November 4, 2008--At the Drumlins County Club polling place in Syracuse one voting machine broke, voters complained about the long lines, and polling inspectors remarked about the impressive voter turnout--all before the sun came up this morning.
Polling inspectors such as Justin McVey, 25, of Syracuse, arrived at the polling place just after 5 a.m. to set up voting machines and paperwork. "We arrive early to make sure every vote counts," he said.
Anticipating a large voter turnout this year, polling inspectors set up an additional voting machine for the district where Syracuse University students live.
They were right about one thing--voters were lined up in the cold before the doors opened. But the extra machine to accommodate them was a useless booth five votes into the morning when the lever became stuck.
With one machine down, the lines became longer and moved slower, as voters turned to one another and expressed some frustration.
"I thought they would have had better machines this year," Keenyn Wald, 36, of Syracuse said after hearing about the broken machine.
Despite the frustrations at the polling place, Wald said he felt an energy at the polling place because of the buzz around Presidential Candidate Barack Obama. "There's a lot of young people this year," he said. "It's exciting."
While Wald said the interest in this year's election was because of the politicians, McVey said he was involved for a different reason. "I went to school to be a musician and I don't even like politics," he said. "I'm here because it's my duty to my country."
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