We had an interesting election day at Barcroft Precinct yesterday.

We arrived at the gym of Barcroft Elementary School, our regular polling place, at 5am to set up for the 6am opening. There were only four of us for the crew: Mike Collier (chief), Susan Cohen (assistant chief), my wife Barbara and me. The Areizaga-Soto campaign sent an official poll watcher (unusual for a primary) but she left about mid-day saying they were "just tracking early trends."

It was a Democratic Party primary election. About 19 per cent of our active Barcroft voters of all persuasions (328) cast votes, the highest I can remember in a primary election, and about double the rate in the County overall. For comparison, a Democratic primary in 2003 drew 129 Barcroft voters. Our voters included some who wanted us to know that they were Independents and Republicans, not that we ever asked. Virginia does not register by party, and all voters are welcome at primaries. You just have to be ready for campaign mail and phone calls next time, since the list of voters is public.

Barbara Favola won the nomination to run for State Senator in our precinct by 65%, about the same as she got in the County overall. Her opponent spent some time greeting voters at our poll, so we may have been considered a key precinct.

Theo Stamos won the nomination to run for Commonwealth's Attorney by a much larger margin in Barcroft, over 85%. (She got 82% overall.) Dick Trodden, a Barcroft resident and the current Commonwealth's Attorney, was outside our poll greeting and campaigning for her.

We had a steady trickle of people voting, even after the earthquake.

When the earthquake hit there were no voters present. We poll workers ran outside the gym, where the metal roof was visibly moving and sounded like giants were rolling trash cans on it. Then we were brought back inside for the school's shelter-in-place routine. It was very impressive. All the kids moved quickly but in very orderly fashion to the central hall, where they knelt down on both sides with their heads toward the wall in what was obviously a well-rehearsed routine. The kids were calm and quiet. Teachers were with their classes, carrying room number placards. Miriam Hughey-Guy thanked everyone for their cooperation, letting everyone know that the Principal was there. It was so well organized that we all felt safe. Kids at Barcroft were probably much better off than people in downtown buildings. I guess we should have expected that the school's emergency preparedness would be top notch.

We did not process any new voters for about 16 minutes, but then it was business as usual, with a wary eye on the gym ceiling. We were ready to move our operation outside if aftershocks made it necessary.

Among our last voters were two women who walked home from downtown DC--one in high heels--unable to get back into their office buildings to get purses and walking shoes. Metro was jammed and running at 15mph, and one of the women said she did not feature crossing under the Potomac on Metro anyway.

Our most courageous voter limped in with one foot broken in a mad dash to exit a building on the George Mason University campus. She had stopped by to vote on her way to the emergency room.

Voters continued to arrive, all with stories. A chimney cracked, and another may have, although the owner thought it could have been cracked already. Somebody saw things coming off the shelves at Rite Aid. Traffic was a mess--would closing the polls be delayed? No, we got the word to close at 7pm as usual.

We had one late arrival after 7pm while I was outside taking the signs down, but the polls were closed, and in fact the machines inside were already in their count out phase, so he did not get to vote.

We prepared all of our closing paperwork, called in our results, packed up and sealed the machines, cleaned up and headed home after our 15 hour day, some of us wondering if we are getting too old for this.

It was a memorable day at the Barcroft polling place!

Randy Swart

This page was revised on: August 25, 2011.