right now (as i'm writing this; i don't usually have the opportunity to write anything before and during election day!) we have more election workers and volunteers at the polls than voters -- by many multiples.  unlike knock and drag, though, election protection is busy like an emergency room and then boring as all get out.  the work was so light that i volunteered to take out water and food to our precincts (the volunteer who was to do this was still at another location).  "stop by any polling place you see on the way," i was instructed.  my camera just happened to be in the car (go figure).

at one of my last poll/stops, as i was leaving, i found a driver's license in the space next to my car.  some poor voter had lost their license and so i took it back inside.  "when you said you'd be back, we didn't know it would be that quick," the inspector said to me.  har har, she's a character.  fortunately, that person had already returned looking for her license.  "give her a call," the inspector told one of the other poll workers.  how?  well, people's phone numbers are right next to their name in indiana.  convenient, i suppose.  eery, though.

i stopped to take a picture of several of hillary's volunteers out waving signs for her.  these young women were having a grand old time.  even though their signs didn't say "honk for hillary," people were.  "mostly people in trucks," the one from indiana told me.  the other lady is from illinois.  "we have lots of people from out of state."  barack does, too.

i've said before (i'll find the link later) that "we do field" in the obama campaign.  but lo and behold, one of my stops had someone out doing visibility for barack!  i don't know if you can tell from the pic, but he was there volunteering for another candidate and went home and got his yard sign.  he just figured barack needed some visibility, as well.  volunteers are so hard to manage!

his heart was in the right place.

everybody told me that "turnout was slow."  this was a consistent response from the volunteers on the ground.  yet i'd return to my car and this poll that had 80 people vote already only had 312 voters in it.  one poll did tell me that voting was picking up and todd's already mentioned "the shoot."  this is one of our concerns -- but not all the polls had them up yet.  everyone is talking about how heavy the turnout will be tonight.  that should make it interesting.

one of the polls i visited is expecting telemundo (spanish-language tv) to come by at 5pm.  the democratic precinct captain was very concerned.  it's a mixed precinct and "i don't want people interferring with my voters."  they're her voters.  she was particularly enraged by some volunteer "not from this state" who was arguing with voters before they went in to vote.  he happened to be helping out hillary, but these kinds of things happen to other campaigns as well.  you get the good and the bad, but most people have good intentions.  they just don't think about how it appears to voters.  we keep forgetting them.

generally, i think volunteers are a little disappointed because they didn't witness a rush to vote.  like i said, turnout was already averaging a third of the voters in the locations i visited, but they came in spurts and starts.  no long lines.  "slow but steady," as a poll worker said.  to the volunteers outside, they didn't see the lines forming inside the polls, i guess.  but they are of good cheer, and i bet more than a few will be happy when it's over!

when i get back tonight, i'll explain a little more about the obama election protection effort here in indiana.  it's been a good start for november.  obviously, i've not had as much voter contact with voters in indiana as i had in pennsylvania, but i'm still finding volunteers on both sides to be amiable and hopefully that's a good sign for the future!

your assignment, should you choose to accept it, is to look for the rope "shoot" in these pictures!  and don't expect replies from me until after voting ends tonight...