Uncharacteristic Long Lines at Polling Station

On Tuesday, November 3, Election Day finally arrived and I was ready to vote for the first time in my life. I didn’t go alone as my dad, Joe Porpora, came with me to make sure I didn’t do anything wrong.

When we arrived at our polling place, the Bullville Fire Department, we were stunned at how many people had shown up already. We got to the firehouse at 6:30 a.m. and there were cars lined up down the street. “I’ve never seen this many people this early,” said Joe Porpora. Voter turnout nationwide in this election was expected to be larger than in previous years. Usually when Porpora goes this early on election day, he waits about ten minutes before he votes. Today was a different story.

We waited in line and stood six feet away from people as instructed. Most people had their masks on but there were a few who waited until they entered the building to do so.

Nick Porpora waiting in line with a mask on

As everyone stood in almost freezing weather, a nice thing occurred. A polling worker came out and pointed towards a woman in line who was using a cane. The polling worker waved the woman in the building and had her skip the lines to get out of the cold. It was a wonderful moment amidst all the ugliness of the election.

After waiting more than a hour, we finally got inside the firehouse. Shaking off the cold, we made our way to the check-in table and got our ballots. I went into a private area divided by a curtain and placed my vote. Afterwards, I went to submit my vote into the machine and I had trouble. I was confused and a polling worker came over to help me. I told her it was my first time and she responded, “Do you care if I embarrass you and tell everyone.” I said no and she announced to everyone in the firehouse, “Hey, we have a first-time voter!” A lot of people clapped and as I stood flustered, I gave a simple thumbs up.

As we exited the building, we noticed that the line hadn’t gotten any shorter compared to when we first came.