Voters waited in lines for as little as five minutes up to more than an hour at polling places around the Historic Triangle on Tuesday, but the turnout for the 2012 presidential election failed to beat the record turnout of 2008.
Registrars in the area credited a larger-than-normal turnout for long lines. The 2012 election brought with it some unique challenges. Since 2008, nearly 85 percent of James City County residents have either had their precinct and/or polling location change, according to Registrar Alan J. Cole, and that led to several people waiting in long lines only to find out they had driven to the wrong location.
York County Registrar Walt Latham also said the two referendum items – both proposed amendments to the Constitution of Virginia – created delays. “When you have a big election, you want to keep people moving and having something like constitutional amendments slows them down, which means longer lines,” Latham said.
Still, waiting times could have been much longer if James City County hadn’t upgraded to electronic poll books following the 2008 election. That change “made a world of difference,” Cole said.
Several voters noted the long lines might have been a deterrent for senior citizens or the disabled. Cole said each polling place was instructed to put out some chairs for people while they wait, but added that in Virginia, voters 65 and older can request curbside voting, which allows an election official to bring a ballot out to a voter’s car at the polling location.
Through the combined efforts of on-campus organizations and the major party campaigns, about 1,600 students at The College of William & Mary registered to vote in Williamsburg for the first time. More than 600 registered to vote in the city this fall when the Student Assembly (SA) hosted a voter registration drive. Students at the college have been eligible to vote in the city since 2006.
On Tuesday, SA members also provided sample ballots and transportation to the polls; the majority of W&M students vote at the United Methodist Church on Jamestown Road. Outside the church on Tuesday, freshman Caper Gooden, of Richmond, handed out sample ballots and asked students, “Do you know your address on campus? Do you have a photo ID?”
“The number one question I get is ‘What’s my address on campus?’” Gooden told W&M News. “Most students don’t know the physical address of their dorm, but that’s one of the questions they ask you to vote.”
None of the local registrars reported any problems with voters failing to bring proper identification to the polls; in the event they did not remember ID, voters could fill out provisional ballots.
Turnout: 2012 vs. 2008
The turnout for the 2012 presidential election didn’t quite match the fervor of 2008, but came close.
In 2012, about 41,215 of James City County residents cast ballots, representing 77 percent of the county’s 53,263 total registered voters (which includes inactive voters, who may have moved from the area). Cole explained the number of registered voters has actually increased by nearly 5,000 since 2008, but the percentage of voters casting ballots didn’t match that of 80 percent in the last presidential election.
This year, 67 percent of Williamsburg’s 11,280 total registered voters (including inactive) cast ballots in the presidential election. Like James City County, Williamsburg’s number of registered voters has grown, but the turnout couldn’t match 77 percent in 2008.
In 2012, about 71 percent of York County’s 46,854 total registered voters cast ballots, according to Tuesday night estimates from Latham, who was still waiting for all absentee votes. In 2008, 76 percent of York County’s total registered voters participated in the election.
This year, both major political parties encouraged voters to vote early by casting absentee ballots in-person. That wasn’t easy for Virginians, however; the Commonwealth doesn’t allow voting early without meeting one of several qualifications. Thirty-two states and the District of Columbia allow early voting with no excuse necessary. Both Cole and Williamsburg Registrar Win Sowder said they had to turn away several voters who attempted to vote early, but did not meet any of the qualifications.
This year, James City County had 3,681 in-person absentee voters, which was down from 5,293 in 2008. The county received 2,347 requests for mail-in absentee ballots, which was in “a dead heat” for 2008, when county residents requested 2,402 mail-in ballots, Cole said.
In York County, 1,738 voters cast absentee ballots in-person (compared to 2,041 in 2008) and a total of 3,865 mail-in ballots were requested. An additional 60 federal write-in ballots were filled out.
In Williamsburg, 593 voters cast in-person absentee ballots, 344 voters requested mail-in ballots and 14 completed federal write-in absentee ballots.
