UPDATE: Polls are closed

Updated 7 p.m.

Polls are closed.

Republican volunteers gather outside Rivermont Presbyterian

Sitting outside in the parking lot of Rivermont Presbyterian Church tonight, electioneer George Caylor passed the time by schooling his fellow Republican, Tami Eggleston, in the best way to locate the North Star.

“See, it’s the one star in the sky that doesn’t move,” Caylor said, pointing to a diagram he had hastily sketched out on paper.

“But how many stars up from here is it?” asked Eggleston. “That’s what I don’t understand.”

Caylor and Eggleston’s conversation had turned to astronomy while the two were looking up at the night sky above them, an expanse of inky black that was only just beginning to speckle with a few stars shortly before 6:30 p.m.

The two were outside Rivermont Presbyterian in Ward I to distribute Republican sample ballots to arriving voters. Caylor is an old hand at this task, having pulled Election Day volunteer duty for the past 22 years. Eggleston, in contrast, was volunteering for the first time, motivated by her dissatisfaction with recent events in Washington.

“I knew I had to do something,” she said. “I’m just so disgusted.”

Eggleston cited values as her priority in this election and said she felt the country was headed in the wrong direction. “I think a lot of what the current administration is doing is so anti-God and so anti-the founding principles of this country,” she said.

“Ditto, ditto, ditto,” said Caylor.

In the local House of Delegates race, Caylor said he was supporting Dr. Scott Garrett because of Garrett’s business-minded platform and background.

“Scott Garrett not only saved lives, some of people I know, but after he had his heart attack and couldn’t do surgery anymore, he went into business and did very well as as businessman,” Caylor said. “He understands the needs of small business. People who are for him know that.”

Inside Rivermont Presbyterian, precinct workers described the pace throughout the day as steady. A total of 508 people had voted there by about 6:30 p.m., which officials said was a good turnout for this relatively small precinct.

Out in a hallway, a small table held six empty coffee carafes, evidence of the long day required of precinct workers, who are not allowed to leave their post until the polls are officially closed and the results reported to the registrar.

“We started the day off with coffee,” said precinct chief Alfreda Bostic. “And we started early. All I want to do when I get home is S-L-E-E-P.”

Updated 7 p.m.

At 5:30 p.m., Memorial Christian Church on Perrymont Avenue, was still seeing a slow but steady influx of voters.

Lynchburg College Vice President John Eccles, who said he came so his wife could vote, said he believed the school made a good showing at the polls.

“I am told by several people that we had a good turnout,” he said. “A lot of students coming over here, faculty and staff, obviously.”

He said he wasn’t aware of many out-of-state students who changed their registrations in order to vote in Virginia’s gubernatorial election, as well as local races.

“I think most of your out-of-state students really wouldn’t have a dog in the fight,” he said.

Amanda D’arcy, a student at Lynchburg College, said she changed her registration from her home state of New Jersey. For some reason, she said, the system did not process the registration.

“Big bummer,” she said, adding she’s considering staying in the area after she graduates.

Lynchburg City Councilman Turner Perrow, who represents Ward 4, said he’d been all around his ward, shaking hands and chatting with the voters.

“I’ve been very pleased with turnout,” he said. “It’s a lot better than a council race.”

Precinct officials said as of 5:30, nearly 1,300 of the roughly 4,000 voters registered at that precinct, or a little more than 30 percent, had come through.

Said Perrow, “It’s important to get out to vote, and it’s a good opportunity to get out and see some of my constituents that I might not see on a regular basis.”

Updated 6 p.m.

Only about 700 people had cast their vote at Robert S. Payne Elementary School in Ward II by 5 p.m. today.

“We need some more business,” precinct chief Delores Fowler joked with a voter. “Go drum some up.”

The final hours of voting did seem to bring a slow but steady trickle of voters to this precinct’s door. Asked about the issues that were important to them in this election, people spoke of the need for jobs and better health care.

“Good jobs. Jobs for people,” said Arthur Wilson, a local pastor who said he was voting for Democratic candidates. “Right now people are having such a hard time.”

Lynchburg Democratic Committee chairman John Lawrence visited the precinct to get a voter tally. He said turnout seemed to be low throughout the city, but added he was confident that Del. Shannon Valentine, D-Lynchburg, would win her bid for re-election against Republican challenger Scott Garrett.

“I called her this morning and said, ‘You got it,’” he declared, describing Garrett as having run an “empty campaign” that alienated voters.

“Garrett just beat that horse to death about the taxes thing, which was proven to be misleading, but he hammered it and hammered it and it reached a tipping point. He annoyed Republicans with that.”

Lawrence was less definite in his assessment of the other Democratic candidates on the ballot. “The rest of the ticket, well, only time will tell,” he said.

LCA students volunteer at polls

While Liberty University students turned out by the hundreds Tuesday at the polls, several dozen Liberty Christian Academy students were at the polls, too.

The LCA students have been volunteering with local Republicans, said the school’s John Patterson.

Students earn extra credit and learn about the voting process through activities that included greeting visitors and handing out Republican sample ballots.

“There is no question that our values line up with the Republican Party,” Patterson said of the school, later adding, “We are really proud of our kids, that they have morals and values and they stand for something here.”

Patterson stressed that participation is voluntary and a long-standing tradition at LCA, which holds classes on Election Day, unlike the Lynchburg Public Schools. Students in upper-school government classes have a variety of extra-credit options they can choose from, including attending a public meeting, sitting in on a court proceeding, riding along with a police officer, or writing a paper.

LCA Senior Mike Rocco, who turned 18 a few days ago, spent time at two different polling stations, one at the Knights of Columbus in Forest, the other at Brookville High School.

“I figured, my first time voting, why not help out as well,” Rocco said.

Updated 3:29 p.m.

Voting has been going smoothly in the Lynchburg area today, local registrars said.

Some precinct workers had a little trouble learning to use the new electronic poll books this morning in Lynchburg and the counties of Bedford, Campbell and Amherst, but everybody figured them out fairly quickly, registrars said.

The net result was: voting went faster once all the operators figured out how to use the machines, the registrars said. The electronic poll books show voters’ names and addresses so precinct workers can verify they are registered to vote. Those books have been on paper in most localities until this year.

At Lynchburg’s Heritage Elementary School voting precinct, there was heavy voting by students from Liberty University this afternoon, said Lynchburg registrar Pat Bower. By 3:15 p.m., about 1,700 of the precinct’s 5,613 registered voters had cast their ballots.

Some LU students showed up to learn their registration hadn’t been recorded. Bower said a batch of registration application forms that apparently were collected in one dormitory didn’t get turned in to the registrar’s office.

In Bedford, the voter turnout was 28 percent of registered voters at 3 p.m., Registrar Barbara Gunter said.

At the Moose Lodge on Lakeside Dr., the lunch rush was over by 2:40 p.m. Precinct Chief Fred Giles said 25 percent of registered voters had turned up—a total of 1,245—most of whom chose paper ballots.

Liberty University students head to Heritage Elementary to vote

Heritage Elementary School serves as the voting place for Lynchburg’s busiest precinct, which is the fourth in Lynchburg’s Ward III. Buses have been rolling up to the school every few minutes from LU, as the school is the polling place for students registered to vote at the university address.

One of the students who was at the precinct early, Mark Etheridge, said he voted because “we were told by our chancellor about the effect government has on students,“ particularly the food tax charged in restaurants.

“I figured since I am here in college for four years I should get involved,“ Etheridge said.

Just past 11 a.m., members of LU’s College Republicans pulled up in a pickup truck. In the bed sat an elephant made of chicken wire and duct tape plastered with Republican bumper stickers.

LU student Owen Fahy, said it was important that Liberty students vote because the election could affect property rights. Another student, sophomore Allison Braun registered to vote in fall’s presidential election.

“As Liberty students, it’s really important to vote locally because it affects us all year long,“ Braun said.

Walter Fore and other Democratic Party volunteers handed out sample ballots this morning that suggested people should vote for Democrats.
“I want to let people know Democrats vote here too,“ Fore said. “This is not a precinct for Liberty students only.“

Some displeased with campaigns

The Bedford Area Welcome Center saw just more than 200 voters as of 10:15 a.m., said Patsy Arnold Martin, chief officer of the city’s Ward II precinct. She said that number was “higher than expected.“

Poll workers offered cotton swabs to voters to address H1N1 flu concerns. “Not as many are taking them as I would have thought,“ Martin said.

Stewart Stone, a senior and city resident, said after voting that he didn’t like the way gubernatorial candidates Bob McDonnell and Creigh Deeds were “cutting each other down.“

“And I don’t like the phone calls I’ve been getting,“ Stone said in reference to the campaigns. “Every time I sit down to eat, take a nap, or read the paper the phone rings, wanting me to vote this way or that.“

Variety of reasons bring voters to the polls

Just outside the city on Falling Creek Road, there was a steady line of about a dozen Bedford County voters at the public service authority polling place at 11:30 a.m. Precinct chief D.J. Ashwell said there 316 votes cast by that time, which was a 21 percent turnout for the precinct. There were lines for nearly two hours, he said.

“Jobs, jobs, jobs,“ said Raymond Arrington, a county resident, of what he would want his vote produce. He said he leans Democrat but was concerned about low turnout for the party this year.

Adam Hodges, a 22-year-old county resident looking for a job, cast his first-ever vote in person at the authority precinct. Hodges, who attended Radford University, said he has voted absentee before.

“I’m glad I voted,“ Hodges said Tuesday. “Government is pretty important.“

At Thomas Jefferson Elementary School in Forest, there were nearly 900 voters who turned out to vote just before noon, said Precinct Chief Carole White. There was a line waiting before the polls opened, she said. “It’s been phenomenal.“

‘Paper is faster’

At the Heritage United Methodist Church polling place on Leesville Road in Lynchburg, a steady stream of voters flowed in and out this morning. The church yard was ringed with election signs, even more than on the presidential election day last year.

Inside, two neighbors discussed what they did over the weekend as poll workers offered voters a choice of paper or electronic ballots. “Paper is faster,” said one poll worker. The polling place had four portable booths for casting paper ballots, and one for electronic.

To avoid spreading germs, voters used thin plastic coffee stirrers to touch the electronic voting screen. The stirrers worked well, maybe better than a finger touch, said the poll worker at the machine.

At First Christian Church on Rivermont Avenue, a man was overheard quipping, “Where do I vote for Franklin Delano Roosevelt?“

—Ray Reed, Chris Dumond, Joe Stinnett, Liz Barry, Sarah Watson, Justin Faulconer, Bryan Gentry and Casey Gillis