He knows now, though. Early glitches and mistakes are not all that uncommon in some places. Here in Minnesota, our poll workers are well trained and seem to handle everything just fine.

Today, there was someone registering at the polling place. They have a separate table for people registering on election day. Registered voters were moving through the process quickly and smoothly.

But there was something new that might have caused delays at some precinct sites. Always when I've voted before here, they just had the books with lists of names; you signed and they gave you a slip to get the ballot. Today you had to fill out a form with your name and address, and sign it. A poll worker then used a laptop to look you up and check your signature, wrote some numbers down on it, and then you went to the ballot guy. Everyone real friendly and seemed to know what they were doing.

It was way more crowded than usual (even at a quarter to ten), but no one had to wait more than a few minutes. It took a long time to fill out the ballots however, which may have also caused backups: in addition to all the federal, state, and county races, there were 67 judicial lines to fill out (I hate connecting those arrows again and again!), as well as city, county, and state ballot initiatives, which some people might not have expected--and some were long to read.

Something else new! We used to just get a tiny piece of black-and-white xeroxed paper that said "I Voted." What the aitch ee double toothpicks are you supposed to do with that. Today we got cool wristbands in red white and blue that say "I Voted! Did You?" It matched my pantsuit! (And let me tell you, it was no small feat to squeeze into a navy blue designer pantsuit I bought 20 years ago!)

We live in the far NW suburbs of Chicago.
Our son is away at college and voted by mail. His first Presidential election and he voted for a woman!
Times, they're a changin'!