OP here, there was a steady trickle of voters around 5pm at our polling place, but no lines.

Anonymous wrote:Presidential primaries get good turnout and you will have to wait in line to vote. Mid-term primaries never have high turnout and this year in particular turn out is lower because the primary was moved to July and lots of people are on vacation. That is partly offset by early and mail-in voting which hasn’t been as widespread in recent years. But also, there’s a lot of post-COVID burnout and people just are not that motivated right now to vote on local issues. If the primary was last year, absolutely. This year, not so much.

Also, the only serious contest is the County Executive race and it’s been blanketed by record negative ads against Elrich by a pro-Riemer SuperPAC funded by a California billionaire. All of the research is clear that negative ads depress turnout. So that’s not helping matters.

I agree, although some of us are pretty invested in choosing a candidate for governor too.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Thanks! We'll see how it goes this afternoon!

It's illegal for him to take pictures inside a polling place.

Presidential primaries get good turnout and you will have to wait in line to vote. Mid-term primaries never have high turnout and this year in particular turn out is lower because the primary was moved to July and lots of people are on vacation. That is partly offset by early and mail-in voting which hasn’t been as widespread in recent years. But also, there’s a lot of post-COVID burnout and people just are not that motivated right now to vote on local issues. If the primary was last year, absolutely. This year, not so much.

Also, the only serious contest is the County Executive race and it’s been blanketed by record negative ads against Elrich by a pro-Riemer SuperPAC funded by a California billionaire. All of the research is clear that negative ads depress turnout. So that’s not helping matters.

Anonymous wrote:

Thanks! We'll see how it goes this afternoon!

If you’re voting tomorrow, then you’ll be going to the specific polling location for your address. You might get more accurate responses if you specify your polling location.
As a guess, since the time you’ve picked will be popular with people with 9-5 work schedules, that might be more crowded than midday — IF there are a lot of people in that area with traditional work schedules.

Also, 3 year olds can understand making choices. If you’re eager for her to understand, you can have her “vote” on what to have for lunch, and you can even do a ballot. It might be a little harder to explain that you’re voting for representation, but, if she’s into it, she can vote on which family member gets to decide on a family activity. It’s great that you want her to be involved! I actually remember going into the voting booth with my Mom as a young kid, so things like that might make a long-lasting impression.

No, they are predicting a low voter turnout for this primary and probably the general.

Thinking of taking my 3 yo - even if she can't understand yet what voting is, I thought it might be fun. But if there is a possibility of long lines in the early evening (5-6pm) I'll just go by myself.