Election Day - Part 2: Where are the poll workers?

South Nashville turnout steady, no sign of corner campers and one candidate's brother demonstrates against national focus

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From Tom Wood — 2:47 p.m.: At John Trotwood Moore Middle School, near David Lispscomb University, all but 92 of 650 voters had cast their ballots.

From Nate Rau — 2:15 p.m.: Several voters have expressed confusion over the Metro charter amendment proposals on the ballot. One would clearly define term limits for Council members. The other would move back the deadline for the mayor to file the operating budget ordinance.

Vicky Noes said it took her “several minutes” of re-reading the wording before she understood their intent.

Bob Pope, who cast his vote at the Tune House, said he didn’t on the amendment proposals because the wording was not clear.

Antioch Councilman Duane Dominy agreed the wording could have been better so voters understood the intent of the amendment proposals.

From Amy Griffith Graydon — 2:05 p.m.: John McCain? Who’s John McCain?

Despite the fact that Tennessee is expected to devote its electoral votes to McCain, there was little sign in parts of north and east Nashville today that anyone other then Barack Obama is running for president.

Demonstrators for Obama fill many street corners. Mothers and young children walked down the streets in handmade T-shirts reading ‘Yes, We Can.’ Signs supporting Obama dominate the front yards of these areas, as well as entrances to polling places.

There was a lone sign for McCain in front of the Whites Creek Fire Hall. And earlier today, volunteers for Obama at Haynes Middle School reported seeing a truck with a McCain-Palin sign, but they say with big smiles, that they “ran it off.”

From Nate Rau — 1:55 p.m.: Mid-afternoon appears to be the wisest time to cast your ballot. Mary Johnson said it took her about 10 minutes to cast her vote at the Westmeade Elementary School precinct on Clearbrook Drive.

Poll workers there believe the after-work rush will lead to long lines.

I also wanted to offer a refreshing perspective from voter Kelly Wood, who cast her ballot at the Curb Event Center.

Wood chose Senator John McCain, but said both candidates are good men and the country should be pleased with whichever one wins.

 
From Nate Rau – 1:05 p.m.: Congressman Jim Cooper honored an election day tradition this afternoon by stopping by Momma Tune's house for lunch. The Tune house, located on a peninsula on Percy Priest Lake, is the smallest voting precinct in Davidson County.

Cooper would not make a prediction on the presidential race, but was hopeful that Senator Obama would win.

"You can never be too confident because your folks have to be motivated to vote. A lot of Democrats have been discouraged over the years. I think they're excited this year. I think the Obama candidacy is the most exciting in generations," asserted Cooper.

He also offered a blistering critique of Senator John McCain.

"I have had the privilege of knowing both McCain and Obama and  I feel strongly that Barack Obama would be a better president. McCain's a fine man he is certainly a war hero but he stopped being a maverick in after 2000," said Cooper. "It's shame. I think if he had stayed a maverick, this would much closer race."

Dozens of other politicos grabbed lunch at the Tune house including Mayor Dean and various Metro councilman and state legislators.

From Amy Griffith Graydon – 11:51 a.m.: Early voting has gone a long way toward keeping lines down at Whites Creek fire hall, according to veteran poll worker Charles White.

Between 55 and 60 percent of precinct voters have already cast their ballots, White said. The site has seen 185 voters of as of 11:30 a.m. election day. There have been no lines and the fire hall where votes are being cast is empty enough so that voices echo. Voters there cast their ballots amid mops and lawnmowers and the fire hall's huge trucks are parked outside to make room for the proceedings.

At the last presidential election, this precinct saw about 750 ballots cast, White said. Based on the numbers so far, he expects a larger turnout this year. But with the high percentages of early voters, he expects few lines today.

No political demonstrators have been reported at the polling site today.

From Amy Griffith Graydon – 11:29 a.m.: By mid-morning on election day, there was already a line at Union Hall 737 on Centennial Boulevard. Average wait time had been at about 15 minutes per person throughout the day.

One voter, Cynthia Black, said the waits are better than they were at the last presidential election. At that time, she said, voters were waiting two hours to cast their ballots.

"The last big election, [the line] was wrapped around [the building]," Black said.

By 10 a.m., 278 had voted, according to poll worker Sheila Newman.

The only political demonstrator at the site was Richard Lee, brother of Rep. Gary Odom challenger Timothy Lee. Lee said he felt there were more voters paying attention to the national election than to more local races.

"The local elections are just as important as the the national elections in our everyday lives. We we tend to lose sight of the forest for the trees sometimes," Richard Lee said.

From Ken Whitehouse – 11:10 a.m.: In the Crieve Hall/Edmondson Pike area, election officials at the Woodson Chapel Church of Christ said 380 voters had cast a ballot by 10:30 a.m. At the nearby Christ Church on Old Hickory Boulevard, 225 voters had done so. It’s becoming apparent that early voting has really helped prevent long lines in a lot of districts.

An interesting and surprising takeaway from this morning’s canvassing: We have yet to see any poll workers standing in the street with yard signs. That’s extremely odd, especially since this is a presidential election.

Our guess is that the people who would ordinarily be camping out at street corners are instead making phone calls drumming up the few remaining voters who haven’t yet headed for the ballot boxes.

Similarly, we only just now saw our first poll watchers of the day. In this predominantly GOP-leaning part of town, backers of the McCain-Palin ticket were keeping a close eye on the turnout.