Did You Have Any Voting Problems in Seekonk?
Selectman Gary Sagar plans to make a presentation next week about the number of polling stations in Seekonk.
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Did you have any problems voting in Seekonk on Election Day earlier this month? There were fears that the town's first election since reducing the number of polling stations to one could lead to long lines, parking problems and general chaos at Seekonk High School. Did one or more of those situations happen?
Selectman Gary Sagar, who has said numerous times that the town should have at least two polling stations, told Seekonk Patch he plans to make a presentation on this issue at the Board of Selectmen meeting next week on Wednesday.
Share your thoughts in the comments section below about how voting went on Election Day. Also, vote in our poll about how many polling stations is right for Seekonk.
Paul Mac Pherson
1:12 pm on Tuesday, November 20, 2012
Went to vote about 7:15 am. Took a couple of minutes to get in the parking lot from Ledge Road. Found a parking space right away. Went in to vote and was back out about 10 minutes later. All in all I would say things were very well organized. There was a long line to get into the gym to vote but it moved right along.
Paul Lasiewski
4:11 pm on Tuesday, November 20, 2012
I was also there between 7-7:30 and I felt it was very well organized, I commended Jan Parker.
Emcee of Seekonk
1:14 pm on Tuesday, November 20, 2012
I took the Parkers' suggestion and voted with an absentee ballot. It was easy, probably because I was the only one there at the time. However, it was not as slick as voting at a polling place, ie: questionnaires to fill out. Now, that I've had the absentee-ballot experience, I can say that I prefer voting the traditional way... at polling place.
I think Seekonk could use two polling places, or at least try it for the year 2014 to see if there is any affect on turnout.
Believe the Hype
2:52 am on Thursday, November 22, 2012
Turnout could be effected by a hundred other variables. Besides we already had multiple polling locations a few years back.
Bill Allen
3:44 pm on Tuesday, November 20, 2012
I voted about 8:45 AM. Parking was a little bit of an issue, but I was in and out in 10 minutes.
Amy
7:50 am on Wednesday, November 21, 2012
I guess I equate this to a Selectman's comment regarding loosing power during the latest windstorm.He said well, I live in the south end so I wasn't bothered at all with loosing power. (like those in the north end.) Then, they all went on to congratulate each other and Nationalized Grid on what a wonderful job they did. If you lost a polling place in your area you may understand what it's like. I thank Mr. Sagar for being the one advocate for the north end.
paul
5:58 am on Thursday, November 22, 2012
Amy, I agree, The north end is the towns red headed step child. We have become 2nd class citizens and it all started when North School closed. Now every time the wind blows, power is lost for days. I have lived in the north all my life and we never lost power growing up in the 60's & 70's. On Thanksgiving day we are thankful that the town still remembers to tax us. I hope my fellow citizens in the south end enjoy traffic gridlock on black Friday, that's the price you pay for always having power.
Terese Bohaxiu-Dicastiglione
5:40 pm on Wednesday, November 21, 2012
I did not have any problems with the parking and did not wait in line. I did have an issue where the poll worker skipped a line and therefore checked off the wrong name - not my name - on the checklist. I know it is a tedious job and the lighting is not great; maybe print the info with lines or provide rulers? This error would have caused a problem for the person whose name did get checked off had I not caught it, because he would have been listed as already having voted. That would have been a big problem had it happened to me in a presidential election.
Susan Wagner
5:57 pm on Wednesday, November 21, 2012
I thought it ran very smoothly. Had alot of "helpers" directing people and lending a hand to some of the elderly voters. It is prudent to have voting at one location. If something goes wrong, there are alot of resources to help remedy the problem rather than having to make a phone call, wait for the person to arrive to remedy it and therefore making the voter wait as well. I am amazed at how well the Presidential election went with 7340 voters voting.