get into the building didn't work, so poll workers set up temporarily outside, Rodrigues said.

In Bristol, a paper-ballot scanner didn't work because the ballot was dampened with hand-sanitizer gel, she said. The wet ballot was put in a box to be counted later.

In Richmond, a city work crew started digging yesterday morning in front of a polling place on West Grace Street but quickly shut down after being informed that the street needed to remain open for voters, city Registrar J. Kirk Showalter said.

And there was at least one food-related mix-up.

For last year's presidential election, the Chick-Fil-A restaurant on Pump Road in Short Pump gave away free chicken sandwiches to everyone who voted. The offer wasn't good yesterday, but that didn't keep nearly 200 people from showing up looking for a free nibble.

At Forest Hill Presbyterian Church in South Richmond, Tootie Owens brought her grandchildren, 8-year-old Riley and 6-year-old Colin Wade, to the polls. She said she gets irritated at people who think voting isn't important if one candidate seems to have a big lead.

"It always matters," she said. "We have such a privilege to be able to do this."

Some people didn't vote out of apathy. Antoine Mansfield had another reason. "I'm a felon. I can't vote," said Mansfield, 26, of Richmond, who was convicted in 2005 of possessing cocaine with the intent to distribute it and served 4½ years in prison. He said he will try to get his voting rights restored.

Freeman Martin, 31, a Richmond tattoo artist, said he didn't vote because he is disenchanted with politicians. "I'm kind of put out with the whole system these days," he said.

J.N. Wilson, 62, moved to the Richmond area from Iowa in July. He started to switch his voter registration to Virginia but didn't follow through.

"I'm kind of a procrastinator," Wilson said. "I feel bad."

Contact Rex Springston at (804) 649-6453 or .

Staff writers Michael Martz, Katherine Calos, Frank Green, Will Jones and Jim Nolan contributed to this report.