I voted at 6:30 this Tuesday morning, at the end of my walk on the levee. An hour earlier, I slipped my driver’s license into my jeans and donned my glasses so I’d be able to read the ballot. A classroom at John Curtis Christian (elementary) School is our site. Usually when I walk in, there might be one or two other voters. Today, I stood in line with maybe 30 in front of me.
Our Baptist Center on Lakeshore Drive in New Orleans is the polling place for a number of precincts that were put out of business by Katrina three years ago. Today, our auditorium boasts 24 voting machines. When I arrived at the office at 8:30, several lines stretched outside the building and across the lawn. I estimated 200 people were waiting to vote outside, and perhaps nearly that number inside. Incredibly, down the street a block, the Episcopal Church, also a voting place for several precincts, was just as crowded.
The Times-Picayune this morning ran a couple of pages of photos of citizens, identifying who this one is, what he/she does for a living, where they live, and whether they are voting for Obama or McCain. After glancing at it, I went back and checked. Sure enough, every African-American was voting for Obama and every paleface was voting for McCain.
At my voting place this morning, I was struck by the heavy percentage of African-Americans in line. This part of town — the community is River Ridge — is thought of as majority-white, but it certainly did not look like it this morning.
I think it’s great. I’m delighted that the voter turnout today may end up being as high as 80 or 90 percent. It’s about time, is all I can say.