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Surprise Awaits Those Voting Early To Avoid Long Lines

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By CHRISTIAN M. WADE and RICH SHOPES

cwade@tampatrib.com rshopes@tampatrib.com

Published: October 23, 2008

TAMPA - Residents voting early to avoid long lines on Election Day are finding - surprise! - long lines at early voting sites.

More than 16,000 Hillsborough County voters cast ballots in the first two days of early voting, more than twice the number as in the 2004 presidential election. Lines of more than 100 people and waits of an hour or more have been reported at peak times at several of the county's 13 early voting locations.

"This is the longest I've ever seen it since I've been voting," 68-year-old Horace Green said Wednesday, the third day of voting, as he stood outside the College Hill Branch Library on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. "I came here because of my age. I didn't want to wait a long time."

Green had no such luck. The line at his polling place stood at 45 to 50 minutes long early Wednesday.

At Jimmie B. Keel Regional Library on West Bearrs Avenue in Lutz, about 150 people were in line when the polls opened at 10 a.m. The wait to vote was more than an hour. One man fainted while in line, but when revived, he still wanted to vote. Poll workers gave him water and let him vote without waiting longer.

By 4 p.m. Wednesday, about 7,000 more Hillsborough residents had cast ballots, bringing the total close to 24,000 since early voting began Monday.

Pinellas County had significantly fewer early voters, about 8,000 by Wednesday. In much smaller Pasco County, however, some 13,000 residents had gone through early voting.

"It's getting busier and busier each and every day," said Brian Corley, Pasco's supervisor of elections. "Democracy is continuing to thrive."

Reporter Christian M. Wade can be reached at (813) 259-7679. Reporter Rich Shopes can be reached at (813) 259-7633.

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