Weary Columbus voters going home

Published November 3, 2004 5:55AM (EST)

It's well after midnight in Columbus, Ohio, and Rick Kalamar, a volunteer for America Coming Together, has just returned from a Methodist church, where nearly 250 weary people are still waiting in line. He is incredibly frustrated. Because the church precinct did not have an adequate number of voting machines, people have been waiting in line for up to four hours. Kalamar estimates that about half of them, out of frustration, have decided to go home without voting. He made two trips to a local store to buy cases of cherry pies, which he handed out to people in line -- but the gesture didn't appease angry parents and restless kids. "This is indicative of what's happening in a lot precincts in the inner city," Kalamar says, "people waiting for four hours. The mood is really bad." It's no surprise, Kalamar adds, that suburban precincts seemed to have had more than enough voting machines.


By Michelle Goldberg

Michelle Goldberg is a frequent contributor to Salon and the author of "Kingdom Coming: The Rise of Christian Nationalism" (WW Norton).

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