When I arrived at 6am on the dot, there was a line about 200 yds long with approximately 300 people snaking outside the school - pretty unusual and indicative of high voter turnout. I brought some reading material, but unfortunately I was outside and it was still dark so it didn't do me a lot of good until I got inside after about 20-25 minutes of waiting.
As I arrived in line there was a sharply-dressed man in a suit and fedora hat hustling to pass out sample ballots. He didn't advertise them as Democratic or Republican, but I was very pleased to see that they were Democratic. Also, outside the school there was a sea of Democratic lawn signs and not a Republican one in sight. Clearly, this gentleman had arrived WAY early and was out-hustling the competition.
After about 15 or so minutes, an obese, angry-looking man who looked like a heart attack waiting to happen began shuffling through the line passing out Republican sample ballots - and advertising them as such by saying "Stop Socialism - Republican Sample Ballots here". As he passed I very loudly said "NO THANK YOU".
Once I got inside we were split up into three lines by last name. After another 25 minutes (at about 5 minutes 'till 7) I got to the check-in desk. I was #117 in the A-E line, so there were approximately 350 people in line ahead of me when I arrived (they divided the last names up into 3 lines).
When I went to go get my voter permit I noticed that they were having some people vote using optical scanner 'bubble sheets' and some using the voting machines they had been using for quite some time (ever since I moved to NOVA in 2001). This was a bit puzzling. I can understand why they would want to use optical scanners because it greatly increases the capacity and the number of voters they can push through in an hour, but if you are looking to create a paper trail then they should't have any voting machines involved because those machines don't produce a paper receipt (a pet peeve of mine). I guess Virginia is confident enought in the voter machines that they are really only worried about increasing capcity and don't care so much about a paper trail.
I was assigned to the optical scanner side and sat down to fill out my bubble sheet for Obama, Mark Warner and Judy Feder (VA-10 congressional candidate). I did so and then, personally, went up to the scanner machine, inserted the ballot and watched the 'processed' counter increase. Apparently they had about about 1/3 of voters using the voting machines and 2/3 using the optical scanners and bubble sheets.
After I got my sticker and went out of the building I noticed that the line outside the school was only about 30 yards long - so apparently I was a part of the initial early-bird rush. Probably should have waited a bit before coming in, but hey - I've been waiting 4 long and hellish years to cast this ballot - so why not do so as soon as you can?
As I left I went up to the sharply-dressed man, shook his hand and thanked him for his efforts. He asked me if I wanted to sign up for volunteering for the next election, and I mentioned that I'm on the list of just about every Democratic list out there so it wasn't necessary.
I'm really, REALLY looking forward to sitting down in front of the TV with my laptop and drinking in all the election results tonight.
Go Obama/Warner/Feder!