Voters Around The Country: Long Lines, Historic Crowds

Voters Around The Country: Long Lines, Historic Crowds

Send us your Election Day stories here. Read letters from HuffPost readers at our On The Ground page.

Voters are sending in incredible stories from throughout the country, many detailing long, but moving, lines, stacked with energetic supporters of both candidates. There is, it seems, an up-tick in student participation. And more than one reader was in awe at how historically unique this voter turnout was from past election. Here are some emails:

Bucks County, Pennsylvania
I live in Northampton Township in Lower Bucks County PA. Polls opened here at 7 am. I got to my polling place at an elementary school about 8 am. There was a line of about 10 people ahead of me and the poll workers said the line was out the door just a few minutes earlier. I was voter 161 -- which means that 10% of registered voters in my polling place had voted in the first hour. Yowza. In off years and in primaries, the polls works said they had maybe 25% turn out.

Oklahoma
As a native Oklahoman I have never waited more than a few minutes to cast a ballot. This morning was different. When I arrived at my polling place at 7am there was already a line. Voting took me a total of 45 minutes, I know this is not much compared with the hours long waits faced in other states but for Oklahoma it's historic.

Columbus, Ohio
At 6:10 I was 31st in line. By the time the doors opened there were more than 100 in line. I am 57 years old and this is the first time there were more than 3 people present prior to the doors opening. Usually I am the first and only voter at opening.

State College, Pennsylvania
More than 1,000 Penn State students have shown up

University of New Hampshire
Students at University of New Hampshire reported standing in line starting at 4:30.

Orlando, Florida
I live in a very red part of Orlando. I moved to my current residence 15 years ago, and have voted in every election, it is always old white people or young blond republican moms. This morning, it was black, white, young, old, Hispanic, it was remarkable, it took about 30 minutes, the poll workers were hyper organized and enthusiastic. I actually teared up on the way home realizing I was privileged enough to vote for the first black president.

Baton Rouge, Louisiana
I live in Zachary, just north of Baton Rouge, Louisiana. I was so pleasantly surprised to see a line at the school where we vote! When we arrived at 7:15, there were 3 alphabetical lines with about 25 people in each. Only had to wait 30 minutes to cast my vote. Someone who was leaving as we arrived said she got there at 6:15, just after the polls opened, and the lines were HUGE! She had waited an hour to vote.

Blacksburg, Virginia
The polls opened at 6:00Am and the line was around the block but it only took 38 minutes to vote. The greatest part for me was seeing the youth turn out. The woman in front of me was a college student and it was her first election and she was really jazzed.

St. Louis County, Missouri
I arrived at the polling place at 5:40 a.m. There were at least 200 people ahead of me and the lines were just as long when I exited the polling place. Someone commented they didn't realize we had that many residents in the community where I live.

Indianapolis, Indiana
Two hour wait...but it was well worth it! Arrived at the polls at 6am sharp and there were already close to 300 people in line.

Sioux Falls South Dakota
I always get to my polling station 20 minutes before it opens. It has been a game between a few friends of mine that live in the same district to see who gets there first. In the past 12 years I have been in the first 3. Today I was 22 in line and by the time the poll opened there was nearly 200 people.

DeKalb County, Georgia
My polling station is the gym of the North Peachtree Baptist Church on Tilly Mill Road in Dunwoody, Georgia. I got to the polling station before six this morning and found a line of about two dozen people and the line continued to grow as we reached opening time. At least half of the people on line were African-Americans, many of whom had their children or were accompanied by an elderly person.

Detroit, Michigan
At 6:35pm, I arrived my polling place on the northwest side of Detroit, MI. It was still dark and about 200 people were already in line! I had my hot tea, breakfast sandwich, lawn chair and patience. I met a 19 year old young woman who just registered this summer at her church through the Barack Obama campaign. It took us about 1 1/2 hours to get to the table to acquire our ballots.

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