Tuesday election turnout, Emmaville, PA
Nov. 5th, 2024 08:42 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
which_chickI vote in Emmaville, PA. It's the polling place for Brush Creek Township in Fulton County.
In 2020, there were 443 votes cast for president in Emmaville. That's pretty legit turnout, at 82.34% of the registered voters. About 90 of them voted by mail/absentee, the rest were in person. There was no line in 2020 when we showed up to vote, though I'm not sure if that was because of covid or what.
In 2016, there were 382 votes cast for president in Emmaville, 77.96% of the turnout. In 2016, there was a line outside the polling place to vote that wrapped around the parking area. We had to wait in line to vote, about fifteen minutes, and the line was still there when we exited due to more people arriving.
This morning we got to the polling place at 7:30, half an hour after opening. There was no line. (This is about the same time we get there every year.) The poll ladies said they processed 30 people in the first half hour of polling, but there was no line when we got there and no line when we left.
The polling area has room for four people to vote at the same time, and we use paper "color in the square beside your choice" ballots that take a bit of time to fill out. We had to wait maybe a minute before the booths had room for me and my dad to vote.
I don't think the enthusiasm is as high as in 2016, but that's honestly hard to judge. Fortunately, we will be able to read the percentages of this county's results around 11 PM because it's a tiny county and doesn't have very many voters. The county elections board generally wraps things up before midnight. Then, we can compare this year's results to the two previous Trump elections to see how people are feeling in the hinterlands of PA.
If Trump is having any eroded support in the far flung reaches of the deep red parts of the Pennsylvania map, it'll show up here and in neighboring Bedford County, PA. (And probably elsewhere, pundits and people who do this for a living will know better than I do what sorts of areas are bellwethers. But, I live here and there was no line in Emmaville at 7:30 AM. We'll see if that means anything for the votes cast when the results are posted late this evening.)
The problem is that while there's a fair amount (geographically) of rural PA, there aren't very many PEOPLE in that geography. I mean, I care locally how we vote here, but the entire effing county has 9,259 registered voters. That's... peanuts in the grand scheme of things.
In 2020, there were 443 votes cast for president in Emmaville. That's pretty legit turnout, at 82.34% of the registered voters. About 90 of them voted by mail/absentee, the rest were in person. There was no line in 2020 when we showed up to vote, though I'm not sure if that was because of covid or what.
In 2016, there were 382 votes cast for president in Emmaville, 77.96% of the turnout. In 2016, there was a line outside the polling place to vote that wrapped around the parking area. We had to wait in line to vote, about fifteen minutes, and the line was still there when we exited due to more people arriving.
This morning we got to the polling place at 7:30, half an hour after opening. There was no line. (This is about the same time we get there every year.) The poll ladies said they processed 30 people in the first half hour of polling, but there was no line when we got there and no line when we left.
The polling area has room for four people to vote at the same time, and we use paper "color in the square beside your choice" ballots that take a bit of time to fill out. We had to wait maybe a minute before the booths had room for me and my dad to vote.
I don't think the enthusiasm is as high as in 2016, but that's honestly hard to judge. Fortunately, we will be able to read the percentages of this county's results around 11 PM because it's a tiny county and doesn't have very many voters. The county elections board generally wraps things up before midnight. Then, we can compare this year's results to the two previous Trump elections to see how people are feeling in the hinterlands of PA.
If Trump is having any eroded support in the far flung reaches of the deep red parts of the Pennsylvania map, it'll show up here and in neighboring Bedford County, PA. (And probably elsewhere, pundits and people who do this for a living will know better than I do what sorts of areas are bellwethers. But, I live here and there was no line in Emmaville at 7:30 AM. We'll see if that means anything for the votes cast when the results are posted late this evening.)
The problem is that while there's a fair amount (geographically) of rural PA, there aren't very many PEOPLE in that geography. I mean, I care locally how we vote here, but the entire effing county has 9,259 registered voters. That's... peanuts in the grand scheme of things.
