When I walked into my polling place this morning at around 11:30 AM, the worker attending my precinct was actually asleep, head on the table. I was only the third person to vote in my precinct, and the 26th to cast a ballot across all five precincts.
“Busy day?” I asked the roomful of aged poll workers, who responded with a mix of forelorn bemusement and total confusion. If there is a retirement home for fictional Maytag repairmen, I imagine it looks pretty much like this.
Turnout is reportedly low throughout the state, but particularly in heavily Democratic King County, one of the only counties yet to move to all vote by mail. I’d say this bodes poorly for Democrats if I could say this primary means anything at all. Things will be different in November with Barack Obama at the top of the ticket.
Still, if you haven’t voted yet, don’t give the other guys the opportunity to spin the results into campaign momentum… get out there and cast your ballot.
UPDATE [Lee]: When I walked into my polling place a little after 8am this morning, the poll workers let out a small cheer just to see somebody, anybody coming in to vote. While there wasn’t a person sleeping at my precinct table, there was an orange and white cat sleeping on the chair. Not a single person came in to vote while I was there. I put my ballot in the machine, told everyone there to “stay awake,” and went across the street to catch my bus.