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Voting Goes Smoothly In Brandon

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By LAURA FRAZIER | The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 4, 2008

Brandon area voters turned out in full force Tuesday morning, with lines at some precincts 200 and 300 deep by 9 a.m. The crowds thinned during the course of the day, and by 1 p.m. most polling places experienced the typical post-lunch lull.

By 5 p.m. a steady after-work crowd came to cast ballots, many pleasantly surprised by short or non-existent wait times. Save for a few stragglers, it was all but over about a half hour before the polls closed at 7 p.m.

6:45 P.M. - 'I NEED A SMOKE'

Things appear to be winding down at the Bloomingdale West Recreation Center, where the trickle of traffic has slowed to an intermittent drip and several poll workers are outside in the parking lot taking a cigarette break and rehashing the day's events.

6:20 P.M. - 'YOU KNOW HOW COMPUTERS ARE'

Carolyn Horn emerges from the polls at Bloomingdale West Recreation Center, scans the quiet parking lot and turns her palms to the dark sky.

"Where is everybody?"

The Bloomingdale woman said she decided to wait until after work to vote when she heard this morning that the line at the center was 200 deep. She was also curious about what would happen if 7 p.m. rolled around and crowds still lined up to vote.

"I wondered, would they really close the polls?"

Horn vacillated between Obama and McCain up until the second she cast her vote.

"I stood with my pen poised, 'til the very end," she said. "I closed my eyes and finally decided to just go with my gut."

Her gut told her to tap the oval next to the Democratic candidate's name.

"I like different things about each candidate's philosophies and policies, but when I listen to [Obama], I feel like he speaks from the heart."

Horn wasn't as enamored with her first touch-screen voting experience. She prefers a more tactile, less virtual method.

"I like the punch thing. You can feel it and see it and it just seems more accurate than this was. You know how computers are."

5:45 P.M. - 'IT'S BEEN CONSTANT'

Andy Alexandre is serving a second shift this evening outside the polls at Bloomingdale West Recreation Center on Canoga Park Drive. The retiree is relaxing in a lawn chair near the entrance, waving a "Phyllis Busansky for Supervisor of Elections" sign at new arrivals. He stumped there for his candidate earlier in the day and came back for more around 4 p.m.

"It's been constant, one car after another," he said about traffic flow at the site, where a steady stream of voters are still trickling in but wait times are brief or non-existent.

1:15 P.M. - PLENTY OF PARKING

A banner in front of First United Methodist Church of Seffner on Kingsway Road reads "Additional Parking On Grass," but there are plenty of spaces left in the lot. Activity is light here, with just a few people strolling leisurely to and from the polls.

11:25 A.M. - OBAMA SUPPORTERS SHOW THEIR SPIRIT

Marlise Tolbert-Jones usually likes to stay out of the limelight, but she is front and center among a crowd of Barack Obama supporters outside the polling place at Progress Village Park.
"We are here to get our Barack Obama in the White House," she says.

About a dozen voters are holding signs, chanting "Obama! Obama!" at passing cars.

Across the street, at a church day care, dozens of young children join in.

The children are hanging on a chain-link fence, jumping up and down, chanting, "Obama! Obama!"

St. James AME Church of Progress Village offers parishioners a free ride to the precinct and the Rev. James Murphy says by 11 a.m., dozens of people took advantage of the free ride and hot lunch they offered.

Reporter Laura Frazier can be reached at (813) 657-4523.

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