Knoxville Early Voting - Reflection
Well I have to say Knoxville / Knox County did a excellent job with early voting. The new machines were easy to use (the wife and I did not even go through training and easily voted), and poll workers were extremely professional and efficent. From what I understand about 24,000 people voted early, that is a great success. Considering how long the ballot was I expected more problems.
My father, who last used a computer when INIVAC was still hot and punch cards were considered entry devices (seriously I am not making this up), was able to vote without a problem and there were no threats on his part to never vote again, etc. This is a major victory for Knoxville / Knox county and a testiment to how easy to use the new machinces are.
My only compliment about the entire process / voting experiance was that when I was voting one of the poll workers was helping a man in a wheel chair vote. The poll worker would read him the race / question info and the man would say for or against or say the name of the person that he wanted vote for. That alone made his vote less then private, but they positioned the man in the FRONT of the building near where the line queued up. They could have easily put him at a booth in the back, in a more private setting. I think such a move would just be common sense, but the poll workers did not seem to agree. Hopefully there will be a future provision to allow a bit more privacy for those that need / recieve assistance will voting.
For the man in front of me in line that was in such a hurry. STOP COMPLAINING ABOUT THE LINES and how you are having to wait to vote. It is a 12 page ballot, not some election with 3 races and a question about change to the police pension (we seem to have one of those in almost every election, but that is a topic for another day). Mister, next time stay home or go vote some other day when the lines are shorter. Your time is not any more important then mine, and the fact you had to wait is not a personal afront to your steroid rage driven body. Chill man, just chill. Way to be a even bigger uber jerk by LOUDLY complained to everyone in the place that your wife was taking to long to vote because you had to wait a minute or two after you were done for her to finish up. Calm down and get the drugs out of your system man you will be happier.
