Election board not prepared for election turnout

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To the editor:

Read the item about the problems on election day. The election board is trying to gloss over the real problem, which was unpreparedness on someone’s part.

I really don’t believe they anticipated the turnout. The software company screwed up for not testing the upgrade properly, and the election board didn’t verify the changes. It isn’t a good idea to second-guess them too much, so I’ll let it go.

I’ve lived here for 40 years, and the only time I’ve seen a crowd was once at the Methodist church at Mt. Comfort and 300N, and I haven’t always voted on primary day.

This year, I took our two grandkids (20-somethings) who live with us to vote, so we took off at 8 a.m. and drove to the new polling station at 1600 N. Mt. Comfort Road.

Place was packed, and the line was pretty far out the door. No one was willing to stand in line for an hour, so we left as well as a couple of other cars. People going to work aren’t going to wait.

Around 11:30 a.m., the grandson and I went to try again before he went to work, and the line was longer. We left, figuring there might be a problem and drove up to McCordsville to the town hall, and there wasn’t even a parking place on their lot.

Everyone in front and behind us turned around and left. I went back by myself at 3 p.m. to Mt Comfort, and the line was longer than before. Went home and waited until 5:15 p.m. to go back again.

You can see by the pictures, the line was all the way across the lot and making a turn. A news team was sitting there, and I asked if they counted, and he said they counted 130 people. A woman pulled onto the lot, and I told her she might have a long wait. She said it was her third trip, and she wasn’t going to stay as she had two young children in the car with her.

Me? I’m 73 and can’t stand in any line for two or more hours. I spoke to one fellow coming out (it’s 5:30 p.m. then), and he said he arrived at 3 p.m.

How many people didn’t have the chance to vote that day? We’ll never know. I do know that the three of us did not get to cast a ballot.

How will the board prepare for November? Will they have some dry-runs to check the system? Will they find ways to speed up the process?

Someone should address this instead of stating that only one station had a problem.

Pete Jefferson

McCordsville