Scenes From A Poll: The North End

Location: Nazzaro Community Center

Time: 2:45pm

When it comes to voting, this is the place to be seen, with long lines but efficient workers who appear to be getting the job done. At its worst – before, during, and right after rush hour – there was a two-hour wait here. But even then the queue was mostly indoors, kept cuddly by a carpeted hallway with bathroom facilities and other amenities not seen elsewhere. There's even a washer-dryer room if you wet yourself.

By the time that I arrived, the wait was pushing a half-hour, and people seemed perfectly content with fooling on their cell phones and comparing cute babies. When I complimented the precinct warden on her operation – they'd processed well over 1000 voters* by 2:45pm – she turned to me and said, “That's what we do here – always. We're the best in the city.” Noted, though we'll see how the evening goes.

*- The actual count that I was given was 2,320, but I'm not sure if that has to be cut in half, since each ballot is two pages.