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.